Wednesday 25 June 2014

Softly, Softly, Catchee…Errr….

Police have been officially advised to use their discretion in deciding how to enforce the ban that comes into force on Tuesday on qat, a mild herbal stimulant, that has been widely used in Britain's Somali, Yemeni and Ethiopian communities.
Really? The same police that always bleat that they have no discretion and must investigate every little spat on FaceBook, with predictable results?
… Acpo guidelines on the qat possession for personal use show that enforcing the ban will throw up some unique challenges for officers on patrol. They make clear that while any police officer can issue a qat warning or a fixed penalty notice they need to be or find an officer who is an expert in identifying the herb and who can do so without any doubt before a warning or a fine can be issued.
You … you have to be kidding me. Surely?
The Acpo guidelines also make clear that there is little the officer can do if somebody caught in possession of qat simply decides to start chewing the evidence: "If the individual merely has a mouthful of what is suspected to be qat, it will not be permissible to issue a sanction, even with an admission without additional evidence, because the chewed pulp will not be readily identifiable."
So to escape punishment for illegally chewing a herbal substance, you can chew that herbal substance right in front of the police…!

9 comments:

Robert the Biker said...

But Julia, surely you don't expect our wonderful politicised police force to treat everyone the same do you?
Besides, the facebook gobshite is far less likely to nut up than the gibbon from somalia who's used to just screaming 'waycism, waycism' and getting his own way cos it's cutural innit.

Know muslims - no peace
No muslims - know peace

Greencoat said...

I've heard that this disgusting habit involves a lot of spitting -surely that is something the police can home in on, if only for the sake of 'elf 'n safety?

Fahrenheit211 said...

There is this very PC police officer Inspector Ben Gillard who has been playing 'nicey, nicey' with the Somalis on his patch trying to 'educate' them about Khat and the fact that it is now illegal.

Would any other group, other than Bearded Savages be treated with kid gloves in this way? I remember how the early ravers were treated by police and there was no soft treatment given to them when what were then new and novel recreational drugs involved.

I don't know about others but I feel sick when I see pandering plod like Inspector Gillard occupying senior positions. Sadly he is not alone, I caught a glimpse earlier of a senior counter terrorist officer for West Midlands Police Islamo-pandering for all she was worth by appearing on Sky News wearing a bloody Hijab. Our terror problem is coming from Islam, therefore the mores of Islam should not have been pandered to in this way. I would have had far more respect for Sue Southern WMP's counter terror chief if she had turned up at the mosque wearing a hat made out of bacon and telling the savages to shape up or ship out.

The politicisation of our police forces has not been a force for good and worse has enabled evil to grow unchallenged.

Robert the Biker said...

F211:
This is very much my attitude; I don't much care about many of the laws, just so they are fair and equally applied.
If the law says that every Friday at noon, everyone has to stick a lampshade on their head and run about waving their arms and screaming *Wugga Wugga Wugga*then that's fine. Thing is, it must be everybody, no special pleadings, no "lampshades are against my religion", if I have to do it, YOU DO TOO. If you don't like it, feel free to return to your lampshade-free shithole and fester there, but don't expect special privileges because you get all butt-hurt and 'offended' if everyone doesn't bow and scrape to you.

Anonymous said...

Unless the Misuse of Drugs Act has been changed, there is no need to arrest anyone or wait for an expert'. There is the power for Police to detain someone for the purposes of a drug search. I would suggest the inconvenience of being taken to a Police station, if you can find one open, and then having to hang about while the substance is analysed should concentrate the minds of the users somewhat, especially if it's done on a regular basis. Our country - our rules. If they want to smoke this substance, then they should stay in their own sh*t hole of a country.
Penseivat

Anonymous said...

Pure doublespeak from the experts. Here, use your discretion means DON'T NICK ANYONE!
Modern police no longer have their most valuable tool - discretion. They instead have a massive Toolbox stuffed with massive tools - ACPO

Furor Teutonicus said...

XX little the officer can do if somebody caught in possession of qat simply decides to start chewing the evidence:XX

Yes there is. "Destruction of evidence."

JuliaM said...

"Besides, the facebook gobshite is far less likely to nut up than the gibbon from somalia who's used to just screaming 'waycism, waycism' and getting his own way cos it's cutural innit."

Exactly!

"I've heard that this disgusting habit involves a lot of spitting -surely that is something the police can home in on, if only for the sake of 'elf 'n safety?"

If the police were to try to tackle that, they'd run out of cells before an hour was up... :/

"Would any other group, other than Bearded Savages be treated with kid gloves in this way?"

Yes. Travellers.

JuliaM said...

"Yes there is. "Destruction of evidence.""

Superb!