The idea
Police seem always to walk the streets or attend ordinary events in groups. You see them in twos, threes and more. Why is this? Ordinary members of the public routinely walk about at all times on their own, so why do police need to be in large groups? If we are a civilised society, do police really need to go mob handed at all times?
My idea is that police should patrol singly unless there is a pressing operational imperative to go with more than one person to attend an incident or event.
Why is it important?
My idea is important in social terms in that groups of police are intimidating and look confrontational. People wonder why they need to patrol in protective groups when most of the public go about on their own. What are police frightened of? In terms of cost, the groups represent a doubling of manpower and administration costs and more. To patrol in this way is to drive up costs at all times. It is probably the reason police absorb so much overtime and then spend so much time off sick. It is also a possible reason why they retire early and so drive up public costs in this unethical way.
Police pay and overtime is linked to innapropriate and excessive use of personnel in this wasteful way. we do not get full service from police and the organisation must be reviewed and reformed very soon.