“I want to report a crime: they’re building weapons of mass destruction just down the road”

The idea of going into a police station and saying "I want to report a
crime and that crime is mass murder" seemed at first quite cringe-making
- totally against my upbringing in the traditions of British reserve!
But it also seemed a fascinating Alice-in-Wonderland thing to do. ( I
have done a bit of street theatre before with the peace movement, with
CAAT providing the props of toy bombs and bullets and cs gas
canisters.)  It was made much easier by the informal and friendly
atmosphere of the demonstration, with lots of encouraging songs we were
all singing together; by the helpfulness and professionalism of the
police; and by there being so many of us doing it together, although we
had to give the statements on our own - to truly stand up and be
counted. I arranged to have a buddy.  She stood next to me as I did my
crime reporting and then I stood by her.  Shoulder to shoulder - that
made it easier too.
I said something like this:
"I want to report a crime: they're building weapons of mass destruction
just down the road - they're building Trident at Aldermaston and
Burghfield.  This is illegal, as Britain has signed the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty saying we would reduce our nuclear weapons
capability and yet we are developing and increasing it. It is done with
an intention to kill millions of people in other countries; to commit
mass murder.  This is wrong"
Then I asked "What will happen next?" (with the crime report) and the
woman worker on the other end of the phone said CID would be contacting
me about the report and she gave me a crime number , which I noticed was
the same as my buddy's - well it would be wouldn't it - same crime!
I noticed that the worker taking down the details on the phone needed
frequent breaks and wondered what the impact of transcribing so many
reports of mass murder was on her.  But then if we think about the
Trident issue and what it really means instead of playing ostrich
head-in-the-sand and hoping it will go away, it can become frighteningly
real.  It _is _real.
Maggie Freake