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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think the police are twats

251 replies

whosphuckoffy · 07/07/2012 10:10

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.

OP posts:
mummytime · 07/07/2012 17:51

Vicar is wonderful I am sure.

Policing is very different from authority to authority, and so are the police. I've found my local ones to be great generally, but there have been stories even of them (but maybe the fact that such stories get into the press is a good sign).
I also lived in a poor area with the Met police, and don't have a high regard (walking past riot police on my way to school most days). I also got woken up at 2 am, in Birmingham, by police banging on an all female flat (nearly breaking the door down) to tell us my flat mates bike had been stolen and recovered. It really wasn't that urgent.

Yes I can understand the police damaging the OPs car, but surely they should have a card to pop under the windscreen wipers once the criminal was apprehended? If I damaged someone car and drove off I would be committing an offence.

SoleSource · 07/07/2012 18:54

I have met lots of twatty shop assistants,social workers, teachers and nurses etc I am a twat too sometimes.

yousankmybattleship · 07/07/2012 19:04

Yes of course the police are all twats. Quite right OP and others. This country would be a far more peaceful place without them hassling innocent people and inflicting willful damage on wing mirrors. Sack the lotf of them.

lisaro · 07/07/2012 19:06

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet for breaking our Talk Guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

yousankmybattleship · 07/07/2012 19:12

By the way. Can I just clarify that I was joking? I thought it would be obviously but having read some of the outrageous anti police crap on this thread I'm now not so sure!

I have nothing but respect for the police, especially in the face of such ignorant and vicious comments. Thank goodness they are still prepared to do the job even though they are underpaid and undervalued.

lovebunny · 07/07/2012 19:12

latara, if you've interpreted my thanks as me questioning your lifestyle - don't be paranoid! thanks. that's what i meant.
SoleSource, quite right. i have a twatty side myself. but... i'd forgotten the worst thing the police advised....'get a man'! Grin

TheLazyGirlBlog · 07/07/2012 19:13

lisaro how dare you! I wrote down the events that happened to me as I thought it daft that certain people tried to suggest the Police are never at fault- of course they are, the same as Doctors get it wrong, Teachers get it wrong, Council workers get it wrong, if there is a job going, you can be sure that mistakes can, and have, been made. To suggest wearing a badge makes people incapable of making mistakes is utter tosh.
In the same breath, I said, whilst my experiences were pretty shambolic and uncalled for, not every Police officer is like that. For every bad apple (or 7 in my case), there are thousands round the country doing a great job. The riots for example- I wouldn't have fancied doing their job then. Nor during 7/7 either.

To suggest what I went through was unrealistic, you are entitled to your viewpoint, but you are quite utterly wrong. Its shocking, yes, and ridiculously over the top, but it shows that certain officers from that constabulary were mismanaging situations and took advantage. They were reprimanded for it. More people should complain.

Lilithmoon · 07/07/2012 19:26

For a bit of balance... I have been lucky to have had very little need for contact with the Police. However, without exception, those I have had contact with have been efficient and polite.

lovebunny · 07/07/2012 19:33

another one...

with daughter, then about eight, i used to live next door to a pub. a robbery was planned from the pub and i was asked to go into the nearest police station to make a statement.

when we got there, we were put in a room without windows, and the door was closed. the door could not be opened from the inside. we were left there for some time. daughter was very scared and i was not happy. and we were there to do them a favour.

oh yes, the police are lovely.

ShatnersBassoon · 07/07/2012 19:51

I have nothing but respect for the police.
I'm amazed at the examples given here of innocent people being maltreated by police officers. It beggars belief.

DottyandSpottyWot · 07/07/2012 20:02

My DH is a police officer, if being a twat involves getting stabbed with an uncapped needle belonging to someone with HIV & Hep, not getting any paternity leave as he had to be at court, performing cpr on a tiny baby, dealing with a hostage takers, being viciously attached by a 15 year old girl with severe mental health problems, then yes he is a mega twat!

lovebunny · 07/07/2012 20:08

*I'm amazed at the examples given here of innocent people being maltreated by police officers. It beggars belief"

except that i don't tell lies. every word is true. even if you know some lovely police persons, the ones i've met have been horrible. i can't remember a nice one, ever. oh, there was a nice-ish one on the phone when i was getting nuisance (sp?) calls.

lovebunny · 07/07/2012 20:08

usually. i don't tell lies usually. and not here. i put that in, just in case i have to lie somewhere else, sometime...

