One law for one - and the same law for everyone else.

I was flabbergasted by the two-inch high banner headline in the News and Star today which said that no fewer than 40 officers of Cumbria constabulary had been arrested.

But when you actually read the article, it turned out to be saying that 44 arrests of police officers and support staff had been made by their colleagues over the four and a half year period from January 2008 to June 2013.

As there are about 1,100 police officers and 650 support staff in Cumbria Constabulary this represents an arrest rate of about half a percent per annum, and the rule that a person is innocent until proven guilty then applies - most of these arrests did not result in convictions or cautions.

The chairman of the local branch of the Police Federation put it very well when he said

"The public needs to know that complaints against police officers will be dealt with in the same way and with the same vigour as they would be with anyone else."

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