Low-Hanging Fruit

That's all our modern police farces want to deal with these days:

The incredible footage includes the man, wearing a beanie, being handcuffed and being pushed against a police car door as three officers surround him. A large bag of birdseed can be seen next to him on the kerbside.Footage later shows the distressed man hunched over and being led into the back of the police van where the door is shut and an officer can be heard saying he is 'under arrest'.

A pervert? A burglar? A shoplifter?No, Reader, just a man feeding the birds. 

Tony Gath who witnessed the incident said he was 'disturbed' by what he had seen. Tony said: 'It was disgusting behaviour, all they had to do was educate the man on where he can and can't feed the birds, then send him on his way.

'I'm disturbed that they felt that level of intimidation and power was acceptable at all, not just in public.'

 It's the only target they can display that level of intimidation against these days. Not really surprising they go balls-to-the-wall when they get the chance.

According to Wirral Council's official website there are 'no laws' that the council can effectively use to stop people feeding wild birds. But Environmental Health may be able to 'take action in significant and excessive cases' where rotten food waste is accumulating or the bird feeding can be shown to be the cause of an infestation of rats or mice. Cheshire Police said the council had previously reported to the police that feeding of the birds in the area was causing an 'increase in vermin'.

And the police, understanding that the balance of power these days has swung from the man in the street to a whole host of petty officialdom at the town hall, swung into action with a 'arrest first, release later when the spotlight's off and before solicitors can mobilise' protocol. Thereby marking themselves out, once again, as enemies of the people. I'm sure that won't come back to bite them in the arse in the future....