Titbits – ‘the fact that they wear hi-vis jackets gives them a certain degree of authority’
◆ At a recent Town Hall briefing about anti-social behaviour in public spaces, the Hackney Citizen asked the council what legal powers its enforcement officers had. Cabinet member for community safety Caroline Selman said she would have to get back to us with the details but that “the fact that they wear hi-vis jackets gives them a certain degree of authority”. How reassuring.
◆ The council found our story about their secret £6,000 bash to celebrate the legacy of former Mayor Jules Pipe and the Town Hall’s recent makeover disagreeable. There was nothing about it in the council’s freesheet, Hackney Today, or anywhere else. No official photographs were taken, and no media were invited to cover the event. Many of London’s council leaders attended, along with two deputy mayors of London and a number of MPs. How could it be deemed a ‘secret’ party, the council protested, when over 400 people were invited?
◆ Journalism is an exhausting business. The plight of the Turkish Cypriot Cultural Association (TCCA) nearly failed to see the light of day (see story here). An approach by the TCCA to another local newspaper was rebuffed, after the charity was told that it would be “too tiring to go through all the documents.”
“the fact that they wear hi-vis jackets gives them a certain degree of authority” – think she is drawing on the notion that if you wear a white jacket in a medical institution, then you must *obviously* be a doctor. I guess that high-viz notion makes most cyclists potential anti-social enforcement officers by a short extension of the logic being used.
Max Caller would have turned in his grave if he was there!
If just wearing a hi-vid vest/jacket gives “some authority” for enforcement what a about all the workers on building sites, or as David said cyclists or motorbike riders. Such a shortsighted comment that shows she has no clue about local and national by-laws and as the cabinet member for community safety I expect better.