No such thing as bad publicity?

When residents in a Midlands town saw more than a dozen policemen standing around a bus stop the other day, they quite reasonably assumed that something serious was up. Imagine their surprise therefore when they discovered that the reason for this display of force was to check that those on the buses had paid their fares, or had valid bus-passes. Surprise followed quickly by righteous anger at such a waste of police manpower. Who the heck organises these things? Have they any concept of public relations? How stupid can you be?