Fined £50 for dropping a tenner!

Mostly the police forces are served by men and women who want to do a good job for society. Just as it is clear that only a few MPs are keen to exploit the allowances they get, so it is that bad apples are few in the police force. Human nature is ever thus, that however well-intentioned the organisation may be in its public interaction, some may have their own interpretation.

Now there were two police officers walking the streets in Ayr, a nice seaside town on the South-west coast of Scotland. These two appear to be in a different league. Not from the bad apple minority, but from the clueless copper department. Stewart Smith is an arthritis suffer and he lives in Ayr. He was leaving a charity shop when a £10 banknote fell from his hand, without him realising. Mr.Stewart at first expressed his gratitude to the two officers who approached him to point out that the note had fallen to the ground. But moments later, after recovering the note, he was stunned to be accused of littering and slapped with a £50 fixed-penalty notice.

The tale becomes more bizarre and the police action more intolerable. What they should have done was to point out to Mr.Stewart that there was an anti-litter campaign of zero tolerance. However, that zero tolerance is aimed at deliberate actions and the wilful dropping of litter. This hardly falls into that category.

The penalty ticket says "You did drop a price ticket", which is true, but it hardly constitutes a pre-meditated action. Now Strathclyde Police are compounding their officers' behaviour by implying that Mr.Stewart was a trouble-maker! This is typical of today's society and very much so of those with some form of authority. It's not us, it's you. They are wandering around in a blameless bubble, keen to pass the buck.

Surely the police can see that this kind of absurd behaviour brings them into disrepute. I'm against the actions of litter louts. They make an unholy mess of the place. However, there is something to be said for policemen having a brain in their heads rather than a politically correct computer. If they witnessed the man having difficulty putting his money in his pocket, it was mean-spirited of them to fine him.

Accidents and accidental behaviour are just that. They certainly do not belong in the same category as premeditated crimes or a casual attitude that leads to wrongdoing.

Man spends 18 hours in police cell and has his DNA taken for 'dropping an apple core'

The Daily Mail has a really horrendous story about how a man got into trouble from meeting an over-zealous PCSO with a stubby pen and a wad of tickets. Keith Hirst was banged up in jail simply because he protested at how he was treated. He said yesterday he would fight to clear his name in a case which could leave him with a criminal record and cost taxpayers thousands of pounds. "The way I was treated you would have thought I had robbed a bank," he said. "My family are law-abiding people and I would help if I saw a gang of yobs attacking a police officer. This kind of incident does not help in improving relations between the community and police." I agree entirely.

I cannot understand why the police seem totally oblivious to certain crimes and testosteronely crazy about others. Is it because they have gone from being a police force to a police service? A service which has to make money? There's not much income to be made from catching petty thieves but being petty about other things is a bit of a money-spinner.

Superintendent Ian Palmer, of Greater Manchester Police, said, "Littering is an offence. We work tirelessly to ensure the streets are not only safe but also clean." I agree with clean streets, but Mr.Palmer, give your brain an MOT, because picking on people without a shred of common sense being used is going to alienate the community not make them want to help you.

And Mr.Palmer, remember we pay your wages. It's not the other way round!