Topic: Bloody Coppers

[Mr Smith]

Last year I felt threatened and was threatened along with my wife by a mob of feral teen scum, when we arrived home we phoned the police who did not want to know at the.  Later that night I went back out when it was dark and came across two of the youths on their bikes one went one way and the other one came towards me, I was stood by a back entrance and when matey came by I whipped him off his bike and put the fear of god in him with a good slap thrown, 2230 that night the Police phone and asked was all ok, I said it is now and the only thing the copper could say to me was 'I hope you have not taken the law into your own hands, I said 'what me I would never do anything like that' ;)

[Flunky]

Four police forces have warrants for a man's arrest.  We tell them where he is, but they don't go and arrest him.
We called all four police counties and told them where this person was staying.  Still nothing.  Apparently its not in their jurisdiction.  He is still walking the streets and committing the same crimes the warrants are for!!!

If you knew what this man had done, you would want him off the streets too.

The victims however, have to be moved and hidden so this person doesn't find them.

I will never understand how this system works in the UK.   

My friends neighbour is committing crimes on a daily basis, she has evidence, photographic and taken details to the local police station.  She was told thanks and that was that, this person is still doing the crimes.   Its not been investigated or looked at, but we get told if we see crime to contact the police.

After my own experiences, I don't have no faith in them whatsoever

I had been in my home 4 nights, with two children.  Woke up at 2am in the morning with banging on my lounge window.  I was petrified, I looked out the window to find armed police everywhere on my property.  Never seen so many police in my life in one place..... then they realise they have the wrong property!!!!!... I had no apology, and was told to go back to sleep!!.

I bring my children up to respect them, and to go to them if they are in trouble.  Just hope they don't have the experiences that I have had.

Then make a complaint. Every single complaint has to be investigated. i think they must be targeted here too. Make your self heard do not take no for an answer. He who shouts loudest, gets heard.

I would of made complaint about armed response in my yard. In fact I would be very miffed and i would not of settled for anything less than a written apology from the super.

[valmarg]

Valmarg - you probably don't live in a crime "hotspot" what use is a copper to you when your place has been burgled it has happende  - do you expect him to come up with the "burgler" with his SWAG bag in handcuffs -  with all your stuff in his bag?

What would be the advantage of a policeman not looking lost in your rural area.  They aren't allowed to "waste time" just to be seen in your area.  What also would be the point if there is very little crime?

If the police weren't there Valmarg - you may get cheaper Council Tax but it would cost smaller rural communities a hell of a lot more for "security"!
Old Bird

Rural communities don't get much smaller than where we live, but we do have the burden of Alton Towers.  When that place is open the crime rate in the village goes up.  So we just have to accept it do we??

It would be nice to know that there were some police out there, but we NEVER see any.

Oh, and we live just over the Staffs/Derbys border from Ashbourne.  A few years ago the Ashbourne police were receiving repeated complaints from a young girl regarding a former boyfriend stalking her.  She is now dead, having been shot by the former boyfriend, and he is in prison.

The Ashbourne police issued a statement "We may have let her down in life, but we will see she gets justice in death."  How crass can you get.  If they'd been doing their job she would still be alive.

valmarg

[Jeannine]

We moved into a house that had been previously occupied by someone who had committed offences in three towns, it took several visits by the police for us to convince them my husband was not the 23 year old bad guy they were looking for  , and yes they came twice in the early hours. It took a visit to the local cop shop to see the top cop to set the record straight. A waste of time, perhaps, but they were out there working and trying to catch a bad lad.

Last week I got a ticket for driving without a seat belt.It was onle a short distance. I had stopped the car almost outside of aschool to talk to a parent and popped the seat velt to reach over to pass something to her. I then finished my journey, about 500 yards, fogetting to re fasten it. I was seen and as I pulled into the school yard the police car pulled in behind me. They even saw me stop and lean over to the passenger window, but they also  did see drive the last bit without a belt. I got a £30 fine. Unfair..well perhaps, but.. I could have hurt myself badly
 in that last bit of my journey and that £30 fine will stay in my memory forever.I bet I don't do it again.

I could not do their job, I suspect that they are all tied up in red tape and paperwork so I did not criticise them. It is a lousy job in my opinion and I feel confident that the vast majority of police do the very best they can.

It takes a pretty good guy to stay polite with all they have to deal with, I doubt that I could, and I for one am glad they are there.

I am far from perfect in what I do and know I do the best I can, I just hope I am not judged too quickly for the things I am unable to achieve, I would love to have a magic wand to right all the wrongs in this world, I feel certain there are many police officers who feel the same.

