Private police force.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/11879 7/Your-own-police-force-to-patrol-for-3-15-a-w eek

�3.15 per week for your own police force, good value for money or not?

[Oneeyedvic]

from the article: The service will include special patrols outside schools, escorts to shops and banks, emergency response to alarms and other incidents and dog handlers to disperse street gangs.
...
Dressed in blue and black uniforms, the Atraks officers will not have any powers other than those afforded to any citizen.

Can see some problems brewing.

Have a look at Newham Park Police as well - covered a lot by Private Eye.

[flip_flop]

If I lived in an area that neighboured council estates with a load of scummy chavs on, I'd be happy to pay �3.15 a week.

[ummmm]

They are not a police force though. They have the same arresting powers as us except they've had a bit of training.

[anotheoldgit]

flip_flop

How totally snobbish of you, there are many scummy chavs, on most estates, private or council, and even in villages may I say.

[flip_flop]

I am an utter snob. I can't stand the chav scum underclass.

All the women tend to be fat, tattooed and milk curdlingly ugly, breeding with any chav male who happens to be passing so she can claim as many benefits as she can ("I'm entitled to 'em innit"), whereas the male of the specious tend to be weedy pasty sneering little oiks who haven't done a days work in their lives and probably never will (incidentally, given the male chav is invariably a sunken chested weed, why oh why do they insist on whipping off their Reebok T-Shirts as soon as the sun is out?).

I hate them - I really really hate them, they are loathesome scum.

Just before the end of term I took my five year old daughter to school and one of these people said to its son (I'm not making this up) "oi, come 'ere you little ****". Yes, THAT word, the worst word.

Scum.

[sp1814]

flip_flop

Never go to the beach at Hastings during the summer

I know the people you refer to. We went to Hastings for a Sunday afternoon two years ago, thinking it would make a nice day out.

The underclass were out in force (women with tattoos on their forearms etc).

At one point, I heard what looked like a 22 year old mother of four scream, "Keeley...if you don't stop fcuking around and get yerself back here, you're going to feel my boot right up your a**e".

My assumption is that she did not attend one of the better finishing schools.

[naomi24]

^^ Haaaa! Very good sp.

I don't think you're a snob, flip flop. You just have decent standards, and considerably more self respect than some.

To answer the question, I'd say that, on the whole, it's good value. I've just listened to a radio discussion on the subject, where several relevant questions were asked. For example, if the people on only one side of the street pay for the service, what happens if the patrol spots a car being vandalised, or a burglary in progress, on the 'unpaid' side of the street? The spokeman said he would deal with the problem, but then of course, the interviewer said, 'oh, well, if you're going to deal with any problem that arises, there's no need for me to pay the fee. I'll just let everyone else pay.' Bit of a dilemma there.

[bazwillrun]

the irony here is that you are already paying for a police force in you council tax

[flip_flop]

I'm a late 30s professional and have been working since the day I left university.

[Twenty20]

As your question was "Is it good value?" then the answer is very probably yes. Whether is should be necessary is another question.

[tamborine]

works out to �393.75 per day each. Who's kidding who?

[anotheoldgit]

flip_flop

When I said 'how totally snobbish of you' I wasn't calling you a snob, because you didn't like 'chavs', I was calling you snobbish for assuming that only Council estates, breed chavs.

I agree with you regarding that class of people we call Chavs, Shell suits, baseball caps, tons of jewellery, bare midriffs showing ample amounts of flesh, and tattoos.

This is of course the typical stereotype image, but it doesn't take into account the nature of a person, you know the type of thing 'she is a bit rough but she is the salt of the earth'

I came across such a person the other day, I was getting out of my car and got my foot trapped between the car and the high pavement. I was struggling to get free with the car door open and my walking stick in my other hand.

Many people passed me by, with not an offer of help, but then along came 'Mrs chav' although pushing the obligatory push chair complete with a number of plastic shopping bags attached to the handle, and another couple of toddlers tracking behind.

Yet she was the only one to stop a moment from her busy life and offer to help me to get free.

[Haggisdj]

Actually dancairo, the definition of a professional person - a person engaged in one of the learned professions; see here.