Re: Graham Marsden @Matt Bryant - What a complete load of cobblers.
I worked as a policeman in two countries. In both,, the first duty is the prevention and detection of crime. In both, this had to be within the law and, if it is not within the law, no matter how wonderful the investigation, the results are invalid and the police are liable to punishment. In Britain, as far as I remember, the definition of a constable says that he is a citzen having authority under the crown for ....
Note, he is a citizen, not above the law and not empowered to use any means to achieve the end. This was part of the genius of Sir Robert Peel when he set up the first, formal police force - an unarmed constabulary drawing its authority from the trust of fellow citizens as part of the cizenry, not an overwheening group of enforcers with arbitray power.
The old saw was, better that a hundred guilty go free than one innocent be punished. But the likes of Matt are sufficiently lacking in imagination and experience to understand that, at least until Matt is the innocent one in question.
It's a bit like public safety - the apparently current government version in which all freedom is sacrificed to keep everyone safe (i.e. terrorists win) or the âttempt to provide a reasonable compromise between preventing terrorism without giving the terrorists the satisfaction of closing down civil society and its freedoms. Againts the IRA, by and large, we got that right; now, with a less successful bunch on UK soil, more easily identified, we can not even get on an aeroplane without sacrificing more time for the process than in the air. And yes, I was a policeman when the IRA were placing effective bombs or threats weekly if not more often and later living in London when these caused delays and diversions just about daily..
Matt and your ilk, please, get a life and some real experience rather than just reading the Daily Mail and quivering in fear of normal life and abject worship of business and "right" wing-ism.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
