In 1830, a pamphleteer expressed concern about the sudden appearance of ‘Raw Lobsters’ on the streets of London. The police had a blue uniform, the same colour as raw lobsters, but the pamphleteer worried that, when put under pressure, their uniforms would turn red like that of the red coat soldiers of their day. We would not, with good reason, deliver that same verdict today, but in our age of technological power, we may have greater cause to share their suspicion. He did so by declaring that ‘the police are the public and public are the police’. The need for raw lobsters on our streets is important, but we must do everything we can to make sure that they stay raw; once cooked they might inflict untold harm.