Your Personal Experience And Opinion Of Our Police?

[Albionic68]

No comment........

[stripes39]

I don’t see any organisations being free of always having someone somewhere who will let you down. It’s going to happen. I have a friend who used to be in the police (retired now) and he did a lot of good for helping youths with bad family backgrounds which often translated to getting in trouble with the law. He volunteered to help me with the help line I set up and was a thoroughly decent human being. You will get police officers who mess up. You will get doctors who make a serious mistake. You will get politicians who fall short. It’s imperfect human nature. What gets me angry is when people call for heads of organisations to resign when in most cases they had either nothing to do with something or were totally unaware of something going on. You would always be sacking them. It’s best to just accept that the law of averages means it will always happen at some point. If there is something systematically wrong then fix it and if someone is directly culpable then yes make changes but don’t keep sacking people just because it feels good or makes you feel better that someone (even if totally not to blame) has paid a price.

It would be hard to argue that the Dick woman shouldn't resign. She has presided over one calamity after the next. So many of them with life changing consequences for people. The truth is, strong leadership is also about taking responsibility which is something she seems incapable of doing.

Back to Mick's original question; I was only saying to someone recently, my experience of fire crews and paramedics is nothing but exceptionally good. Police not so. The village where I live, there was a robbery at the village post office a few months back. I happened to go in (and left) just before it happened. As part of the Police enquiries, I found them quite bolshy, seemed to have a real chip on their shoulders, they spoke to people as if they were naughty school kids. To people who say respect the Police, I say respect works both ways. It has to be earned. It's not all, just some.

I also used to do a lot of work with a major UK Police force. We were warned before the contract started that we would see a lot of damage to capital equipment. The senior management used to joke and ask 'Is it Bobby proof'? We had people deliberately damage equipment, one incident caused the Police to open a crime scene. I could go on but the overall calibre of personnel in many cases falls well short of what we should be getting. There are societal issues as well of course but in isolation, my experience isn't good.

[WBA123]

A few years ago, a friend of mine got burgled. The police sent someone over 2 weeks later, TWO WEEKS. He told me they looked like they wanted to leave before they even walked in and it seemed like a box ticking exercise. It got filed and he chased them a couple of times and it basically got forgotten about.

Around the same time, I got caught speeding a couple of roads away from where he lived. I was doing 62mph in a 50mph. An undercover police car with two policeman in pulled me over. They were waiting just doing laps of this dual carriageway trying to find speeders to fine. What I did was wrong and I accepted the consequences. But I wasn't dangerous, or reckless. And I couldn't comprehend why two policemen were busier trying to find speeders than they were burglars. I don't understand their priorities.

I also know a couple of policeman through school and university, they were not the sharpest tools in the box. They both struck me as the sort who would more likely be in trouble with the police rather than be in it.

[mickd1961]

A few years ago, a friend of mine got burgled. The police sent someone over 2 weeks later, TWO WEEKS. He told me they looked like they wanted to leave before they even walked in and it seemed like a box ticking exercise. It got filed and he chased them a couple of times and it basically got forgotten about.

Around the same time, I got caught speeding a couple of roads away from where he lived. I was doing 62mph in a 50mph. An undercover police car with two policeman in pulled me over. They were waiting just doing laps of this dual carriageway trying to find speeders to fine. What I did was wrong and I accepted the consequences. But I wasn't dangerous, or reckless. And I couldn't comprehend why two policemen were busier trying to find speeders than they were burglars. I don't understand their priorities.

I also know a couple of policeman through school and university, they were not the sharpest tools in the box. They both struck me as the sort who would more likely be in trouble with the police rather than be in it.

In regards to you last paragraph, my dad always said that if most coppers weren’t coppers they’d be in jail!

I’ve had contact with a lot of police in my private life over the years and there have been a lot of rouges and out and out b a s t a r d s amongst them.

Your speeding incident though.......

I agree with your sentiment about the police doing something more valuable than looking for a speeder.

