Community policing

The Evening Telegraph in Dundee has been running a series of Tayside Police press releas...er...articles on a "shake-up" of policing in the city, with particular emphasis on the creation of 36 community officers who are dedicated to particular areas and undertake ground-breaking initiatives such as patrolling the streets.

It's always a bit worrying to see the word 'community' attached to anything - it usually seems a way of dressing up an area ridden with crime and conflict - but the feel-good message conveyed by the articles will no doubt provide reassurance to some. On the other hand, a similar spiel accompanied the advent of the 'community safety wardens' a few years ago (I think the term 'safety' was appended some time later - another feel-good word), and the need for the new community police officers possibly now vindicates the then view that the warden concept was little more than a glorified neighbourhood watch scheme.

Anyway, anyone familiar with this territory will be equally well versed with the type of message conveyed in the Tele's articles, and typical of this is the closing paragraph in one piece, quoting one of the community officers:

The message is don't be put off by the 'police don't do anything' type of attitude. I'll certainly be looking for anybody to approach me, no matter how petty they think something is.

However, an interesting letter also appeared in the Tele this week. A couple wrote of witnessing two youths throwing litter to the ground despite being adjacent to a bin:

I have witnessed this before, but this time rather than ignore it I challenged the two boys and asked them to pick up their rubbish and put it in the bin.The torrent of foul language and abuse I received in response was staggering. Thankfully they saw a policeman patrolling and ran off.

I told the policeman about this but his response was one of, “that’s life” and walked off.

So which is the more realistic portrayal of policing in Dundee?