To all those wondering why police aren't investigating crime

@ChilliBandit maybe with overtime, which is the equivalent of someone with a 9-5 getting another job. Lots of people especially families dont have that extra time. My dad is on 42 and he has worked in the police for 25 years.

the fact that there are members of the police who would actually take those pictures, tells me the police have to do far far better in recruiting better candidates.

And that they need to have much more of a grip of behaviours, and make reporting this kind of behaviour (and all the whatsapp stuff etc that came out of the Everard thing) to higher-ups.

Yes, my sons safety plan, developed by CAHMS has 'call the police' on it in certain situations.

What we actually want is therapy for ptsd but austerity.

@Brefugee security checks take 3 months and they dive as deep as digging into your family members and any partners you have lived with. Aside from letting them go through your personal messages, there isn't much else you can do.

That percentage is skewed by the fact that police choose not to investigate all crime. Burglary for example, may as well be made legal.

And I don't believe those figures anyway. How are they recorded domestic abuse crimes? Hate crimes? They're much more common than I expect your stats account for.

Never believe any stats at face value.

security checks take 3 months and they dive as deep as digging into your family members and any partners you have lived with. Aside from letting them go through your personal messages, there isn't much else you can do.

@Relevanceiskey then they need to be better vetted in the first place, and monitored while serving.

I had a job where i was vetted constantly. Deeply deeply. And it was constantly under review. And one false step on my part? Disciplinary and out on my ear. Even if it isn't true, you must admit the perception of the vetting isn't good if behavours that have been revealed are prevelant and, more importantly, ignored.

My DH is a Police Officer. There are so many calls now from people with mental health problems, that it's becoming unsustainable. Lots of people who can't manage their own lives, take no responsibility for themselves, everything needs to be spoon fed, and everything is someone else's fault. Can't imagine how these people would cope, if they had to face what the Ukrainians have. Or of they had to live through WW1 or WW2.

I think it's time for people to decide what they want from their police

The problem is 'people' being blamed, 'people' being asked to come up with a solution - When its the Government that need to be lobbied. The government that must take this serious issue in hand, and must be called to sit down at the table with the Police and these agencies, sort this mess out. If thats not happening then, why?

I feel your frustration @stillvicarinatutu , all services are having to deal in areas they're not really qualified to deal with , I'm including schools in that
There is no support , its just a babysitting service

I have been a victim of crime several times. The police have never ever shown up. I have no confidence in the ability of the police to solve or prevent crime. The only time I ever see the police is buying coffee in the coffee shop. I have completely lost faith in the police as an institution.

@Relevanceiskey - but they did do wrong at the Sarah Everard vigil. They lost a court case over it and have been refused right to appeal twice. I have also criticised my local police’s response to matters I have personally reported. I have also acknowledged a lot of it comes from lack of resources. I am not blindly criticising them for nothing. I have also several times sent emails to my local police praising them for situations I’ve witnessed, being in A&E was one of those times when I observed the police patiently dealing with people in psychosis. I do think they need reform and I do think they should be held accountable where there are issues. I don’t think that’s controversial. The Met in particular seem to have a lot of issues with misogyny as also shown with Sarah Everard/ the Charing Cross station texts. I know there are police officers who do incredible work and I know there are some right twats. I’m related to some of both. The problem is the twats also have the same power as the nice ones and they are doing huge damage. Especially those setting the cultures at the top.

I also don’t know what to say about salaries, those are my experiences from forces around the SE. I also work lots of overtime, sometimes 25 hours of it unpaid. It’s definitely a perk believe me to have paid overtime.

Priority is saving lives quire often the police are having to do section 136's which means lots of time spent at the hospital with patients as they can't just be left, there can be a large amount of officers at the hospital with sucidal patients which then means they are not on the streets, Because mental health services are so underfunded the police have to chose either save a sucidal person or visit someone who had their house robbed and saving a life comes first! Perhaps if the government funded the services properly we would not be in this predicament.

