And finally… minority support

Chris Nocco, sheriff of Pasco County in Florida, took office in 2011 with the idea of catching people harbouring criminal intent, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

His office creates a list of people likely to break the law based on their criminal history and arbitrary decisions of the police. Deputies are then sent to interrogate anyone whose name appears, often without any probable cause.

In five years the bizarre programme has ‘caught’ almost 1,000 people – at least one in 10 of whom were under 18.

The sheriff’s office said: “This reduction in property crime has a direct, positive impact on the lives of the citizens of Pasco County and, for that, we will not apologize.”

It added: “Our first and primary mission is to serve and protect our community and the Intelligence Led Policing philosophy assists us in achieving that mission.”