Kudos to whoever got the Metropolitan Police to release information (PDF) about the occupations of people who were victims of Section 5 Public Order offences since 2003, as it provided perfect Friday lunchtime browsing material. (We originally read the data as people arrested, which makes the data less funny, but there you go.) Here are some of the more bizarre stats that popped up:
- Nearly 2,000 schoolchildren and 1,638 students were victims
- 607 employees of the ambulance service, 5,169 various police employees and 22 fire service staff were targeted
- 1,410 women gave their occupation as housewife; but we have just five househusbands
- Two judges, one astronomer, one economist and six MPs felt compelled to call in the cops
- We're not sure whether to believe the one man and three women who claimed to be a monk and nuns
- Nine butchers and 12 bakers are listed; we blame the advent of electricity for there being no chandlers
- Though technology doesn't prevent there still being chimney sweeps (two)
- We feel sorry for the one homeopathist, though we bet the person arrested had only had a drop.
If you're not sure what Section 5 is, it's generally what you're arrested under if you're pissed and/or rowdy. But you can also be arrested for insulting someone, and this aspect is the subject of a reform campaign from people who find that idea an affront to free speech.
Photo by Tetramesh from the Londonist Flickr pool
