To think the police are twats

[whosphuckoffy]

It's the second time now, they've done major damage to my car by arresting someone up against it. The first time i was sat in the vehicle and heavily pregnant. Not that they knew this of course. I know they have to arrest people and these things happen. The problem i have is the first time, if i hadn't of been sat in my car at the time, i wouldn't of known how the damage had occured. Also the damage caused to my car last night, our next door neighbour text us, otherwise we'd of thought it was vandals.

AIBU, to think that if police damage your property they should just leave a note to say contact the police station?

I've now got to faff around to sort this out today and i've got to cancel my plans because the car is undrivable, the wing mirror is fucked, i'm not happy.

vicar from that documentary you do.

Even one of my own nephews was arrested as he was carrying his own laptop home from a friends house, and the police didnt believe him when they said it was his.

So yes you do arrest poor ickle babies who have dont nothing to arouse suspicion.

Or you create reasons to be suspicious.

Vicar - I know from experience the police are meant to apply a necessity test before arrest but discovered that many police forces use Clause (e): "to allow the prompt and effective investigation of the offence or of the conduct of the person in question" as a justification, even though the Code of Practice says: "Arrest must never be used simply because it can be used." My local police authority does not allow people to attend the custody centre for voluntary questioning but always arrests people who are accused of something, as it is administratively more expedient for them. One of the problems I have with this, and have written to my MP about (who raised a question in the House about it) is why the Necessity Test isn't applied uniformly across the county. It should be.

food for thought?
and here

Again twofingers, where have I said that the OP is lying about her families innocence? I said that the neighbours must have given some interesting information that had some degree of severity, I said nothing of the truthfulness of that information.

Maybe you should read what I've said here:
"And yes I am sceptical that the information was about mild/minor crimes, the neighbours must have thought of something quite serious to accuse the OPs family of to gain that reaction from the police."
before trying to make me out to be naive.

sorry i apologise, im reverting to personal experience again.

I dont think ive ever seen anyone being arrested by 1 lone police person.
when you see a young (teen) running away do you assume that they might be drunk or high? is that way the force used always seems so over the top?
why does it matter why he was running? maybe he likes running?
what has he done? who says hes done anything? or by that do you mean what can i nick him for?
what info were you acting on? or were you just "keeping the peace" and looking to "prevent"crime. seemingly by looking for soemone who might have committed one, questioning them (or arresting them for not answering) unitl you have a crime and a criminal.

You never run after my babies? possibly not but you have chased after me and my friends and weve SEEN what you do.
im probably from that police hating generation, but after how we have been and continue to be treated most people on here would feel the same.

So I am a cunt now as well... Getting nicer by the minute! Around 35% of police officers are female FYI

When I got mugged in London the police were amazing. They hadn't even nicked anything as I kept hold of my bag as I fell on the floor. I got a kick in the back and a grazed hand, hardly injured at all but was quite shaken up.

Police came straight out (rung by a passerby) - took me to a friend's house first (about 20 minutes away). She wasn't in, but they took me back home and waited with me until another friend turned up. They were absolutely lovely to me AND one of them was an ex-male model and absolutely stunning which was a bonus and did cheer me right up,although the friend who arrived to look after me practically shoulder charged me out of the way to bat her eyelashes at him. :)

Different police took me out for a drive around three days later to see if we could spot the muggers as they tend to hang out in the same areas. And to the station to look through photos to see if I recgnised them. Throughout they were polite and helpful and I really felt they were making their best effort to catch the people involved in what really was quite a minor crime.

So I struggle to reconcile that image of the police (and the met at that) with what you hear on the news.

I disagree confused. It could be 'interesting', it could be 'severe', or it could be 'trivial'. The fence incident in my example isn't 'severe', is it? (Maybe you think it is.) But still the police reacted with two officers turning up in a marked car and hammering loudly on the door at 10 o clock at night and making an arrest.

I have not accused you of saying the OP is lying. Why would I?

"prompt and efficient investigation" isn't a necessity all by itself and has to be qualified with further explanation. So it isn't a get-out clause.

