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?

@PicsInRed

that comment about the officer being busy did make me chuckle. Thankfully I’m in a much better place now ( thanks to the help of women’s aid!) than I was this time last year so I can read that and chuckle rather than cry.

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

No. They tweeted they were going to but they made a mistake, its not in the corona virus laws and the government told them off for saying it.
They have since apologised. But it should never have been tweeted in the first place.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52245937

You can buy whatever is being sold and use your gardens.

Logically, I know that replying to this post is like pissing into the wind. I'm going to anyway, because i feel that the majority of police officers in this country don't deserve to be called useless/corrupt/lazy/inept. Some of them are, of course, same as some teachers, electricians, health care workers, shop assistants, whatever.

I was a police officer for a long time. I made some mistakes, i didn't always achieve the outcome I wanted for people, and that which they deserved, but that's because I'm human, and much of the time was overworked and under supported. Not because I simply couldn't be arsed, which is the view being pushed here.

I'm left with mh issues as a result of the things I saw, did and said (and those things were repeatedly, not just once), the likes of which the majority of people here will have no concept of. So, no, I don't agree that police in this country are, broadly, crap.

But, as the song goes, haters gonna hate...

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

The decision to prosecute lies with the CPS. Bitch about them, not the police. The police gather the evidence, hand it on to the CPS who then decide whether to prosecute.

Many cases where “the police didn’t do anything”, the decision was made by the CPS.

I’m nhs btw. The police I deal with are in a shitty position and the public tend to always see them as the bad guy when most are just in it to catch criminals and keep people safe. They are the last resort- when hospitals can’t cope, when paramedics need protection, when MH services are stretched beyond limit, they call the police. Where the buck stops so out they turn to all sorts of non policing stuff which means less resource for policing...

I'm a police officer. I joined to fight vack against domestic abuse. My violent ex tried to strangle me.

We're drawn from society. We're not separate to it. We're your neighbours, family, friends. We share kids in the same school etc. We go to the same supermarkets as you. When we're not at work we're subject to the same lockdown rules as you. Like you we share the same fears about being exposed to the virus and infecting our loved ones with it.

We're not some group who live on a separate island completely separate to society who do nothing but police other people's lives and exist in a state of suspended animation otherwise. We are you.

Like another officer posted earlier, I am ashamed and embarassed by some of the overzealous actions of my colleagues reported in the press. We should apologise for them. Public trust is vital for what we do.

But these reports are a minority. Most of us are just trying to keep you (and our families) safe.

YABU. I absolutely love the police. Anytime I’ve ever had an issue or needed help from them they’ve been absolutely brilliant. Can’t fault them at all.

The police have been seriously underfunded, and the few I have met seem genuine and kind.
However I have rolled my eyes at the news on a few occasions recently, I really think they should concentrate on crime not on haranging people for buying non essentials or sitting on a park bench or walking in a remote Yorkshire moor.
Obviously its easier and nicer to walk round a park telling off sunbathers than arresting drug dealers hanging around disused car parks.
I have had few encounters with the police but was surprised how they took no action when DH was a victim of fraud , they had enough details and evidence to pursue but it was "only"for £900 and below the threshold for which they pursue fraud cases. That was an eye opener, person was back advertising on gumtree and no doubt aware they could continue their nice little earner without being troubled by the police. Recently a neighbour had a shed broken into, DH was out for a jog and thought when he saw lawnmowers etc being loaded into a van it looked a bit dodgy so memorised the number plate and description of people , again when reported to police they took no action.

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

Indeed it has. Unfortunately Cambs and Northants police forces didn’t seem to have got the memo and made themselves look extremely foolish as a result.

Was assaulted by an off duty police officer on a night out about 15 years ago.

I was basically told it was my fault because I was drunk, even though there were witnesses, nothing was done.

So no, I have no respect for the police anymore.

Honestly I came on to say exactly what SB1189 has said but they put it much better than I have.

People who think all police are X Y or Z need to give their heads a wobble. Would you say all nurses are X if you'd have a bad experience? Would you say all teachers are Y?

The truth is far more complex than people either know or care to think about. Our police service has been cut to the bone and people wonder why they can't get an officer out to deal with some youths smashing a porch light or selling weed on a pub car park.

I have no time for people who've no experience and don't even bother to educate themselves on the reality of policing in this country before spewing their nonsense.

My father is a police officer, and a damn good one.

I remember waking up one night when I was about 10 to him throwing up and shaking in my mum's arms because he'd taken a call where a man was trying to saw his own head off with a piece of glass due to MH issues. My dad had to deal with that after barely being in the force 5 minutes.

I remember the time we received a letter in the post from the drug addict who my dad had found barely breathing on a park bench and taken to hospital and sat with all night to make sure he was okay. The letter was thanking him for saving his life and staying when no one else was there for him.

I remember when the Manchester arena bomb happened and my Dad was there, out on the streets, not thinking about his own life but trying to defend yours.

I remember when his two friends were murdered by a psychopath who pretended to call them for help and I remember teenagers thinking it was a fun day out to come and shout 'pigs' and other abuse at their funeral.

I remember when he was taken to hospital because someone had attacked him for doing his job and how now his leg has been permanently damaged from it.

I remember him coming home in tears because he'd had to escort bailiffs round to a families house and there was a little girl there who drew him a picture as they were taking away her families possessions. And I know he could still tell you about that now because it stuck with him.

I remember the letters we had stuck on the fridge from school children thanking him for catching bad guys after he'd been into schools to talk to them.

I remember people shouting pig at him in the street where we used to live. And I know that's why we never lived in the same town as he worked again, because he was scared of people knowing and he was right to be.

