To all those wondering why police aren't investigating crime

[stillvicarinatutu]

Prompted by a discussion on here.

I'm a police officer and today we received an email from out chief constable to say that only 17% of incidents police in our force attend are for crime .

The other 83% are non crime related - mainly mental health issues. Police forces are now taking on the work of other agencies which means that they are not dealing with crime .

Partner agencies are so stretched the fall out is now being dealt with by police because we don't shut shop, don't only work 9-5 , and cannot say no .

I read and see regularly that police are criticised for not dealing with crime .

Well - this is why . Because we are picking up the slack from mental health, social services and medical incidents.

I think it's time for people to decide what they want from their police . If we weren't dealing with the 83 % of incidents that are not crime related then perhaps we could spend more time on the 17% that are . ?
I don't think people realise that this is happening to this extent .

[Relevanceiskey]

@Brefugee for the most part, crime is dealt with as effectively as possible. You would only be cutting your nose of to spite your face with that skewed perception. People latch on to whatever will fit their narrative so I agree, it won't change.

[Isaidnoalready]

Madalaine mcann? Is she part of the 17%?

My ex threatened to set fire to my home with our children in it this wasn't deemed mental health or police worthy just "parental dispute" despite him being under investigation for an assault he was completely innocent 🙄

[ChilliBandit]

@Relevanceiskey

@Brefugee for the most part, crime is dealt with as effectively as possible. You would only be cutting your nose of to spite your face with that skewed perception. People latch on to whatever will fit their narrative so I agree, it won't change.

But the same could be said for you. If you believe the police can do no wrong then nothing will change for the better. Your view of the police is heavily warped because of your husband.

[OnaBegonia]

@stillvicarinatutu
I read the thread you're referring to and the attitude of the OP and some PPs was appalling. I had to stop myself from really letting loose.
There should be on call SW and MH workers 24/7, sadly the police do not have the luxury of clocking off at 5.

[BlueMongoose]

@willingtolearn

@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.

Indeed. But if you do want to 'help yourself' then you will also need support to do that. And in many parts of life right now it has gone. Surestart, which helpd parents learn how to parent better, keping kids out of crime and parents out of court, is just one example, which this government has trashed. Addicts need help to get off drugs, that help is not there any more for most people. Mental health support for those in crisis- often hundreds of miles away from their families if they can get any at all.

[confessionstoday]

But the police in our area came to visit me and accused me of theft for stealing my next door neighbours bins ( who is my ex and I had injunction against)

They can't be that bloody busy if they've got time to come out to my house for that shit

[MangyInseam]

@BlueMongoose

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.

The Tories came into a situation where there was no money though.

Had Labour won that election, they would almost certainly have had to make cuts as well.

I am not saying their management has been ideal, but I don't think it's accurate to imagine that any other government would have been able to do something wildly different. It's not like Labour hasn't also largely adopted neoliberal global economic policies. They were happy as any for the direction of the EU which demanded Greece radically cut public spending in response to crises.

And I wouldn't either blame Labour too much for the lack of funds - they were very much at the mercy of world economic events. Which they also didn't have much control over.

[southlondoner02]

I used to work closely with police, including working in a police station and have always had a lot of sympathy with them, especially having seen the cuts they've experienced, plus as the OP says the impact of cuts to other services. Have always understood that they're over stretched etc.

But then the pandemic came and I witnessed on numerous occasions officers harassing individuals not following covid rules ( but not putting anyone at risk) driving round parks shouting at people to go home etc. I also saw videos and accounts of people having their houses raided if they had an extra person present or even for going on a walk. Also saw what happened at the Sarah Everard vigil. Suddenly they seemed to have lots of resources to be able to do this. To be honest it felt very political and I lost a lot of sympathy. I'm not saying this was what you were doing OP but it does feel problematic, especially when police were clearly turning a blind eye to what was going on in number 10

[anniegun]

@jsof595

All too busy nicking teenagers smoking a little bit of weed and pulling over people who are enthusiastic about cars...

Not dealing with these is the hottest subject of our neighbourhood watch group!

[Ted27]

what percentage of calls called be classed as preventative ? And isnt preventing crime part of the police’s role?

I have twice called the police about neighbours domestic disputes. One several years ago when I was concerned that the woman would end up seriously assaulted or worse.

The second only 2 weeks ago where the man was forcibly trying to put the woman out on the street, she had no shoes on, no bag, no phone, nothing.

Surely police intervention in these situations is better before an actual, potentially serious crime is committed?

[stillvicarinatutu]

@Isaidnoalready

Madalaine mcann? Is she part of the 17%?

My ex threatened to set fire to my home with our children in it this wasn't deemed mental health or police worthy just "parental dispute" despite him being under investigation for an assault he was completely innocent 🙄

Madeleine McCann was abducted in Portugal. Slightly out of the remit of the uk . And didn't the Portuguese police bollocks that up ? At least any child abduction jobs I've had a hand in have been resolved. We have very good protocols in place for any big incidents. You do realise that the uk police have no power to police out of the uk ? We have intapol and can help if asked but if a crime occurs in another country that's not for the uk police to investigate it .

