Police Chief – police expected to clear homeless, not catch criminals

(not satire – it’s UK policing today!)

Police swooped on a group of homeless men on Thursday night in Essex, confiscating their sleeping bags and even food parcels donated to them by the Salvation Army.

As if the police wasting time on attacking homeless people instead of catching real criminals is not bad enough – the explanation for the action from the Chief Inspector of Ilford, John Fish, is even more amazing.

He said the public rely on police “to reduce the negative impact of rough sleepers” – including confiscating their belongings.

Now maybe there is zero percent crime in Ilford. Maybe there are no murders, rapes, burglaries, muggings and violence there or in the surrounding areas – in which case I offer my sincerest apologies to C.I Fish for this article and congratulate him on his good fortune for being able to allocate so much of his officers’ time on matters which should normally be of no interest to the police.

But even if there is the smallest amount of crime taking place in his area – I think I need to explain something really important to Chief Inspector Fish.

While there is crime on our streets and in our homes, the public don’t rely on you and your officers to confiscate food parcels from homeless people.

We rely on you to catch f***ing criminals. OK?

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Here’s the full quote from C.I Fish explaining his actions:

The public rely on police to reduce the negative impact of rough sleepers, this includes the need for us to assist in the removal of temporary structures, tents, and bedding from public spaces and other inappropriate locations.

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And here’s a link to the original story from the Ilford Recorder:

Police swoop on the homeless taking sleeping bags and food parcels in co-ordinated raids in Redbridge

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