An easy hit.

A policeman hard at work serving the community.

Readers of this blog may have noticed the contributions from various commenters, some of whom are every bit as familiar with this corruption epidemic as I.  It's rare to get relevant and sensible comments on a blog and I am very grateful to receive them.  I'm only sorry I've not had time to reply to each of them, but please keep them coming.  The first comment on the latest post by "eek it out" hit the nail on the head.  What we have here is 'policing by stats'.

Prosecuting me is a nice easy hit that takes no great effort to secure a statistical win.  The plod will take the councils word that the bailiff fees are legitimate and will do no examination of their own, and with the deck stacked, there is a high probability of an easy conviction - especially since the average magistrate is too thick to make a judgement on points of technical regulation.  To expect a plod to do the legwork where grey matter may collide - forget it.

Rather than address a fraud epidemic for which there is widespread proof, testimony and multiple complaints to the police, as well as a cottage industry in fighting them, the police opt not to rock the boat and leave these grubby little dung piles alone, free to rape the public with unlawful charges.  I ask, would this industry even exist if the police did their jobs? 

It seems that anything that may prove difficult to investigate, that does not necessarily result in an easy statistic to chalk up on the blackboard, is deemed too much effort and not worth the trouble.  Rather than serving the justice and serving the public, they can proudly lie to their superiors that another ruffian criminal has been punished for his misdeeds.  For a public service that is rapidly losing respect and standing in the community, you would expect they would take more of an interest in protecting the public interest.

I have been in touch with Avon and Somerset Plod to demand a written explanation as to why they have refused to investigate, which I shall publish here.  So far they have gone to great lengths to avoid putting anything in writing.  I suspect this is because they know full well that they are exposed - and they know they have done a sloppy job on this from the outset, especially the obnoxious and thoroughly lazy PC 4434 Bird.  One can almost understand the impulse to throw hand grenades at plod if the lack of manners is typical of PC's Bird and Coleman.

However, there is one small matter they forget.  This isn't over yet.  Odds are good that I shall win the appeal an abuse of process grounds alone.  After which, if they think I have been a nuisance up to press, they ain't seen nothing yet.  But if I lose, I will have a criminal record already, and thus will have nothing to lose by doing precisely the same again next year, alongside a couple of other community minded and principled people who have pledged to do the same by withholding council tax; after which I will  be compiling a document for submission to the Serious Fraud Office.  They are, after all, experts on serious fraud.