An Apology.

[Just-Jude]

They couldn't even get the spelling of "immigrant" right. Should they be sacked for being thick as well as racist?

Why do so many unemployable idiots end up in the police?

http://news.sky.com/story/1160105/twitter-mistake-police-sorry-for-immigrant-tweet

[EDDIE51]

Why do so many unemployable idiots end up in the Police?
Because they failed to get elected as MPs.

[FredPuli43]

Illegal immigrants 0 would have been correct, but for the fact that the officers might be seen as pre-judging the case. Since they usually do pre-judge when the case is strong; full admissions, caught in the act, overwhelming other evidence etc; we might forgive them that.

[ck1]

How does that qualify as racism? Haven't we all been guilty of the odd spelling mistake, this doesn't make you thick, twitter must be the last place to be critical of spelling

[FredPuli43]

ck1, twitter is not the last place to go to be critical of spelling. Are you new on here? LOL

[bednobs]

how is that racist or inappropriate?

[FredPuli43]

It is seen as inappropriate or racist because it suggests that all immigrants are the same. Can't say that I see it as more than the work of someone whose thinking and precision in English was not ideal, not, one might say, forensic.

[THECORBYLOON]

Unless I'm missing something, the spelling of 'immigrant' is correct in the tweet but incorrect in the so-called quote. I am looking at it through a badly cracked screen on a 'phone mind.

[ummmm]

But aren't all 'illegal' immigrants the same? As in 'illegal'?

Corby - "The post said: "re the last tweet. the PCSO was 13331 Mullard and the help of colleagues from the town team. Officers 1 Imigrants 0!!"

^^ from the article.

[FredPuli43]

Not all immigrants are illegal. Therefore to say only 'immigrants' suggests, to a sensitive PC mind, a slur on the legal. It suggests that the writer is saying that the police have a victory over all immigrants and that all immigrants are bad. This reading requires a deal of imaginative interpretation; it is plain what the writer meant, and it was not that.

[pixie373]

Yes, if he'd just added the word "illegal" in, it would have been different. I think that's what he meant, though, anyway. More a grammar problem than racism, i think.

[THECORBYLOON]

UMMMM, is the OP not saying the police are thick because of the spelling? It's correct in the screenshot of the tweet but the "quote" in the article mis-spells 'immigrants' and that is the point I am making.

[jno]

sometimes people accidentally say things they don't mean. Sometimes the accidentally say things they do mean. It can be hard to tell the difference.

Incidentally, despite all the accusations of racism, the police have apologised only for inappropriate language. It might be theat the inappropriateness lay in giving a score and thus treating the whole thing as a game.

[anotheoldgit]

/// Why do so many unemployable idiots end up in the police? ///

That is rich coming from someone who suggested that a certain child choir should be strangled.

[Baldric]

///Why do so many unemployable idiots end up in the police?///

You really don't want Police that can think for themselves surely,
they're suspect enough now, just think what would happen if they could act independently!

[tamborine]

'…Why do so many unemployable idiots end up in the police? …'.

Your comment is as offensive! Are they paying towards your JSA ?

[anotheoldgit]

Baldric

///Why do so many unemployable idiots end up in the police?///

/// You really don't want Police that can think for themselves surely,
they're suspect enough now, just think what would happen if they could act independently! ///

Some of you must have a shady past or even a present one, since you hate the police so much.

I myself think they do a wonderful job under very harsh and dangerous conditions, and they also have to carry out their duties constantly fearful of 'treading on broken glass'.

[jno]

terribly dangerous, they can be called to account for the least little thing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Harry_Stanley

but never punished, of course.

[Baldric]

For the record I have over the years worked with the Police on a number of occasions from which both parties have benefitted from the arrangements.
Having said that it does not mean I have to like them a great deal, or with reference to a lot of the younger Officers nowadays respecting them would be very difficult.

[DrFilth]

anotheoldgit > I myself think they do a wonderful job under very harsh and dangerous conditions, and they also have to carry out their duties constantly fearful of 'treading on broken glass'. <

maybe aog some have met them or had to deal with them in the real world. the days of dixon of dock green have long gone

[FredPuli43]

AOG, what evidence do you have of anyone on here hating the police? Is your word 'hate' the same as 'criticise them a lot' ?

I'll certainly criticise them a lot now, and for their past thinking and behaviour, and I was invited to, and attended, the old "Flying Squad" Christmas party every year. I think that was because I was " on the side of the angels", in their eyes.