Thwaites Wrecked Lancashire Police's Pride

Four days ago, 100 travellers broke into the Thwaites’ Brewery headquarters and proceeded to ransack, stripping copper wiring and damaging goods. The police ‘negotiated’ with the criminals to leave, and made no arrests. The proceeding uproar wrongfooted the Chief Constable, Andy Rhodes, who weakly explained ‘I can fully understand the public’s reaction and what has been said. But over the weekend we had an unprecedented demand due to the weather and a number of other incidents.’

And yet, presumably due to a sparsity of crime, the county's police officers found the time to join in the Lancaster Pride march two Saturdays ago. To show the gay community how friendly they are, they decided against merely policing the event, choosing instead to participate. They waved the flags, put rainbow makeup on their faces, altered their uniforms to include the rainbow colours and enjoyed a fabulous afternoon in the sun.

Much as I admire a police force that reaches out to minority groups and makes a special effort to be approachable, I’d far sooner they concentrated on crime detection and prevention. Despite the time, energy and money spent on taking part in the Pride event, the county’s Police and Crime Commissioner bemoans cuts to his funding, claiming

There have been a number of challenging years for Lancashire Police and the coming year promises more of the same. Despite promises of ‘protected’ budgets, Lancashire continues to receive less and less each year from government for policing.

Still, money can always be found for pet projects and time is plentiful when attending marches. Sadly, when it comes to arresting thieving thugs ransacking a respected local employer before their very noses, they have neither the resources nor apparent inclination to act.

I have complained to the IPCC.

UPDATE: July 2018

The Police and Crime Commisioner's Office have informed me that participating officers in the Pride march attended in their own time. I asked why they are allowed to do this wearing their uniforms. I was then informed that this is a matter for the Chief Constable and my question was passed to him. No response was received.