AIBU to think Yorkshire Police are a shit show?

[CosmicCanary]

The recent investigation by WY police regarding comments made on twitter (non threatening and not racially motivated) has prompted me to think about my own involvement with them and the publicised screw ups they have made over the years.

Without researching, what comes to mind is:

Yorkshire Ripper.
So many missed chances. More women murdered.
Womens concerns/alerts dismissed because they were prostitues.

Hillsborough.
Failure to manage the crowd then blame planted at the fans door.

Jimmy Saville.
They knew.
So many raised concerns.
They ignored.
For 30 plus years

Rotherham.
Concerns were raised.
People were silenced.
So many girls became victims when the police should have protected them.

I am sure there are more

My own experience was aged 19 beat up by my bf.
Got home and called the police.
4 hours later I was visited.
Female officer refused to write down my statement as I had been drinking. I had but the beating lasted 2 hours before I escaped and I was very sober by then. She also said it was a waste as I would only go back to him. He had never hit me before and I had no involvement with the police prior to this.
No photos taken of my busted lips, nose or black eye.
A week later I was contacted by a detective who wanted to interview me. They had arrested him the night before for a fight in Leeds. When they charged him my complaint showed up.
They came to my work and interviewed me for 3 hours.

He was charged with the fight and my evidence helped but he was never charged with my assault. That was forgotten. Not seen as important. He was given 3 months for fighting over football. I never heard a thing from them.

I have no trust at all in Yorkshire police and feel they need to be investigated.

AIBU?

The police fail. Its the truth.
I posted a report ( just for 2015) which shows the disdmissal of a number of male officers for innappropriate behaviour with females in their care.....you going to tell me those women were to blame?

Of course they're not, don't be ridiculous.

Yes the police fail. They always will. The police will not stop men abusing their partners. The police cannot stop men killing their partners. They cannot stop rape, assaults or theft. We have a reactive police force in this country (which in my honest opinion is paralysed by fear) and proactive policing is long gone everywhere except London. Police can only really deal with a crime after the event and it will get a lot worse in the next few years.

As I said earlier police officers are human beings. There's good and bad in every single proffesion going. Are all teachers Paedophiles because of the actions of a few? What about priests? All squaddies are clearly wife beaters? Do all nursery workers abuse kids? Of course not. There's bad 'uns in all walks of life. Besides, No one hates corrupt and bent coppers more than other coppers.

The police service in England and Wales are (now) as open and transparent as you can get. Have you ever made a honest/simple mistake at work? If you did would you be happy with the disciplinary being held in public? Would you think it's fair that it's reported in the papers? Thats the reality of policing in 2018. There's a massive blame culture which falls on the shoulders of every PC. With that in mind, Why should today's coppers be tarnished by the actions of others from 30 odd years ago, like you and others have done on this thread?

Why anyone would want to 'join' up and work for an organisation that often ignores or perpetuates the abuse that they have suffered shows ironically the deep lack of understanding that officers havecof victim experiance. As in the Rochdale scandal there is an institutional culture that belives victims especially women and girls in sexual and domestic are often compliciate and responsible.

Have you ever made a honest/simple mistake at work? If you did would you be happy with the disciplinary being held in public? Would you think it's fair that it's reported in the papers? Thats the reality of policing in 2018.

My mistakes at work do not result in trauma or harm to others.
You seem to think that because there are a more good police than bad I am not allowed an opinion.

It is the cover ups. The ignoring of victims and proffessionals concerns. The knowing that crimes are being commited such as Rotherham but they did nothing to stop it.

The police on this thread seem to be proving the OPs point: aggressive, dismissive and singularly failing in comprehension.

I think if you went back 40 years, you could say the same about any force. I know of a murder case where the defendant was acquitted because of lost evidence, and went on to try and kill again.

I think most police practices have changed massively over the last 30 years or so. My local force (Sussex) are fantastic at dealing with DV cases and other crimes that mainly affect women. They try and help the street homeless by referring them to agencies that can help and don't persecute those begging and sleeping rough by constantly moving them on.

Maybe the Northern forces are a bit slower to catch up with the changing culture in policing, but I think it's a bit OTT to damn them for stuff that happened in the 80s.

Lakie you may argue that Sussex are excellent at DV and crimes that affect women but I would disagree vehemently.
Only a couple of years ago they started a poster campaign to keep young women safe when out at night. Great idea right? Except the posters suggested women should not drink or wear provocative clothing or go out on their own. They entirely failed to miss the fact that they were reinforcing assumptions that rape and sexual assault are the women's fault and under her control. It would have been far more sensible to address men, telling the buggers not to rape and assault.
To their credit when we complained they removed the worst ones from their campaign but it just shows how endemic such thinking is in these institutions.

They do seem to have had rather a lot of monumental fuck ups. But I will never trust any police force or the CPS as being competent because of appalling personal experience. I know most police officers are very decent hardworking individuals though.

Also chronic underfunding isn’t going to help matters.

Terrance/Red, perhaps one of you can answer why WYP sent officers half way across the country to interview posie, rather than referring it to her local force. When the person who made the complaint has personal links with WYP?

Add Orgreave to your list OP

Maybe the Northern forces are a bit slower to catch up with the changing culture in policing, but I think it's a bit OTT to damn them for stuff that happened in the 80s.

At the Hillsborough inquests, the recent one, the SY police repeated the lies and slurs they first put out in the 1980s. Oh and their representation was paid out of the police budget.

People who have been fighting for decades for justice had to listen to it.

The same with Orgreave, people still fighting for justice.

Op, YANBU. And lessons haven't been learned, they won't be until the police are held accountable when they fuck up. If they were sacked and prosecuted when they screw up - in your case, And all the examples listed then you can bet victims of rape and Dv would have their cases investigated thoroughly and be taken seriously. I work with victims of rape and DV and what happened to you is still going on today.

