In July, 2017, Donald Trump, newly elected president of the United States, organised a rally of uniformed police officers on Long Island in New York state.
His audience were ranged in front of him and a number were seated behind him as he spoke.
This was a classical visual format to suggest to television audiences that his uniformed audience were, in effect, supportive of him and his remarks.
Boris Johnson, by the way, unsuccessfully tried a similarly crass visual stunt in the course of the run-up to his 2019 election campaign, addressing police in West Yorkshire – having kept his uniformed trainee police officer audience waiting an hour.
It backfired for Johnson.
