When You Say It Like That, It Sounds Stupid

I'm getting a mixed message here:

Youths who persistently misbehave and intimidate others in their communities should be "harassed themselves", Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has said...

She said she wanted police in England and Wales to "turn the tables" on those who would not "live by the rules".

This could include repeated home visits and checks to identify benefit fraud or council and road tax non-payment.

Huh ? That ain't harassment, that's traditional law enforcement. If this sort of thing has fallen into disrepute, it might have something to do with a political establishment which calls checking tax discs 'harassment'.

Even if you ignore the inevitable outbreak of girly hysteria should a police force service actually adopt this policy, who exactly is going to carry out this harassment ? There are few enough police officers out there anyway, and that's without considering that liberals - in uniform and out of it - have spent years disparaging this kind of policing.

Liberals firmly believe that the average police officer is either an undermotivated waster or an idiot. Hence the rise of the high-flying police manager, with maximum qualifications, minimum experience and a firm belief operations can be run by remote control. Initiative is out, hitting the numbers is in.

No doubt these managers would be down with letting the police harass low-life, but not if it meant they missed one of this month's performance indicators. As it is, the chances of one of these MBA-totting control freaks releasing a team for a free-wheeling sweep through bandit country is approximately zero.