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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think the police are useless?

353 replies

RainbowsAndCrystals · 01/10/2017 22:43

In my 20s I've been around many people that have had bad experiences with them and say how useless they are.

Something happened to me a month ago and it was caught on cctv.

Firstly the police said I had to get the evidence myself. So I had to ask around for cctv ... very difficult when people don't want to be involved and you're someone with zero authority.

Now a month later and they still haven't bothered to look at the footage.

It's so disheartening and almost like they have sided with the criminals.

OP posts:
RedForFilth · 03/10/2017 08:32

LetMeChangeYourSocks being raped and beaten didn't even get me the time of day. Perhaps be sensitive to the fact that some of us have been through trauma and still suffer from that trauma and had no help from the police at all, or had negative experiences. Yes people have had it worse than me, it doesn't make what happened to me any less traumatic though.

Deathraystare · 03/10/2017 08:36

ParkheadParadise Sorry to hear that. That is awful. Mind you too often the police build a case but still the fuckers go free. Must be really frustrating for them.

LetMeChangeYourSocks · 03/10/2017 08:37

Sorry for what happened to you, and that you didn’t get the service you deserve, but I think you’ve missed my point entirely.

I’m talking about people who call up demanding I send 20 police officers round on blue lights because someone has smashed their car window. They can’t comprehend that there are people who have been raped and murdered and that we have to deal with those incidents first.

I don’t think it gets much worse than rape or murder so I clearly wasn’t talking about your type of situation.

Deathraystare · 03/10/2017 08:46

I would just like to say that the only time we called the police out was for a very minor burglary - in the days of video players and that was all the burgular took! Obviously not much to go on (though I am sure there is a ready list of suspects!) Didn't really expect them to fingerprint as not major crime anyway. Was pleased though that the "nice young man" calmed my mum down!

RedForFilth · 03/10/2017 08:51

Yes and obviously they shouldn't expect that. But they aren't responsible for making the unkind and useless police the way they are. There are good and bad police. There are good and bad people in every job. People are just sharing their personal experiences and unfortunately some of the people here have been treated appalingly by police. It has, naturally, tainted their view.

FlowerPot1234 · 03/10/2017 08:52

LetMeChangeYourSocks
I’m talking about people who call up demanding I send 20 police officers round on blue lights because someone has smashed their car window. They can’t comprehend that there are people who have been raped and murdered and that we have to deal with those incidents first.

Could you talk about the people who have serious incidents, or smaller incidents, and would like the police who are allocated to deal with specified categories of crime, to turn up and do their job? But they don't. Or all the people who are spoken to as if they are a piece of shit by police which seems, based on nearly every experience of police I have had, to be a manner of speaking to members of the public that is almost ingrained?

celticmissey · 03/10/2017 08:59

Why don't all of you who have had bad experiences of the police become an officer yourself? you would be perfect and know how to show empathy and support of victims of crime... mind you... Id like to see how you would manage 50 plus investigations whilst getting sent to incident after incident every day... let us know how you manage it ? and if you don't how many people complain.best of luck

ChoudeBruxelles · 03/10/2017 08:59

YABU the police have faced massive cuts. Support and admin staff have been decimated and police numbers cuts through retirement, resignation, I’ll health ...

You can only spread a service so far and they have to prioritise crime. My dh is a csi he regularly works longer than he should to go to serious crimes because there simply aren’t enough of them. When faced with things like rapes, aggravated burglaries, stabbing, child victims of abuse ... other things go down the pecking order

Rather than moaning on here do something useful. Write to your mp, complain about funding cuts.

ChoudeBruxelles · 03/10/2017 09:00

Or you could volunteer as a special

Pop24 · 03/10/2017 09:02

Flowerpots most people on here are talking from experience and your comment is patronising. Despite my awful experiences I still believe most people join the force for good and cuts are atrocious. But you cannot deny that the police still do little to get the bad eggs out. You can't just shrug and say 'there are good and bad people in all jobs' when your purpose is to uphold the law. The police will naturally be held to higher moral standards than the rest of the population. The way they handle cases of rape and sexual abuse is clearly still appealing in some forces and that needs to change fast.

FlowerPot1234 · 03/10/2017 09:06

Pop24 Confused I don't think you meant to reply to me.

BoysofMelody · 03/10/2017 09:08

I know you see all these police programmes etc but I don’t think the public actually have any clue what so ever about the state things are in

Err no, there are lots of first hand accounts of being on the receiving end of poor treatment from the police, which you've arrogantly dismissed out of hand..

ShatnersWig · 03/10/2017 09:13

celtic Yes, poor dears, the Police, have it so hard don't they? Lots of people work in similar positions of trust and responsibility, such as the NHS, and are going through lots of cuts, more work than they can cope with. I suspect there are some on this thread. If they behaved with a total lack of empathy or were rude or ignored certain aspects of their role, they'd be fired. One rule for them?

