To think policing is pretty poor in this country?

[EasyPleasey]

I'm sure there are lots of excellent and well meaning individual police officers. However, my dealings with them in the past decade have been:

1. Reported a sexual assault. CCTV available, public area. Case closed not investigated.

2. Reported a burglary. Very likely suspect told to them, they didnt investigate, they didnt have time, case closed.

3. Spent ages writing to them about suspected fraud on a now deceased person. Never followed up by police.

4. Reported a fraudulent car sale/theft complete with names and addresses, nothing done.

5. Reported regular criminal damage to private property, some teenagers smashing outdoor lights and garden furniture in my road, £1000s of damage. Police said it's worse in other areas and did nothing.

But now I see police loitering round Tesco enforcing that one puts 'non essential' socks in their trolley, harassing people for using their front garden, I think where did they find all this time? Maybe a lot actually enjoy having the power to order people around, but solving crimes isnt a passion for many of them?

They’re like those teachers at school who cosied up to the violent bullies because they were terrified of them, then they’d bawl out some tiny first year for having their tie slightly askew.

I’m no fan of Rod Liddle, but he summed this up perfectly in his column in yesterday’s Sunday Times:
“ The police are worried about something called “crime” happening during lockdown.
If only we could produce an institution, perhaps uniformed and with special powers, to deal with this, while the police get on with harassing walkers and poking through our Tesco trolleys.”
Brilliant!

Sadly my experience with the police has been similar to yours op.

Useless.

*1) Reported a sexual assault. CCTV available, public area. Case closed not investigated.

2. Reported a burglary. Very likely suspect told to them, they didnt investigate, they didnt have time, case closed.

3. Spent ages writing to them about suspected fraud on a now deceased person. Never followed up by police.

4. Reported a fraudulent car sale/theft complete with names and addresses, nothing done.

5. Reported regular criminal damage to private property, some teenagers smashing outdoor lights and garden furniture in my road, £1000s of damage. Police said it's worse in other areas and did nothing*

Were you the victim in any of these reports? If you weren’t then it’s a third party report- they may have tried to trace a victim to take a crime report. Also unless you were the victim they won’t be able to tell you the outcome due to data protection.

If you were the victim put a complaint in if they didn’t deal with it correctly.

The police have no resources, have had numbers cut, and are doing there best with what they have. They are being vilified for trying to protect the NHS by getting people to stay indoors. These are new laws, and there has been confusion about enforcement.

There are shitbags in every organisation. Doesn’t mean everyone in that organisation is. Some do join up for altruistic reasons.
Are GP receptionists all “NHS heroes” now?

These are people’s mums, dads, brothers, sons, putting themselves at risk from CV and violence every day. Give them a break...

Says a lot about this site that everyone is agreeing and piling on against the police. If you’d started this about nurses you’d get destroyed- ripped a new one about a decade of Tory cuts to the NHS, real-terms pay cuts, backbone of society etc. But the coppers? People who will willingly put themselves between you and harms way, often with nothing more than a short metal stick to fend off armed and dangerous murderers, who’ve had the same decade of cuts and numbers slashed and budgets decimated, and you think it’s okay to bash them? You take a look at the videos of the London terror attacks, where there were groups of marauding terrorists with potential suicide vests and huge machetes and see the coppers running headlong towards them to try and stop them with just their extendable batons, willing to lay down their lives to save Londoners.

People who are now on the front line of the mental heath crisis because often no one else will take the call, even though they aren’t qualified or equipped to do so? The thin blue line gets ever thinner, and with a public that seems to get ever less supportive. You want to see what poor policing looks like just check out any of the YouTube videos of India’s police beating lockdown violators with lathis.

You only have to watch any of the recent police documentaries, see the inspector parading of a morning way less than half the number of police to cover his beat that he had 10 years ago, and you wonder why the service has been decimated?

Get a grip!

www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/news/18375885.man-arrested-suspicion-murder-attacking-basingstoke-policeman/?ref=twtrec just leaving this here, personally getting a little tired of this rhetoric that all police are shit. Maybe people's expectations are on occasion unrealistic or maybe sometimes the police as a homogeneous mass have to say something you don't want to hear. Let's face it, they aren't the ones who turn up on your doorstep to impart happy news

ODFOD, if you'd make such a wonderful police officer off you pop, get paid fuck all for a career of taking abuse. They're either overzealous or disinterested and according to you, both. Maybe have a think about why there aren't the police resources to investigate every little complaint you make. What you think is 'evidence' is also unlikely to be.

I respect the police but my experience has been similar.

String of burglaries (one lost about 100k) police provided with clear CCTV images from multiple addresses and the names and addresses of the people in the photo. No arrests made.

