Ranger plan is a bit of a Boo Boo!

The newly formed Boston BID has unveiled its big plan to give the town a vibrant future.
Writing in the Target, manager Niall Armstrong says the appointment of three "rangers" is a "key part" of the million pound scheme.
We worried about the word ranger, as it conjured up images of the broad-brimmed buffoon from the Yogi Bear cartoon strip (crikey, Hanna Barbera imagery twice in as many days.)
But relax.
The rangers will be "decked out" in a blue uniform emblazoned with the BID logo.
Their job, according to Mr Armstrong, will include deterring crime, keeping a look out for graffiti, anti social behaviour and fly-tipping.
Mr Armstrong also laments the possibility of a change in the funding of the town's CCTV camera system - which is not, as the Target story incorrectly claims, being switched off.
Boston Borough Council is for once showing singular commonsense by saying that it is not its job to fund the system. The police get the major "benefit" from CCTV and should therefore stump up the lion's share.
Mr Armstrong's suggestion that the rangers will help deter crime is once again letting the police off the hook.
His rangers will not be policemen, and we shudder to think what could happen if they encounter a group of yobs behaving badly.
The fact that they wear a uniform will create expectation in the minds of the public, so if they stand by and do nothing they will be condemned, and if they intervene, they will most likely end up in hospital.
The sorry fact is that the police are seldom if ever seen in the town's main shopping areas, even though they are housed within a stone's throw of the police station.
Crime, graffiti and anti-social behaviour could be considerably reduced if more cops got off their often over-ample backsides and braved the thrill of what is laughingly referred to as the beat.
Every time someone else takes on the work that the police are paid for it gives them an excuse to entrench still further into the form-filling comfort of their centrally heated offices.
The BID ranger concept is a feeble start to what we hope will eventually become a promising project to improve the town.
Niall Armstrong is a sound-alike for the first man to set foot on the moon.
We think he needs to come back down to earth - and as soon as possible.

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