[plinkypots]

The U.K. is slipping into developing nation status. It's been accepted that most of the country has no dental care, that the ambulance cannot attend within the medically appropriate timeframe, 1000 excess deaths per month according to ONS, police are stretched beyond being useful. And we are about to slash and burn more with Truss's budget. The bloody IMF is stepping in at this point. The pound is likely to hit parity with the dollar. Brits need a revolution. It's not going to get better.

[stillvicarinatutu]

@Ted27

what percentage of calls called be classed as preventative ? And isnt preventing crime part of the police’s role?

I have twice called the police about neighbours domestic disputes. One several years ago when I was concerned that the woman would end up seriously assaulted or worse.

The second only 2 weeks ago where the man was forcibly trying to put the woman out on the street, she had no shoes on, no bag, no phone, nothing.

Surely police intervention in these situations is better before an actual, potentially serious crime is committed?

That's a crime . Domestic assault . And domestics (even non crime domestics like an argument only ) are priorities in my force area . Along with child concerns. The idea is to prevent crime - or deal with it if it's happened. Dragging a woman out onto the street is domestic assault and is a crime .

[Snowberry3]

Please don't get to choose what they turn out to - if there is a reported incident they have to turn up.

[Sugarplumfairy65]

@Newnameforthistopic

Until "society" votes to put a Gvmnt into power that is willing to support the vulnerable in society, the problem will just continue to get bigger and bigger, now matter how much smoke and mirrors are used to try and pretend it isn't happening.
No, NO, NO. Much of this is not for us or Government departments to manage. It is the responsibility of families and of course the people themselves.
We have worked and saved and spent time and money on our own children and older relatives.
Don't take even more of my money subsidising the wastrels and rif-raf of society who don't bother.

Who exactly are the waitress and re-read of society? The vulnerable?

[ChilliBandit]

@Snowberry3

Please don't get to choose what they turn out to - if there is a reported incident they have to turn up.

No they don’t. I have reported at least 5 where a crime was in progress (fights, intimidation, drug dealing) they never turned up or got back to me.

I once rang 101 to report a particularly aggressive rogue trader as we have lots of potentially vulnerable people on our road. The call handler told me the police don’t deal with “sales people” and ended the call. I wasn’t expecting a blue light response to it!

[stillvicarinatutu]

Let me give you an eg .

So today I've been working on one district. (We have several in our force area )

So incidents aren't graded 4 ways .

Emergency. So threat to life or crime happening there and then .
11 active incidents being dealt with .

Priority incidents- should be dealt with within 60 mins .
66 active incidents being dealt with .
Lower priority- to deal within 8 hours
15 active incidents.

So in one district today that's 92 active open incidents for guess how many police officers?

Do you think we will get to all those today ?

Obviously we get to all emergency in 10 mins or less .
But the rest ? Do you think we could physically attend all of those today with the number of officers on patrol ?

[ForeverFailing]

@blockpavingismynightmare

And the police need to put their own house in order stopping the misogyny and the racism and that's only the tip of the iceberg

I agree with you on this one. When the police photograph there new recruits all I see is mostly white males. Where’s the diversity?

[willingtolearn]

@BlueMongoose You're right and the loss of Sure Start has led to much poorer outcomes for children and families.

What I see though is that if there are 100 people needing a service and only enough resources provided for 50 - this is made worse by 5 people using up twice as much 'service band width' as they actually need. Thus leaving even less for others.

Even if you funded it for 100, there would be some left out because of the actions of a minority who demand more. Some of the people missing out are because they are quiet, unwilling to push, ashamed and fearful. They are often those who are in most profound need but are not heard because of noisier people.

How do you make sure extra funding isn't swallowed up by the same people?

[Nicknacky]

@Scoobyblue

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.

Surely you don’t have an issue with police officers buying a coffee?

[Dimsumbun]

@OnaBegonia I felt the same way as you regarding that thread.

[Brefugee]

for the most part, crime is dealt with as effectively as possible. You would only be cutting your nose of to spite your face with that skewed perception. People latch on to whatever will fit their narrative so I agree, it won't change.

nah - @Relevanceiskey the police have an image problem. It is vastly caused by them themselves. I don't trust the police, and i will have as little to do with them as possible. Luckily i do not feel the same way about the police where i live.

I can read. I know what the chances are of getting a rape conviction. I know that your officers will ask me about my clothes, my sex life and take my phone for months on end. Whatever their reasoning for all that: to me and plenty of others what it actually looks like is the police doing all they can not to solve the crime. My female police officer friends (i had 5, only one hasn't left largely due to misogyny and a horrible culture) have many of the same issues with male colleagues that i had in the army in the 80s.

It is on the police to show the public they are competent and not a bunch of twats. It is up to the government to fund the pollice properly.

[Snowberry3]

Of course everyone has a phone on them. The number of calls because there's 'someone kicking off outside the pub' which might have been dealt with by the landlord in the past is now just a call to the police.
It must have increased calls x 10