Inspector Gadget is the pseudonym used by an anonymous British police officer, reportedly an inspector in a rural constabulary in the north west of England, who wrote an influential blog called Police Inspector Blog, between 2006 and 2013.
Started in June 2006 after the author was required to attend a diversity training seminar he described as "60 mind numbing minutes of complete nonsense",[1] Police Inspector Blog was sharply critical of instances of what it considered excessive bureaucracy, health and safety regulation and political correctness in modern British policing.[2][3] Notable examples include Lincolnshire Police giving guidance to its officers on how to pack their lunches.[4]
It was one of a number of police blogs that appeared in the late 2000s expressing dissatisfaction with the policies of the New Labour government.[5] However, from 2011 onwards Inspector Gadget was also critical of the austerity policies of the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition,[2][6] writing that as a result of police cuts criminals "ruled the streets" of the county he worked in.[7] In response to a post regarding the Plebgate scandal (stemming from the allegation that then Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell called a police officer a "pleb" when leaving Downing Street), the former Minister for Policing Nick Herbert described the "silly blog" as representing a "hot-headed minority" of possibly corrupt police officers opposed to reform, and claimed that Inspector Gadget was not actually an inspector.[8]
The blog was discontinued in March 2013, in response to pressure from senior officers to identify and discourage anonymous police bloggers.[2] As of 2016[update], its author continues to post under the Inspector Gadget pseudonym on Twitter.[9]
At its peak the blog was mentioned on BBC1's satirical show Have I Got News For You (regarding the Lincolnshire police sandwich story) and the then Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Tim Godwin starting his own blog with the words "I'm not quite Inspector Gadget."
In 2013 Inspector Gadget published a book, Perverting The Course Of Justice: The Hilarious And Shocking Inside Story Of British Policing.[10] He also contributed to Wasting More Police Time: Further Adventures In La-La Land (2012),[11] and has written for The Telegraph.[12]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Inspector Gadget (15 June 2006). "Stamping Down on Police Bureaucracy". Police Inspector Blog. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
- ^ a b c Laville, Sandra (13 March 2013). "Police blogger quits as officers come under pressure over unofficial tweets". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
- ^ Holcombe, Garan (24 February 2009). "Police Inspector – Blog of the Month March 2010". The Good Web Guide. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
- ^ "'Sandwich safety' apology from Lincolnshire Police boss". BBC News. 13 April 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
- ^ Atherton, Susie (2012). "Cops and Bloggers: Exploring the presence of police culture on the web" (PDF). Internet Journal of Criminology. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
- ^ Stacey, Kiran (17 August 2011). "Police reform divides politicians and officers". Financial Times.
- ^ "'Criminals now rule the streets', claims police blogger". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
- ^ Herbert, Nick (22 December 2012). "Britain's police must reform or lose respect and trust". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
- ^ Hobbs, Chris (27 July 2016). "Dallas, Nice, Baton Rouge, Munich: The UK's Emaciated Blue Line Braces". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
- ^ "Perverting The Course Of Justice – Inspector Gadget". Monday Books. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
- ^ "Wasting More Police Time – PC David Copperfield". Monday Books. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
- ^ Inspector Gadget. "Free the police to tackle the criminals on Britain's streets". The Telegraph. Retrieved 29 December 2016.