This sceptr'd isle

Michael 56

Melanie, this is Brown's Britain. He's read the Minority Report, where potential crime can be predicted and action taken before the crime is actually committed. All the CCTV and hi-tech stuff enable our police to pre-empt crime... honestly...'New Labour. stamping on the face of Libery forever.'

Daniel Lionsden

This sceptr'd isle is fast becoming this truncheon'd isle.

JJS

What is happening to Britain?

Michael White

Didn't your friend write to the Police Complaints Commission? Are they not obliged to investigate and disclose the officers' notes?

Austin Barry

Perhaps your friend and his son just looked black.

Suffolkbor

What is happening to the police is that they they are becoming more empowered by the day by the growing totalitarian nature of the governance of this land and are flexing their intimidatory muscles in eager anticipation of things to come .

I do hope Ms. Phillips ,
that your freind has not been writing about things that the goverment and liberal elite do not like as I fear that in future that we are all going to be subject to this kind of sinister behaviour whether we are rebellious or not .

biggestaspidistra

Could the explanation be found in the content of his books?

Worried

M, this is happening all the time. People being fined £80 in Oxford for dropping a cigarette butt, whilst real criminals are killing respectable people on a weekly basis. It is called Dystopia and that is when the authorities and their minions become the criminals and the rest of us are subservient. Terrifying!

Marcher Baron

What's happening to the police? They have become politicised during Labour's reign of terror. No doubt such incidents ticked the necessary boxes on investigating domestic violence. As a bonus they probably also ticked some "equality" box as well.

Innocent bystander

"What is happening to the police in Britain?"

The same that has happened to everything else in Britain, Melanie.
Subversion from within.

What a nasty place my country has become.

Rachael

The police are quite simply out of control.

We all, I am sure, have our own stories to tell.

Peter Hitchens' blog recounts many strange incidents with the police he has witnessed.

I can see where Mel comes from in not wanting elected police chiefs but has this been thought up as the only way to bring them under some sort of control again?

Australians for Non-Bigoted Thinking

Assuming your friend and his family are traditional Westerners, maybe this is a case of PC gone mad....a need to balance the ledger...a type of a perverse enactment of affirmative action where you hassle the natives to try and even the score of arrests compared to minorities. It doesn't matter if the person has committed an offence or not....That way people will feel much better and life will be oh so fairer...Hmmmmmm

or perhaps....

In their reluctance to arrest violent anti-Brtish protesters and real crims, police need something else to do...so why not take the safe option and hassle some law abiding citizens.

or maybe...

Another possiblitiy is that your friend being an author has written material unfavourable to the government, and authorities want to discredit him by sullying his reputation i.e. he was driving with a mistress...i.e. his son beats his wife... all of course which was found to be unequivocally false.

One Word....

Pathetic !

Margaret Muller-Johansson

Weird

Dixon

Last night a BBC doc was touting the concept if "profiling" as an answer to airport security. At first I thought, aha, reason breaks, lets profile Muslims as warranting scrutiny ( adter all, when was the last time a non-Muslim tried a terrorist attack on a plane ). But, no, this was "behavioural profiling". Ie, harrass people who dont conform to stereotypes of "normal" or expected behaviour. Who look "out of place" ( ie, differenyt) or maybe have a mental illness of which the outward signs would apppear to the brilliant intellectuals who work for airport security and the police to be "suspicious". And of course, those doing this "behavioural profiling" will have to make a quota.

Clearly, the kind of thing we see in the accoiunt above!

Ronnie

It would help if we knew who the writer in question is and what kind of material he produces. Then perhaps we could see what is going on here, why this particular piece of intimidation?

otherwise I suppose we are free to continue with our usual, ridiculous 'outraged of MK' generalisations.

yaakov haimovic

they are just preparing themselves for the future,when sharia laws rule the uk.

radgie gadgie

I guess its a version of Fahrenheit 451 where the firemen start fires. Here you have the new breed of policeman who doesnt go for real crime but the innocent (easy targets and fuel for some cosy form filling back at the station) or those potentially guilty of thoughtcrimes (say, arguing with a female therefore oppressing her)

This type of approach has such deep roots in the police now that you have a generation of copper who probably doesnt collar a proper criminal in a month on duty.