In all professions you get good and bad. It is right that the police are held to greater scrutiny and that lessons are learned and procedures improved. However, for all the headline hitting cases out there, there are thousands of incidents involving the police every day. None of these hit the headlines because the police doing their jobs, helping people, sometimes saving lives and risking their own in the process, removing people from harm, catching criminals... well, that's just boring isn't it.

There isn't a script for this job. There are procedures, but apart from certain things you have to say or do, and forms you have to fill in, you have to adapt to the situation as it unfolds. You never know what's going to happen next. Things can turn violent in a split second and with no warning. Faced with that, and with a duty to keep yourself, your colleagues and innocent members of the public safe, you don't take chances. If you think someone is carrying a knife, you put the handcuffs on first. When you, your colleague or an innocent bystander has been stabbed - yes possibly you - it's too late. The police have to justify use of reasonable force. If you see something you think is unreasonable, call it in and question it. It wil be taken seriously. Don't bitch about it on the internet.

The idea that the majority of the police go round like sweeney characters is just laughable. The profession has been completely overhauled in the last 30 years and professional standards are so on top of things that most officers get investigated at some point in their careers, though the vast majority are found to have done nothing wrong. You will always get one or two bad apples, and most officers despise these people as much as the general public do, but to say they are representative of the police in general is like claiming Harold Shipman is typical of all doctors.

lovebunny - it's good to always know your rights. There are various sites on the internet including the govt's own website that detail people's rights during a stop & search type situation.
In that situation i'd have stated my rights then asked the police to kindly move or i will call 999 & tell them i'm being harassed by men in a police car (giving the reg no of the vehicle). I would start by asking the policemen's names & numbers. Just stay calm & never ever swear or they can use it as justification to make an arrest.
thanks, latara, will look into it. as a 'naice, middle class couple' in a smart car, they've never had that kind of treatment before. not like the ex - he got stopped every week as a teenager for driving an old merc stuffed with the component parts of his drum kit...

sharon - my post was meant to be done in humour.....hope i didnt offend. i am a woman officer too.

to the poster who said we always arrest in 2's.....tellme where and ill transfer - i am always single crewed and alone unless its between the hours of 9pm and 7am....then, if we have enough staff, i may be double crewed

anyhow, i am going to waste no more breath - those of you who are anti police have made up your minds that we are all the same, so my telling you that i am not a twat, or a thug, are futile.
i sleep at night knowing i do my best, i never use undue force, i am a good communicator, i like people, and i treat everyone with respect, (even those who have done things that the majority would find difficult to treat with respect....)
thats why i was chosen to do the job. thats why it took me 18 months to get in through 7 rounds of tests and interviews.

im not going to change anyones mind so im going to stop trying.

You said that my point was another example of smoke without fire. To say that there is no smoke without fire is to imply that somebody is lying about what actually occurred, which I wasn't doing.

Whether trivial or severe it must have been of significant interest to the police to arrest with that degree of hostility. Even the officers who do abuse their power shouldn't react that strongly as to leave people injured through arrest for something they consider minor.

Scottish police currently work in pairs because of the need for corroboration. (This will be changing.)

Claiming all police are good because that's your experience/you are a good police officer (And I don't doubt you are) is just as ridiculous as claiming they are all bad IMO.

I've had a couple of negative experiences of the police, and my brother has had a very similar experience to Nailak's nephew, he was randomly stop-searched and they accused him of stealing his own phone and arrested him.

I've also had a positive experience of the police when my DH was mugged. The officers who attended couldn't have been nicer or more helpful towards him. But that doesn't magically negate the negative experiences.

Vicar: over you having to go it alone most of the time. I knew that it was starting to get that way but that's awful.

The hatred for the police that is regularly expressed on Mumsnet is astonishing. Police officers are only human, some will be awful but the vast majority are decent, ordinary people doing their best in any given situation.

im not claiming aynthing, but some people just hate the police full stop. if you are anti you are anti.

i know of one bad officer in my station. he is too robust, a bit of a loose canon, he will not last long.

the majority of officers i work with are spot on.
im hiding this thread now as i just find it too depressing, i do my best, and i can only speak for myself and those i work closely with. i joined for the right reasons but you cannot please everyone.

