Fool Me Once, Shame On You. Fool Me Twice, Shame On Me. Fool Me Three Times…

…I guess I must be a police officer?

Derbyshire police has called the incident "regrettable" but said it was acting on information that the property may have been used for drugs purposes.

Information they’ve been given before – twice – according to the homeowner. With the same empty-handed result, though on those two occasions, at least they managed to avoid maiming anyone:

Mr Dharam, 42, said he was upstairs when he heard his partner screaming. He said: "I wanted to make sure Shanie and our daughter Shania, who is only 11 months old, were okay.

"This is the third time in the past two or three years the police have raided the house for drugs and they have never found anything. I just don't know why our house is being picked on."

Because, as we've seen before, ‘intelligence’ (as in a tipoff from a concerned citizen or a deliberate troublemaker) is enough to have the police breaking down your door and being pretty insouciant about their right to do so too…

I mean…this was drugs. Not terrorism, or serial killing.

Is it really worth the potential risk of blinding someone? Or killing Ms Dharam’s 11 month old baby, if she’d happened to have her in her arms when they burst in the door?

Superintendent Gary Parkin, who is head of operational policing in Derby, said:… “This information was put before a magistrate who granted the warrant under the Misuse of Drugs Act. It was carried out by specially trained officers.

"When executing warrants it is important to enter the property quickly and without warning to the occupants to ensure no potential evidence is lost. It is regrettable that the occupant appears to have been behind the door as our officers tried to gain entry.

"Our investigations into the incident are ongoing."

Yes, yes, I'm sure you’ll be quite happy so long as you've dotted the I’s and crossed the T‘s and you’ll claim you bear no responsibility for having acted on false information (even though the last couple of times were false too, but who’s counting?) and you’ll probably pay them some money to shut up and go away, but… …how do you think this incident looks to ordinary people?

That could be MY door. Or my elderly neighbour’s and he has a heart condition.

Talk about winning hearts and minds.