The notion will not be lost on anyone who watched the bank holiday film drama telling the life story of executioner Albert Pierrepoint.
While not wishing to ignite a debate on the morality of capital punishment, what this excellent piece of drama did was remind us that not too long ago, those who committed the worst crimes paid for it with their lives.
The last people to be hanged went to the gallows in 1964, which is not so long ago.
Although the film did nothing to encourage the reintroduction of this most brutal form of retribution (in fact, its dark scenes did quite the opposite), it did remind us of the liberal manner with which crime is prosecuted these days. Where many sentences are halved for good behaviour.
Where the bedrock of justice, that anyone is innocent until proven guilty, has been stretched to laughable proportions. Where prisoners have more rights than victims.
Into this comes the PCSOs, nicknamed the police with no powers. In Calderdale, there are 52 of them.
They do not have cuffs, a baton or CS spray, only an inate ability to talk to people in all kinds of challenging situations.
It is not the PCSOs' fault that their creation comes at a time when crime is more rife than ever before.
But without doubt, given a vote, the majority of the public would prefer more qualified coppers on the beat, armed to the teeth and with the power to haul criminals in at the drop of a hat.