To be pleased the the Policeman gave this rude, ignorant woman a lecture in front of people.

[Oldsu]

My DH is manager of a charity shop, this week I have been helping him out as he is short staffed and I have 5 weeks holiday as apposed to his 4 weeks so have used up my spare week to work in the shop.

Yesterday a woman dropped of a bag of donations when I was sorting it I found an envelope stuffed with money (600 quid to be precise) TECHNICALLY we could have put it through as a donation as policy is anything in a donation bag belongs to the charity, however it was clear it was a mistake, so 3 of us counted it, put it into an envelope signed it and DH locked it in the safe.

He also sent an email to his area manager asking what the policy is if customer didn't come back, made a note in the shops diary and made a phone call to the police, everything by the book and documented as it should be.

Today the woman came back in she forced her way to the front of the queue shouting 'where's my money I want my money'. So I spoke to her explaining her money was safe, its in the shop safe but only the manager has the combination and he has gone to the bank but he wont be long.

She went ballistic red in the face and spitting, accused me of stealing her money and demanded I gave it back to her NOW, again I tried to reason with her but she wasn't having any of it and stormed out saying she was getting the police, I was shaking at this point.

DH came back 5 minutes later and calmed me down. 1/2 hour later she came back with two Policemen one went up stairs with DH came down five minutes later with the envelope, she just snatched it out of his hand he stopped her and made her count the money in front of him, again she turned to go without even a word, the Policeman then stopped her again and told her to apologise to me , gave her a very stern lecture in front of everybody about wasting police time.

DH said he showed the Policeman the entry in the diary and the email he had sent his AM and that he had reported the find to the police station. to prove we were not going to steal it.

And I thought my old man had a cushy job just sorting through old clothes

I mean there are a shit load of crimes committed up and down the country every day, are those criminals all forced to apologise? Doubtful.

OP I'm sorry she was rude. Good for the Policeman.

Police do get people to apologise. Tis a thing. Community resolution I think it's called.
So not unheard of. And he was right, she had wasted police time.

Him making her apologise was a way of getting her to stop, calm down and consider her actions which is a good method of ensuring people's minds are not in a bad place when they leave a situation.

No one has the power to make someone apologise.

But agree with what officer did.

I think the policeman did brilliantly.

Bidsgotafly - I'm a scouser too. Your attitude is appalling. Using a Hillsborough reference in that way is beneath contempt.

Martha - you are well named

Not forced to by law as such, as far as I know anyway, but if she had kicked off and refused to apologise he could obviously have taken it further. As a solicitor, in the past I have told criminal clients to apologise to both judges and police officers when they have been rude to them. Again it is their choice but they do it in preference to the alternative. So the woman clearly saw the apology as the lesser of 2 evils I'm guessing. So OP YANBU I'd have been delighted to see that rude woman taken down a peg or two (whether enshrined in statute or not

OP she sounds awful, and I'm glad you were pleased with how the Police dealt with.
As for the rest of this thread...exactly why I only come on mumsnet occasionally.

Martha - you are well named

Glad you agree, martha cliff is indeed a cunt.

I get the reason for asking /offering opportunity to apologise. I really do. I am being pedantic about the authority he posessed to make her apologise. Because it matters that people know what police do and dont have authority to do. I was surprised to see that he told her to apologise because to my knowledge he cant make her do it.

This approach is known as a community resolution and it can involve restorative justice techniques, such as the offender apologising to the victim, paying compensation or repairing any damage caused. Unlike a caution, a community resolution does not lead to a criminal record.30 Apr 2013

Google it.

But you can't force people to apologise if they don't want to. This was not a community resolution.
It was a bit of old fashioned policing !

Around here it's either comunity or local resolution I forget which one.

You get asked to accept responsibility and make amends usually amends for very low level stuff is by way of an apology.

Accepting the resolution is usually a way of avoiding a bit of a ball ache and potential Hazzard of other behaviour sanctions (not quite sure what Tho as I'm not a police officer and I'm onky familiar with the youth side of it)

Birdsgotafly - I agree with previous poster about your entirely inappropriate reference to Hillsborough, and I'm a scouser too.

In terms of the 'lady' in the shop, she sounds awful but was probably just in a massive panic over losing that much money- doesn't like someone whose behaviour would change even after being called out on her rudeness by a copper though?

chimp decent old fashioned policing was very much the thought behind resolution

I'm curious as to how an envelope with £600 in it managed to find its way into a bag of charity donations.

She was bloody rude and she only had to wait for it. Hopefully she left the shop feeling like an epic twat.

Indeed Chimp. The policeman didn't force her to from the sounds of it. Not entirely sure what that would entail.
They can, and do, suggest it though.

Yes a suggestion of an apology is more in keeping with what i would expect.

I agree Needs but in this case this not an actual Community Resolution.

Spent 20 yrs in police before Community Resolution came in so have an idea about how the public can be

needs
Spot on

Good on the copper!
Rude people deserve to be pulled up on their bad attitude.

Wow birds that is awful.

If you squint a little bit and imagine life without the appropreate form to be filled out then it is.

I puked in my neighbours garden a few days ago. I apologised I cleaned it up I sent flowers and explained to her that I was not being a pissed up lout or anything and told her about my medical condition she was perfecly happy.

It was a resolution.

This police officer used his initiative in the comunity to resolve an issue that could have potentially had far worse results for the people involved if not done, he was there he made an assesment based on what he saw with the benefit of his experance and training to back up his stance. i think it was a good thing.

Even if joe blogs thinks policing is just about arresting people and generating shut loads of paperwork I like to think it's also still about being proactive in the comunity and using common sense

Frankly dodgy coppers aside (and I have several friends who are both coppers and Liverpool supporters) I wish more policemen would act like this! Maybe then people like this would behave as if they live in a community rather than just expecting everyone to jump to their demands!

Just spoken to my DH who was the one who showed the Policeman the paperwork and proof that he had kept the money safe, he had actually asked him if the woman could be arrested, and described how I was when he got back, shaking and distressed on the verge of tears, the Policeman said he would tell her to apologise to me so it was in response to the affect her actions had on me so may not have been proper Police procedure