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According to the BBC, the Home Office is looking for co-workers "to tip off police about anyone they believe could commit a violent crime." Warning signs include "heavy drinking, mental health problems or a violent family background."

I'm sorry, what?

How many people are covered off by these parameters? I mean, heavy drinking? By following this policy the police will inundated with calls from concerned colleagues after each and every leaving do and each Christmas party! And you show me the causal link between mental illness and violent family background and violent crime. Oh, wait, you can't. Why? Because there isn't one. Some violent criminals may have mental health problems, some won't. And the mental health problems may not be the reason for the violent behaviour. The same applies to those from a violent family background.

And it is also worth pointing 0ut that, in theory, everyone is capable of committing a violent crime. Everyone. I could turn round and smack the guy sat next to me bang in the side of the head, and he could do the same to me. Unless someone is in a fucking coma, they could, in theory, commit a violent crime.

So where does this stop? And how can untrained co-workers - with any number of personal prejuidices arising from the politics of the work place - make judgments on who is ok and who might be a potentially violent criminal?

Yet another ill-thought, piece of crap policy designed to further reduce our already dwindling civil liberties. All this policy would do is further create a culture of fear in this country - the nasty, dystopian, spying culture that should be restricted to the Soviet Union in the 1930's. Not the United Kingdom in the 21st century.