Technology and the Police

Speak to any policeman and they will tell you that their biggest problem is paperwork. Has much changed in the thirty-five years since my mate Pete was the collator at Cannon Row? I suspect not much!

Michael Howard said today that he will not be implimenting the MacPherson Report with respect to filling in a forty question form for everybody stopped by the police. He probably is right, but then he won't be making the decision.

Take the latest mobile phones, which have built in video cameras and they are linked through a system with endless bandwidth. Or so we are told!

Can't we give policeman a little button hole camera with a red light, so that every time they stop someone, they record it and show it live centrally. Judging that the average policeman would only stop a few people each day, I don't think it would be too onerous.

But think what it would do for security on the street? Would criminals want to be photographed as they stood waiting for someone to mug? Would drunks having a fight stand around, knowing that the policeman approaching them is filming the incident?

I doubt it!