Hi °C | Lo °C I was completely underwhelmed to hear a senior PSNI officer recounting with great enthusiasm and gusto how the police force (sorry, service) had enjoyed considerable success stopping kids in limos from enjoying a glass of champagne on their "night out of a lifetime" travelling to their school formals.
Does no one in the PSNI even begin to get it?
How do they think these kids and their parents feel about being stopped and treated like this by a police service that is seemingly afraid to confront armed terrorists, but more than able to issue any amount of tickets for minor traffic violations?
Get a life, guys. If someone is going to a formal they are generally sixth-formers and normally more than seventeen-and-a-half, but the law is the law and boy do they know it.
Unfortunately, if your house has been burgled, you are on your own - expect no conviction to follow.
I recently spoke to two businessmen - both about to give up because of their losses due to break-ins at their premises.
When the serious bad guys are all behind bars, perhaps then a zero-tolerance policy toward minor crime might be more appropriate.
Until that time arrives, the PSNI need to "catch themselves on".
BRIAN GIBSON
Comber
