who's watching Coppers?

[ggirl]

I am surprised at how rough the coppers are with the low life.

Anyone else shocked?

Not sure what point this programme was trying to proove, but I don't think it portrayed police in a good light at all. Just showed why people do have little respect for them. I think they do have a hard job, one I could never do. But like joantheferral said, if they are happy with this to be shown on camera, what goes on when off camera?
Not sure what my solution would be to situations shown, but I'm sure it could be handled better.

i am on the mend thanks scurry - been off with broken coccyx,
i am in the in the throes of all that....public order is rather good training - in at the deep end.

my sgt says i am a very calming influence- luckily for me! i have my sights set on getting off response, think CID or PPU for me....have to do my bit on response first though.

what goes on off camera? more abuse of us usually.

Hippysair, I agree to a certain degree -I didn't like the name calling - the " shit on shit" and "sub normal" references did Notts Police no favours at all.

those calls to 30 fighting - ten a penny.

and we work single crewed during day and afternoon shifts. we are only double crewed on nights.

i had noooooo idea what this job was really like before i joined and i doubt i could ever explain it in a month of sundays now....even my DH is clueless.

ive been in less than 2 years and i could tell you some stories that would make your hair curl!

Tell us one Vicar!

That programme showed the coppers to have a horrible low level prejudice towards those who they class as 'jobless'. They also unnecessarily wound people up instead of de-escalating situations.

I have nothing but respect for the police, but those portrayed had awful attitudes.

havent got that far yet scurry....

i have to say, i hate that talk, my shift are all thankfully very enlightened mostly., but its quite a blokey culture generally - though its changing i think.

Hats off to you ladies !
Glad there are some people who want to be coppers, you do a great job that I could never do in a million years.

Watching on 4+1,

Jaw on the floor at 14yr old b'day party

Hat off to all coppers

Every job, especially the hard, stressful ones have a kind of humour you would not understand unless you experienced it.... happens in every job, have you seen the fly on the wall documentries on planes? bet they don't talk about customers how you would expect.

yup same in nursing

Stories... got a few. What sort do you want, amusing, or blood and gor!

Culture has changed for the better, my first day on shift many moons ago, I was asked half a dozen times if I was a lesbian just because I had short hair!

my first day on shift was last January. i love my group though, they are all fab and have my back, and its a good job i feel that, im on response and i find it such hard going at times.

The first few years on a team are the best, I loved every minute of it. But look after yourself, shift work is stressfull, and I have seen lots of good coppers burn out at 5 year mark... the job will take the piss out of the good nature of young officers who are keen. It is a long career... have a plan!

It is difficult because it is non-stop. You are at the beck and call of any thing that comes in with minimal time to assess.

my plan is get off response asap....

Good idea, think I did 3 years (ish) before I got off, done various things now, all in uniform though, never fancied the suit work

What i find rather pathetic is the way the police get drawn into childish arguments and verbal tit for tats with their 'clients'. They seem unable to control their need to either have the last word, a need to goad the (actually) powerless and lack ability to de-escalate situations.

Or do they prefer not to de-escalate these days and arrest instead? In so many of these filmed arrests or even confrontations, the police deliberately verbally goad, wind up and aggravate the situation.

Then when the (usually drunk) civilians respond, they arrest them. Are they not taught/trained to reduce verbal interactions with drunken, drugged or disturbed civilians to the bare, simple and clear minimum and to not engage in protracted, nonsensical arguments and debates with them?

Their social skills are the absolute pits at times....Too many times.

thats a bit of a generalisation there nursenic

im a 40 yr old woman with bloody fantastic communication skills but sometimes, words are not enough.

one thing i learnt very very very quickly was that you cannot reason with pissed people.

Now the boring arrests where the copper just goes up to someone and says the words would not make interesting viewing would they?

Have a drunk be continually abusive to you for ages, it is hard not to answer back!

It's not about reasoning. That's not what i am referring to, Vicar.

I'm referring to all the incidents of coppers getting into these silly little arguments, debates and discussions with punters. Last series was full of them and I used to witness it constantly when coppers bought in section 136 patients onto my acute psych ward. They'd get annoyed/riled and start these stupid 'yes, no, yes, no, did, didn't, did' arguments.

So many of them just cannot help themselves. Instead of just staying stum and de-escalating things.

Nursenic,
Some of these situations make good telly. Of course the common or garden police officers deal with these situations in a professional manner. Some officers lack communication skills and these programmes highlight this. Unfortunately some forces that welcome these fly on the wall docs do not realise the poor light some of their officers are portrayed.
You do not always see the events leading up to these incidents however and most officers put up with an awful lot of abuse before an arrest takes place. People are generally given too many opportunities to desist from their behaviour before being dealt with.

really? i dont see that on my patch, but my group are really mature, we are a bit of an ageing group!

i really dont see that in RL, most of my colleagues are really laid back and dont argue back at all.

i personally dont like arresting people and do it as a last resort. I am a very calm person and think i am a calming influence rather than the opposite. Most of my colleagues are the same.