Friday 14 October 2011

Well, Someone’s ‘Impersonating A Police Officer’ All Right…

A man who was fined for brushing his dog's hair in a Nottingham park has had his punishment overturned.
Wha..?
Roy Wyre was walking his dog Spencer in Harvey Hadden playing fields last Wednesday when he was stopped by a community protection officer.

The 66-year-old, from Bilborough, was questioned about a high-visibility uniform he was wearing and later fined £75 for leaving dog fur on the ground.
It seems this ‘community protection officer’ (note: not a policeman) was concerned that he was ‘impersonating a police officer’.

Yeah, I know. I had to do a doubletake at that too…
The city council has issued an apology and cancelled the fine.

An internal investigation into the incident has started, the council said.
Yes, I’ll just bet it has…
A city spokesman said: "We would fully expect our officers to be vigilant and to make enquires if they suspect someone of impersonating a police officer."
You seem to be paying people to do just that, don’t you?

17 comments:

RantinRab said...

Glasgow have 'enforcement officers' that patrol the city centre.

They wear uniform that is remarkably like the police. Even down to the chequer marked hats. It's not until you are close that you realise the cheque marks are yellow, not white.

It shouldn't be allowed.

Captain Haddock said...

It seems this ‘community protection officer’ (note: not a policeman) was concerned that he was ‘impersonating a police officer’...

Pot-Kettle .. Non-Reflective ?

Bill said...

With the number of HI-Viz vests/shirts/suits/hats on the streets these days this 'offence' should be appearing in every local paper every damn day.

It's almost worth buying some HI-viz of my own just for the entertainment value!

Ranter said...

Doesn't everyone have to wear a hi-viz jacket when out in a public place these days?

I really would have told the jumped up jobsworth to fuck off and get a real job...then asked for a sulliziter an hour later when giving my details to the custody sergeant!

Grate Brittan indeed.

Zaphod said...

They decorate these idiots to look like police officers, knowing that it will give them some visual credibility.

They ignore the side-effect, that we lose respect for that uniform.

If I were a real copper, I'd be livid.

I have many court statements from CPSOs, (parking ticket battles), and they all begin with "I was on high-visibility patrol"

They're supposed to just LOOK like policemen, for public "reassurance". More effective than cardboard cutouts, cos they move.

They're not supposed to DO anything, or their cover will be blown.

SBC said...

"They ignore the side-effect, that we lose respect for that uniform."

Zaphod me Ol'China, when did you last see a copper in UNIFORM?! These days policey men dress in When-I-Grow-Up-I-Want-To-Be-An-Israeli-Paratrooper combat gear with Spidey Belt and a stab vest (so we all know that they are scared to talk to us)....and that's just the WPCs (wear a skirt love, it's probably more protection than that ill fitting stab vest)

Zaphod said...

SBC, dude; maybe that's why the real ones like to wear all the dangly bits? So we know that they're not animated cardboard?

It's never been the same since cops got cars, and had to ditch the tall hat. Black cars, with a jingly bell!

Anonymous said...

The reason all these wanabees dress up like the police is to fool the public into thinking the streets are actually safe.
When I am on patrol traffic wardens and assorted council enforcement officers wave to me as if we all one big happy family.I don't wave back.If I have the misfortune to walk past one they try and engage me in conversation as if we are "all in it together".
Smoke and mirrors is the exact phrase the senior police officers use.
Jaded

James Higham said...

Bang to rights. I'm impersonating a blogger and will have the thought police down on me soon.

Captain Haddock said...

I don't know whether or not it still pertains .. but the Royal British Legion's Attendants Company, staffing car parks on behalf of the RBL, used to wear blue & yellow checkered hatbands, along with dark blue uniforms .. which in poor light, or at night looked very much akin to police uniforms ..

Much as I support the RBL and the good work which it does on behalf of Ex-servicemen & women .. I always thought the practice was sailing a bit close to the wind ..

MTG said...

Did I ever recount the Almondbury PCSO who impersonated a moron by insisting upon an imagined legal requirement to cover the blades of my hedgecutter when using it within a metre of the pavement?

I did? Oh, damn.

blueknight said...

What Jaded said. Back in the day they even wanted the civilian drivers who deliver mail and equipment around the Force area to use marked Police vehicles. The insistence that we wore the Hi Viz jacket was not an Elf n Safety requirement, but an optical illusion to make it look as if there were more Police on the street..
Trouble is that all and sundry wear yellow jackets as the norm, so it is difficult to recognise who is who

banned said...

@Jaded 18:15. In that case why are the police generally reported, as in this example, as coming down heavily on the side of the Council glorified litter wardens when they are challenged by Joe Public for 'enforcing' imaginary laws?

Incidentally I did ask one who might know why was it that the British Police Services decided to go all Blackshirt.
He replied that it was to make the stabvests less conspicuous which seems fair enough, why not say so?

Ross said...

Julia aren't you demonstrating double standards here.

In the previous post you come out against people having sex with animals yet here you condone a clear cut case of grooming.

[tumbleweed]

I'll get my coat.

P T Barnum said...

Dog fur in that particular park is considered litter? Presumably the discarded needles and condoms are part of the natural beauty of the environment.

And the dog walker was probably trying to keep the ne'er-do-wells away with his hi-vis. Note that it was during the day. No CP3PCOs to be found down there after dark...

David Gillies said...

I'm pretty much the bedrock upon which a consensual policing system rests (educated, middle class, non-violent). My cousin is a cop (sergeant, tough as nails, seen everything) Her brothers are cops. Their dad was a Chief Super. I wouldn't piss on a PCSO if the he were on fire (unless I had been thoroughly out on the lash and my urine would act as an accelerant).

If I'm in a cop-shop in the UK or the US, the only person I will speak to is a lawyer. PC's are too PC to be approachable directly without dire legal sanction down the line. I am as unimpeachably middle-class as they come (almost a caricature, really - we've lawyers and accountants and bank managers and actual engineers and management consultants from here till breakfast time, and we don't do naughty things) and none of us trust the justice system to do what it says on the tin.

JuliaM said...

"It shouldn't be allowed."

No, it shouldn't, as Jaded and Blueknight point out, it's a deliberate act to fool the public.

"Much as I support the RBL and the good work which it does on behalf of Ex-servicemen & women .. I always thought the practice was sailing a bit close to the wind .."

Indeed!

"...yet here you condone a clear cut case of grooming."

LOL!

"...and none of us trust the justice system to do what it says on the tin."

Ditto!