Somehow my wifeconvinced me to join her on her latest trip to Cairo. How did thathappen? Regardless, here I am for a few days. A bit of culture shock, coming from rural England. And at first glance Cairo looks surprisingly the same as the last time I was here (which isn’t really a compliment).
Category: Police
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Five-oh on bike
What could be more fun than spending a few nights biking around the back alleys, roundabouts, and estates of Basingstoke with a bunch of cops? (One of whom tweets)
Seriously. This ismy idea of a good time.
Word on the street (or at least in the station) is that I’m the first observer to ever go on bike patrol in these parts.
Actual word on the street, however, is more the sound of pesky youth laughing at my folding bike. Whatever. It did the job.
And to answer the first question US cops will have: 1) No, (most) police do not carry guns; 2) Most do not want to. More than one has told me he’s consider quitting if he were ever ordered to patrol armed with a gun.
There are 140,000 British police officer. Not one has been killed on duty since 2007. That level of officer safety is kind of hard for me to fathom.
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Happy Holloween
Brought to you by your local constabulary.But what if I need to bake a last-minute cake for me mum?!
[I’m on blogging break. Regular posts will resume in February.]
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Flog It
Neil Steinberg wrote a good review of In Defense of Flogging in my old home-town Chicago Sun-Times.
I’m particularly impressed that caught what I thought was obvious:
Moskos has brilliantly used the old PR trick of marrying a complex, off-putting topic to a fascinating one. If you want to trick people into reading about penal reform, brandish a whip. And be brief.
Steinberg goes on:
In Defense of Flogging is 154 pages long. I read it in less than a day, and it is an eloquent cry to address a problem that we spend billions of dollars trying to ignore. “We’ve run out of options,” Moskos writes. “What we have in America is a massive, terrifying and out-of-control experiment in incarceration.”
There’s no arguing about that.
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Could it all be about margarine?
From a 1970s Readers Digest.
[I’m on blogging break. Regular posts will resume in February.]
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The more things change… October 20, 1829
The Commissioners wish to remind the constables that, in every case when it is judged necessary to dismiss any man, the whole of his pay accruing from the last pay-day will be forfeited.
Source: Metropolitan Police. Instructions Orders &c. &c.1836. London: W. Clowes & Sons.
[I’m on break. Regular blogging will resume in February.]
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The more things change… October 17, 1829
The paperwork begins.
Some instances of rudeness on the part of individuals of the Police towards persons asking them civil questions have been reported to the Commissioners of the Police. the Commissions therefore call upon the Superintendents to instruct their officers and men.
The Superintendents will receive a book of instructions for every man and officer of their respective Companies; each man’s name will be written , and it is to be produced to the Inspector at least once a week, and the Superintendent will take care that those books are taken from the men that are dismissed, and are given to the men that replace them.
The Police Constables are desired to pay attention to that part which immediately concerns their own Duty, and having made themselves well acquainted with it, they may, by studying the others, endeavour to fit themselves for promotion.
The Superintendents of divisions will take special care that all orders given out are carefully read from time to time, when it may appear necessary, to impress on the minds of the men the several subjects to which orders relate.
Source: Metropolitan Police. Instructions Orders &c. &c.1836. London: W. Clowes & Sons.
[I’m on break. Regular blogging will resume in February.]
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The more things change… October 14, 1829
The Commissioners have again to express their great regret that the pay-day has not passed over without the occurrence of several cases of intoxication by members of the Police. The Commissioners have, in the execution of their duty, been compelled to dismiss the individuals guilty of a crime which renders them completely unfit for the Police service, and which cannot and will not be suffered. All the Police are, therefore, for their own sakes, again cautioned to be more on their guard against committing it.
Duly noted.
Source: Metropolitan Police. Instructions Orders &c. &c.1836. London: W. Clowes & Sons.
[I’m on break. Regular blogging will resume in February.]
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The more things change… October 13, 1829
The Constables are not to go into public houses at night to order the landlord to close his house, or interfere in any other manner with the management or regulation of the house.
If public houses are disorderly, notice is to be given to the Serjeant, who will report the case to the proper authorities.
Sergeant: “What are you doing in that bar?!”
Officer: “I was [hic] just closing it down.”
Source: Metropolitan Police. Instructions Orders &c. &c.1836. London: W. Clowes & Sons. And the picture from a pub near Bramshill, England.
[I’m on break. Regular blogging will resume in February.]
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The more things change… October 11, 1829
Any man reported for endearvouring to conceal his number, or refusing to shew (sic) or tell it when properly asked, will be dismissed, as such concealment or denial can only be caused by having done something he is ashamed of.
Source: Metropolitan Police. Instructions Orders &c. &c.1836. London: W. Clowes & Sons.
[I’m on break. Regular blogging will resume in February.]