I just don't trust any police officers..aibu

[Ihateboris]

Yet another predator in the police force. If we can't trust the police, who the hell can women trust?

www.lbc.co.uk/article/police-officer-arrested-lbc-grooming-probe-5Hjdjbx_2/

Indeed.

My experience differs from yours. Perhaps that might be because the pigs treat citizens differently depending on the the level of abuse, violence, mendacity, and perjury the duplicitous pigs think they can get away with.

I'll be honest, having worked with numerous victims of serious intimate partner violence, a startling number had either a father or a partner who were police officers. I hate saying that as I also know some excellent, dedicated police officers. I think some start out as good but they become disillusioned by the justice system and a feral underclass of persistent offenders who go unpunished, then reproduce and 'raise' the next generation of persistent offenders.

I’m on a throw away name. Slightly different but I am vetted to a level equivalent to police management vetting - access to secret and top secret material and access to police systems (unsupervised, frequent, long term)
none of this is secret as it’s all available on Google!

theres an example vetting form here of management vetting
i was asked about family, relationships, financial including balances on cards/accounts, associates/friends, history with the police, social media accounts and you can also be interviewed. In my job you cannot be employed if you fail the vetting
https://library.college.police.uk/docs/appref/Appendix-2-Sample-management-vetting-form.pdf

It attracts people who want to have power over others and abusers it’s the perfect job for them

through work I have worked with some really good professional police sadly worked with many who are judgemental and nasty. I was present at one sectioning to hospital and a number of police turned up the disappointment that it all went very smoothly was obvious for a few of them it was sickening

they close ranks too it’s like a club this does not help, the whole system is set up to protect them complaints are investigated by ex police officers is just ridiculous

You can't group people together like that there a bad apples in every profession.

I thought you were questioning whether I'd been in policing for 20 years, your reference was a little too abstract for me in the context you've used it.

Anyway, i didn't say I'm a copper, current or former. I said I'd worked in policing. And still do actually.

On the whole I trust the police. I don’t trust the training as it’s been eroded to nothing and literally anyone can get in now so standards are so very low. The courts and cps are a huge part of the problem too.

i did my time - Army - in uniform.
I do want police. I want properly vetted, properly funded police who aren't rapey fuckers, and when they are rapey fuckers i want them in jail. For a long stretch.

So, you want to be a police officer?
"yes"
well, you're in then.

😃😃

if people really want a decent police service and are so sure of the corruption then maybe the way to change it is to join up? Start changing things?

because nothing is going to change it posting on mumsnet.

funnily enough if you suggest it there’s always “reasons”.

i do think part of the problem is the nature of policing means the actual nature and huge spread isn’t appreciated. Those Paedophile hunter teams, for example, have everyone convinced the police do nothing, they’re providing a service catching the “baddies” the police cba to.

issue is cyber policing tactics can’t be advertised, because if the baddies know how it’s done, they can avoid it. So it’s all done with no fuss and no advertisement. But because they aren’t live streaming it on Facebook it’s “doing nothing”.

Yanbu. I live in Plymouth and after the Claire Chick murdee my last shred of trust is gone.

Sadly I also believe this to be the case for many.
Domestic abuse within the homes of some police officers is a huge issue, with women too terrified to report it because they feel they will face a backlash.

The case of brave former Garda Margaret Loftus in Ireland, is a horrendous case.
Her husband was also in the force.

i don’t trust male officers. From my experiences not because of a prejudice. I’d trust a female one in a situation where I’m vulnerable and needing help but I do t trust the system she works in to do anything to protect me unless I’m murdered or wealthy

Please may I add my voice to the very few: my son chose to be a police officer in the Met. He’s a sweetheart , if I say so myself, but more importantly, his sister, who would rip his balls off if he put a foot wrong towards women, trusts him too.

He just wants to serve his community. It’s a difficult job, with awful hours and he has got scars both physical and mental showing how hard it’s been.

He has come across officers who he thinks have been sketchy and his dad and I are pleased to hear that he has always dobbed them in.

After 5 years on the front line he’s on the way to a desk job now, but he always says he hopes that he’s helped some people understand that not all of them are awful.

My own contact with the police, as both a victim of historical sexual abuse and a later a violent rape, has been very positive.

perhaps I’ve been lucky?

But honestly, not ALL of them, please xx

I'm married to a police officer and have been for 27yrs. He's a dedicated, professional man doing the job for the right reasons. He has plenty of colleagues who are the same. Sadly, he has/has had colleagues who are the opposite. Because that level of power will attract a certain demographic. Equally, he knows through work that working/volunteering with children also attracts a certain demographic. I don't know the answer to the problem. There's a lot they can and should do to mitigate the problem but the realist in me knows that certain clever and manipulative types will always get where they want to be.

Not everyone is going to have had the same experience as you though, that is kind of the point. I’m a researcher who grew up in the care-system, and my experience with them is less than fragrant, to say the least…both from a personal perspective, and from what I know about institutional power.

A black man from an inner city environment is going to have a different experience from both you and me, and the person whose only interaction with the police - will have a different perspective again. All of these are equally valid, but it is important not to assume any one is the ‘correct’ one.

That said, there is wealth of research and data which very clearly highlights many systemic issues within police culture. I don’t think it’s reasonable to ignore this based on personal anecdotes. Many victims of sexual crimes have been treated appallingly, both by the police and the wider judiciary system.

It is the point though….

you say not everyone will have the same experience, well surely it applied that some will have a positive experience? Some will have both- I found the met worse than useless, but my current local force everyone I’ve dealt with has been great.

this thread generally seems to assume the “correct” opinion is that all police are corrupt and untrustworthy. The title is that we shouldn’t trust any of them.

Simlar with my son. He feels very similar. And yes its exhausting work practically and mentally/emotionally. I don't think people realise how hard it is.

Because it’s a systemic issue, about culture. Not about individuals within the system. You can know many wonderful people within it, but the institution as a whole is riddled with issues.

Those are two distinct things, and it’s pretty tone deaf to ignore the wide-scale harm and suffering which people have experienced because you personally think there’s nothing wrong with the system. That’s my point- your perspective is ofc correct from your experience, but it’s very widely accepted and evidenced that police culture as a whole is incredibly toxic.

I would absolutely advise that anyone engaging with the police be cautious, and doubly so if that person isn’t white, or if they are in the care system. And I won’t apologise for that stance either, because the police as an institution have a dreadful track record in terms of how they treat both these groups of people. Also btw, decent people within the system are absolutely aware of this.

I totally agree there are awful police out there. But this thread is coming across like all police are bad. People are sharing their bad experience or things they have heard. Which are validated. But people who know good police officers and have had a positive experience are valid to.

The corrupt side of it is bad and something does need to be done.

Doctors, nurse's, social services, teachers have abused and killed people or haven't protected someone as they should have. That has lead to abuse and people dying/being killed. But yet thats just a handful of bad people. The rest are saving people's lifes , stopping abuse saving children, looking after vunerble people. But when it comes to police they are apprently all bad.

I was in a cafe once in a queue. Two police officers came in and joined the queue. I felt threatened and uncomfortable which was strange as I didn't have any personal reason to be. So it just must be the incidents reported.

There’s bad people out there. Regardless of what job they do. How many on the force are doing good?! That’s what I try to remember.

My bil and sil are policemen and I trust and respect them.
They, and fellow pc's, deal with the shittier stuff in society so that we don't have to.
It's very hard to attract people to work in the force and posts like this, cherry picking to find the bad 'uns make it more difficult.