Nick Cohen Nick Cohen

They used to catch crooks – now they trawl Twitter. Are our police turning into spies?

With crime rates plunging, the police are pouncing on innocents instead — and attacking freedom

issue 26 October 2013

Just before the hacking scandal broke, the Sun sent a young and by all accounts decent reporter to meet a woman who said she had a story — a ‘walk-in’ as we call them in the trade.

The walk-in produced a phone and said the Sun would want to take a look.

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