I've read a number of police blogs over the past few months. I'd hate for them to go away. For one, they give the paying public an alternative to the official 'spun', dry cleaned and sanitized version purveyed by the Home Office, the MPS press office and the like. Also they reveal what the average plod thinks, both good and bad. "If for example there was an openly racist police blogger would we want him to be ‘outed’?" Outed? Probably, but more important would be for the public to know that that attitude persists. I know from my own sources that the modern police service is still far far more racist than the official view would have us believe. "Sadly I conclude that it would be very hard for police forces to adopt the same permissive policy on bloggers that the LAS seems to have done with Reynolds. The minute police officers start commenting on anything at all it will either be political, or it will be regarded by some as political. " I think it's probably political by definition. But what's better, that the political views of the police (collectively and individually) are hidden from the public at large, or known to them? Generally I think it's bad for the operation of a public service to be hidden from the public who pay for it, and vote on policies affecting it. Who does it serve to keep the internal workings and politics of the police secret? Not the public interest, that's sure.