A lesson that young policemen learn early in their careers is to know when to speak up and when to keep silent. Sadly it appears that this lesson by-passed the new IGP.

As a former Director of the Special Branch he must know that spying on legal political parties is a delicate business fraught with considerations of illegality and that discretion must be the first thing to be observed in such circumstances.

His attempt to suggest that SB officers attend political meetings dressed in plainclothes for the purpose of protecting the public is so absurd that it beggars belief how he was able to say so with a straight face. As a policeman with long service it is impossible for him not to know that it is sometimes necessary for a uniformed police presence to be in place during public political gatherings. That in sharp contra-distinction to the clandestine collection of intelligence on the activities of suspect political parties by plain clothes SB officers and/or their agents.

Since some SB officers take insufficient care to hide their affiliation it is usually easy for politicians to note their presence at political gatherings and, regrettably, in the past, such SB presence has been deliberately intimidatory rather than intelligence gathering oriented.

Perhaps the new IG should think twice before making public statements. Official presence has its importance but it must show itself as well informed and impartial if ridicule is to be avoided.