Of course there are good officers out there, and some want to get justice for victims of crime. But the ones that don't act appallingly and get away with it, that's the problem 😡

im from south yorkshire , once ,after we'd come home and interrupted a break in early and lots of upstairs windows open etc, they came out good response time, but one lad asked me if we'd had any polterguist activity because nothing had been taken im aware people will think making it up, im not still makes me chuckle today.

I haven't read entirely through the thread but I have had several failings through WY police. I was harassed/bullied on Twitter and subsequently invited to interview after I finally stood up for myself. I had to do their job for them and show them the shit I'd been putting up with. Luckily they knew the woman had form for this and it was NFAed.
Further on down the line they did NOT retrieve vital evidence during the rape trial. This really bothers me, especially when I have the evidence in my hands and no one is interested! Wtf do I do with that? It drives me barmy but that's for another thread.
They took 2 hours to arrive after my ex had knocked me out and broken my nose, by this point he'd wormed his way into cuddling me on the sofa because I was such a wreck. By the time they arrived he told them it was a misunderstanding and I was very mentally ill. My face was smashed in.
Ambulance came and he was arrested. They never asked me for a statement and he was released without charge. I was rung before his release by the interviewing officer who said my ex was crying and loved me very much!!! Wtf!
With the attempted murder they were good but only because they realised they'd messed up previously and this didn't need to happen. I shouldn't have been rung and told how fucking sorry he was and that they knew I 'had problems' !
However at the end of the trial one of the officers said 'try think of the good times' after this guy had sexually, physically, emotionally and financially abused me. A case that was so bad it had brought his colleagues to tears.
So YANBU because I know personally also how shit they are. They made me realise that we are not safe and they're not there when you really need them.

Institutionally, yes they are.
YANBU.

Oh and I meant to say re
"why the hell lump random forces together"

Neighbouring forces that share a rather large border are hardly random.

YANBU OP and I'm sorry to hear of your experience.

I agree with WilliowWept above....the police officers commenting on this thread are rather proving your point with their dismissive and aggressive responses.

I'm all for supporting people in their work and profession but it has to be acknowledged that corruption does exist. Who isn't supportive of whistleblowers or the IPCC. Both do sterling work.

I remember watching Red Riding on Channel 4

And being blown away by it. Sure it was a drama, but it did intertwine those struggling to get justice with those effectively ignoring it.

So OP YANBU.

looselips I'm so angry for you, because this is exactly what a lot of us go through, we never get the justice we deserve (which would also protect other women) because we have police officers that STILL don't take DV seriously, despite the fact it can ruin so many women and children's lives.

Surely those in the force that are decent recognise that some of their colleagues should be up on charges, not defending them like some I've seen on this thread. I have 2 friends that are police officers that are good and decent people. We need those officers to call out those that aren't doing their jobs properly. Never mind re-training - police officers don't need re-training, they need to be held accountable and not protected by their fellow officers in the DPS or IPCC, or whatever the IPCC has changed its name to now. It's really a disgrace.

Ime the police haven't been victim focussed enough - a charge they'd readily accept I think and are actively seeking to change. It's a command and control environment and the more sensitive side of caring for victims (such as explaining the criminal justice system and processes adequately to manage expectations) takes a special kind of personality which is not a natural fit for policing. It's this aspect that is probably still lacking, which the experiences of people on this thread are testament to.

Fwiw I think in many areas policing has come a huge way, in particular in rooting out corruption. I've been involved in it for 15 years and I've seen huge changes even in that timeframe, such as a strong push for openness and transparency which TerranceandPhilip refers to.

I worked for a force that prosecuted a sergeant for child abuse and then pushed for a longer sentence than he was originally given on the basis of his abuse of his position in society. It was increase from 12 to 20 years.

A neighbouring force was on 24 Hours in Police Custody recently - again for prosecuting an officer for blackmail and stopping at nothing till they secured his conviction. One reading of this that the police are corrupt. Another is that corruption exists everywhere and the police have made huge strides in addressing it within their own ranks - they know how much there is to lose if they don't. There are some really excellent examples of policing out there and some forces are markedly better than other at victim care, for example.

One thing is for sure, austerity measures are not helping the situation. It's come so far in so many ways, but is in danger of sliding backwards dramatically.

I'm sorry for the experiences of others on this thread. They are not reflected in my own experience locally (either professionally or personally, when I've had cause to involve them) but I don't doubt that you should have been served better.

I cannot for the life of me understand why South Yorkshire Police has not been ripped apart and put back together again with entirely new management. SO many scandals over the last few decades, so much wrongdoing, so many failures that had something far, far worse than simple incompetence at the heart of them. Orgreave, Hillsborough, Rotherham - any one of these alone should have led to a comprehensive clearout at the top, let alone all three

@Elendon on posies original thread someone posted...

"According to Susie Green's TED talk, the WYP hate crime officer was her son's best friend during his teenage years, so no way could they have been ignorant of him being taken out of the country, first for the cross-sex hormones then for the surgery, all as a vulnerable minor. They failed to prevent this, and probably even failed to flag it up as the safeguarding issue that it was."

Thanks @BeyondDeadlySiren.

My PMs have gone wonky

Well there is definalty something funny going on up there. There was an infamous car park up there in Haworth the owners basically made business out of clamping people for all sorts of so called indisgressions.

Even Betty boothroyd parked there and fell foul of the it. They had people deliberately handing out tickets.. And wrong time on the machine. We got stung and when I contacted police they said they couldn't trust the statement of someone who had broken rules in car park...

Even though car park was obviously set up to break rules in! The man sat there with a van full of clamps!

Agree whisky there is something going on there, deep corruption.