More police action over "non crimes"

And "her" is a pronoun for female people in English. Therefore deeply gendered. Hth.

Really? I've never heard of that before.

Unless perhaps I'm making reference to the traditional gender neutral use of him and reversing it in a mostly female environment.

Nah, probably the first one.

You want to get dragged into someone else's twisted 'joke' you go right ahead.

I'm not sure that's the point OP is making. I imagine most people think it's daft in the current situation but it's not a crime.

Clearly you don't have neurodevelopmentally diverse children in your care to worry about.

I do, but I still don't want laws to be made against wearing things which upset children.

I would gladly give up my freedoms to see my neighbour arrested for wearing their inexcusably shabby sun hat.

I expect they'll be wanting to check his thinking Datun

I don't know why, ElizaCrouch, but that made me laugh out loud.

But exactly. They are relying on an authority they don't actually possess in these circumstances.

What if the police do catch up with him and warn him he's being scary, and he tells them to do one?

Well he's not breaking any laws (as far as I am aware anyway) so I guess they'll have to do one.

What if the police do catch up with him and warn him he's being scary, and he tells them to do one?

What then?

I'm not leaping to any confusions. I know Norfolk and I know men. Sadly.

You want to get dragged into someone else's twisted 'joke' you go right ahead. Clearly you don't have neurodevelopmentally diverse children in your care to worry about.

Agree it's a "teachable moment" though for neurotypical children. "Here's what not to do in the middle of a pandemic in an area full of young families and OAPs".

If this is really an issue for the police, I'm very interested in where the limits to this should be. What about people with scary tattoos? Goths? I was terrified of Goths as a kid. Should the police have stopped them dressing that way?

it's absolutely fuck all to do with the police.

This.

It might be distasteful or frightening or even morally wrong. If it's not illegal, then the police have no place offering 'advice'. Unless they're the fashion police. The police are not arbiters of the nation's morals.

What is worse is that people know that they have to pretend to listen to the police, can't argue the toss and have to basically play along with this, despite it not being legal, listen to the 'advice' and acquiesce. It's not good policing, it's not implementing the law, it erodes public trust in the police. Some opinionated constable on a power trip gets to act self righteous.

Meanwhile, domestic violence is soaring and women and children are suffering.

I'd use it as a history lesson as well. I quite like it.

well the police told the bbc they were keen to trace this person- which isn't the same as actually devoting any resources to the issue. I can't get worked up about this really- it's a teachable moment surely, unless the person is actually doing anything sinister.

Would you really though? I'd be too busy trying to console my hysterical asd 6 year old and feeling deeply unfortable that the fake plague doctor guy was probably getting rocks off under his cassock at our distress. I'm not saying thatdidn'thappen during the black death, of course

Yes I would. I would not leap to the conclusions you have.

Halloween busiest night of the year for Norfolk Police - read all about it!

Would you really though? I'd be too busy trying to console my hysterical asd 6 year old and feeling deeply unfortable that the fake plague doctor guy was probably getting rocks off under his cassock at our distress. I'm not saying that didn't happen during the black death, of course

You might stretch it to breach of the peace in Scotland. It's a catch all for behaviour which isn't caught elsewhere but has caused fear and alarm but it's stretching it.

I'd seize upon that as a mobile history lesson if my DC were younger. Maybe it depends if you get the reference

Yes I would as well. My son, were he not already 29 would probably have got the reference from a holiday in Venice when he was around 10. We have a miniature plague doctor mask made of china bought in Venice. I suppose if you don't get the reference it might be scary, difficult to tell.

And "her" is a pronoun for female people in English. Therefore deeply gendered. Hth.

Because many young white men (actually a big percentage of all men) think the entire world revolves around their cocks and love nothing more than being able to drag unsuspecting bystanders into it - which, let's face it, is probably what is motivating this.

It's like in The Good Place where they notice some guy has done something no-one else has ever done before - hollowing out an aubergine and filling it full of washing powder or something. And they're all like "the biggest surprise was that it wasn't a weird sex thing!"

A few minutes later: "yeah, it was a weird sex thing."

There probably is a category of offence this would fall into these days.

That's rather the point.

*And as this person is almost certainly a young white man on a power trip, it's even more important it's addressed.

Why would her (gender neutral her) ethnicity, sex or age have anything to do with whether the police should 'address' the issue?

At the moment it's a bad idea to be wandering around in fancy dress for no good reason, so probably reasonable that the police speak to her but, by Christ, we don't want that to be the norm.

The thing is, it's absolutely fuck all to do with the police

I read that crimes are down by about a third

I reckon if they police put their mind to it and didnt move people from benches and concern themselves with non crimes they might actually be able to solve the other 2 thirds of crimes

And as this person is almost certainly a young white man on a power trip, it's even more important it's addressed

Why?

I believe (particularly rural) police like to be there to help and gain the trust of the community, preventing crime and antisocial behaviour, not just chasing criminals (but please don’t shoot the messenger on that one)

Funny my daughter loves James Herriot books, she was in hysterics last night at the bit where a village policeman armed with a big stick chases Tristan through some woods (he’s pretending to be a ghostly monk in a habit, lurking on the road and scaring people)

Yes, we have a surplus of ego/ cock-driven young men, just like the rest of the country. It's not the Vicar of Dibley @ProfessorSlocombe

It's not that it wouldn't scare people and maybe he's being a bit of a prat. It probably would, and he probably is.

The thing is, it's absolutely fuck all to do with the police.

And if they could be relied upon to not go round someone's house to check their thinking, then people might have a little more faith.