Metropolitan Beat: There have been unprecedented numbers of police officers on the streets of London recently, and there are even more today because it's [ssssh!] Thursday. But hasn't it been lovely having community police on the beat again? It's like the nostalgic rosy world of Heartbeat, but down here in central London. In the last two weeks I've spotted two friendly coppers mediating between opposing parties in a rear-end shunt outside Bow Church DLR station and a yellow-jacketed angel showing a local woman how to operate the ticket machine. There's not been much terrorism to fight on the streets of E3, though. Which begs five questions.
1) All those thousands of police standing outside stations - what are they not doing instead? Presumably they're not solving murders, catching muggers, seizing drugs, chasing burglars, fighting crime ... or having any time off. Which can't be good for them, or for us.
2) All those armed police standing outside stations - are they supposed to make us feel safer? It's not working. I feel less safe every time I see a police officer on a train, or walking down a platform, or patrolling outside a station, because they just remind me how potentially dangerous my life is now. Which, otherwise, I'd be able to push to the back of my mind. Damn them.
3) All those bored police standing outside stations - are they actually paying attention? I have my doubts. Whenever I see a pair of police officers outside a station they seem to be far more preoccupied talking to each other rather than scrutinising the passing crowd. Whenever I see solo police officers outside a station they're certainly much less distracted, but they also look bored witless and I wonder if they're even awake by the end of an eight hour shift.
4) All those prejudice-free police standing outside stations - how do they decide whose bag to search? They've not stopped me yet. I wonder what this proves.
5) All those expensive police standing outside stations - how much is it costing us? Presumably it's costing us millions. But I guess that's peanuts compared to how much London could lose if they let one more dodgy rucksack slip through.
