Fri | Mar 29, 2024

Too many PhDs in police force

Published:Friday | September 13, 2019 | 12:12 AM

THE EDITOR, Sir:

A few years ago, someone told me of an incident in London involving one of the red double-decker buses. The driver went off route and ended up driving the bus under a bridge that was too low. The bus got stuck.

Engineers came. Some of them proposed to cut off the top of the bus to remove it. Others suggested that part of the bridge had to be removed to dislodge the vehicle. They stood there for hours trying to come up with a solution.

After a while, a homeless man who had been looking on at the spectacle for a while came up and mumbled something. The group of engineers ignored him. Then he repeated a little louder: “Why don’t you just let the air out the tyres?”

Our current crime situation requires some simple, practical approaches, like more undercover policing and more unmarked vehicles on patrol. But maybe too many of those in command have PhDs.

CONCERNED CITIZEN