Do feel the met police do a good job of protecting everyone?

[Imsosorryalan75]

According to the bbc news 67% of people feel secure with the police's performance since 2017. I used to think they would help protect me, esp as a woman but after the recent allegations of: raping collegues, Sarah Everard murder, vigil arrests, nazi worshipper, I'm not so sure. The rates of rape convictions are so low, the raping of 2 female police officer collegues, brushed under the carpet? I find this all very worrying. Why isnt there any investigations into the net about why this is happening? What should be done? I feel more vulnerable now than ever before.

‘Force’s’ obvs

I have a friend who is a police officer. I have massive respect for her. To give an example - during the pandemic she's lost count of the number of people who have spat or coughed on her and told her they have covid. She's suffered multiple injuries which have been deliberately inflicted on her (by people resisting arrest).

To all the armchair critics - does that sort of thing happen to you in your place of work?

I think we need to remember what is asked of police officers when we criticise their competency.

As a victim of actual police brutality I have to say no.

The BBC report yesterday was at pains to stress that the 'three recent events' (the killing of Sarah Everard, the actions of the police at the vigil, and the conviction of a met officer for being a member of a banned far right group) are 'extremely rare and its a coincidence they all happened at the same time' - but if you google 'met police officer convicted and keep scrolling down, it's far from rare sadly.

Yes there are some truly bad apples. They need better training re treatment of women and black people in general. However there are some who I am sure are a credit to the force. One that springs to mind was in a programme about a young man who was being physically attacked by his wife. Shocking injuries. He denied it as did she but one policeman started to realise what was actually happening and thanks to him the young man survived.

They were also very kind to my mum when we got burgled (ok one video machine - that long ago!!). It was such a small robbery but she was really shook up and they were lovely to her.

Yes I was angry the way SOME of them behaved at recent incidents - Sarah Everard, the Nazi guy and the idiot(s who took their picture alongside the two black women who were killed in a park. There are no words.....

There's no doubt there are good individuals in the police.
However, it is necessary to be able to criticise the institution.
When there is wrongdoing, the police need to be investigated by an outside body, and resignation by individuals to avoid investigation should not be permitted.
Its essential that the police be held to a high level of accountability if trust is to be regained. The level of power conferred on individuals should be balanced by the knowledge that both the institution and individuals will be subject to an extremely high level of accountability.

But several years ago a policeman in Hackney went to social services office to hold hand of a useless silly Moo and home visit family of child at risk. She was behind security screen getting screamed at by a heroin addict mother after another crisis loan ie more drugs money
Refused money and was allowed to take child home social worker saying 16000 drug addict mums in Hackney we can't help them all! Social workers sack the lazy lot of them!

Well I was raped and reported it to the met police. The investigating officer screwed up, which meant the man got away with it. The officer got a written warning. I was left devastated. So no, they didn’t do a good job of protecting me.

Shall we say that all nurses are evil because of nurses like Lucy Letby and Beverly Allitt? Or doctors are all killers, like Harold shipman. No, because I have common sense and won’t tar them all with the same brush.

I’m not in London. But I do think it’s unfair that the whole force gets a bad brush because of some bad eggs. There are bad eggs everywhere. There are bad teachers, parents, people in religious groups, social clubs. Etc ... it doesn’t mean that all teachers, parents, people in religious groups etc.. are bad eggs.
From a personal point of view I had to get the police involved many years ago due to an ex boyfriend stalking me. I asked the police for assistance because i was feeling worried and unsettled. They dealt with the situation and I was very supported.

Incidentally I think that this government has hung the police out to dry, wanting them to take the blame over enforcement of Covid 19 restrictions, whilst they have double standards such as over Dominic Cummings.

The police should not be judge and jury and issuing fines. Those who break Covid 19 restrictions should face a magistrates court and proper justice, with an opportunity to explain their actions and defend themselves.

Ex wife of a Met officer here. I can only speak from my own experience, but the pressure and demands put on the police are ridiculous, there are not enough officers to do the job. He has been spat at, threatened with guns and knives. It was not unusual for me to not see my Exh for two or three days at a time due to the hours he had to work if something particular was happening. We had no family life and our marriage broke down because of it. The force became his life first through the hours he had to put in second because it became habit. He was and is an excellent police officer but he became an appalling husband and father. I’m sorry that people don’t feel supported by the police but there are good and bad officers as there are good and bad people. But you are not the only victims of awful management and policies within the police and government.

When I was victim of a more serious crime they were super. For more minor crime not so good, but this is down to there not being enough officers.

They have an impossible job.

'Grenfell, the riots in London - all of them, running towards terror attacks.... I could go on, but that’s not necessary. '

I'm not sure what the police did at Grenfell so can't comment.

The march where Ian Tomlinson was murdered the police had taken off their numbers and covered their faces early on. That's not a good sign. They lied and lied about Tomlinson. Only admitted anything at all when footage came out. Utter disgrace.

I work near London bridge. The attacker was stopped by members of the public.

That has happened before.

It's not offensive. Why? The met at a force have a list of appalling stuff as long as your arm. Corruption. Warboys. Reid. Lying about men they have killed. Etc etc on and on.