John belongi

Your friends son was taking back his kids to their boarding school, the police fellow him even he was an innocent man, Okay Melanie is your friend ethnic? or white with scruffy car? the police are not only racist sometime but materialistic if you are white and don't have a nice car they stop this is the new Great Britain the materialistic one

Worried

Re the BBC documentary last night, it appeared to be saying two things, hence the clever editing that gave the impression the professionals being interviewed were 'OK' with what the program was implying: a) That the failed Christmas bomb attempt was not so bad, the guy wasn't really that serious, so let's cut him some slack because the aircraft wouldn't have broken up anyway. b) That we will just have to put up with Minority Report like behaviour by the leftists authorities because it's all good for us. And being that most anglo saxon whites (I'm 1/2 English, 1/4 Dutch & 1/4 Russian) are frighteningly subservient for some reason, they will go along with it and we really will be a repressive dystopia with no way to fight back by 2012. In all seriousness, G-d help us if Nu Labor win the next election.

TomTom

He should contact the IPCC to avoid Dr Kelly's fate. Noone knows in this country who the police are answering to, especially when they are run by ACPO - a Limited Company - funded by The Home Office.

Otherwise I suggest he reads Kafka

Harry Tuttle

BRAZIL, 1985 Terry Gilliam, Jonathan Pryce, Robert de Niro, Michael Palin et al

Britain in the grip of a dystopian bureaucratic future. We've arrived!

If you had watched this film you wouldn't have found the events that you described above at all surprising.

Anne Wotana Kaye 1

There are two possibilities. The man was seen driving from a private school. In modern Nu Labour Britain, this indicates an anti-social citizen. The other possibility is that the police are lazy, cowardly, unintelligent oafs. They wouldn't get involved with tough-looking types unless they were armed, and prefer to harrass respectable people.

Sam Armstrong

This, along with the hospital killer bugs, and the engineered recession and other similar nasties, is all part of the the takeover of Britain by the EUSSR.

This technique, which is deliberate, is designed to destroy the trust we have in our institutions, make us hate them, so that eventually we are not too bothered when they are replaced by the new order.

cityca

Consider the last Police Commissioner for London, Ian Blair. Boris, rightly, slung him out, as a leftist, politically correct politician in a police uniform, and reading almost daily about the actions of ACPO, I suspect many others are cut from the same cloth.

Broons Britain is a nasty place - it's not the pleasant place I grew up in - my and no doubt your local council is busting a gut to find new ways to impose fines for contravening their petty, bureaucratic rules.

We should be able to vote in (and out) our police chiefs - then we'd get more accountability and less attacks on ordinary decent people.

Have you noticed that the avalanche of advertising by this government is either telling us how to live or in threatening tones, how not to live - i.e. issuing dire warnings if you don't do this or do this.

Nu Labour have a nasty way about them - like living with Alistair Campbell overseeing everyone's life.

Not convinced about call me Dave, but it's definitely time for a change from Broon and his nasty friends.

Dixon

Worried...I agree with you except for the last point: it really doesnt make a blind bit of difference as to who wins the election, this is whats happenning irrespective of party politics.

Dixon

Another thought about scanners, profiling and that BBC documentary. Things happen not by conspiracy but the acceidental, unintended linkage of one thing with another in a series of unintentional steps, each of which is rendered inevitable by its inherent logic. Metal scanners to X-rays, to body scanners, next, just round the corner, a machine called a "body cavity scanner" ( believe nme, I am not making this up, Google it ) which you sit on so it can look up your wazoo ( they are already being sold to prisons in the US )...then, logically, when they are affordable, these nifty new FMRI machines that are like an enormous helmet which you put your head inside so the "highly trained professionbals" of airport security can see how your brain reacts to a series of outwardly innocuous questions. A lot like the scene near the start of Bladerunner when a character is subjected to a series of weird questions as a machine monitors his reactions in order to determine whether hes a man or a robot. Although in this case it wil be to determine whether we are trustworthy and normal or odd and suspicious.

Beyond that, heaven knows what technology lies in store. People would object to routine body cavity searches ( give it time ) so maybe some clever forward thinking company is already developing a robit device to do this.

The essential point here is that if all these prospects were laid out as demonstrably where things lead, people would indeed put their foot down and object. But they dont because they are kept in the dark, like cattle heading to slaughter, theyve no idea where its all taking them. I had never heard of body cavity scanners until a week ago. Ask yourself, had you?

Meanwhile, we know of one easily verifiable characteristic that every terrorist has in common. Its as simple as that.

