More police action over "non crimes"

[ProfessorSlocombe]

Not directly anything to do with FWR (although there are probably a shed load of doctorates about the social implications of plague treatments and women). But fans of Humberside police will be interested to see that Norfok police are now keeping up the fight against non-crime that threatens to overwhelm us.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-52456180

does this sound vaguely familiar ?

They said no offence had been committed, but officers were "keen to trace the individual in order to provide words of advice about the implications of his actions on the local community".

Hmm, yes. I just love it when the police provide "words of advice" on people's outfits. FFS.

I don’t know what to think about this, I’m a big fan of horrible histories but if you went for your authorised, once a day, no stopping on park benches, staying 2metres distance from humans, cats and sparrows, lockdown constitutional and you met that coming around the corner, you’d have the fright of your life... is it worse than the scary clown?

Well as someone who rather quaintly thinks domestic violence and other forms of violence against women that are offences deserve priority over what the police themselves admit isn't an offence, I know quite well what I think. And (as usual) the police don't come well out of it.

I mean if someone with a sensitive heart or condition has a fright from that then it's not good. I suppose the police just want to have a word and tell them that it could frighten people.

It starts to get pretty disturbing, though, doesn't it, when the police get involved in outfits which "might frighten someone"?
My hairstyle would definitely frighten many people right now

Many people are frightened of men in hoodies. Or women in hijabs. Is this reason for the police to "advise"?

I do have concerns about the police and government at the moment - not for this but for the fact that they are acting, talking to people and fining people based on ‘guidance’ not law. There is no law about ‘essential journeys’, not using the car (unless you are in Wales), or moving to your second home. And the scores of threads on here show you the dangers of simply issuing ‘guidance’. Guidance is not subject to parliamentary scrutiny.

I mean if someone with a sensitive heart or condition has a fright from that then it's not good. I suppose the police just want to have a word and tell them that it could frighten people.

You are still missing the point that the police are charging around devoting precious time and resources to something that isn't even an offence while at the same time in Norfolk, there will be women being beaten wondering where the hell the police are.

If "going around dressed to frighten people" was an offence, then yes, full marks to Norfolk police for being so responsive. But since it isn't I wonder what other "non offences" they might care to have a look at, since they are in the mood ? I'm sure my neighbour across the road has played their Sinatra compilation more than 3 times this week. I know it's not an offence, but it's quite distressing.

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

But no, it's not up to the police what someone wears, within the law.

And I dunno about urban England, but rural England has extremely overstretched police who can barely make it to the scene of a burglary within 24 hours, so this does seem like a bit of a waste of their time.

If the police were performing core functions properly I'd have no objection to them also gently pointing out to this person that he might be scaring people a bit more than is really appropriate given the circumstances. Since they're not, though, my feeling is that perhaps they should go have a word with the local domestic abuser instead.

I'm quite pleased the police are taking this seriously. It's not funny and is actually quite scary. There probably is a category of offence this would fall into these days.

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

People like that have a fetish for scaring people and it often escalates very quickly. The police are correct to try and intervene.

I'm quite pleased the police are taking this seriously. It's not funny and is actually quite scary. There probably is a category of offence this would fall into these days.

I take it you didn't read the bit about the police stating it wasn't an offence ?

People like that have a fetish for scaring people and it often escalates very quickly. The police are correct to try and intervene.

Under what law ?

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

In Norfolk ?

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.

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

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)

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

Why?

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

I read that crimes are down by about a third

Which is nowhere near as impressive as the infinite fall in non-crimes ! But for some reason that isn't making headlines.

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.

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."

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

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.