A policeman in the supermarket ,would you do this?

Do you actually think they could get set refreshment times?

Agree! Police and other emergency services do need to get lunch and drinks throughout their day and can’t get in and out of uniform from their cars! What a crazy comment!

I work on a till & often get parents saying to their child “The lady will tell you off in a minute”. I feel like saying “ The lady won’t! Parent your child yourself!”
The worst I heard was a Dad threatening to send his son to hospital if he carried on misbehaving! Can you imagine?

And yet, if a child can actually find one if they get lost, they're still a pretty safe option!

No thanks!

No, it’s stupid. You should teach kids they can ask people in authority for help!

thanks for the reply. you make some good points 👌

For many officers and staff, meal breaks are more of a concept than a 'thing'. They were, once, back in the early 90's. Then, with the increase in tech' and reductions in numbers, there is no such thing as an expected break any longer.

I ran operational teams, and the only time we go to eat together and have a little downtime was when we were on overtime and the next shift had taken over, so we could maybe grab 15-20 minutes with a brew and a quick bite.

Other than that, it's picking food up when you're on patrol, in between incidents and scoffing it parked at a roadside, or a very quick fast food meal, whilst being stared at by the public who seem to think that humans shouldn't be allowed to eat at work/ on duty, or becoming the subject of another social media thread.

I'd suggest that the 'country in a state of gradual collapse' began with the collapse of effective parenting, moral values and the birth of the internet.

Set-times for meals were dropped twenty years ago or more. I was told this by the neighbour of my parents, a retired policeman. He lamented it - along with the removal of the requirement for policemen to be clean-shaven - as a symptom of a service in decline. 🤔

Because crime and accidents don’t give time slots are you that stupid.

Why shouldn't they be given a set time? Seeing police officers shopping is a modern thing; a slip in professionalism that is an extremely minor symptom of a country in a state of gradual collapse.

“Astounded”??! Really?!! 😂😂 Come on

I work in McDonald's and always say "No, I won't."

Our local police used to come into the Sainsbury's café for breakfast. They need to eat too. I don't begrudge them a full English before their next call-out.

I’m 50 and this is the sort of thing we would be told as kids if we were playing up just to get us to stop. I was actually told this and the policeman joined in and said I needed to behave myself otherwise he would take me to prison. I promptly behaved myself! I didn’t know people still did this as I imagine it’s a pretty old fashioned style of parenting now bur maybe the kid had been a nightmare just before you saw them and this was their way of bringing her inline? It honestly never stopped me seeking help from police if I ever needed it, it just taught me that if I didn’t behave and was being a brat there were consequences 🤷🏻‍♀️

My dad was a police man - he would immediately speak up if he heard parents say this to their kids (and it happened often!) “who is your child going to speak to when they need help or are in trouble?, not the police man because he’s going to arrest them and put them in prison”. People don’t think through what they say to kids

It's not a good thing to say and isn't great parenting but it isn't odd.

It's just another variation of in a shop or cafe and a kid is being naughty and the parent says 'stop or the lady will tell you off' pointing to the staff.

Of course it’s odd, you want your children to know that the police are there to help them, not be people that they are afraid of approaching. This shit way off parenting where people say that others are responsible for applying consequences for their children’s behaviour is absolutely batshit.

I think my parents, grandparents and in-laws have said this countless times. It's quite a common saying in the north east.

This. Lots of people don't want to be the bad guy so outsource the consequences/ fear of them to teachers, police, Father Christmas. It undermines their own authority and makes them scared of the police rather than this is who you go to when you need help.

Lazy parenting. Threats, also vague language - kids don’t know how to not be naughty, they need to be told specific situations eg “don’t hit your brother”. As others mentioned we shouldn’t be raising children to be fearing police. Just awful

Careful what you say to the kids, My ex was saying about cops doing good got cars, those not very good got a pushbike and totally rubbish ones had to walk. and then one was going into the shop one day and left his bike, my daughter said (too loudly) "mummy did dat policeman not catch many cwiminals so he only got a bike? lol

Seriously you don’t think they should be allowed to buy lunch or dinner? Wow this is mental of course they should be allowed to go the shop I’ve seen ambulance staff and police in my local Tesco. It’s not like they get a set lunch time and know they’re back at the station to get there food or a drink.

Again nobody knows how her behaviour is generally she could be a nightmare maybe he just wanted to scare her who knows but it’s not a crime is it. I’m sure she wouldn’t know what a jail is either.

I expect you get a lunch break don't you. I should think a police officer has to get something between call outs. They can't just clock off at 12