I remember all the times he's been hit, pushed, bitten, kicked.

I remember all the anger that his team, resources, funding, pension whatever had been cut again.

I could go on. And you know what, my dad still is to this day, despite the abuse, despite the truly harrowing shit he's had to deal with, despite the loss of friends and colleagues, despite the fact there are people like on this thread who thinks he sits around all day in a station sipping tea and ignoring your calls, he still goes to work every day like he has done for the past 30 years.

So yeah. Those of you who haven't witnessed any of that, can fuck off with your 'all police are shit because I rang to report my neighbours cat pissing on my grass and no one turned up'. Frankly, I've no interest in what you think you know.

I'd also love to hear how many of you deal with shit like that in your day jobs?

I have had few encounters with the police but was surprised how they took no action when DH was a victim of fraud , they had enough details and evidence to pursue but it was "only"for £900 and below the threshold for which they pursue fraud cases

Again, that is not the decision of the police.

However I have rolled my eyes at the news on a few occasions recently, I really think they should concentrate on crime

Think of this another way. By encouraging people to stay in and follow CV guidelines they are supporting the NHS, reducing the spread of the virus and ultimately preventing deaths. Fairly important, no?

What people aren’t seeing is the stats of out of hospital CV deaths. Which the police are now dealing with. There are many. All the while being spat at, coughed on, threatened with violence...

The problem with trying to defend the police - the vast majority of whom are doing a decent job - is that every so often the police themselves will ruin it all with their clown shoes and clear demonstration they don't give two shits what you think.

I'm surprised this thread got this far on this site without mention of the hundreds of thousands of pounds police wasted on the Harry Miller case. Not only trying to bully him for something they openly admitted was not criminal. But then insisting on dragging it to the Court of Appeal (with your tax money) where they were torn a new one and even then they refused to accept they were wrong. The very wpitomy of an an organisational equivalent of an NPD abuser.

And because they don't accept they have done anything wrong, they'll keep on doing it.

Yep. Actual criminals are too hard to deal with. I had a £1500 bike stolen from the station (they cut through the actual bike rack). Three months later got two letters from BTP and TVP both suggesting the other force was responsible.

So yeah. Those of you who haven't witnessed any of that, can fuck off with your 'all police are shit because I rang to report my neighbours cat pissing on my grass and no one turned up

Noone in this thread has reported a cat for pissing on their lawn.

The people in this thread who have been let down by the police (including myself) are talking about serious crimes here- armed robbery (I was a victim of that), rape, stalking, sexual assault, domestic violence etc
To reduce our concerns to a cat pissing on a lawn is actually incredibly offensive to the victims of SERIOUS crimes in this thread. The fact your dad is a good guy doesnt cancel out the serious mistakes that have been made by the police and it doesnt make them "ok".

I think people confuse decisions made by high ups, with your every day police officer, out on the street to be honest.

A police officer doesn't decide that the threshold for fraud investigations is above £900. A police officer doesn't decide how much funding is spent on one case etc etc. These are all decisions made by either high up management positions just like in any other job or law (which some of you don't seem to realise aren't set by individual officers).

Plenty of police officers will tell you themselves just how shit management of our police force is. That's not the individual officers fault though.

DV victims have also "seen some things" in our time. Grim, brutal, violent things. The sort of things which feature in an uncomfortable episode of SVU. We still have to get on with it. Nay, are expected to get on with it.

Again, if police can "have a word", then get busy having a word with the harassers of women.

If they can't "have a word", then have a word with no one - leave sunbathers alone.

They either can or they can't. What I'm now seeing is that, legally, they can. The reality is "won't". Not for women.

I'd also love to hear how many of you deal with shit like that in your day jobs?

Many Housewives deal with that in their day (and night) job every day. Violence, and the threat of death, is with many of them each day, every day.

Do people really think that ALL police officers hate women, don't give a shit, aren't interested and so on?

I had a bad experience with a nurse once, can I start a threading slagging them ALL off?

I'd also love to hear how many of you deal with shit like that in your day jobs

I have. I worked in an acute psychiatric ward for over 10 years. I also worked in a locked forensic psych ward for 4 years.

Whats your point?

I think people confuse decisions made by high ups, with your every day police officer, out on the street to be honest

I don’t. I completely blame the policy makers. It’s extraordinary how so many cash strapped police forces that can’t afford to investigate crime in normal times suddenly now have unlimited resources to stop people sunbathing. They’re going to face some very tough questioning when this is all over.

YANBU - crimes I’Be reported have t been investigated because there wasn’t cctv of the criminals in the act, despite there being a crime scene, one clearly covered in finger prints as the crimes left stuff behind.
I feel like I literally would have had to have handed over the perp myself to them to pay any attention and even then I’m sure there would have been some reason not to arrest them.
No faith in the police at all. What do they do all day? I know they aren’t solving sexual assaults and rapes that’s for sure

I agree that management of our police service and the fact that cuts from our government have left it barely able to function properly which mean police don't attend calls that they should but who's fault is that? Certainly not that of the individual coppers.

They really aren't all misogynistic arseholes who cba coming out to jobs and think inspecting your Tesco trolley is more important.

I'm sure there are some arseholes in the police, just as there are nurses, doctors, teachers, lawyers and any other profession you can think of. But I really do have a problem with people say ALL police are this or that because it's simply incorrect.

Do people really think that ALL police officers hate women, don't give a shit, aren't interested and so on?

Of course not.

But enough of them are officially tolerated that it makes it exceptionally difficult for women to get a just outcome - or the basic protection from harm we are taught to expect.