Apparently I have the right “not to remain silent”… Well, cheers. Here’s what I think.

Neges o’r prif swyddfa: ar un adeg roedd fy mlog yn Saesneg pan o’n i’n ceisio gwella fy sgiliau Cymraeg. Felly mae’r blogiad hwn dim ond ar gael yn Saesneg – achos mae’n hen.

14 Ateb i “Apparently I have the right “not to remain silent”… Well, cheers. Here’s what I think.”

  1. I had a similar “what-the…” moment when I first saw these. Somehow these effect of these posters are very unsettling, even chilling! Which is absurd when the intention is, I assume, to make the police appear more approachable and accountable.

    It’s visual double-speak.

  2. Howard, well said. Chilling and absurd!

    Menna, gwelais i murlenni Cymraeg o gwmpas Caerdydd. Welais i ddim safle Directgov yn Gymraeg. Ond gyda llaw, mae nhw yn dwl – mewn unrhyw iaith.

  3. Very true Carlos. Though I’m not sure that all forces have bought into that particular advert. It’s not being used elsewhere in Wales (e.g. Gwent who, as you suggest have an online video) or over the border in Bristol or Gloucestershire etc.
    Good point about increasing confidence – it’s not only tangible, it’s pretty transitory.
    And if you’ve seen Hot Fuzz you’ll realise that it’s not Police Forces now, it’s Police Services. So the people are indeed service users!
    Finally, like the idea of building communities. A number of forces (whoops services) have a presence on Facebook.

    Laters…

  4. Thanks for the insights PC.

    “Community” is one of those slippery words isn’t it?

    I admit I was the one that used it first…

    In some ways different “communities” already exist and it’s more about engaging (another word du jour!) with them rather than building anything.

    The word used to connote geographical closeness which has diminished. And very recently and rapidly, it’s started to include people who use online tools to facilitate their communities (which might also interact in other ways).

    The word is also used frequently these days to identify an ethnic group, often vaguely defined, who might not be a cohesive group who all talk to each other.

    For example, in many cities and towns in this country people refer to the “Asian community” which – because of our history – refers to people of Indian and Pakistani descent. And possibly to a lesser extent, people of Sri Lankan and Bangladishi descent. Some of those people talk to each other but not all would necessarily spend time with or talk to each other.

    (In this country when people refer to the Asian community, it’s not generally construed to include Chinese people, for instance.)

    The main thing that’s deceptive, I guess, is that we’ve reduced the word “community” down. It almost always refers to a minority! Or a perceived minority that’s lumped together as a concept for the sake of convenience, like I said. There’s a whole load of assumptions and language around that.

    There are people much more qualified to speak on these things than I am, so I’ll just leave it as one to ponder..

  5. I spotted the posters en route to work this morning and immediately thought they were very “Keep Calm and Carry On”. As someone who has spent far more of my life than is healthy (some consider) studying Second World War posters, including a whole chapter of my PhD on the first series of posters, been fascinated to see the Keep Calm and Carry On poster take on a new lease of life when there was so much negative comment about the series during the war!

  6. In my view, a cunning way of a paranoid state obtaining futher inside info on the communities they ‘police’!? Make the plebians think they are safe with us, they’ll let on re community secrets, and hey presto, the job they are paid for is done by the hoi poloi! Genius? Cept it won’t work.

  7. I get the impression they’re promoting Gestapo type of policing, where someone will report you and then you’ll be arrested only on grounds of suspicion under the Terrorist Act.

    I don’t think a community voice of any strength ever asked for detention without trial or CCTV.

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