Muammar Al Khadafi

A member of staff at Sainsburies superstore in Bridgwater has related a recent incident in which police allegedly refused to respond to a crime on the premises - because it involved travellers.

According to the member of staff, who does not wish to be named, three travellers vehicles arrived on the forecourt of Sainsburies petrol station, filled up with fuel, and left without paying.

The police response when contacted over the crime was to allegedly say that they would not respond to the incident. Currently, further information as to the reason given by the police for not responding is unknown.

Why is that - because it was believed the crime was committed by travellers? Could the police just not be bothered, or simply didn't have resources available?

One would assume that Sainsburies has CCTV adequate enough that it could furnish the police with the number plates of the vehicles involved.

Would either Sainsburies or the Bridgwater Police care to make an official comment on the alleged incident?

As our un-named member of Sainsburies staff commented, the police would have been quick enough to respond, and have had no qualms about turning up on someones doorstep, if it had been any 'ordinary' motorists who had committed the theft.

Are police, through either delusions of cultural sensitivity, or fear of confrontation, afraid to deal with crimes committed by travellers?

Does this mean that some people are effectively above the law?

Avon and Somerset Police have published a list of allegations of racism made against police officers since 2006 as part of a response to a Freedom of Information request which makes for interesting reading.

Here's a few snippets, anyone want to claim that the race card isn't played at every opportunity?

"Complainant stopped under suspicion of driving stolen car. Officer allegedly described him as a Nigerian even though he was wearing a Kenyan flag on his T shirt".

Ooops, heinous offence, officers should know every flag in the world. Though....what if a Nigerian wore a Kenyan flag, would that be racism if the officer assumed the Nigerian were Kenyan?

"Following a disturbance outside a youth club, an officer allegedly told a youth worker that 'he was getting fed up dealing with them'. This was perceived to be racist"

Perhaps he merely meant he was fed up dealing with disturbances outside of the youth club?

"Complainant was one of two parties in a dispute in the street. She alleged that she was not treated fairly as the officers first approached the other party and this action was racially motivated."

Err, they do have to speak to someone first, should they have spoken to the complainant first, thus - on the complainants logic - racially discriminating against the other party?

"Complaint by mother of 17 year old arrested for robbery at knifepoint. He was identified by the victim close to the scene. Alleges that arrest was due to ethnicity."

Of course, after being robbed at knifepoint, the poor victims first thought is let's be racist, we'll say an ethnic minority did it.

"Call received from child saying that his parents were fighting. Officers attended and entered house. Complainant was seen to hit & kick his wife and was arrested following a struggle. He complains that the actions of the officers were racially motivated."

Does one really need to comment on that?

That's enough from the Avon and Somerset Police list of incidents though, you get the picture, racism is the complaint for every occasion, if in doubt yell race.

How much money - your money - is being spent investigating all of these claims, working towards 'local resolutions', and what impact is fear of being accused of being racist having upon policing?

Racism is the accusation for all occasions in modern Britain, at least if you are a minority. Yell it as loudly and as often as you can, political correctness will take care of the rest, and the British taxpayer will end up footing the bill. Go on, you've got nothing to lose, accuse away.

Surely the police and authorities have better things to be investing their time and our money on?

Full Incident List (PDF) - Avon and Somerset Police

Despite promising massive savings to Somerset County Council, it appears as if Southwest One, a venture between Somerset County Council, Taunton Deane Borough Council, Avon and Somerset Police, and computer giant IBM - who owns 75% of it - appears to be a bit of a shambles.



Estimated savings of £45million have so far failed to materialise to any substantial extent, with a review report saying so far only £2million savings to procurement had been delivered.



Not only this, the system managed to make duplicate payments totalling £4.6million, of which £169,000 is still un-recovered and will likely require costly legal action.



"....there appears to have been substantial but unqualified additional direct and indirect costs by the County Council and others in resolving the various difficulties encountered" says the review report, which appears to be putting things very politely.



Full Story - Taxpayers Alliance