The Biters Bit….

Police have installed a CCTV camera in their own canteen to catch officers who don't wash up.

After numerous complaints from tidy officers, police chiefs finally decided to address the 'abuse' and have arranged for a CCTV camera to be installed above the kitchen sink.

It’d take a heart of stone not to laugh….

Police officers were told about the plan for a camera this week by new police commander Graham Bartlett.

Police chiefs said the CCTV camera was a 'deterrent' to stop officers leaving dirty plates, cups and takeaway wrappers to litter the station kitchen.

And why not? After all, it works so well at deterri…

Oh. Wait.

He said: 'Eight hundred divisional police officers and staff have access to a new kitchen and rest room facility at Brighton police station.

'Unfortunately a small minority of people have been misusing the facilities which were provided by public money.

'I have therefore had to reluctantly take the decision that, in order to protect these facilities, we will use an overt camera to dissuade people from spoiling the facility for others.'

Yup, you read that right – to stop them ‘abusing facilities’ that were purchased with public money, they will be…spending even more public money!

Chief Superintendent Bartlett said damage to the kitchen would waste money meant for policing.

He said: 'I'd much rather be spending our police budget on neighbourhood policing than on any repairs which may arise in the future.

'No additional money was spent on the camera as it was already owned by Sussex Police.'

What ‘damage to the kitchen’, Bartlett? We’re just talking litter here…

And if you had a CCTV camera lying about going spare, why wasn’t it in use, or passed to another force to use?

David Lepper, MP for Brighton Pavilion, said: 'It seems a bit over the top to me. CCTV plays a valuable role in deterring and catching criminals. I'm not sure they need to go as far as CCTV cameras.

'I would think the public conscience of each police officer should be enough.

'Surely they could draw up a rota?'

I think that sort of organisational skill is a bit above Bartlett’s pay grade…

One policeman, who did not want to be named, said: 'This is taking things too far. We use CCTV to catch criminals, not officers who take a quick break from a punishing job.’

No-one’s stopping you from having a break. Just throw your rubbish in the bin, please, and wash your empty dishes.

Is that so hard…?