I did also notice on my walk last night that the local drug dealers were dealing from a disused pub carpark, which is surely not social distancing at all, but no police there, only cruising around in cars and at supermarkets.

YANBU. I find it astonishing how many police are out in the streets, where were they before? What are they doing?

I also had an negative experience with the police in the past when I needed them.

Agree with the help for people in mental health crisis. It was a cop - not even one of the specially trained ones who got out with crisis teams - who got someone very ill into an ambulance and to hospital. He was actually bloody brilliant.

But agree - rape convictions are pitiful. Is this police though or CPS burden of evidence?

I don't think anyone doesn't think the police are struggling and need more resources. It's a communication issue more than anything. It is hard to understand why action isn't taken when all the information is provided.

YANBU. They were og so stretched, and didn't have the resources for anything before Covid. Now they are swarming around everywhere. 8 police officers, yes 8, came to arrest a woman who was drink driving the other day. She hadnt caused a crash or any damage, she didn't resist arrest, she didn't give any cheek, complied with everything, but they needed 8 male officers to attend that call 🙄

I was stalked by an ex a while back for almost a year. I reported it to 101 a few times and they just advised I ‘keep a diary’ which I did. I also held onto all of the evidence so texts, call logs (although his mobile number and landline were blocked, he would call me from phone boxes or other people’s phones) and he also would post letters through my door which I kept. He would literally follow me most mornings in his car when I was walking to work, shout abuse from the window and beep his horn incessantly at me.

Anyway eventually he assaulted me in broad daylight with numerous witnesses and it fairly was close to a shop which had CCTV. Obviously involved the police who took a lengthy statement, questioned him and he even admitted it but they didn’t deem the assault serious enough to prosecute so that was the end of it. Kinda lost my faith in them after that.

YABU - Everyone I’ve known is doing their upmost in very difficult circumstances.

If the armchair warriors here are so concerned, why don’t you get off your backsides and volunteer to help?

The conviction rate in our area on police.uk is absolutely shocking. Less than 1%. I really struggle to understand how this can be acceptable to society - fewer than 1 in 100 crimes ending up with somebody convicted...

In any other walk of life this would result in a huge shakeup, but it just seems to be accepted for the police. Add in that any interactions I've had with them is with arrogant bullies despite not getting results and you most definitely ANBU!

No I don't think policing is poor in this country.
When a member of my family was murdered in horrific circumstances the police worked tirelessly to catch the evil bastard.
Also the family liaison officers who were by our side 24/7, attended the funeral and supported us through the court case.

Love the people saying about the number of people out exercising and asking where they were before.
Maybe they were at work, in the gym, out for a meal, at the pub, maybe the cinema or theatre. Ffs! How stupid do you need to be to not realise why there are more people out walking when it's one of the only things you can do at the moment.

When my ex punched me it took them a week to turn up
In my experience the women police officers are worse - One occasion a wpc told me I needed to ‘communicate better’ with my violent ex I asked her if this was before during or after him punching me No answer
This wpc believed he was the victim
( he’s 18 stone 5’10 tall. I’m 5’2 and 9 stone )
I’ve got So many stories of them just not being bothered about domestic violence

@SB1189 and @DontStandSoCloseToMe have said everything I want to say but so much more eloquently.

My DH was a police officer. He quit for his mental health after he was dropped in the deep end as a very new officer and then criticised for not always making the right decision (nothing life-altering of overzealous). No one brand new in their profession can possibly be perfect but lack of resources meant the support just wasn’t there! It’s their loss because, with support, he’d have made an excellent police officer.

I got over the police when they fined a woman for reporting her ex’s threatening behaviour / stalking as it was wasting their time. And then he murdered her.

Policing pre - corona: massively underfunded. Not saying police would be perfect otherwise but funding does make a huge difference into how much man power can go into each individual investigation.

Policing during corona: most crime is down. Officer numbers are down but not as much as the crime I don't think, so more police on the street. There are plenty of examples of officers (and higher ups) getting it badly wrong (policing non essential supermarket shelves - wtaf?!) but I really hope this settles down. Public trust and legitimacy is so important and so easily damaged (as demonstrated on this thread!)

I've been astonished that the police, who refuse "have a word" with domestic abusers because that's "not allowed anymore"...suddenly are allowed and able to "have a word" with sunbathers, easter egg purchasers and cyclists.

I rationalised the lack of support that I received with "oh, well they can't, they're not allowed", until I've now sat here watching them having a stern word with any Tom, Dick and Harry trying to have some socially distanced sun. Now I've lost all respect for them, which I find so sad.

I know that I cant rely on them to protect me, but can rely on them to chastise me for going out in the sun.

There is a reason why a certain type of person becomes a police officer...