A well-known author has penned an open letter to the UK’s 122,000 police officers following the obscure criticism they have received over the past few months.
The author of the letter, Peter Bleksley, has written several books and has also written three plays for BBC Radio 4, as well as being involved with the hit Channel 4 show ‘Hunted’.
In an open letter, Peter (Twitter handle: @PeterBleksley) said:
“Dear Police Officers of the UK,
I last wrote an open letter to you on 1st April this year. Back then I had been enraged by the nonsensical suggestion that we were living in a police state, and that it was all your fault! Recent events have left me equally cross, so here I am again.
This morning I simply Googled ‘Police criticised’. Please don’t do this at home, it will irritate you immensely, and I’m sure you have far more important things to do like sleeping after night duty, preparing for your next shift, or perhaps enjoying a very well earned rest day. Sadly a number of you will be off sick and recovering from the injuries you recently received. I wish you all a swift and full recovery.
I apologise for reproducing a couple of the headlines that my Google search found. They were both published since I last wrote to you, but I use them to prove a point;
‘Police in UK criticised for overzealous enforcement of lockdown laws’
‘Police criticised for not enforcing social distancing during Clap For Our Carers event’
What fine examples of how you are damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. Who’d be a police officer eh? Thank goodness you brave men and women are.
Talking of bravery, I found myself shouting at the telly recently, as I watched you being subjected to mindless violence at recent protests. To see some of you wearing only flat caps, as the bottles and other missiles rained down on you, concerned me deeply. One reporter said live on air. ‘The bottles are plastic, not glass’, as if that somehow made the violence you were facing more acceptable. I sincerely hope this reporter’s editor arranges for her to attend one of your public order training courses. Alternatively she can pop down to my local park, and with her permission, I shall launch 330ml bottles of water at her, to see how she feels when one of them whacks her on the head.
Social media has been a cesspit of criticism for you recently. Those of you who choose to avoid all of that are very sensible. Those of you who post about your daily experiences of dealing with baby deaths, murders, rescuing domestic violence victims and arresting the offenders, rushing to attend to stabbing and shooting victims and much, much more, provide a great insight into the job like no other, and I thank you for that. I wonder how many of the spineless keyboard warriors who spew their bile in your direction, have ever washed the blood of a stranger, whose life they have just saved, from their hands? Not many I reckon.
I have read about the disillusionment many of you are feeling. I hear about those of you who are contemplating leaving the service. I don’t blame you. Please, listen to this old sweat that left the job 20 years ago. Life after the police can be difficult. I suspect there will be many more unemployed people this time next year, who will all be scrapping over the same roles. If you stick with the job and get your well-deserved yet depleted pension at the end of your service, it will make your later years more comfortable. And by crikey you’ll have earnt it.
In the meantime, please remember that many millions of people support you and thank you. Blue lives matter as well.
Peter Bleksley – 10th June 2020″.
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