It is offensive to say that what. We should ignore it all?

'Shall we say that all nurses are evil because of nurses like Lucy Letby and Beverly Allitt? Or doctors are all killers, like Harold shipman. No, because I have common sense and won’t tar them all with the same brush.'

Sapphire unit
Warboys
Reid
What they did to Steven Lawrence's family
Undercover in environmental groups starting relationships
Selling stories to the papers
Lying about the circumstances where they have killed

It's not one bad apple fgs

The Met police did what they could to protect me when coming out to DV incidents. A few didn't seem well trained but to be fair I didn't tell them the truth. The lack of protection was and still is the lack of safe places to go and limited support in London. 3-6 week wait for victim support, being told by a domestic abuse organisation to just call the police and they couldn't help with housing, CAB women telling me the council wouldn't help with housing, and the social worker (who I was referred to from a refuge somewhere else in the country) who shrugged and told me they didn't help vulnerable adults except for washing or dressing. I'd been told by the refuge I was at risk of being murdered but getting somewhere safe to go to seems impossible. Definitely not possible without a support worker who will fight for you. So I turned back to my partner. I don't see any other option. It's no protection from the government rather than the police. The police probably tried more than most others to help me. They were actually really kind except for two female officers but I think they were just probably trying to be fair so not accused of favouring the woman just because same sex or gender. I lied it was all a mistake also so I didn't tell the truth.

The only issue I had is I wish they'd interviewed or at least spoken to the outsiders who called them. It would've helped with evidence when I needed it but I don't blame the attending officers. They've got so much to deal with and underfunded and under trained.

I’d like to know what proportion of that 67% are white. The MET are a danger if you’re non-white.

DH is in the MPS and is everything you’d want a police officer to be. That said, the service is riddled with problems that need to change so he and his colleagues can do their job to the best of their ability. The legacy of decades of institutional racism and sexism lives on and there is still much to do to get rid of that, and the problems are exacerbated by chronic underfunding meaning we don’t have enough police officers, training is insufficient and there’s very little support for officers’ mental health or safety at work. It’s very worrying because without the proper investment and a commitment to genuine diversity across all roles, it’s proving increasingly difficult for officers to do the excellent job we should expect from them. I have huge respect for the police and the difficult job they do, whilst also (along with DH & his colleagues) completely condemning those officers who majorly fuck up.

Hello vashta!

I was just watching Dr who

That is a very fair assessment. Please say thank you to your DH from me. I've been in met area for over 40 years and that assessment resonates.

Thing is there's no political will.

The majority of police officers i believe are good but also unfortunately it attracts bullies who enjoy the power trip.
I have a close friend who works in one of the larger police forces and it was very well known a senior dv officer was grooming domestic violence victims, he would be the support, charm and give them compliments and then use them for sex and discard them after. The mental damage caused by him to vulnerable women must be huge but he continued this for many years. Fortunately he's not an active officer now, forced to resign on an unrelated incident and it was swept under the carpet and he will never be held accountable which is appalling. The police should be making an example of these rogue officers to show they won't tolerate bent coppers but 9/10 they aren't even investigated.
It's impossible to know the full scale of corruption but it will be 10 times higher than we know.

And round here you know. They don't come out. It's all helicopters and 100mph up the road.

The stuff that people care about every day. Just no interest

My personal experiences have been very mixed. I land on the negative

I'm a white middle class woman and the police make me feel uncomfortable. That's just how I feel.

Thanks @NiceGerbil

No probs it's heartfelt x

After being assaulted by an off duty met officer and nothing was done, no. I'm not a fan

I'm non- white, a woman, and a first generation immigration and have been supported by the Met on 4 separate occasions. One when they helped recover a bag that was nicked, they were also fantastic when my flat was burgled, very kind when I was assaulted by a woman on the street and finally when I called them to help a neighbour in a DV situation. I see them out and about on regular patrols too which I find re-assuring.

I've lived in big cities around the world and I think people take for granted just how much safer the UK and particularly London is comparable to other similar sized western and eastern cities. Sure, there are bad apples but that's because it is reported in the media. If you checked GMC records of how many surgeons have been investigated for operating when drunk, performing unnecessary hysterectomies etc, or assaulting patients - you'd be equally horrified.

People measure safety by whether by and large they feel comfortable walking the streets and going about their daily lives. Given most crime in London is gang related, the average person doesn't have a lot to fear. Sarah Everard was a tragedy but they also did a stellar job finding the suspect very quickly - and it's not really common for women to be snatched off the streets of London.

Additionally my ex was in the police too and it is a hard, difficult, under paid profession that gets none of the kudos say NHS workers or teachers get. Putting yourself in danger every day is not easy, making split second decisions on how to react isn't easy. Facing off to gangs with machetes when you're a patrol cop with just pepper spray and a baton isn't easy. Detectives can have a caseload of 30-40 cases at any given time. Sure, there's ways to go in the Met updating the way they tackle crime and criminals. But i think by and large they are responsive, effective and do a decent job of keeping the city safe from crime with the limited budget and resources they are given.