29
Jun
2017
By Calvin at 15:22 GMT, 8 years ago
You know, after six and a half years away from the police service, it seems that my police brain is still ticking away! Don’t get me wrong; I’m not suggesting I had a special chip surgically implanted into my head at Hendon Training School and the battery’s still working (we didn’t have chips small enough back in 1978 anyway) and neither am I suggesting that the training somehow altered the way I thought and saw things. I’d always possessed a suspicious and questioning mind and I invariably held the view that if a person’s eyes were too close together then they were bound to be guilty.
So what am I going on about?
It’s those blinking supermarkets again!
There I was, walking into Lidl’s this morning, minding my own business, when in front of me I spied a young woman in her seventies pushing a shopping trolley and pulling a wheeled shopping bag all at the same time. I was most impressed by her endeavours, but as I admired the way she negotiated the trays of outdoor plants and the automatic doors I couldn’t help but notice her open handbag with the purse right on the top. If I’d had a batman outfit stored away in the nearby telephone box I swear I would have donned it and swooped to her rescue. As it happens I dismissed this thought of becoming a superhero and instead spoke very quietly in her shell-like and suggested she make some alterations to her baggage. I even mentioned that she could hang the wheeled bag to the hook on the back of the trolley.
So what was her response to this friendly word of advice?
The lady told me that she was fully aware that her handbag was open and the purse was exposed and that there was little she could do whilst pushing and pulling a trolley and wheeled shopper respectively and simultaneously (actually I think she just said ‘at the same time’). “I’m not a miracle worker”, she added and finished by suggesting that I mind my own business next time!
I’ll be honest, I was taken aback and then I thought to myself, I wonder if she would have said the same thing to a policeman, or a community safety officer or maybe me if I’d been wearing my batman outfit.
Then reality hit home. The fact is that once that uniform or warrant card goes you do lose that credibility that you once had when part of the police family. But, while my police brain is still ticking, her reaction won’t stop me saying the same thing to someone else in the future and I hope someone advises me when I do something equally stupid. I’m also reminded of an old adage that went something like ‘Good advice is often given, but seldom taken’ which, of course, is the bane of my involvement with a website that gives loads of advice, for afterall I do not know how much of that advice will be followed.
Let me finish by pointing you to a page of crime prevention advice about shopping. I wrote it for people going Xmas shopping, but frankly it’s useful stuff whatever the time of year – now where’s that batman outfit?
Theft free shopping https://thecrimepreventionwebsite.com/robbery-and-theft-risk/661/christmas-shopping-tips/
And just for fun, here’s a few ‘Advice quotes’ I found at https://www.happypublishing.com/blog/advice-quotes/
- Advice is seldom welcome, and those who need it the most, like it the least. - Lord Chesterfield (This one certainly fits my story!)
- Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that’s no reason not to give it. - Agatha Christie
- I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite. - G. K. Chesterton
- Never give advice in a crowd. - Arabian Proverb (I didn’t, but this does sound sensible)
