Recently Mr Yasser Yakub was shot dead on a slip road of the M62. He was a man, if you listen to his family, who had never done anything wrong, was the best dad in the world, was a humble office clerk and who was loved by all.
If you listen to anyone else he was a drug dealer, a violent criminal and a man who people were scared of. Depite being a married man with children he also had a profile on a dating site. So far, so normal.
Six years ago Mr Yakub was cleared of attempted murder. Two years ago two men turned up at his house with shotguns to try and kill him. His house is covered in cctv cameras now. In the papers this week one man has accused Mr Yakub and his associates of shooting at him on the street. When Mr Yakub met his untimely end he was sitting in the front seat of a car which had a pistol, ammunition and silencer in the front footwell.
Now, listen to the reaction of D.ee C.ollins. She is, God help us, the Chief Constable in these parts. "I wish to extend my sincere sympathies to Mr Yassar Yaqub’s family and our thoughts are with them at this very difficult time" and another beauty, "I completely understand and empathise with the heightened community tensions and people’s wish to peacefully demonstrate".
This last comment refers to the fact that during a "peaceful" demonstration in Bradford after Mr Yakub shuffled off this mortal coil, a police car was attacked, had it's door mirror kicked off and was covered in protest banners - no arrests were made.
The previous night on TV some thick as mince assistant Chief Constable called A.ngela W.illiams had been on local TV, "empathising" as well and trotting out every pc cliche under the sun as she did so.
So we get empathy for the family of a violent criminal We get a violent attack on a police car ignored by senior police officers. Maybe it's time for them to reconnect with the reality of policing; get back out there and meet some of these charming people they seem so keen on placating.
One of the reasons scandals like the Rotherham grooming gangs happened was the determination of people in authority to look the other way as far as they could, and it is plain to see that this attitude survives to this day at the highest level of our local police force. It is absolutely appalling.