Recently, one of our Solicitor Advocates was quoted in the local newspapers for drawing the Judge’s attention to “the wonders of technology” and how her client had accepted the rap gracefully, in the face of incontrovertible technological evidence. A kind of modern day equivalent of “it’s a fair cop guv!” or “you’re too good for me copper!”
I suspect that even Sherlock Holmes, who chose to solve crimes by the use of piercing intellect, or relying on happy coincidence, or ruthlessly exploiting chance would have approved of some of the technological advances that have solved, perhaps otherwise unsolveable crimes. I am quite sure that the speed camera is one technological innovation that we could all do without! The cameras can even calculate average speed now! I can personally attest to that (although I managed to avoid the temptation to trick/cajole/bully/ lure my wife into accepting the points!).
Many criminals would not be behind bars were it not for ingenious recording devices, picking up whispered conversations with such clarity that often they are virtually indistinguishable from confessions! Unfortunately, the increase in the wonders of technology has not been universally matched by an increase in the wonders of our senior police officers’ intellectual abilities. I recently read an article which bemoaned the fact that police forces up and down the country are wasting the tax payers’ valuable hard earned cash by failing to talk to each other so that savings can be made by buying equipment in bulk. So let’s say Avon and Somerset Constabualary want a 100 truncheons and Devon and Cornwall Police want a 150, the 2 police forces each make separate purchases instead of a money-saving combined one! Surely, even the most mathematically challenged of us realise that the bigger the purchase, the greater the bargaining power! Perhaps one piece of modern technology which police forces should be reminded of is the electronic calculator! It is so much better than fingers and thumbs!
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