DereksGotATail · 03/10/2017 09:13

A police bashing thread. Nice
There are a number of posters who have had an unacceptable service from the police but can't the same be said about every other service provider?
I am a police dispatcher in a very busy control room. You cannot imagine how frustrating it is to see a high number of outstanding emergency incidents on our control screen and only have 2/3 available patrols to send.
Deploying to every single job is a battle and as we deal with each emergency the non emergency incidents (burglaries, vulnerable people, thefts etc) are all forgotton at the bottom of the screen. People are getting a poor service but it doesn't make ALL police officers useless Sad

Pop24 · 03/10/2017 09:16

Flowerpot sorry!! I meant to reply to ghostly

ShatnersWig · 03/10/2017 09:18

Dereks I agree that some of us will also have bad experiences with the NHS. Both are services that we are paying for. Yes, they are very difficult jobs and I don't dispute that and I don't say all officers are rubbish. But people are perfectly entitled to discuss their poor experiences of the Police just as they would with Yodel for poor delivery service. Because if you are paying for a service, and that service is shit, you're entitled to say so. We may not personally pay the Police in the way we pay Yodel, but we fund them through our taxes so I think it's perfectly legitimate.

Pop24 · 03/10/2017 09:19

Actually I don't know who I meant to reply to but it was the person implying we were basing our judgement from watching TV!!

FlowerPot1234 · 03/10/2017 09:19

DereksGotATail

A police bashing thread. Nice
No. A thread that asks if we think the police are useless. We are free to answer that question, yes or no, as we wish.

There are a number of posters who have had an unacceptable service from the police but can't the same be said about every other service provider?
Yes it can. Whether it's to same degree is questionable. But that's irrelevant. This thread is about the police, so funnily enough, we're discussing the police.

BoysofMelody · 03/10/2017 09:19

There are a number of posters who have had an unacceptable service from the police but can't the same be said about every other service provider?

Possibly, but then this a thread about the Police. But then Sainsbury's don't have the powers and responsibilities that the Police do. If a shop assistant isn't doing their job properly or is rude, dismissive or can't be arsed to serve me the consequences are fairly minimal.

LetMeChangeYourSocks · 03/10/2017 09:21

Pop I’m assuming your reply was for me 🙄

And I never once trotted out the phrase you get good and bad in all jobs.

LetMeChangeYourSocks · 03/10/2017 09:23

And my reference to TV was in reference to the cuts and strain that the police are under, not the attitude and poor service that people have received Confused

LetMeChangeYourSocks · 03/10/2017 09:26

There are a number of posters who have had an unacceptable service from the police but can't the same be said about every other service provider?

Totally agree with this!!!

But the police have a magic wand and solve all crime and fix everybodies problems whilst simultaneously doing the job of other services aswell, don’t you know, so naturally they are the one who get all the flack Wink

Getout21 · 03/10/2017 09:37

Pop summed it up. I feel the mistrust doesn't necessarily come from an experience with a "bad egg" but it's the culture. Why does it take so long for truths to come out & very very few police are punished for wrongdoing & it takes years to be proven?

I don't want to work for the police, I couldn't do the job just like I couldn't be a nurse. That doesn't mean I can't criticise failings. When bankers were the enemy, could I not complain unless I wanted to become one & fix the culture within?

Police SHOULD be held to a higher standard as they are involved with the law.

Kazzyhoward · 03/10/2017 09:37

Or you could volunteer as a special

As said upthread, I did, and was a special for about 5 years, but had to leave because I just couldn't do with working with some so-called professional police officers who weren't fit to wear the uniform. Not only were they not disciplined for their poor behaviour, some of them seemed to be hero-worshipped by their fellow officers.

BubblesBubblesBubbles · 03/10/2017 09:40

My sister was date raped, on a quite night out for my birthday! We met at the pub for a glass of wine and my sister was completely sober and had been drinking either water or coke the entire time we were out.

The policeman who responded took us down to the local police station - he said to me that it was my sisters fault for going out on the piss and wearing revealing clothes Shock the utter cunt was soon put right when I showed him the picture of my sister wearing jeans and a non revealing top. Also to be fair they treated us like we were the ones doing something wrong.

Luckily a friend of my family who is a police man was at the station and checked up on us and got us to the 'rape unit' where we were treated correctly. A rape kit (swabs) and bloods were done - my sister had no alcohol in her system but had traces of a date rape drug.

I complained about this bloke but nothing ever happened.

I won't even go into the story about my friend who nearly died from domestic violence.

I have called the police 3 times, once for an attempted break in at my home after they had broken into my car (they didn't even come out just gave me a reference number) once for me witnessing an assault (domestic violence) - once again they were next to uselsss. And finally for a case of animal abuse - well bugger me they actually turned up to that one as the farmer was well known for his aggression.

I kinda believe somewhere they may have a few good police people but not in my area. I understand the police are under resourced and under funded but they really do need to improve their image.

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