Do you still trust the police?

[Soubriquet]

When I got with my dh 11 years ago, he would laugh when I said I trusted the police. That they were someone in a position of power, who I felt I could trust. He never tried to sway me, just said, ok..you’ll see.

Now…I don’t. After everything they has happened over the last few years..Rotherham, Wayne Couzens, the girl with autism and other shit like that, I do not trust them at all.

I really think everyone on here relying solely on the media for their views needs to examine why they're so easily swayed by a media narrative. As it's current, the Lucy Letby case is an obvious example of two really interesting things-firstly a few serial killer in a very responsible, trusted profession is convicted of murdering the most vulnerable babies- if that was a police officer the media storm would be insane as would the mumsnet posts about how EVERY police officer must be that way inclined but when it's an equally, if not more responsible role held by a nurse there's not half as much attention, nor are there droves of people making sweeping, ignorant statements about all nurses being bad apples or incompetent and taking time to write out responses of their experiences. I am absolutely not saying police are without fault in some examples given or denying peoples experiences but just saying it's interesting that people are so quick to judge them and be so incredibly nasty about all of them when most go to work to do a good job, but can ignore another sinister example because it doesn't fit their list of things a mumsnetter would approve of to complain about. Equally, in the Lucy Letby case the DCI who investigated was really moving in her response to the conviction on television, having spent years dedicated to that case and god only knows the impact it had on her. She's a police officer, she's sacrificed years of her life for case with a LOT of media traction and room for scrutiny, to get justice for those families. Funnily enough, people abusing the police who are out there doing this kind of work everyday don't seem to pay cases of amazing work like this half the attention they should and would rather go on about a time a friend of a friend got stop searched and they weren't there but know one side of it. Ask all of yourselves honestly if you could do that job. I think generally all professionals in these roles are amazing, police, nurses, firefighters etc and there will always be examples where people aren't. I'd never make a generalisation about a whole group of people based on the media without having experienced and lived the role myself though.

Thank you for that post.

There are posts on Mumsnet criticising nurses and midwives every day.

Again, I'm wondering why people are ignoring that more than one force has been proven to be institutionally corrupt per the findings of inquiries, not simple media reports. Why assume that posters are basing their opinions on insufficient evidence (no pun intended)? And really don't understand why it's necessary to have done a job before you're allowed an option on it?

I think it's completely necessary as the overall consensus is that all officers or at least most are racist, misogynistic, sexist etc. when without having been an officer in any of these forces, experiencing the culture and the pressures of the work they do on a daily basis how can you really judge? There's some wild assumptions on here but ultimately I go back to the Lucy Letby case and all of the officers involved in it and I'd say we are bloody lucky as a country to have people willing to take on a case like that at the detriment of their own mental health and should be a bit more grateful for them. Some of the posters on here act like they would rather they weren't here and that would allow the real criminals and Lucy letbys of the world to get away with everything they do. I also can't see how anyone can truly judge a profession so strongly strongly such angry, impassioned posts without experiencing it. I just find it really, really ignorant and easy to say whilst there's officers outside right now getting beaten up, trying their best and staying awake until the morning so we and our families are safe.

Not as many as police in my observations and if there are it's usually about individuals without entire groups of professionals being categorised as one big problem. I think it's a disgrace to critique either really unless it's a certain, individual issue.

@Catwiththecream the fine work of one group of people does not eradicate the harm done by others who are in the same job, surely? I don't think that having a difficult, dangerous job is any excuse for behaving in a corrupt, damaging way. Again, there are multiple posters who have referenced significantly more than "the media" as the basis of their opinions.

Hmm, perhaps our feeds are different because that's not my reading. What would you view as significant grounds to form an opinion on a subject like this?

*sufficient, not significant, sorry

Quite honestly I'd argue that without doing the job of any emergency services profession you can't really judge at all because you'll never know all of the people working for them, what they go through on a daily basis, whether the work is sustainable or they can deliver the outcomes the public want and whether negative public opinions of them are fair but I'd say that with anything in life. I really would never judge anyone or anything with only snippets of information even if I'd had an awful experience. I think the minute you start making assumptions about anything you can't really trust your opinion anymore and without evidence that what you're saying is true its not fair to say it.

No. Not at all.

@Catwiththecream thats fair enough about having reliable information, but I think the point I'm making is that there is reliable information out there, and not everyone is voicing their opinions based on "snippets". And I still completely, fundamentally disagree that it's necessary to have done a job before you have an opinion on it. So I think we must agree to disagree on that, but thank you for engaging and making me think (am off to bed before I forget how early I have to be up...!)

I think it's a mistake to think that someone wearing a uniform..any uniform can be trusted.

No. And neither does/did my partner. Until he dropped it on me that he wants to join the force 😵‍💫

With regards to the media, I think an interesting example would be the Casey report recently. The actual review is balanced and sensible. The media reports (the ones I saw anyway) were much more critical of the police.
It’s perfectly possible to hold all these opinions in your head at once:
Policing is a very hard job.
There have been some shocking examples of police behaving in morally reprehensible (and indeed illegal) ways.
Often this is discovered and prosecuted successfully because of the dedication of other officers.
Policing needs to improve in terms of recruitment, training, accountability, emotional support for victims, emotional support for officers, diversity and inclusion. This will only be possible when the government goes back to funding it appropriately (and arguably makes changes to who leads that change).
Some police are bad, some police are good.
It’s an huge institution, it’s impossible for every single person to be the same.

Excellent post 👏

It's possible in the UK you have more chance of being killed by a police officer than a terrorist.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_the_United_Kingdom

Mostly accidents and lawful killing though

That's OK then.

Nobody said it was ok .

Police dont set out to kill people , terrorists do

Presumably that's a great comfort to Helen Hollands family.

🙄

Anyone surprised ?

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-body-cam-footage-lost-south-yorkshire-b2397876.html

I cant do a link from this phone but rapist PC Adam Provan's timeline of offending is in today's Guardian. First reported to his superiors for sexual assault in 2003. Kept in the force for a further 13 years with a catalogue of accruing sexual offences against fellow officers and members of the public. Those bad apples just keep on turning up don't they? Take a deep breath before reading, it will make you furious.

I am not in the least surprised and I am sure that a lot more will come out in the coming weeks and months. The Casey report has only given the feathers an initial shake.