UK taxpayers could buy a lot with the millions spent policing Julian Assange

LONDON, UK You can do a lot with 10 million British pounds in London.

Its equal to over $15 million. Here thats a years worth of public education for roughly 1,000 kids. Or a years worth of street policing by more than 300 officers. Or just one really nice one-bedroom apartment.

Its also the amount of money the British taxpayer has spent so far keeping Metropolitan Police officers stationed 24/7 for almost three years outside the Embassy of Ecuador, on the off chance that one high-profile occupant strolls out.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been holed up in the brick building since June 20, 2012. Ecuador granted him asylum after he lost an appeal at the UK Supreme Court against extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning on sex crime allegations.

The police have orders to arrest Assange as soon as he sets foot on British soil. So every day for almost 1,000 days, officers with not much to do have stood outside the building in Londons Knightsbridge neighborhood, just across the street from Harrods department store.

There, a crystal-encrusted bottle of Robert Piguet perfume sells for 10,000 pounds just under the 10,500-pound ($16,000) daily cost of the embassys police detail.

To the best of anyones knowledge, Assange who looked like a man who hadnt seen the sun in a while, even before his asylum claim hasnt been outdoors in more than two and a half years.

Sometimes he peeks out the window, said an officer stationed in front of the building on Wednesday afternoon.

A personal trainers been around lately, the officer said. We can see him doing his boxercizing.

The Met, as Londons police force is known, is facing massive budget cuts as a result of austerity measures, as is virtually every public institution in Britain.

Originally posted here:
UK taxpayers could buy a lot with the millions spent policing Julian Assange