SharonGless · 07/07/2012 20:09

Twat, cunt, horrible?
Any more for any more?
Finally hiding the thread as I can't be arsed justifying myself to people who have made up their mind based on their own experience

twofingerstoGideon · 07/07/2012 20:12

people who have made up their mind based on their own experience

What's wrong with that?

SharonGless · 07/07/2012 20:16

What do you do? Would you like to be lumped in with all your work colleagues when maybe 1% are the problem and be abused?

Original poster
whosphuckoffy · 07/07/2012 20:52

Right, I think this thread has become derailed, and i was BU to state that police are twats but my original question was

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

This has not been answered by many of you, it's turned into a bit of a argument about how good/bad police are.

How many of you would be annoyed if your car was damaged? and then the person responsible for the damage fucked off? police or not. A card under my wiper to ask me to contact them would not of gone amiss.

I phoned 101, was then given an address of a bloke i have got to write to, 'who deals with this sort of thing' so lord knows when my car will be sorted.

I was fuming when i posted earlier. The police do a grand job, on the whole.

OP posts:
GothAnneGeddes · 07/07/2012 20:54

The problem occurs when that 1% is not sufficiently punished.

See: m.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/nov/02/metropolitan-police-smashed-up-car?cat=uk&type=article

Likewise the current issues with the Met and Leveson and the ongoing case of the private detective who was murdered.

Do you think Stephen Lawrence's parents thought the police were lovely?

Or Christopher Adler's?

Or the victims of John Warboys?

The police are important. They do a vital job. I would much rather people were able to speak out about their negative experiences then the blanket, "how very dare you"'s that some on this thread are saying.

GothAnneGeddes · 07/07/2012 20:55

Link again:

m.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/nov/02/metropolitan-police-smashed-up-car?cat=uk&type=article

SharonGless · 07/07/2012 21:01

I totally agree if there is evidence and personal experience to back it up. The bad apples need to be rooted out.
Officers need to treat the public with the dignity and respect they deserve. What is rather wearing is the wholesale "police are twats" which is spouted more often than not

timetosmile · 07/07/2012 21:15

I can't speak for the whole profession.
Nor would I suggest that the entire Force behave impeccably in the line of duty.
But I do object to Vicar and my DB and BSIL being called twats.
Sorry for your experiences OP -I expect I would feel pretty aggrieved too - but please don't generalise!

TheLazyGirlBlog · 07/07/2012 21:15

whosphuckoffy yep, I'd be pissed off, and quite right too, regardless of who was responsible. I don't think I'd be more or less pissed off if it were the Police either. Its never nice to have anyone batter your belongings however large or small and then not leave details.

Its true that the Police probably had more important issues to deal with, so a simple card with a number pre-printed would suffice. I'm sure the arrest will be logged though. Will you be able to claim or is it not serious enough to risk inflating your insurance?

OhDearNigel · 07/07/2012 21:26

You can be arrested just because a malicious neighbour makes a false allegation against you (personal experience of this). No charges were brought

Well, if we started treating all calls with suspicion and decided we wouldn't be investigating because it sounded like a load of old bollocks we'd soon be criticised for that too. Bear in mind we only have 1 account to go on - and being arrested is to facilitate you having free legal advice and your account of events being accurately recorded according to PACE.

I would love to see some of you try a week on section.

OhDearNigel · 07/07/2012 21:30

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

Contact your local station, give the time and location that your vehicle was damaged and they should be able to marry it up with the custody log and deal with any compensation. Unfortunately in scenarios where detainees are violent it often requires 6 or 7 people to get them safely into a van and secure them.

When you are fighting with a detainee that hates the police, may be armed, may be trying to poke your eyes out, is not playing by the "recommended unarmed defensive technique" manual that you and may be off their face on drugs, it's very easy to overlook someone's car sustaining some minor damage.

noelstudios · 07/07/2012 21:41

I'm in the police. I'm a twat. Being in the police is great though because nearly always, whatever you do, you get it wrong. So at least you know where you are - and then, if you get something right, you quite often find out down the line that you were actually wrong. And you feel like the normal order of things is restored.

Sometimes I wonder why I joined the old bill, when most of my Cambridge mates now earn at least three times as much as I do. Then I remember it is a fantastic job and I love it, even when we get stuff wrong and everyone hates us.

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