He fought the law – and the law won

Fighting the police is ever- popular and still stupid, says david copperfield

I've never really understood why people fight with the police. I can certainly understand why they run away from us: given the poor fitness of the average constable, it's quite possible that a determined criminal would be able to elude us before we're even out of the station canteen.

The thing about fighting the police is that you're always going to lose. Sure, you might be able to get a few wild punches in first, but there's nothing the average officer likes better than to assist another in detaining a violent suspect; we'll even complete the paperwork.

So much of what we do is picked up on CCTV systems in town centres or shopping arcades that part of