Dangling from telephone wires, shoes can be found suspended by their laces above terraced roads everywhere from St George to St Andrew's. To some, they are simply an eyesore.
But for police there is a more sinister explanation for their presence – they believe they reveal the locations where illegal drugs can be bought. Officers have now hired a cherry picker to remove shoes hanging from wires in St Paul's and St Werburgh's.Remember, police are whinging constantly about ‘terrible Toreee cutz’. Bear this in mind, always…
In a post on the Avon & Somerset police website, PC Simon Humphrey, neighbourhood beat manager for Montpelier and St Werburgh's, said officers had been helping "keep the community safe" by working with Brandon Hire to "remove shoes and trainers from telephone wires that indicate the areas where you can buy illegal drugs".Now, I've never heard of this one. So I did what any normal person would do – I went to Snopes, and discovered, in about 20 seconds, that it was unmitigated bullshit.
Not that the cops are aware of this, though I suspect smarter ones than PC Humphrey have an inkling:
Paul Bunt, Avon & Somerset police's drugs strategy manager, said shoes are found on wires in Bristol for a wide variety of reasons.
He said: "There's nothing to say that if you see them there is drug dealing going on, but that's not to say it isn't."*chuckles* If you say so, Paul…
Maggie Telfer, chief executive of the Bristol Drugs Project, dismissed the practise of using shoes hanging from wires as a means of attracting drug users.
She said: "It's a bit of an urban myth and more of an American thing. Anyone seeking to buy substances on a regular basis wouldn't need a pair of trainers on a telephone wire to know where to go. If they are using substances, they will go to friends or people they know. We are not going to have people walking the streets looking for pairs of shoes.
"We haven't been made aware of police removing shoes."You have now. I bet it gave you a few laughs.
Until you realise you’re paying the salaries of morons.
12 comments:
The sneakers over the telephone lines started in California in the late 70's. If you got into trouble as a teenager in Cali you got sent to what is called a youth camp. While there you wore state-issued clothes, including cheap tennis shoes. When you were released you took the shoes with you. They couldn't re-issue the shoes because of hygiene reasons. Hence, when you got back to the 'hood you tossed them over the lines to let people know that a bad-ass lived on that street.
It is used in the states to mark out gang areas. Only by the fact that those are he areas where drugs are freely availabvle, does it indicate drug "shops". Or it WAS.
Whether it started as an "Urban myth" or not. I have no idea, but myths sometimes have this nack of becoming self fulfilling prophecy.
Hmmm. Make mine a pint of whatever Paul Bunt is smoking.
Back in 2009, the National Lottery Fund granted £265,000 to a project investigating the 'absolute mystery' of paired shoes appearing on the branches of an ash tree by the A40.
A little independent research at the time revealed '...a plethora of alleged reasons for shoes in trees, ranging from passing-out rituals for local squaddies to drug dens or gang murders, with a short detour into the occult (the departed need them for trips back home, apparently).
Other suggestions include a (very) public declaration of the loss of virginity or a celebration of marriage; the fact that shoes laced together have pleasing aerodynamic properties and you can get home without them (if comfortably intoxicated) makes them eminently suitable for the purpose.'
Sadly the National Lottery Fund never got in touch...
So anyone that does something you disagree with is now a moron?
Jaded
For once Jools, you are being a tad unfair towards the police force-and I'm surprised Jaded hasn't already moaned (does he still post here?).
It's really not the Police's fault-*this time*. I'll wager that someone on the street felt OFFENDED by the sneakers on the phone lines. Probably a Guaarednianista worried about house prices or perhaps a member of some ethinic or 'vulnerable' group.
They D E M A N D E D the council D O something. The council investigated (ie sent a jobsworth round) who informed Mz.OFFENDED that only a thrice qualified BT engineer was legally allowed to remove anything from a phone line. Mz.Offended-in-an-ethnic-skirt then DEMANDED BT DO SOMETHING about this eyesore.
BT however felt that it legally couldn't remove the shoes as they were evidence of a crime -'vandalism of her Majesty's Communication network' or whatever the Telegraph Act of 1846 calls it.
Therefore it got dumped in the lap of the local constabulary. The front line staff passed on Mz.BY-NOW-TWEETING-FURIOUSLY's D E M A N D for action upline to senior management , who knew the only way they could justify the expense of dealing with something no one in their right mind would expect policeymen to have to deal wit, was to come up with an 'excuse' and a load of dingo's kidneys about 'drug shops'.
At which point Mz.OFFENDED-AND-FEARING-FOR-HER-HOUSE-PRICE complained that the police were RACIST and labeling her neighbourhood as being filled with junkies.
Here endeth today's lesson...
XX I'm surprised Jaded hasn't already moaned (does he still post here?). XX
Either you got crossed in the post, or you did not bother to read the post directly abouve yours.
"Either you got crossed in the post, or you did not bother to read the post directly abouve yours."
My post was still in moderation when Jaded posted I think. Course, on the other hand, I might have just been too stoopid to glance up the page.
When I was a kid in the 70s, I remember a lot of clackers in the same state. I think it's just that two equal masses connected by string are an excellent thing to throw over things when feeling bored and triflingly vandalistic.
The one that used to intrigue me was cassette tape. I noticed quite a lot of it in the 80s; not the shell, just the tape, tangled in trees and bushes.
ZZ The Blocked Dwarf said...
I might have just been too stoopid to glance up the page.ZZ
I doubt that.
"The sneakers over the telephone lines started in California in the late 70's. "
Fascinating how these memes spread!
"...but myths sometimes have this nack of becoming self fulfilling prophecy."
Collective unconscious?
"Back in 2009, the National Lottery Fund granted..."
Oh yes! I remember that one.
"So anyone that does something you disagree with is now a moron?"
I suspect he was a moron - and a gullible one at that - long before I disagreed with him, Jaded.
"It's really not the Police's fault-*this time*."
Oh?
A nice scenario, but the more likely one is 'Oh, shit, what can I do so I can be seen to be 'taking positive action' for my promotion?'
" Course, on the other hand, I might have just been too stoopid to glance up the page."
No, you were right first time... ;)
"When I was a kid in the 70s, I remember a lot of clackers in the same state. "
Oooh, flashback! I had a set of those...
The tape is easily explained, it's light & it travels for miles when you get fed up & throw it out of a car window... ;)
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