Vicar - there are a lot of people who are critical of certain police actions without being 'anti police.' I would count myself as one of these. I was actually shocked when I found out how the Necessity Test was being used in my area, particularly when arrest involved collecting DNA samples and taking fingerprints from people who had not been charged with anything. Maybe I'm a woolly liberal, but putting innocent people through arrest is inexcusable in my opinion and very, very bad PR for the police. As a result, over 900,000 law-abiding people have their details on the DNA database. Perhaps some of them don't mind, but many of them will feel incensed by what has happened to them and will now have a negative opinion of the police as a result of what's happened to them.

i cant comment on that because i use arrest as a last resort twofingers and i use my powers of arrest to the letter.
i also see myself as a "wooly" liberal.

anyway. hiding. its my day off, im arguing over a job that im starting to wonder why i do anyway, on my day off. i dont want to think about work. ill be back soon enough.

Nice...bit of police bashing

Hope none of you have the misfortune to need them as you obviously wouldnt call them, with them being such twats.

Bit of a break for us, eh latara

Of course there is a distinction to be drawn between governmental decisions about databases & other national policing policies; and decisions & policies implemented by senior officers (i.e. 'positive' arrest policies) and the constable on the street who has to try to carry them all out within the law.

I wonder if the level of pressure on individual officers to provide a certain return of work, to be tough on criminals & the anti-social, while at the same time being nice and friendly to everyone is properly recognised.

By the way does the behaviour of certain employees of Barclays bank automatically mean that ALL Barclays employees are twats?

I am a criminal lawyer so professionally 'on the other side' to police officers. I have met very few police officers for whom I didn't have a great deal of respect. I haven't always liked all of them, but there have been very few who I would describe as 'twats'.

My dad?s in the police, a few years ago his friend and colleague was attacked and killed while he was out patrolling at night. I bet more members of the general public are twats sounds like there are quite a few here to be honest ?

Also, the amount of paperwork that needs to be done after an arrest makes it hard to believe that any police officer would want to arrest somebody for no reason. Would be interesting to hear the police officers opinions with regards to the people who say this has happened to them.

There are good and bad people in every profession and while I cannot say every police officer is fantastic, the generalised, sweeping statements here are not only offensive, but also hurtful and damaging.

Like others have said, I hope the people who have heavily criticised the police never need help, because they are clearly so awful.

My dad is the softest, kindest person I know, and to hear people describe the whole police force as abusive, controlling, power obsessed and rude is laughable and makes me consider the type of person they must be, especially if they have had so many experiences with the police.

advice from police officers visiting my home because myself and the house have been targeted by a mob of youths:

'get a gun'
'move. you aren't from round here.' (i grew up five minutes from where i live now).
'you have to put up with this sort of thing if you live on your own' (having the windows shot in with air rifles? having people hammering on the door and screaming abuse? having stones thrown at you as you walk home from the supermarket with your shopping?)
'get a dog'. why? i don't want one.
'we can't help you unless you have cctv installed and can identify the youths!' (right. i can't afford cctv. next time they start throwing stones i'll put down my shopping and start taking photographs. that should go down well.)

yes, all police persons are kind, helpful and efficient. not.

Yanbu to say that ones who behave in that way are twats but yabu to say all.
Ime police officer /teachers /social workers or any other type of employment that is percived by most to be a possition of respect or power or responsability tends to attract either very very good people who strive to do a great job whilst taking account of the publics perception of there "office" or compleate cunts who are power crazed fuckers who just enjoy exercising there power of those made vunrable by a lack of that power

lovebunny - i don't get stopped in cars. I don't own a car.
So as a lone young woman who has to walk home from work late at night - well, i like to know that i can call the police if i need to.
Yes i have had boyfriends who got stopped by the police - usually with good reason. That's why they quickly became ex-boyfriends. I'm not interested in hanging out with dodgy people because i don't want to get arrested & lose my career, home etc.