Apparently and according to the media; the Rt.Hon. Nick Herbert MP (the UK Policing Minister) is a ‘Police Spotter’? (See full story)
I assume the reference is in the vein of ‘Train Spotter‘, as opposed to a spotter used in an operational covert police crime observation context.
After all, isn’t a conference of senior officers probably about the only place he will be able to add anything to the ‘collection’ in his less than well-thumbed notebook? It’s certainly unlikely he could significantly add to his ‘collection’ by sitting on a street corner in your local neighbourhood.
The story continues that he also managed to; ‘reduce Superintendents to floods of tears’ at their annual conference? This is actually a skill the senior officers in policing also have. Many members of the service rank and file have been crying in merriment (or more often total shock), at some of their methods for years!
When Nick tells the Superintendents; he admires their ‘operational acumen’ he must either be very easily pleased or, he’s actually talking to people that have been shipped in as ‘extras’? It’s certainly not a term I would feel comfortable using or indeed, indicative of many who were part of the service I actually remember!
Related Articles
- Live Q&A with Policing Minister Nick Herbert (number10.gov.uk)
- Nick Herbert outlines new thinking on policing (guardian.co.uk)
- Letters: Scaremongering over spending cuts (guardian.co.uk)
- Concern over police jobs threat (bbc.co.uk)
- Police cuts will leave public less safe, federation warns (guardian.co.uk)
- Funding cuts could make current policing ‘unsustainable’ (independent.co.uk)
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