Dixon

And whilst we are talking about the police, how instructive is it that in training one of them blew away a colleague with a shotgun and all he could say by way of explanation was that it was "an involuntary action".What does this tell us about the competence of the British policeman to use firearms?

For a start, he should not have had his finger on the trigger until intending to fire. But more fundamentally, any child brought up with guns knows the fundamental, bootom line rule in all shooting,in any context or situation, that you dont EVER point a gun at anyone or anything...unless you intend to shoot it!

Now look at pictures of the British police toting MP3 submachine guns in public. What you see is incredible, numerous instances of fingered triggers and guns "sweeping" the public. It really is no exaggeration to describe the British police, in the area of firearms, as run through with a streak of frighteningly dangerous incompetence.

Dixon

"Harry Tuttle
March 5th, 2010 5:54pm
BRAZIL, 1985 Terry Gilliam, Jonathan Pryce, Robert de Niro, Michael Palin et al "

The thing that most reminds me of Brazil is the way our world is choc full of gadgets and technology that doesnt work properly. Just about anything digital is fine when it works, but pretty much none of it ever works all the time, reliably. Even airliners and helicopters have crashed as a result.

That aspect of Gilliams vision turned out to be utterly prophetic.

William

The police here were defending a vulnerable woman from danger which they suspected she could have been in. They weren't offensive or threatening, and didn't do anything they shouldn't have. Your friend should have accepted their behaviour, and been grateful for their concern.

The government is attempting to make this country safer for some of the most vulnerable. Women, Muslims, the LGBT community, ethnic minorities. Instead of condemning them, you should be pleased our country is changing for the better.

If you wish to live in a cruel and barbaric society, make one for yourselves in the middle of some barren wasteland, because most of us would hate to be part of it.

Alan O'Reilly

I would to God for your own sakes that you could all come and live in our part of the Northeast.

Our local police are brilliant, including the PCSOs. I am personally acquainted via NHW with all 8 of our local officers, plus their inspector and therefore speak from firsthand experience.

However, your comments, I fear, indicate that our officers may be becoming increasingly exceptional.

It may be that we live in a timewarp. If so, may it long continue.

Neil Saunders

Like many of our other key institutions, the police have been infiltrated and taken over by the sinister Culturally Marxist change agent (officially an educational charity) Common Purpose.

Dixon

"William
March 5th, 2010 9:26pm
The police here were defending a vulnerable woman from danger which they suspected she could have been in. They weren't offensive or threatening, and didn't do anything they shouldn't have. Your friend should have accepted their behaviour, and been grateful for their concern."

so, given what you say and what you were given to base it upon, you suggest that every woman seen in a car with a man should be reason to pull the car over and give them a grilling.

Like they would do in Saudi Arabia.

Dixon

OHHHHHHHH, William, you were being ironic. I geddit.

Trouble is, as Ive commented before, the ironic parody is these days out-bizarred by anything being parodied. im quite sure there are plenty who would make the same comment without irony.

In other words, the time for irony is over. Its too subtle and too ambiguous for the age we live in, one that is a minefield of subtleties and ambibuities already.

Please people, speak frankly.

Corin

Firstly, always carry some recording equipment. Secondly, commit information to memory and record it AFTER the plods have deparated. Don't want thenm to nick it. Thirdly, ALWAYS have a credible witness. And fourthly, four little words: - Name, rank and number. They are legally obliged to tell you. Threaten to make an official complaint - do it if necessary. I actually got an apology on one occasion.

seb

'Anything except work'. That was the coppers' mantra when I were a lad studying oop north. The bozos in blue would find a place to sit out their shift, turn the radio on and subists on snacks. Harassing innocent civilians provides comic relief for the twerps.

Bob, son of Bob

Just think about the type of person that gets promotion in the police - the person who says the purpose of the police is to promote equality, fight against racism, etc etc. The person who says he hates crime and hates criminals and paperwork and wants to lock up as many criminals as possible would never get promotion. He might even be arrested himself for Thought Crime against criminals.

So we have a new establishment in Britain and they are promoting the types who know what they have to do and say to get promotion. They took over other institutions like the BBC long ago - the police is taking longer by its very nature.

Anne Wotana Kaye 1

Bob, Son of Bob: Good point. Obviously the same applies when selecting a Minister of Justice.

Archie

Harry Tuttle, you are really Harry Buttle and I claim my two weeks in Berleymont as my prize! O.K. I'll take the second prize of four weeks in Berleymont!

