By Francesca Wilski
Suspected criminals are getting a Savoy-like, at the press of a button, ‘cell service’.
The news of ‘customer’ satisfactory’ like reports being handed out to suspected criminals in police cells, isn’t the kind of advertising we should be flashing if we want to maintain the chilling reputation imprisonment has had in the past.
While I understand and respect that those in police cells are often released without charged having not been convicted of a criminal offence, there is often a good reason for having them there. If we advertise this ‘improvement of service’ to those that deserve a night locked up, the abusive drunks for example, they’ll suspect that a night in a cell might be a cushy affair rather than the sobering experience it’s supposed to be; the threat of the police becomes a laughing matter.
After the G20 and investigations of police behaviour and conduct, the police are rightly reviewing their crowd control tactics and so on, but the new report from this morning’s metro has made certain officers uneasy: 'It is a bit rich really. These people are in the cell for a reason, it's not like they've come here on holiday. They are starting to treat the emergency cell buzzer like a room service hotline.'
Half the point of policeman is to be intimidating for potential criminals; their presence is often only there to be a precaution against criminal activity happening in the first place. By carrying out this service we are also stripping officers of their power. Threatening to throw someone in a clean, warm cell where they get fed, bathed and are given reading material won’t inspire good behaviour. If anything, news of these new questionnaires may serve to increase bad behaviour.