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Surely The Police Have Better Things To Spend Their Time On Than This...

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Gromit | 11:10 Sun 30th Dec 2018 | News
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The owners of a Cuban restaurant have accused the police of 'political censorship' after an officer gave them a dressing down over their flag of left-wing pin-up Che Guevara.

The couple behind ‘El Cuba Libre’ in Hyde, Greater Manchester, say they have been flying the iconic flag for five years, due to Guevara's link to the communist Caribbean country.

But they were bizarrely visited by a police licencing officer last week and told someone had complained about the image of the revolutionary leader. It is thought they took exception to Guevara's political views.

Police licensing officers advise pubs and the council on issues that could lead to revocation of their right to serve alcohol.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6535539/Cuban-restaurant-Manchester-told-Che-Guevara-flag.html

As a side note:
// A police force "fails to record over 38,000 reported crimes each year", a report has estimated.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) was "under-recording too many reports of crime" including rape, violent crimes and sexual offences, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) said. //

// Police chiefs have been criticised over ‘unacceptable’ detection rates after it emerged that only 15 per cent of burglaries are being solved in Greater Manchester. Figures show that around a third of crimes are solved by GMP – but the detection rate is much lower for burglaries. //
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"The fact is, the police are obliged to follow the law,..." If only that were true, Andy, people would be less inclined to moan when they read of nonsense such as this. Most forces now refuse to respond to reports of shoplifting, burglary in many areas remains unaddressed and univestigated, all low level bank fraud has effectively been "decriminalised" (in...
16:13 Sun 30th Dec 2018
//Surely The Police Have Better Things To Spend Their Time On Than This//

the police - like many public service organisations - are target driven, and here's a dead easy and simple way to keep the numbers (and their budget/pay) up to scratch.
I have got a Kipling brand shoulderbag with Che on....maybe I shouldn't use it any more?????
oh and we had better ban Evita
feng shui advisers are obviously on the way out. If you want decorating tips, call a policeman.
Not every country respects free speech or other displays to the same degree. It may seem more important in Cuba.
This was Manchester
Ah right. Clearly not 100% alert today.
Maybe the force needs to explain itself.
The Police often visit premises which are due for a Licence review/renewal.
Two sides to every story?
// a source insisted they were merely making him aware of the complaint and did not tell him to take it down//
Would plod have had our wholehearted "support" if they were giving a bit of "friendly advice" regarding the displayed images of, say, two other well known South American extremists. Leopold Galtieri or August Pinochet?
Hahahahahaha!

In the late sixties/early seventies I had that iconic photo of Che as a poster on my wall, for no other reason than I thought he was a hot dude.

When do I get arrested?
Whenever something perceived as frivolous attracts the attention of the police, there is always the counter argument - Surely they have something better …

The fact is, the police are obliged to follow the law, they don't get to pass judgement on what they regard as the relative gravity of the situation.
I'm quite sure the individual officers would rather have been doing something else too, rather than relaying a rather silly complaint.
"The fact is, the police are obliged to follow the law,..."

If only that were true, Andy, people would be less inclined to moan when they read of nonsense such as this. Most forces now refuse to respond to reports of shoplifting, burglary in many areas remains unaddressed and univestigated, all low level bank fraud has effectively been "decriminalised" (in the same way that parking offences and minor traffic infringements have) and are instead dealt with by the banks. The police have chosen not to "follow the law" (which obliges them to investigate to the best of their ability) in these and many other instances on the pretext that they have insufficient resources. Yet GMP can spare one of their officers to advise a restaurant of a complaint about a flag which they have displayed for five years and which contains an image that can be seen on thousands of T-shirts. The officer's time would have been better spent advising the complainant that since no offence has been committed no police time will be wasted on the matter. He could then move on to feeling a few collars.
In general, I don’t consider our police farce fit for purpose. It’s a sad indictment of the political policy of hamstringing a once responsive and accountable body of men and women.
// The fact is, the police are obliged to follow the law, they don't get to pass judgement on what they regard as the relative gravity of the situation.//

aaa rgh - nope nope nope - hahahaha
obliged to follow the law - there is an inquiry on whether the police should have fracked and given babies to those bomb protesters - and the police defence is - they were following the law ( excuse me what did you just say)

give judgement - yeah the police do this every day

relative gravity - yes thepolice prioritise. And the current argument is -- do we have a say in prioritisation of crimes and activity?

Red Lady Simey 1964 said "yes we do" ( have a say in prioritisation of what the police do )
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Simey

and here we are hahahahah with nice Mr Hughes 50 y later earnestly wondering if we should say what the police do or not in an era of limited resources

right-on Andie !
// "The fact is, the police are obliged to follow the law,..."
If only that were true, Andy, people would be less inclined to moan when they read of nonsense such as this.//

oh - best answer to the Voice of Reason....
Andy sign up to Criminology or Deviant Sociology 101 quick!

double posted sozza
// In the early seventies I had the iconic photo of Che on my wall, for no other reason than I thought he was a hot dude. When do I get arrested?//

well now - Tariq Ali who has aged badly was arrested on account of thingey
and the evidence he had a contemporaneous poster of how to make a Molotov Cocktail - the one wivva milk bottle and rag in the op
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Best Answer to New Judge who expanded on my belief that this was an utter waste of time. When 85% of burglaries in Greater Manchester are unsolved, wasting police time telling a restaurant that their decor (an iconic old image) threatens their drink license is preposterousness.
// wasting police time telling a restaurant that their decor (an iconic old image) threatens their drink license is preposterousness. //

I completely agree, but I'd be surprised if this is exactly what happened. Never take DM stories at face value.

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