Joined up government

I always wondered why I never see any police on the streets near where I live despite the West End Station being only a couple of hundred yards away.

The cops want to get out on the beat, they claim:

SCOTLAND’S RANK-and-file police officers yesterday accused ministers of bringing in new laws and regulations which keep bobbies off the beat.

The Scottish Police Federation conference called on justice minister Cathy Jamieson to free up police time to fight crime on the streets.

Fear not, the justice minister is sorting this out:

However in reply Ms Jamieson said that the current shake up of the police service would give officers more time for frontline policing.

On the other hand, perhaps not

PLANS being considered by Lothian and Borders Police to close all but four of the city's police stations throughout the night are certain to be unpopular. There is already a great deal of public concern that the thin blue line is overstretched and that access to assistance is not as readily available as it should be.

The solution to all this is to get rid of all laws that relate to victimless crimes and free the police up to deal with those who actually aggress against our rights.

Some of the police agree with this argument.

(Of course, it may be that the police are just hoping to replace their drug testing paraphernalia with measuring tapes.)