To be shocked at this non-attendance by the police?

[JMSA]

Last weekend, as I was making my way home from a dog walk, a man fell to the pavement in front of me. I rushed over to help him get back to his feet and it quickly became apparent that he was blind drunk. No sooner had I helped him up than he was face-planting the pavement again. He had his 7 year old child with him. The child shut down completely, and wouldn't look at me or talk to me. Obviously a trauma response. But he didn't look shocked.
I phoned the police, saying that I had a welfare concern about the child. They replied that they'd marked it as a priority but couldn't say when they'd get someone out. They were busy. They asked me to phone them back if the man became violent towards his child
I stayed with them because I work with vulnerable kids and couldn't in good conscience walk away.
The man sat on a step trying to phone a taxi, but was too drunk to use his phone. He started getting tetchy with his son, because he expected him to phone the taxi! Son started feeling a bit more comfortable with me. I had some sweets in my bag which he enjoyed, and he showed off his jumping skills. Over an hour passed and the man stood up and declared himself able to walk home. He literally staggered home with his son. I followed at a distance to make sure they got in ok.
The police phoned me later for a statement.
I'm not naive and I know they're stretched, but bloody hell ... the poor kid

Would you consider calling the school? They might follow it up.

@MoreCardassianThanKardashian

Done, because in a strange twist of fate, I used to work there (before this child started)!
I'm sure SS and police would have done it anyway, but I wanted to cover all bases.

I wish there were more people like you around. You say you work with vulnerable children - you're very much the right person in the right job. Fingers crossed that little boy gets the support he needs.

I think many posters, on this and other threads like this, dont understand that SS have no powers of their own, they too would need to call the police, who often dont come out

So OP might have called SSD there and then on the pavement, they in turn would have called police who would have said they marked it as urgent and urgent means they might get round there in a few days or so

In the meantime, trying to logistically marry up the Social Workers diary to when a police officer may or may not visit, may or may not be free is very difficult. Often SWs are sitting about for hours waiting to be supported by the police to gain access to the house/children

Public services need proper funding and resources, otherwise this is the outcome.

I can only talk from a policing point of view, but the above is exactly how it will have gone. We have a finite number of resources (cops) and once they are engaged (with an arrest, a hospital watch for a suicidal person, off to an immediate incident etc), there are no more to go to something that isn't an immediate threat to life/crime ongoing (such as a robbery or housebreaking where suspects are still within). It is frustrating (for everyone, including the cops!) and I often wish I could knit officers or magic them out of nowhere. We have to risk assess every incident and grade it appropriately giving our full rationale. In my force, child concern incidents are an absolute priority (as of course they should be) but I guess there was no-one free to attend at that time. We (in the control room) have to phone many many people as frustrated as you every shift and explain why we can't come along straight away and I do understand how people feel - if I phoned the police, I'd want them to act too! I

Thank you for reporting and please do report your frustrations to your MP and Chief Constable but due to funding, I can't see anything changing soon

Thanks so much x