Who Is Russ Hall Anyway?

I like Facebook where I have a profile. I don't go mad on it and collect hundred's of friends, instead using it as more of contact list. You know when you keep meaning to ring somebody to catch up and leave it a week, month or longer, it's sometimes easier to drop a quick comment to let them know you're still around. This I find prevents the months turning into years. I'm on a specialised one too where I keep in touch with old colleagues from the army.

I'm not into joining all those groups or putting too much information into cyberspace. I'm not naive enough to think that security services are not monitoring some people either. I wouldn't have a problem if MI5 have a list of those who subscribe to the group "I think Osama Bin Laden is the dog's nuts" or similar. There are 100's of groups relating to him. I was therefore not surprised to read this article whereby the government are seeking to monitor traffic on social networking sites and legislate for information to be retained.

Police officers have already fallen foul of Facebook during the infamous "Yes I have had a POLCOL?" group. I don't recall if anybody was sacked but strong words were dished out for bringing the force into disrepute in dozens of cases.

I have heard that if you put your occupation as police officer there is an arrangement whereby complaints can view your profile, even if it is closed to outsiders. Don't know if it's true but colleagues have allegedly been caught out discussing cases that are ongoing at court trial. I take it would have come to light after complaints from the defence side of collusion.

How long before these details are requested as a fishing exercise to embarrass officers over their private views? Couldn't happen? Well I'm sure somebody would have joined a group for BNP or against immigration or whatever issue the government have decided is incompatible with being a state employee.

I just completed the "What kind of Police Officer am I" quiz and got the response below. Colleagues have got varying responses from response officer to dog handler. Of course the one you don't want is senior officer. But who or what is Russ Hall? I'm slightly worried that I might be a victim of rhyming slang and might be missing the joke.

Stressedoutcop completed the quiz “What kind of police officer am I?” with the result You are Russ Hall. You don’t give a flying **** what the bosses say, you just want to get some proper police work done. You fly in the face of policy and procedures. You probably like watching “Life on Mars”. You will never, ever be promoted again. You do what it says on the tin.

Clever things these quizzes. I do indeed like watching "Life on Mars", the rest of it I take as a compliment. Of course I might now be identified as a subversive, and there was I thinking it was just a bit of fun!