Just my thoughts.

XX Jeannine

[Flunky]

bang on jeannine. Here here.

[posie]

I think one thing we can all agree with (hopefully) is that it's the system that 9 times out of 10 is the problem rather than the individual officers themselves.  I have the utmost respect for the police as a whole, I couldn't do their job and freely admit that, I've taught my children to have that same respect for them as I feel it's an important value to have.  I think we all just find it frustrating when we're a victim of crime (regardless of what it is, a crime is a crime, including my brake light) and we're not able to get the service we require.  As for saying thanks, yes I am one of those people who does believe in saying thanks to someone who's helped me and I have on one occasion had reason to thank the local police, I just wish that the one occasion was two or three.

[Uncle Joshua]

My post that started this thread wasn't to  slate the individual officers that where there to do the job they are told to do but the fact is many parts of Britain are lawless, in the last two weeks we have had three windows smashed, my kids have been beaten up and my allotment has been vandalised all of which have gone unreported.

I think the blame should lay at the feet of government, years ago when most of us here were kids we knew that there was a line that you shouldn't cross, if that line was crossed at school you'd get the slipper or cane, at home you'd get a slape and on the street the local bobby would give you a clip round the ear but these days teachers are too scared to teach never mind make sure the kinds are behaving and the police have to meet targets and fill endless reams paper.

My original may not have sounded like it but I do respect the police and the work they do but I wish they could get on and do what we want them to do rather than take a large part of the working day with unnecessary rubbish.

[valmarg]

Can't have any respect for something that doesn't exist, ie police.  None in this area.  Scarcer that rocking horse manure.

valmarg

[kt.]

Have any of you had to put your life on the line for someone you don't know?   important?

 So many police got hurt and eventually had to retire on health grounds for doing what - their JOB - so you have lost your respect for them!

Remember each and every policeman is daily prepared to put their life on the line for YOU! 

Most of the armed forces do this on a regular basis now due to the frequency of operational tours.  So do security guards in shopping centres etc when they have to apprehend shoplifters.  Firefighters, Lifeguards at sea, to name a few.  So police are not the one and only.

Many other people in different professions get hurt and retire on health grounds across all professions.  Some by accident, others by neglect.

I do not believe each and every policeman would put their life on the line.  Personal beliefs, religion may fall into this category at some point.  Example being Government policy threatening businesses with fines etc that cannot accommodate personal circumstances from everyman and his dog.

This past few years, our largest percentage of council tax increases have been to fund the police.  To fund the shortfall in their pension.  You do not see everyone elses job pension being funded this way.  They should take the hit like everyone else.  Private pensions are hit due to somebodies incompetence,  public sector pensions are hit due to Government incompetence. 

And finally...  As the joke goes:

A woman phoned the police to say she had been burgled.  They said no officers were available.  She phoned back a minute later and said there was a man with a gun.  Within minutes police were swarming everywhere.  The officer approached her and said she had lied to her.  To which she replied,   and you lied to me.  You told me no you had no officers available.

[silly billy]

Have any of you had to put your life on the line for someone you don't know? 

Oldbirl I always look forward to your contribution to posts and 9 out of 10 times I agree with you. This happens to be the other 1 out of ten.

You asked if any of us would put our lives on the line for someone we don't know. I would hope everybody would answer this question as yes.
I myself am a serving reserve soldier, I've put my life on the line for a whole country full of people I don't know & domestically here in Britain when the lazy firemen decided they don't get paid enough for responding to a job a day. (On this subject I agree that the police do a hell of a lot more demanding work than the fire brigade)

The armed forces don't ask for thanks and they certainly don't get paid as much as a serving police constable and yet they get on with thier job to the best of their ability.

I do not doubt that your son is a superb PC and joined the service for all of the right reasons. However I also do not doubt that many PC's joined with that intention and got fed up with all the paperwork and red tape imposed on them by the government and became dissilusioned with it all. So I sympathise with them. But I'd also ask them not to take it out on Joe Public.

I find the remark about "lazy firemen" the most offensive remark I have ever read on this site. I am not going to even bother saying why but to call them lazy for the job they do is disgusting. I shall now be putting the poster on my ignore list. Sheer ignorance.

[betula]

The police have a hard job to do.We do need them.

However I think what riles a lot of people is that they are just not around when you need them.

We have problems with one brain cell youths in our village but no local copper to keep them in hand.I can not get my head around really young kids being allowed to stay out till all hours.What kind of parents do they have.?

Old Bird I think you should be proud that your son is a police officer.

Silly Billy of course Firemen are not lazy,I find it hard to believe anyone should think that.

