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?

I think they’re grossly underfunded. I don’t have great experiences, but I don’t have many experiences either, therefore I can’t make judgements about an entire force.

As an aside though, are they genuinely preventing you putting socks in your trolley? They couldn’t care less what we put in our trollies round here, they were practically throwing Easter eggs at us.

people not paying council tax getting locked up as an absolute last resort when they have had many many chances to pay - also I don’t think this is a police issue?

I think you have no idea how lucky we are in this country OP. I wouldn't do their.job for any money And how many more 'people' have been 'harrassed' about using their front garden? I think it's just the one isn't it?

Blame the home office who make it a worthless task to Identify a criminal who will not even make it past CPS. Not every police officer is a shit. That’s like saying every teacher is a lazy shit bag - some are but they all aren’t. And unless you are the victim in all those matters OP, you won’t be told the outcome so slight exaggeration perhaps. Irrational sweeping generalisation.

Obviously people working in the police force do a really difficult and, at times, dangerous job. The issue isn’t with officers for me, it’s about resourcing and priority.

Before 23 March you couldn’t even report a hit and run incident on a parked car. The online report doesn’t allow for it, you can’t speak to anyone, which means it’s an unreported crime which doesn’t even get recorded in the stats. Burglaries weren’t attended.

Now, all of a sudden, there are enough officers to patrol “non essential” aisles of the local Tesco - yes, that was our force - and for a pair of them to wander the local park at sunset. It’s the disparity that annoys me. I never, ever want to hear them whining about lack of resources again. It just won’t wash any more.

I know a few police officers and some believe the law applies to others - drag racing their friends home from shifts bragging about the speeds they were doing, parking like absolute twats (when off duty in their own cars) and having a go at residents when they complain, laughing about rape victims. The list is endless and they are just vile people. And yes, I've made complaints about their behaviour. Nothing is done.

On the other hand, I also know some amazing police officers who go above and beyond both in their job and in their local community.

I think these kinds of job do attract certain types of people. Those who actually want to make a difference and power hungry arseholes. Unfortunately, we seem to notice those who are terrible at their jobs more.

I think it's just the one isn'tit

Just the one caught on camera.

@Fenellapitstop

The point I’m making is the officer I had did, he went against what any sane officer would do.

I bet you'd still dial 999 if you had someone breaking into your house

Yes, I would because thats their fcking JOB. That doesnt mean we arent allowed to highlight police errors or institutional racism or mismanagement of criminal cases or "misplacing evidence" does it?
With power comes responsibility and if you have to power to arrest people and take their freedom away from them then you'd better damn well be acting within the law and know it through and through.
Its right that we are able to criticise and complain about those in positions of power and law enforcement- if not, thats how you end up with dictatorships.

The police applies the rules they have with the resources they have been given. You don't like the way things work? Campaign for better resources and better rules they can work with.

You are blaming the wrong target here. It would be like blaming teachers for the quality of school diners...

@Fenellapitstop

I think the point is that hoxtonbabe found the police were willing to have a world to help her ex but not to help her.

They have a word when they want to. All this "sorry, can't do it mate, procedure..." business is just nonsense. They can, and do. Just not to help women.

That one officer not the entire force

Do you really think its the police officers deciding to go patrol tesco or some higher up/ politician

Same as whsmith cashiers trying to flog you dairy milk at the counter. They dont want to do it but have been told to by head office

That one officer not the entire force

Given the volume of poor experiences, that one officer must be extremely busy.

I think it's to do with the inconsistency, even within the same force. A lot of it is also the CPS.

I've known serious crimes (violence and sexual violence) with forensic evidence and/or witnesses not go forward yet know a 15 year old who recently was given a restraining order for calling another teenager a 'paedo'.

Loads of DV not responded to or gone forward but a few years ago 2 plain clothes Police Officers had enough time to arrange come to my home for an 'informal' chat when the bloke i'd been seeing for a year reported me for sending a malicious communication for sending a text saying I felt like telling his wife he'd been dating me (I didn't know he was married and had just had a baby till saw something on FB). Nothing came of that and I think they gave him a bit of a telling off for wasting their time but still, hugely stressful for me at the time when I was already very hurt and upset.

I have neighbours who are known convicted violent drug dealers and still have people in and out all day during lockdown. Another neighbour reported this and was told that the anonymous info on drug dealing can't be acted on as just 'intelligence' (fair enough) but if they received 2 reports saying they'd broken lockdown in the last 30 mins, they could dispatch a patrol to check out breaking lockdown

There are genuinely police officers in the non essential aisles?

Who decides what non essential is?
I think if you have no socks then they’re reasonably essential.
Are you allowed socks, if you’ve purchased bread and milk?
And do you have to go and place bread and milk in the trolley BEFORE you place the socks?
Do they wait until you’ve put it in the trolley, and then shout, woah put it back?

Where in the country is this occurring? Surely if they don’t want us to purchase socks, they should be prosecuting the shop for selling socks - otherwise it’s just setting us up customers to do something wrong.

All kinds of weird!!

Of course I think it was a police officer who ordered the patrol in Tesco - and not a very senior one at that. The chief constable’s face was very red when he apologised.

I'm sorry for anyone who has had a bad experience with the police or had crimes not investigated. Sadly that's a side effect of the police being massively underfunded by successive governments and it shit, it really is.

The reason you're seeing so many police in parks and supermarkets at the moment though is because crime is down, hugely down. Burglaries, muggings, fights, all of these things are barely happening, so the normal response officers have less work to do.

I'm a copper. Don't really consider myself to be a bastard.

OP I suggest you write to your MP as years of cuts have left the majority big police forces on its arse.

There is no magic money tree and there are no "extra" officers are you're all promised.

What you think is 'evidence' is also unlikely to be.

OH, I didn't realise we were still bothering with "evidence" these days.

Just because they could be worse doesn't make them good or acceptable.

When I was raped, when I was being abused, when I was in danger, they did not give a fuck and they failed me catastrophically.

It's great that some people have had positive experiences but that doesn't give you the right to silence or demean those of us who have been let down and harmed by them.

What happened to me was not trivial and how the police responded was unforgivable.

@beebie2

Cambridge police force tweeted they will be patrolling non-essential aisles of supermarkets. The tweet was later removed after lots of criticism and they apologised saying it was an officer being "over exuberant". Ok, fine- it was a mistake. But what kind of message does that send out to victims of DV who arent taken seriously?- we'll police the shopping aisles but not protect you from violence?

There is no excuse for it- its v concerning that the officer who tweeted that doesnt understand the law around the corona virus. Thats worrying.

@Fenellapitstop

You said “having a word with dv suspects doesn't happen as it can escalate their behaviour, this is no longer allowed as a way of dealing due to research into da and behaviours”

I never said it was all officers, but that has been my experience, however you have written your post as if you are 100% certain all police officers in the UK no longer call up to have a word.

You may not do this, your colleagues may not do this ( I assume you are a police officer) but to say “it does not happen” is not something you know not should you claim to know.

And it wasn't underfunding that caused police officers to treat me like shit when I asked for their help. That's a pathetic excuse.

Are there really Police Officers patrolling the non-essential aisles of the supermarkets? Why are the shops selling this stuff then.

@Goldenbear. The Government have made it clear you can buy whatever you like from the businesses still open.