Margaret Muller-Johansson

There are a lot of women beating, wife beating, gay beating etc in Britain, it was bad enough when it happened in the desert now it is creeping into Europe it is here in Britain, the police don't know what to do, they are mistakenly harassing a loving parent who are taking their kids back to school after the holiday, this is wrong something have to change if people are doing uncivilised things, like terrorism, Asbos, wife beating, honour killing, forcing children to became exterimists they should send back, I think this is the best way

Pramston

Perhaps the police officers could explain that; as we only have your friends version of events you and we will never know. I'm all for giving the police a kicking when they deserve it but this is complete nonsense not worthy of a writer of your talents Melanie

R. Wilson

A strange tale; made even stranger in that your friend is an educated man, but is completely unaware that there is a complaint against police procedure and that he should have been given written details of the stop and the reason?
I do not think I will bother to read any of his jounalism or books - unless they are bedtime fairy stories for children.

Sheilah Gaffe

What is happening in Britain? What is happening in the UN? What is happening everywhere? Politicians devise policy from focus group outcomes.
People are afraid to speak their minds in case someone thinks ill of them or calls them racist.
One could wax lyrical about the reasons, such as lack of courage of one's convictions, etc. but put simply, it boils downs to 'lack of bottle'.

Mr. Mabutoh Afunfa

This is pure hate crime against hard working successful educated middle class family, it is happening to many people, the police don't like civilize people, the government don't like, the lefties don't like, I don't know what is happening in Britain?

De Rigueur

Pramston
March 7th, 2010 3:34pm

Sadly it's not nonsense. Something just like the events Melanie described happened to us.
One of the reasons we have left the UK.

BritZek

These non sequitur questions are their way of feeling your collar to make you uncomfortable. They can claim it is out of concern for the community ( = non-white and/or non males. Maybe it could be - but the what about the way it makes a totally innocent person who is not giving any reason for suspicion feel? We ought to look for the way this sort of thing is coming from the top. Nothing is accidental.

Paul from Texas

Our constitution forbids that behavior here in the U.S (illegal search, no probable cause, no search warrant). The policemen and the police department would be investigated. If the citizens were black, the policemen would be branded as racist and sent to racial sensitivity training and be sued for millions of dollars. Their lives and careers would be ruined.

Lydia P Troyer

A very long time ago a friend witnessed a bizarre transaction at a business district traffic light at 2 am. A uniformed plod jumped out of his car and ran to another car behind & parallel to my friend's. The plod handed a large revolver to the driver, ran back to his police car and then crossed the still-red traffic light. The other car pulled forward, turned right and sped off, leaving my friend alone to ponder the events. She had the police car's number and most of the other car's. The next day, she called the judge in whose court she had recently served on jury duty, and asked what to do. She was gently told to do nothing and to forget what she had seen. She was left in no doubt that personal safety was the principle reason, although she felt obliged to report what she thought was probably a crime involving evidence. She originally doubted the Judge's advice. A year later, a local police sergeant was indicted for running a protection service for local drug dealers, which included eliminating prosecutors' witnesses. She voted for that Judge until he retired.

Archie

Well, Miss Phillips, and on a more serious note, this really is an unsettling read and perhaps it's time to revisit the elected police chiefs question?

Peter Crawford

@ Anne Wotana Kaye
You are correct.
The Police are LAZY to an astonishing degree. They want brownie-points, preferment, and promotion at the least possible cost to themselves. I have worked side-by-side with police officers and they are the laziest group I have ever encountered.

This is the core problem. Quite why the police obtain brownie-points for harassing innocent people is a different question.

Lester Williams

The English spirit and pluck died with Sir Winston, eventually declining to Brits being willing to relinquish your right to keep your firearms. And you wonder why police & criminals show you no respect. One wisely said, "God created all men but Sam Colt made them equal". You direly need a uniquely American import we call the Second Amendment.
Don't Mess With Texas

Geoff M

That's nothing.

A while ago I was walking in Birmingham with my wife when I saw a drunken distressed woman, aged about 70, wandering in the road.

I brought her to the side and sat her on a bench whilst my wife called the police - hoping they would help and take her home.

A police car pulled up and an officer got out and began verbally abusing me, asking who I was and what I was doing etc etc.

Luckily (for him) another car pulled up and a second officer dragged his colleague back to his car and took charge of the situation.

To this day I can't understand what the first officers game was.

Obviously middle aged Finance Directors like me are now a major threat to society.