Police Piñata

In a strange twist to Britain’s newest terrorism scare, a regional police force admitted Monday that it had sent officers for diversity training at an Islamic school in the British countryside that is at the center of a search for facilities nurturing Islamic radicals.

In a statement, the Sussex police said the Jameah Islameah school south of London “has been used by officers and staff undergoing advanced training for their role as diversity trainers to the rest of the work force,” adding, “This has involved a series of one-day visits to the schools by groups of two or three trainers on up to 15 occasions over more than a year.”

The statement cast an ambiguous light on other police actions since 14 people were arrested overnight Friday in what the police described as a hunt for terrorist recruiters and trainers. Within hours of the arrests, the police sealed off the Jameah Islameah school, located in a former convent and ballet school in rural East Sussex, and began to search its grounds.

While speculation about the school’s status had imparted an air of mystery to its operations, the Sussex police force insisted it was not embarrassed.

Cops always insist they’re not “embarrassed” by not noticing a bloody thing going on around them. Of course, back in the day, “community policing” meant knowing which pimp or bookie paid off the best.