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Original poster

Been waiting for police for nearly 5 hours

180 replies

Realitea · 03/03/2022 01:52

I called 999. They know if I call what it’s about and I need urgent police assistance
That was at 9pm
Called back at 10.30 - assured they’ll visit and said they’re busy
At what point do I give up? I have to be up in 4.5 hours for work! Not that I feel I could sleep anyway after what happened.

OP posts:
Original poster
Realitea · 03/03/2022 07:54

@Desmondo2021 I would feel bad making a complaint as I know the police are struggling so much at the moment but I feel I have to as my safety has been put at risk. I can’t see why a different force from a neighbouring county couldn’t have come

OP posts:
tiredvommachineasaurus · 03/03/2022 07:56

[quote Realitea]@Desmondo2021 I would feel bad making a complaint as I know the police are struggling so much at the moment but I feel I have to as my safety has been put at risk. I can’t see why a different force from a neighbouring county couldn’t have come[/quote]
It's just as likely they have no resources either OP. This is endemic, unfortunately.

HollowTalk · 03/03/2022 07:56

That's horrendous for you and must be extremely stressful for the police too if there are only two of them in the area.

Meanwhile, the people who make these decisions are sleeping in their beds.

LakieLady · 03/03/2022 07:56

This is awful. What kind of country are we turning into where we don't have effective protection and response from the police when women are justifiably frightened by someone determined enough to breach an injunction?

Five hours is outrageous. I'd definitely raise it with your MP, OP, and with your local police and crime commissioner.

AbsentmindedWoman · 03/03/2022 07:57

@Notagoodnight

Is there a reason you feel immediately threatened by this?

I'm struggling to feel sympathy. I had police called to my house recently. my son with mental health needs was smashing my head on the floor repeatedly and wouldnt stop. That to me is an emergency.

Unless theres a massive back story I'm scared of someone the other side of a locked door just isn't. Doesnt mean it isnt bad, it's bad I'm just not sure it's an emergency.

That to me is a court matter if hes broken an injunction but it depends on the injunction I guess.

Dangerous, dismissive bullshit.

You bar is so low it is lying on the floor.

I am sorry your sense of what is acceptable has been eroded, but do not chide women for calling the emergency services when their safety is at risk.

FAQs · 03/03/2022 07:57

Stalking can be terrifying I’m not sure why some posters are downgrading it!

Where I live they usually have two officers on nights to cover 80 square miles, sometimes they might have a pcso to help, the cuts to Policing are online to see, chuck in protests etc which come out of the budgets and they literally have no money.

Op if you have a Police and Crime Commissioner you could consider complaining, they are the ones who are supposed to fight for funding.

FAQs · 03/03/2022 07:58

@HollowTalk

That's horrendous for you and must be extremely stressful for the police too if there are only two of them in the area.

Meanwhile, the people who make these decisions are sleeping in their beds.

Absolutely!
AbsentmindedWoman · 03/03/2022 08:03

I am glad the police showed up OP and hope you are as ok as you can be in the circumstances Flowers

TheRealityCheque · 03/03/2022 08:05

[quote Realitea]@Desmondo2021 I would feel bad making a complaint as I know the police are struggling so much at the moment but I feel I have to as my safety has been put at risk. I can’t see why a different force from a neighbouring county couldn’t have come[/quote]
Don't feel guilty - complaints will ultimately drive recruitment.

Additionally, despite police numbers being low, they are not low enough to justify only two officers (or even twenty) overnight for a county. If true, that's piss poor man management and should be called out.

georgarina · 03/03/2022 08:06

So terrifying. They were trying to get in the house??
Did they say they will let you know what happens? Ie arrest?

mocktail · 03/03/2022 08:09

You can make it clear in your complaint that you're not complaining against any of the individuals involved. It's still important this gets recorded.

Cablefable · 03/03/2022 08:09

[quote Realitea]@Desmondo2021 I would feel bad making a complaint as I know the police are struggling so much at the moment but I feel I have to as my safety has been put at risk. I can’t see why a different force from a neighbouring county couldn’t have come[/quote]
I would make a complaint, because they can prove they only had x officers on duty and had y calls they won't be in trouble, but it does help build a better picture for the implications of running on such minimal staffing. Plus it might help you get an alarm again. Hope you're okay OP, sounds absolutely terrifying and its such a sad state of affairs that all of our public services are in such a state.

CognitiveDissolver · 03/03/2022 08:10

OP - what I do think you need to draw to police attention is the coincidence of him doing this just after your panic alarm was taken back, and on a night when there were only 2 officers on duty for the entire county. It might just be coincidence but it should be raised.

Ursusmajor · 03/03/2022 08:14

Putting in a complaint is a good idea OP - it could help the police when they ask for more money. It’s not a criticism of how the police treated you, it’s a criticism of the service which is currently inadequate because they just don’t have enough staff to deal with emergencies in a reasonable timeframe.

LaChanticleer · 03/03/2022 08:21

I think an arrest will be made today.

