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News Release 11th July 2003POLICE WEEKENDThis weekend (12th and 13th July), Michael Fabricant will be spending time with the police. On Saturday night from 9pm he joins PC Dean Cooper to patrol the busy streets of central Lichfield. "With the change in Licensing Laws which permits all night drinking, I want to see the effects for myself that this might have on the residents of Lichfield and across the UK" says Michael Fabricant. "The Beacon Street Residents Association have already expressed their concern to me about rowdiness and vandalism in the weekend early hours as revellers make their way home from City centre pubs. The police have introduced some initiatives to help prevent this and I want to see how it works - particularly when the new laws take effect" Then on Sunday morning, Michael is joining UK COPS at the National Arboretum in Alrewas in Staffordshire. UK COPS (Care of Police Survivors) is based on a similar scheme in the US which provides support to relatives and friends of police officers killed in the line of duty. This national event, involving many of Britain's 59 police forces, will include a Memorial Service commencing at 10.15am in the National Arboretum Chapel and Michael Fabricant will give the reading from St John culminating in the verse 'Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends'. Michael Fabricant says "In the U.S., there is an annual ceremony addressed by the President in Washington DC after a Candlelight Vigil. Sadly, here in Britain there are now too many gun and knifing crimes and our police put their lives at risk on a daily basis. UK COPS is a wonderful initiative and I hope that, in time, our Arboretum and a National Police Memorial Day will become a part of all our yearly calendars just as Remembrance Sunday recalls those who died in our wars. I am proud to have been asked by the police to participate on Sunday." |
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