Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Martin Baines


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.  

The result was Delete. If someone wants the content in order to pursue this, let me know and I'll put it in their user space. Otherwise, just being a positive influence is not sufficient to establish notability. —Wknight94 (talk) 17:00, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Martin Baines

 * — (View AfD)

A long-serving and worthy police officer. However, he is only even slightly notable in a local context and holds a relatively junior rank (inspector is approximately equivalent to lieutenant in police forces in the United States and elsewhere and every force has at least dozens of them). He has been awarded the QPM, but this is not a particularly unusual decoration for a long-serving officer and we would not expect entries for every police officer who had been awarded it for meritorious service (although those who were awarded it in the past for bravery may be more notable). As for his international contributions, many British police officers make visits to foreign forces - they don't make him stand out in any great way. Neither do a few appearances on television current affairs programmes to talk about local issues. All in all, an officer who is probably fairly prominent in his local community, but is not notable enough for an encyclopaedia article (meaning no disrespect to the man whatsoever). Necrothesp 13:37, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Delete borderline speedy. Makes no plausioble assertion of notability. Guy (Help!) 14:16, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Comment. I don't actually think it is a candidate to be speedied (which is why I didn't). The assertion of notability is plausible enough to disqualify it under the speedy deletion rules and the creator obviously genuinely considers the subject to be notable (as opposed to creating it for advertising or fancruft purposes). I don't consider it meets WP notability criteria, but neither do I think it meets speedy deletion criteria. -- Necrothesp 15:40, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Very weak Delete. I somehow feel we're missing something here. Universities generally don't hand out honorary doctorates that freely, so I wonder if his position and his works are actually more notable than his rank would otherwise say. After all, Audie Murphy was only a lieutenant in the US Army. However, as the article stands it doesn't describe the individual as being notable enough for Wikipedia. -- Charlene 15:59, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Comment. Rank is of course irrelevant if one has done something particularly significant (like win the Medal of Honor), but if one just does one's job, however well, then it does have a bearing. British universities usually give a fair proportion of their honorary doctorates to people who are significant locally, not nationally, largely in order to curry favour with the local community - trust me, most people wouldn't have heard of most of the recipients. It is notable that despite the QPM and the honorary doctorate, Baines has not received a national non-police-specific honour, not even an MBE (and I would generally consider a CBE to be a minimum requirement for notability based on one's honours alone). -- Necrothesp 16:31, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Comment. In my opinion the article should not be deleted, but heavily overhauled, and only for the reason that he set a precedent for others to follow in the role of community race relations and his work is now followed nationwide as best practice by other Police Forces, and the QPM and honourary doctorate should have been given as examples to illustrate this, not just listed on their own. Unfortunately the creator of the article doesn't really seem to have mentioned this, and just given the impression that the work he did was typical of that done by an ordinary officer at the rank of Inspector 81.178.88.91 19:41, 13 January 2007 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.