In my area, the Met just roam around aimlessly. This morning, DD2, DS and I bumped into one of DD's friends, her younger brother (who is in DS's bubble) and her mum walking across the green to school. Obviously, we ought to have pretended we didn't know each other but the other mum and I got chatting and the kids had gone on a bit ahead. Naturally, 2 police officers swooped in as if drawn by a magnet, and told us to disperse. I got more than a bit annoyed. As in "The kids are going to school - regard, school uniform. They're about to sit in a classroom together anyway!" Then I may have said that they were impotent to do anything about proper crime and that going around officiously bullying women and small children obviously made them feel big and powerful. And gave a few examples of the crimes they're doing nothing about. And I may have said that it was disgusting. They said that I needed to, "watch how I spoke to them" and I said I was only getting started. They left. Unfortunately, DD2 is like a sponge and the whole of her 23-child bubble has probably heard and elaborated and expanded version, which no doubt involves the police waving handcuffs or marching me and the other woman off to the cells. Every time the phone rings I am expecting it to be the social workers, lol.
I'm just so bloody frustrated with officialdom. Had to take poor DD1 to paed A&E because she was self-harming so much and bashed her head so hard she needed stitches. And the perfectly lovely nurses and doctors stitched her up, dosed her up, but can they do anything? No, "we'll speak to CAMHS and maybe they'll be able to bump her up the waiting list a bit". Argh!