Standing up against crime: 'Criminals can only be beaten with help'

THE pages of the News are regularly filled with stories of uncommon bravery shown by all types of heroes.

We've highlighted everything from soldiers braving bullets and bombs in Afghanistan to firemen risking their lives to save others.

Yesterday we gave a full and absorbing account of how undercover police infiltrated a particularly nasty gang which was based in the city's Jock's Lodge pub.

Operating with wire taps and wining and dining the gang leaders and taking them to football games to gain their confidence, it read like something out of a Hollywood script.

But the officers knew the harsh reality was that their lives would be in danger if their bid to expose the gang's brutal trade in cocaine was revealed.

For all the complaints about numbers of bobbies on the beat and crime clear-up rates, their bravery is a reminder of the work that goes on every day, often unseen, to protect the law-abiding majority against criminals.

Of course, the unnamed officers who brought down James Carlin and his gang are trained and prepared for such hazardous work. But in many cases the criminals who operate among us can only be beaten with help from the rest of us.

That's why today we acknowledge the job being done by Alan Shand, who was given the task of returning Jock's Lodge to the community after it had been prised from Carlin's grip. Not easy for a pub which had a reputation for cocaine being snorted at the bar and which was the scene of a dramatic shooting.

But Alan is committed to keeping out the thugs and encouraging back decent local folk who just want a quiet pint and a look at the football on telly. Yes, that is what he is paid for, but there are easier jobs, even in the current economic climate.

As one recent incident showed, in which a Ugandan mum was subjected to a torrent of racist abuse from a stranger on a bus, too few of us are willing and able to stand up to life's bad guys.

So when it happens we should say "well done" and encourage others to stand up for their communities.