Letters | 25 April 2009

The beat goes on

Sir: I read with growing rage James Delingpole’s column (You know it makes sense, 18 April). After castigating the policing of the G20 demonstrations, he takes the opportunity to list a number of actions the police have taken in recent times that he objects to. But some context is required. I have worked for nearly 20 years in a large metropolitan police force which deals with nearly 2,000 incidents a day on average. We arrest hundreds of people, and respond to thousands of calls for help and assistance. Nearly 4,000 of us do this — regular police officers, special constables (and sorry, James — they do have full police powers and those you accused of not saving a drowning boy were not special constables), community support officers and police staff. I have not beaten anyone senseless with my baton or shot anyone, although I have been seriously assaulted, police vehicles I have been in have been rammed by criminals, petrol bombs have been thrown at the police station I work in and threats have been made on my life. I am sorry to say I am not unique in my experiences.

The mess we are in is best summed up by what happened to Gary Toms. Who’s he, you may ask. Well, while the spotlight of the media has been on the aftermath of the G20 demonstration, PC Toms was killed trying to stop armed robbers last week in London. He hardly gets a mention in the press. He was an armed officer who it appears did not discharge his weapon despite being in mortal danger. I wonder what the media would have said if Gary had shot his assailant dead and he had survived?

James Thompson
Via email

Knocking Wiki

Sir: No doubt it is fashionable to knock Wikipedia (Liddle Britain, 18 April); but as a five-year administrator on the English language version of the site, I do find that this kind of thing is often lazy journalism and reveals a misunderstanding of how the site works.