Policing is a tie that binds us all. Don’t let it unravel | Duncan Campbell

Tory budget cuts, along with Theresa May’s offhand treatment of the police, is putting the social contract with the public at risk

It’s 4am and you want to know where is the best place to get a bacon sandwich in your part of town. Or there’s a fox making a weird noise outside your window. Or you think you’re going to be late for a flight, and the only way you can get to the airport on time would be with a police escort. Or your kebab is cold, and the kebab shop won’t give you your money back. What on earth can you do? Ring 999, of course. And people do. Every year or so, police forces publish their list of the silliest 999 calls they have received. They paint an oddly comforting picture of a society for which the most worrying event of the day might be that someone lost 50p in a faulty launderette machine, or ordered a pizza that was never delivered.

Related: Met chief says social media is behind soaring rate of knife crime

Continue reading...

from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Ee4fAf