It’s not just over here
A story grabbed my eye today, particularly because I posted a related article recently.
The Telegraph reports “Fat police could put World Cup fans ‘at risk“, which talks about the level of obesity in the South African police, specifically at Port Elizabeth which is due to host England fans during the World cup this summer.
A study of Metro officer at Port Elizabeth has found that 54% of them are ‘medically obese’. ‘Experts’ are concerned that the local old bill won’t be able to cope with any potential violence, won’t be able to chase criminals or react quickly in a crisis. I wonder how much of their worry is based on the fact that it is England fans & therefore are they expecteing a higher chance of trouble, per chance?
World Cup organisers have faith in the South African Police’s ability to keep order. Meanwhile, a Port Elizabeth councillor sums the whole thing up quite succinctly, “The solution is simple – the police should eat less and do more exercise.”
boy on a bike says:
The last time I was in South Africa, we had a police wagon parked out the front of our hostel.
It was a Caspir mine-proof vehicle, and the cop standing at the top hatch was armed with an SLR. The rest had pump action shotguns. We were asked to check our handguns at the door of every pub we entered (we were the only unarmed patrons as it turned out).
I don’t think they will have many problems controlling unruly fans.
March 9th, 2010 at 12:05 am
Fee says:
They could just sit on them!
March 9th, 2010 at 8:12 am
shijuro says:
boy on a bike is sooo right… as a wise man once remarked, ‘the Lord didn’t make men the same, he made big and small, good and mean- Samuel Colt made them all equal.’
The other thing that made me smile was that councillors were having a good about Police being fat… People, glasshouses etc…
March 9th, 2010 at 8:40 am
rafanon says:
I’m not sure it’s the police controlling violent fans (although unfortunately UK have a bit of a rep due to total tossers) but the probability of crime on the fans. I was in S.A and worked from Cape Town through to Oudsthoorn and we were advised not to travel alone, drive offensively, always anticipate a hijack at traffic lights and junctions and to stay in populated areas. And this is a big bunch of burly military types!
We did everything we were told and in the 8 weeks I was there, we only had one near miss but where there’s poverty there’s crime and S.A is full of poverty stricken shanty towns which will inevitably lead to rich tourists, albeit football fans, being targeted.
S.A is a stunning country. I hope they produce a good, safe World Cup.
March 9th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
PC A Hunn says:
So so I but I very much doubt it. There’ll be 100’s of articles about fans being mugged and 100’s more about the local police beating the shit out of drunken British yobs who dont know how easy they have it at home.
March 9th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
Shijuro says:
Lol I love it.. To see the idiots getting sorted by foriegn cops.
March 9th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
boy on a bike says:
rafanon is so right. We flew into Jo’burg and when we picked up the hire car, we were told to lock the doors and never stop at red lights or stop signs – and to always leave enough of a gap from the car in front in case we had to get out of there in a hurry. Car jacking etc was rife. Everyone seemed to carry a handgun because of the crime. Most stores had an armed security guard manning a cage – they’d only let 2 or 3 patrons in the store at one time, and you were frisked whilst in the cage.
March 9th, 2010 at 11:41 pm