Outcry at speed PC misplaced
When Roman legions were beaten, the surviving legionnaires were lined up and their commander chose every 10th man for execution. Fighting bravely to implement the commander's strategy didn't matter. If you were number 10, you were done for. It's where we get the word decimate from.
Media coverage of fast response driver Pc Mark Milton proves the decimate policy is alive and well.
His police instructors told him to practise fast driving.
Let's be clear about this. He was instructed to drive at "eye-watering" speeds on public roads; not at 50mph in a 30mph zone.
Every fast response driver in the UK will have been told the same. But, after one such training session, the police decide he's driving dangerously, because - wait for it - he's driving at high speed.
So, despite being instructed to practise driving way beyond the speed limits and despite no written procedure in place to say how, where and when drivers were to continue their professional training, the powers-that-be decided he was the 10th man and threw him to the wolves.
Perhaps the mob, baying for blood and led by incredibly biased reporting, was a factor.
In the furore, everyone ignored the fact it is chief constables who are responsible for issuing correct procedures, not Police Constables. Yet again the legionnaire is punished and not the commander.
Roger France, Muxton
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