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SPIVs and Black Market (June 2003)

Posted by James Briggs on March 01, 2005

In Reply to: SPIVs and Black Market (June 2003) posted by B. Miller on March 01, 2005

: When I was a young boy (over 70 years ago) I was told that the mid-Victorian police, who were fond of picking up people 'without visible means of support', had a charge sheet: 'Suspected Person or Itinerant Vagrant', hence SPIV. A copper might say 'I've got another SPIV 'ere sarge'!

I always thought that it was VIPs backwards! I've no evidence, but it's what I thought. Does anyone have documentation?

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