[jjt]

MickW, I think it's too easy to blame government. I think society, by which I mean all of us, is at fault for a huge abdication of responsibility. No doubt government has largely contributed to this, but it's not easy to trace back. Was Maggie right about no such thing as society or did she help to cause it? There's thousands of contributary factors, seriously I think a major one is TV, apart from the poisonous rubbish it pours out, people did not used to just come home , go in and shut out the world as so many do now. And because they do this, in too many places the riffraff or whatever you want to call them own the streets. I'm glad I ain't a copper. Or a teacher. Or a fireman getting stones chucked at me while attending an incident. How cretinous can you get?

[Lacelotte]

I find the remark about "lazy firemen" the most offensive remark I have ever read on this site. I am not going to even bother saying why but to call them lazy for the job they do is disgusting. I shall now be putting the poster on my ignore list. Sheer ignorance.

I'm disgusting and ignorant and I'm being ignored. No love lost.
I made the remark after doing their job when they wouldn't (as you would have known if you had bothered to read my post in full) Why wouldn't they do the job they signed up for on the rate of pay they signed up for? Because they believe they should be paid as much as police constables for doing a job which is requires them to be out of their station one fifth of the time.

If this is the most offensive remark you have every read your either a fireman or you need to unwrap yourself from the cottom wool your surrounded in.

The fire brigade do a brilliant job WHEN they are doing it. Though I  will never forgive them as a vital public service for striking and un-necessarily putting peoples lives at risk.

Shane

[silly billy]

I read the whole post thankyou.
The service is in the process of being modernised therefore we deserve modern pay not an outdated wage structure (we don't get enhanced wages for working weekends or bank holidays yet the police and other public sectors do even the ihc staff for the police do). The firefighting role has changed beyond all recognition from what is was just a few years ago.We were offered and accepted 16% it was the goverment that put a stop to that hence the strike action which was voted on and backed by our union therefore we strike to protect our jobs for now and the future. Many firefighters left the picket line to go on emergency shouts. The reality of a police constable is that they are often at a desk not out on the street as you percieve. Funny how the police are fighting for the right to strike themselves over pay and the coastguards have just had a strike. In the fireservice if you are unfit to do the job your career ends yet the ihc's are full of police officers doing civilian jobs on full police pay when a civilian does the job for at least 10k less. Are we expected to do our job no matter what the pay and working conditions are just because we are public service. For someone to believe that we striked because we are lazy is incredible the stress of striking was as great as attending any incident.
As the saying goes "ignorance is bliss"

[Lacelotte]

Funny how the police are fighting for the right to strike themselves over pay

Ahh so you are a fireman.

I said I would never forgive a frontline public service for putting people at risk by striking and I stand by that. No matter which emergency service it is.

Maybe "lazy" wasn't the best of words to use, but that is how I feel & I'm entitled to my opinion, whoever it upsets. There are many people who have used far worse wording when describing the police and yet it's when the fire brigade is insulted all the dummies are spat out.

As for pay... Soldiers serving both at home and abroad get paid a hell of a lot less than the emergency services. Maybe they should go on strike to get a better pay deal.Would you be ok with that happening? More importantly, would you step in and do their job if they did?

[silly billy]

My opinion is that all employees are entitled to strike if that is what the union votes for regardless of occupation.Then maybe the goverment of the time would sit up and take notice. I wouldnt step in and do their job as I don't agree with either of the "wars" in Iraq or Afghanistan. With regards dummies being spat out I am sure there is a large media campaign supporting soldiers and their pay and living conditions. The media never supported our action.

[Lacelotte]

I don't agree with arson attacks yet thats what soldiers had to deal with when they were made to deal with when they took over the role of the fire brigade.
There are thousands of soldiers that don't agree with the current operations in Iraq & Afghanistan and many more who don't like the low pay (would you work for approx £3.50 p/h?), however they knew that was the job they were signing up for when they joined and accept that.

There was a large portion of the public who supported your cause but I think you (not you personally) lost most of the publics support the day you went on strike. I honestly believe that. The same thing would happen if the police went on strike.

We are not going to get anywhere here. You don't agree with my opinion (obviously) and you ignore the possitive comments I have made about the Fire Brigade so where do we go from here?

[OllieC]

There's only 1 solution, Lacelotte & Billy - a drinking competition! Last one standing is the winner...

[Lacelotte]

Haha I'm game. You paying Ollie?

[OllieC]

If the end result is you 2 swapping man hugs whilst declaring your love for each other then yes, happily! It's quite rare that I agree with both sides of an argument...