@Brefugee they can't vet them any more than that. Also they are vetted constantly. But with all the complaints they get it's hard to figure out which ones are legitimate. If they sacked everyone who had a complaint they wouldn't have a police force. My sister has 2 complaints against her at the moment 1 of which has been disproved with video evidence but is STILL going through the motions, the other has multiple civilian witnesses against the complainant (a known criminal) but it will still likely take a year to finish. How do you rectify that? It's not the same as 'one thing and I'm out on my arse' because there are MANY reasons to falsely accuse them of something.

I work in mental health. We used to have a service where we worked alongside the police to manage these cases. It stopped being funded.

We're desperately trying to survive in mental health too, we don't want you to do our jobs either but we have no choice, we aren't funded well enough to do better than we're doing.

@MangyInseam this is a very good point. Intakes in schools whether mainstream or ASN are changing. Behavioural needs and mental health needs are at the forefront and these children are the adults of the future. Training in nurture and Adverse Childhood Experiences give a great insight into how difficult things can be for some families. The statistics are eye opening.

@Nidan2Sandan It's not just the police that some people to expect to solve all their problems.

It's that they always expect SOMEONE ELSE to solve their problems.

Police, teachers, GP, Social Workers, government, family, friends, other taxpayers - as long as it's not them.

Yes, some people need help. But you cannot help someone who will not help themselves - not in drug addiction, not in mental health, not in physical health, not in debt, not in employment or issues with their housing.

You have to do some of the work yourself. Even if that feels impossible it is necessary.

Over the last 12 years of this government social care including mental health services have been badly underfunded. The knock on effect @stillvicarinatutu is that police forces, the NHS and other bodies are dealing with an increase in call outs. Doctors are also stretched and so patients cannot see them. Many end up with the police or A&E when they should have been seen by the appropriate service.

Unfortunately, whilst this despicable government continue to ignore the issues and instead issue a mini budget aimed to cut mainly taxes to the very well off then it will get worse.

Enough people need to actually vote for change rather than just moan and do nothing.

How do you rectify that? It's not the same as 'one thing and I'm out on my arse' because there are MANY reasons to falsely accuse them of something.

I am talking specifically about other officers reporting on the fuckers like Couzens. How can someone like him work in the police with the nickname and background he had? That is what i mean. What's app groups with vile sexist stuff and "jokes" selfies with bodies. People know this is going on but aren't reporting for some reason. Or if they are (countless female officers have talked about this) nothing is done or the complainant is bullied out of the force.

I have worked in uniform, i know how it is, but the reputational damage? Will not be fixed. I now it's not the remit of this post, but were i still in the UK? I would think more than twice about calling in the police if i had been raped or attackd.

@whingewhinge

"I work in mental health. We used to have a service where we worked alongside the police to manage these cases. It stopped being funded."

Lots of services that were really necessary went thanks to this government over the last 12 years. We are seeing the results which grow by the month. The country is in a mess and the government twiddle with tax cuts.... it's dreadful but not enough people seem to do anything to change it - how bad must it get before people actually realise what a mess this country is in.

We have this too. They go out together and discharge at scene almost all of the call outs. Reducing escalations in situations, use of 136 and A&E attendance.
We also have a MH drop-in which even when closed to the public in short staffing, the police can use as a priority.
We have a 136 suite that is fully staffed by MH staff and officers don't stay with the patient once there.
If they drop someone at A&E (often without medical need, other than MH which could be met at the drop-in much quicker and in a nicer environment), they don't stay with the patient.

Not sure how we're meant to jump in when people are on bridges/have weapons etc. Nurses and social workers have no legal powers to detain people/stop traffic and we have only have our teeny weeny badges to protect ourselves.

I found your post interesting, even I was surprised at it, and I've observed for some time the police responding less and less to things like fraud, theft, and burglary, for example.
It just goes to show that we need not just to fund the police properly, which currently we aren't, but the NHS and other services- like local authority services. You can't do as the tories have done and cut 40% of funding to local authorities, as they did even before covid, and still expect them to be able to fund social services and so on to the same extent, and the NHS was facing large increases in waiting lists under the tories ( at least a doubling) well before covid too. But this is what people voted for, sadly.