Red Noses and under Age Drinking
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X8806100408 |
| Author | R.D. Woodall |
| Date | 01 October 1988 |
| Published date | 01 October 1988 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Perhaps even
Home
Office might have shown some
courage
by not
bowing to public - or rather a small and vocal minority of the public
-demanding the abolition of the Special Patrol Group, which was
highly effective in its fight against crime.
Everyone should be aware that the Police are also human beings.
Little
concern
is shown for the stress that many officers suffer,
both
at work and in their personal lives. Equipment is not always as good
as it might be.
If
the dog handler had not had a multi-channel
personal radio, he would have been in serious trouble as the station,
where the incident occurred, had no personal radios functioning that
night.
We should send ourselves a message of caution, before we spring
into criticism of the Police. Where would Society be without Law
and
Order?
Aformer Commissioner, Sir Robert Mark, wrote the first chapter
of the book The
Police
We
Deserve.
It
dealt with social violence in
our
midst. Those interested in the subject of policing should
read
the
whole book. After reading the book and as a result of my
experiences with the officers from Paddington Green, I can only
come to one conclusion:
The people of London get far far better Police than many of them
deserve.
R.D.
WOODALL
B.A., A.R.HIST.SOC.
RED NOSES AND UNDER AGE
DRINKING
Nothing makes me madderas a retired head ofsecondary schools, a former
justice of the peace and a community council secretary to hear the schools
and the police blamed for the amount of under age drinking that goes on
in our area. .
I was in a supermarket a few weeks back, when I heard the
manageress giving a youngstera good telling off with her tongue. Schools
were on holiday at the time. This youngster was sitting in the window sill
supping the contents of a can of lager. "You didn't get that here? Be off
with.you,
I'm
not having this shop getting a bad name". The lad
reluctantly moved outside and then sat down on the stone floor of the
frontage and finished off the can of lager, throwing the can at the nearby
litter bin. The can missed the litter bin and ended in the road going under
the front wheels of a passing bus.
The lady at the check out told the manageress: "He came in with his
mother. His mother bought that. She told him to wait for her by bus stop
October 1988 347
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