Yesterday, while at Monster Jam, I was surprised to see a whole squadron of cops at the show. The crowd was made up of 15,000 people, about half of whom where aged under 12.

It didn't look like the sort of event that would require any cops, let alone the two detachments of six cops each at the stadium.

Were they worried about terrorists attacking the stadium? Or maybe that someone with ebola would turn up? Maybe they had Hazmat suits in the squad cars?

Anyway, as I am often wont to do in that situation, I went and buttonholed one of the cops to enquire politely whether it was a quiet patch and they thought they'd send a few cops to watch the show for free. I've done this kind of thing dozens and dozens of times over the years and have always had my approach met in friendly fashion and we share a bit of banter and everyone smiles.

Yesterday, it was like talking to a stone wall. Even the question about if he preferred standing watching Monster Jam to breaking up fights at 3 am didn't raise an eyebrow, let alone a smile.

Even weirder, having a few kids, I've been to quite a number of similar events over the years - Nitro Circus, Walking with Dinosaurs, V8 Supercars, etc, etc, etc, and not once have I ever seen such a heavy police attendance for such a small crowd of obvious families. In the past, the cops who have gone to those events have been very much the "Uncle Bill" type of friendly Mr Plod type.

These boys yesterday were clearly the ready-response squad of hard-arse redneck pigs who usually get sent to bust heads.

Why the hell were they at the Monster trucks?

The only thing I can think of political expediency in the War on Terror. The cops and whoever's pulling their strings, must want to send a message to intending beheaders that if they want to try beheading someone at the monster trucks, the pigs are there, man.

What the hell are we doing to this society?