I spotted this poster in Chester last week:

Outside Tescos, Chester

At first glance it appears to be something straight out of Orwell’s ‘1984′, in fact I only found out what it was all about when I returned home and checked the Police Pledge website which explains:

“The Policing Pledge is a set of promises to local residents that not only gives more information about who their local neighbourhood policing team is, but also ensures that communities will have a stronger voice in telling the police what they think is most important and what they are most worried about.”

As a member of the community, I would say that one of my biggest concerns is that the wheels are in motion for Britain to be converted gradually into a police state, through intrusive use of CCTV monitoring systems, dangerous proposals to record all internet and mobile phone use, and extensive databases logging travel details of innocent citizens (amongst many other liberty threatening schemes).

All these ’solutions’ come under the convenient guise of saving the world from terrorism, yet at the expense of the civil liberties of me, you, and future generations who may never know what it means to be able to go about your everyday business without being constantly monitored and recorded.

With all this in mind, placing posters such as the one above in public places do not give me much faith in the police’s ability to judge what the community want. Here’s a clue though:

I do not want to be put under police caution by a billboard as I enter Costa Coffee.

Is that too much to ask? Maybe try a more sensible/less sensationalist approach next time?

See also:

direct.gov.uk/policingpledge/

boingboing.hexten.net