Protect yerself

We hear it a lot from our elected leaders, don’t we? That crime is going down. That the streets are safer. That their policies mean you can walk anywhere in your home city without fear of being attacked and stabbed.

It is just that you need to take some responsibility for yourself, that’s all. As Harriet Harman showed when she went on a walk about with the police in her home constituency. Wearing a stab proof vest. Take a look:


And Harman’s insensitivity is so great that she actually put that photo on her own website. Jeez.

Of course, this is Nu Labour. So rest assured that there is a reason why she was wearing a stab proof vest whilst she was walking the streets that she purports to represent. It was to fit in with the police, you see. They were all wearing them, so she felt she had to too:

"It was just a courtesy, there was no security issue whatsoever, it was almost like wearing the kit when you go out with the team."

Which could, I suppose, be true. Maybe she does view police officers as so insecure that they need her to wear the same personal protective equipment as them so they don’t feel like freaks. I rather doubt that, but you never know. And God help us if Harman ever visited a Wrestling event. She's probably end up wearing a leotard to be like Hulk Hogan or something.

What is much more interesting, and what hasn’t been mentioned in any of the coverage I’ve seen, is the fact that the police wear these stab vests day in, day out when they are patrolling the streets. Harman may feel safe enough to walk through her own constituency without protection, but the police don’t.

And, of course, the police are at the front line of fighting crime, so they are more at risk than, say, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party who lives in a self-constructed, protective bubble. But the real issue is the police feel the need for extra protection, and one of the reasons might be this inconvenient (both for Harman, the police and for anyone living in the area) little stat:

Incidents of violent crime in the borough of Southwark, which includes Peckham, have increased by 6.9 per cent in the last 12 months.

Enough said.