TOP POLICE HAVE CRYSTAL BALLS

A relative of mine was recently in Salem Massachusetts, location of the infamous witch trials of 1692/3.  Twenty people were hanged for witchcraft as a result.  They were finally rehabilitated in 1957 when the State of Massachusetts apologised for the actions of its colonial law officials.  Group hysteria probably caused by  the abnormal habits of the accused ingesting the fungus ergot which can be found in rye, wheat and other cereal grasses overtook the accusers. Toxicologists say that eating ergot-contaminated foods can lead to muscle spasms, vomiting, delusions and hallucinations. Also, the fungus thrives in warm and damp climates—not too unlike the swampy meadows in Salem Village where rye was the staple grain during the spring and summer months.  Whilst clairvoyance can be likened to witchcraft only insofar as it cannot be determined by scientific rigour it appears that forces of law and order in England seem to be infected by similar processes of intellectual vacuousness.

The College of Policing, is a recently established body aiming to establish itself as a sort of Royal College akin to medical royal colleges.  These internationally reknown authorities and others similar are robust in their  use of scientific method in all their undertakings.  What can  only be derangement on the part of big bodies in blue uniforms surmounted by big heads with very small brains can lead it to pronounce on its "About" page,  "A fundamental development within the College is the use of knowledge and research to develop an evidence-based approach to policing." and yet take seriously the use of clairvoyance in investigation.

Readers might have a more descriptive way in considering how top echelons of police are being instructed in view of the above.  Perhaps they [the College] have their own in house crystal ball sergeant  who stares into its glassy interior muttering, "I see, I see, I see. What`s this all about then?".