Back to Basics

When I was young(er) I used to think that the Police were good guys doing a difficult job. As time went by I changed to thinking they were all a bunch of bastards and I wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire.
Now though, I believe that they are people like the rest of us: flaky, farty, good, bad, heroic, cowardly, jobsworths and saints. They are increasingly hampered by paperwork and crap liberal legislation.

I was reading The Policeman's Blog and I found a post on Robert Peel's Nine Principles. Written over 100 years ago. Read them, point by point and think about how far modern police forces have lost their way.

SIR ROBERT PEEL'S NINE PRINCIPLES

1. The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.


2. The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions.


3. Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.


4. The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.


5. Police seek and preserve public favour not by catering to public opinion but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law.


6. Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient.


7. Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.


8. Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.


9. The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.