Taking Other Offences Into Account

In the wake of the latest series of little faux pas by the Metropolitan Firearms and Headbangers' Club, the policing minister has been driven to stern measures: he's going to tell all the police forces in England and Wales to investigate themselves. The minister is expected to make it jolly clear to the chief constables that all evidence of misconduct must be brought out into the clear light of day, with no shilly-shallying and no little accidents of the News Corporation variety. "We may discover some very unpalatable truths," the minister said optimistically; fortunately the distastefulness of the veracity will be somewhat diluted by the cosmic unlikelihood of any culprits being brought to book. The minister is also expected to announce a new code of ethics for police officers, which may possibly make a bit clearer the role which dirty-tricks operations ought best to play in police dealings with protest groups and bereaved families. It is as yet unclear whether the code will be binding or merely advisory, like the law of the land.