Times = Scum

Following a hearing in the High Court a serving police detective from Lancashire has had his identity revealed and has been disciplined by his force.

Nightjack's writing was always worth a read and while I never linked to him I was always a regular visitor via my blog pal Noddy's place (who has not posted for a month – should we be concerned about him?).

What “service” was served by revealing Nightjack's identity? Certainly not the public interest that the judge claimed; I have been reading police blogs for some time now and they have given me (an ordinary member of the public) an insight into the astonishing amount of bullshit landed on them from the government via their SMTs.

It amazes me that front line officers ever find the time to catch criminals what with all the form filling and box ticking that they are supposed to perform. Nightjack's only mistake was to put up a link on his site which allowed the Time's journalist to identify him – so my message for other police bloggers out there is to be extra careful about any external links you have on your blogs.

As for the Times, well the post title sums up my feelings on the matter – their actions have done nothing for the public interest, have almost certainly damaged the career of a police officer who genuinely cared about the kind of service the public were actually receiving and have confirmed my thoughts on the lazy and sensationalist nature of dead tree journalism.