Originally Posted by
Organ Morgan.
The police are order followers, as are all employees. For as long as they keep doing as they are told, wages for doing so appear in their bank account. If you ever hear one claim the primary objective of what they do is to safeguard the public, or similar, then they're lying. It's the wonga they receive which motivates them.
They have have been using their discretion with beggars, who mostly purport to be homeless, for so long it has become an industry and a plague. Begging and vagrancy has been illegal in England and Wales since 1824.
Coppers are paid to uphold all laws, not just the ones they can be bothered to apply. But I have little doubt they are told to look the other way whenever possible, which they do for the reasons outlined. If they are told to use kid gloves with shoplifters, that's what they will do.