I hope so, @Realitea You’ve been very brave. I hope you manage to get some sleep tonight.

I’m sorry there was a poster gaslighting and minimising what you’ve been going through. When we know what stalkers are capable of, it’s terrifying. It must be exhausting to live with.

Pinkyxx · 03/03/2022 08:21

There were 2 people, one adult and a vulnerable child, at risk here from an unhinged lunatic, indisputably a 999 emergency.

@Realitea I'm so sorry you're going through this ordeal and the police did not respond especially knowing you have a child at home with you. I hope to god your child did not see the stalker. Please do raise a complaint to your MP and the Police not with regard to the officers but the service itself. I hope you are doing ok now x

Original poster
Realitea · 03/03/2022 08:26

Thank you @fairylightsandwaxmelts
I just ignore the minimisers as they have no idea

I do have a fantastic neighbour who stayed up watching from their house which I’m so grateful for

OP posts:
Useranon1 · 03/03/2022 08:26

I would be making a complaint OP on the basis that the policy have clearly lied to you! There were not 2 policy officers for your county last night.

Even the smallest county force is over 1000 police officers. Unless 96% of them were off last night, there were more than 2.

AndAsIfByMagic · 03/03/2022 08:29

I think you do need to make a complaint so that you are prioritised if it happens again. I can't imagine a worse situation than yours that delayed the police by so many hours.

Averyproperteaparty · 03/03/2022 08:31

@Notagoodnight

Is there a reason you feel immediately threatened by this?

I'm struggling to feel sympathy. I had police called to my house recently. my son with mental health needs was smashing my head on the floor repeatedly and wouldnt stop. That to me is an emergency.

Unless theres a massive back story I'm scared of someone the other side of a locked door just isn't. Doesnt mean it isnt bad, it's bad I'm just not sure it's an emergency.

That to me is a court matter if hes broken an injunction but it depends on the injunction I guess.

You’ve clearly never heard of domestic murders. You need to educate yourself.

A mentally unwell person banging their heads on the floor is is not a Police emergency. It’s a medical emergency. This is why Police cannot get to genuine Police emergencies; they are busy attending mental health patients, bed watching and being social workers.

Injunctions are not given out for the fun of it.

Sadly the Police have never recovered from the financial cuts of Teresa May.

Yellownightmare · 03/03/2022 08:33

www.statista.com/statistics/303963/uk-police-officer-numbers/

According to these stats, the numbers have been rising since the ridiculously low levels of 2018/19. I wonder if there's a problem with how they're being deployed. Are there too few frontline police, as opposed to people working on administrative duties, are there too many during the day, rather than at night, for example? Are there too high a proportion of senior ranks? It seems crazy that there were only three deployed according to a PP at night out of at least a thousand police workers per county.

Lalliella · 03/03/2022 08:34

@Desmondo2021

OP, police officer here.

On the face of it,.it sounds dreadful that it wasnt responded to as a 'immediate' call out. In my force it would certainly be graded as that from the information you've provided.

Was he still there, outside, when you called 999? Did you at some point tell them he had now left? I'm not justifying it but to give some concept around it today my team will consist of me (Sergeant) and 3 PCs covering an area that spans across 3 busy towns and all their surrounding villages so we have to constantly assess priority. If he was present then your risk would be highest but as soon as he had left your threat, risk, harm level has dropped and the response level adjusted accordingly. I'm not saying it's right I'm just saying it's a product of the dreadful cuts the police service have been subjected to over the last decade.

Only trying to add some perspective, if he remained hanging around outside when you called and has been convicted of stalking you (or is currently under investigation for the offence) and you did not get a response for several hours I would be raosing a complaint and asking for their explanation.

@Desmondo2021 how would OP have known if the stalker has left though. They might have pretended to leave, hidden and waited to see if the police came, then come back. Or just gone quiet.

@Notagoodnight there are no words for your callousness.

Averyproperteaparty · 03/03/2022 08:34

@Useranon1

I would be making a complaint OP on the basis that the policy have clearly lied to you! There were not 2 policy officers for your county last night.

Even the smallest county force is over 1000 police officers. Unless 96% of them were off last night, there were more than 2.

How many of those do you think are office bound, off sick, on leave, on courses, on special projects. All officers in a force are not on duty at the same time. As a Recently retired detective I can honestly tell you it’s highly likely that there were only two officers covering a particular area. This is not unusual. Members of the public were always amazed when we explained how few officers were actually on duty at that particular moment.
EmbarrassingHadrosaurus · 03/03/2022 08:34

A mentally unwell person banging their heads on the floor is is not a Police emergency. It’s a medical emergency.

In the post you quote, it's the poster's head that's banged on the floor by her son so it's plausible that she was very apprehensive about sustaining injury without police intervention.

my son with mental health needs was smashing my head on the floor repeatedly and wouldnt stop.

SirVixofVixHall · 03/03/2022 08:36

I am very glad that you are safe for now OP, and I hope that he is arrested today . I am really shocked by how long you had to wait, a woman and child, with a stalker trying to get into your house.