From the BBC:
The chief constable of Strathclyde Police has said his officers deal with "too many" marches and parades.
Stephen House's comments came at a meeting of the force's management body which considered two reports on the social and financial impact of parades. Strathclyde Police Authority (SPA) heard that more than 1,000 events in the last financial year took up nearly 50,000 police hours at a cost of £1.7m...
Chief Constable House said the events were stretching police resources, with officers deployed to cover marches instead of dealing with other duties. He told the meeting: "It is not our role as the police to tell communities how many parades they are to hold. That is not our role and it's not this body's role but I think it is our job to flag up to you where we feel there is disproportionate use of police time and your budget and that's what we believe is happening at the moment. We believe the hundreds that exist are too many. It's out of balance. By discussion we believe that we could reach a more reasonable number and a more reasonable settlement for everybody."
Bond
55 minutes ago
6 comments:
Remember, THEY work for US.
Becasuse they seem to have quite forgotten that. And this chap need a swift reminder with a piece of 2x4...
PS: is it me, or are the control freaks coming out of the woodwork with alarming alacrity lately?
Juliam,
Sorry, but you lack credibility. Every artisan knows it is 4 b' 2
Of course it's all funny centimeter things these days and not real 4b'2. Mind you, you can still get real 4b'2 if you need it, but it costs a hell of a lot more because it's all bespoke.
They may work for us, but they are being required to spend a fortune policing marches by (I'm guessing) offensive Papists and Orangemen. They ought to find a way to make the Vatican and the Lodges pay.
Obviously, the Vatican should pay for policing the Orange marches and the Lodges for the papist processions, since it's the spectators who are the likely source of violence and who therefore occassion the need for the presence of the Polis.
D, AFAIAA, the police charge football clubs for crowd control (because football clubs are commercial enterprises) so that's fair enough, but I'm not sure where you draw the line between charging commercial enterprises the going rate and preventing free speech.
But surely if these people are out to cause a ruckus, the police get some of the money back indirectly through fines for disorderly behaviour? And shopkeepers etc can sue in a private action for damage to property.
I think dearime has a point, it's all very well fining these people or suing them, but if they're scabby povs then there's not much going to come out of that, certainly nothing that will help pay for immediate costs.
Simple option would be for these people to put up a bond, if it passes of peacefully, or without inconvenience to others, then they get it back. Besides as much as it's people's right to march up and down streets peacefully (displaying their personal brand of bigotry if they really must), it's just as much everyone else's right not to have their usage of those same streets inconvenienced by people taking over them.
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