When Police Become Social Workers

A Deadly Error... Committed by Cops

Peter Hitchens
The Daily Mail

It’s the way things cease to be shocking that is so fascinating. If, even 30 years ago, a police force had proposed to let off drug dealers and give them free driving lessons and gym memberships, the Chief Constable involved would have had to resign in about two hours.

Now, when Avon and Somerset Police announce this mad scheme, there’s barely a tremor. To me, the interesting thing here is that those targeted for this crime-rewarding programme are drug dealers. For years, police have excused their cowardly, lawless and disastrous failure to pursue criminal drug users by saying this would free them to catch the evil dealers.

I knew they never really meant it.
UK police forces long ago ceased to be police as we understand the term. They are just armed and uniformed social workers, full of excuses for crime and utterly opposed to the idea of punishing responsible wrongdoers.

As evidence has piled up that marijuana is one of the most dangerous drugs known to man, its use linked with mental illness and violence, they have thick-headedly reduced their already feeble efforts to combat its use.  This particular outfit announced in 2004 that it had given up arresting marijuana users.

In 2016, it became the fifth police district in the country to say openly that it just wasn’t interested in acting against possession of this dangerous drug, which lies behind so much of the severe violence which now pollutes our streets.  It admitted to me last week that it would be ‘very unusual’ for it to act against this crime which still carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.  By what right or power do they decide to ignore laws passed by Parliament?

But the truth is that this police district is not really exceptional. I suspect that it just has better PR than most of the others. A reputation for being soft on crime, and especially on marijuana, is what gets you promotion in today’s Britain.

I will never understand why more people are not more angry about this great screaming scandal in our midst.