You’re wrong about the “not driving dangerously” bit though.

I made the same comment when I was at a speed awareness course after being caught myself.

It was then explained to me and the other culprits about how each additional mile per hour reduces the chance of survival of anyone impacted by a speeding car.

The rate at which your % chance of dying in an accident rises exponentially with each bit of extra speed.

It was pointed out to me that it wasn’t acceptable for me ( or any driver ) to decide if we were driving safely and that the assessment of what was the right maximum speed for the road had been calculated by experts.

I know what you mean 123 but I know what they mean as well.

[WBA1955]

Bring back Dixon of Dock Green.
Our police have never been the same since they started showing The Sweeney on TV.

[Lindenbaggie]

Bring back Dixon of Dock Green.
Our police have never been the same since they started showing The Sweeney on TV.

Some would suggest that our police have gradually changed since allowing graduates to enter the service at mid-management level. Would whoever suggested women flag down buses be one of these?

[Leicesterbaggie]

What mustn't happen is that all police officers are vilified. The vast majority are decent people doing the job as best they can. We didn't vilify all doctors when Shipman murdered dozens of patients. The majority of institutions have their ' bad apples' and obviously they need to be rooted out.
I also believe that Cressida Dick should be replaced as I don't think that the public have a great deal of confidence in her.

[BaggieSingh]

It would be hard to argue that the Dick woman shouldn't resign. She has presided over one calamity after the next. So many of them with life changing consequences for people. The truth is, strong leadership is also about taking responsibility which is something she seems incapable of doing.

Back to Mick's original question; I was only saying to someone recently, my experience of fire crews and paramedics is nothing but exceptionally good. Police not so. The village where I live, there was a robbery at the village post office a few months back. I happened to go in (and left) just before it happened. As part of the Police enquiries, I found them quite bolshy, seemed to have a real chip on their shoulders, they spoke to people as if they were naughty school kids. To people who say respect the Police, I say respect works both ways. It has to be earned. It's not all, just some.

I also used to do a lot of work with a major UK Police force. We were warned before the contract started that we would see a lot of damage to capital equipment. The senior management used to joke and ask 'Is it Bobby proof'? We had people deliberately damage equipment, one incident caused the Police to open a crime scene. I could go on but the overall calibre of personnel in many cases falls well short of what we should be getting. There are societal issues as well of course but in isolation, my experience isn't good.

Really good post, I agree with your comments on respect too

[BaggieSingh]

A few years ago, a friend of mine got burgled. The police sent someone over 2 weeks later, TWO WEEKS. He told me they looked like they wanted to leave before they even walked in and it seemed like a box ticking exercise. It got filed and he chased them a couple of times and it basically got forgotten about.

Around the same time, I got caught speeding a couple of roads away from where he lived. I was doing 62mph in a 50mph. An undercover police car with two policeman in pulled me over. They were waiting just doing laps of this dual carriageway trying to find speeders to fine. What I did was wrong and I accepted the consequences. But I wasn't dangerous, or reckless. And I couldn't comprehend why two policemen were busier trying to find speeders than they were burglars. I don't understand their priorities.

I also know a couple of policeman through school and university, they were not the sharpest tools in the box. They both struck me as the sort who would more likely be in trouble with the police rather than be in it.

Quite a money making scheme catching people speeding and these guys get to just drive around, where’s the down side for them

Like I mentioned a lot have no intention of doing anything useful it’s just a job to do with the least amount of effort so they can go home

[BaggieSingh]

What mustn't happen is that all police officers are vilified. The vast majority are decent people doing the job as best they can. We didn't vilify all doctors when Shipman murdered dozens of patients. The majority of institutions have their ' bad apples' and obviously they need to be rooted out.
I also believe that Cressida Dick should be replaced as I don't think that the public have a great deal of confidence in her.

But is it because she has a dick or doesn’t ?

(Meant as a slightly amusing comment on not taking people seriously with funny names and ***ism for the police, nothing more)