Police Standards of Conduct

[ClaphamGT3]

Took the motorbike to work yesterday. Riding home, the police had closed a road & a youngish PC was on point duty, re-directing traffic. I'd filtered to the front of the queue & stopped just behind the front car. Once he'd finished talking to the car driver he sauntered over with his hands tucked into his stab-vest and said, perfectly amicably "Alright fella? We've closed the road for a while so you'll be quicker finding another route. Just swing round when its safe & go back the way you came"

He was genuinely shocked and flustered when I pointed out that addressing a law-abiding member of the public as 'fella' rather than 'Sir' with hands, effectively, in pockets was hardly professional.

If professional standards in the face of the public have really become so slack, its hardly any wonder the police struggle to win the respect of the law-abiding public

[14-7]

Presumably there was a police car/cones/signs blocking the road which sort of made it clear it was closed?

[Bacon Is Proof]

Oh noes! A friendly policeman!

fk 'em.
fk all friendly people.
wkers the lot of them, no respect from me.

[sinizter]

He was probably taken to a Communication Skills class and told to address people in a way that might appear to make them more friendly, or some such drivel.

[ClaphamGT3]

14-7 said:

Presumably there was a police car/cones/signs blocking the road which sort of made it clear it was closed?

You presume wrongly and that's not the point, it was the over-familiar & casual attitude of the PC that was my issue

[BadRotorFinger]

Hardly rude now, was it? Get over yourself......Sir.

[THE arch stanton]

but if he called everyone sir someone else will complain that he was being officious/pompous/sarcastic.

[ClaphamGT3]

sinizter said:

He was probably taken to a Communication Skills class and told to address people in a way that might appear to make them more friendly, or some such drivel.

I suppose you cant please all the people all the time; for every member of the public who'll welcome that approach, another will be appalled by it

[10 Pence Short]

ClaphamGT3 said:

You presume wrongly and that's not the point, it was the over-familiar & casual attitude of the PC that was my issue

Would you have preferred him to have doffed his cap whilst offering to give your pride and joy a quick polish before you go on your way?

Obviously I'm being facetious, but I don't understand how the officer could win? Be friendly and polite and he's being over familiar. If he's officious and cold, I get the impression you may have described him as out of touch and a jobsworth.

Just be glad he was doing his job and willing to engage you in a friendly manner.

[pitmansboots]

You could of course have have replied "cheers mate, thanks for the help"...alternately you could be a belligerent t*at and whinge at your keyboard.

I guess you are right, sir, you can't please all of the people all of the time.

[Zoobeef]

I hate the word fella.

[Bacon Is Proof]

ClaphamGT3 said:

it was the over-familiar & casual attitude of the PC that was my issue

If he was pulling you over to accuse you of speeding or any other offence then yes, I would expect a policeman to be formal.

But he wasn't, so get over yourself.

[14-7]

ClaphamGT3 said:

14-7 said:

Presumably there was a police car/cones/signs blocking the road which sort of made it clear it was closed?

You presume wrongly and that's not the point, it was the over-familiar & casual attitude of the PC that was my issue

I have obviously presumed wrongly and am deeply sorry sir.

As I am not a police officer I can call you a cock though. I am sure that's what he was thinking (and that's what I first thought at your post but thought I'd at least try to be polite).

[Baryonyx]

He offers you advice and does so in a casual, friendly tone that is not pompous or intimidating and all you can think you do is complain at your keyboard? What is the real issue here, had a bad day at work? Found out your missus was cheating on you?

[xr287]

Not sure if serious.....

[Red Devil]

I'm going to buck the trend and side with the OP. Friendliness is conveyed by tone of voice and body language far more than the specific form of address. In any public facing role, if a salutation is going to be used at all, then Sir or Madam is the appropriate form of address. It neither implies servility nor conveys officiousness except in the fevered imagination of the recipient.

I wouldn't be to happy at being addressed as 'fella' by, for example, a help desk/car sales person, bank teller, or head waiter in a restaurant. Jeez, the next time I went in they would be calling me 'mate'!

I can forgive the hands in the stab vest. It has been very wet and none too warm of late.

[Dave Hedgehog]

police are trained to offender profile on personality and appearance

congratulations you ranked at "fella" that's about 5 down from sir and 2 up from chav

[Elroy Blue]

He will have been stood there for ages. He will have answered the same idiotic questions from every other motorist, who expects him to know the directions to some obscure place better than a Tom Tom, he will have one ear to the radio monitoring what's going on at the incident, but he still remained pleasant in the face of some pompous oaf who thinks he's terribly important.
OP, get a life for God's sake.

[ExChrispy Porker]

You were lucky.
Round some parts not so far from here, the normal term of address is 'shag'
( 'fella' sounds so Northern, don't you think? )

[Derek Smith]

Red Devil said:

I'm going to buck the trend and side with the OP. Friendliness is conveyed by tone of voice and body language far more than the specific form of address. In any public facing role, if a salutation is going to be used at all, then Sir or Madam is the appropriate form of address. It neither implies servility nor conveys officiousness except in the fevered imagination of the recipient.

So you think a police officer would have no problems addressing a woman as madam.

I too would have been taken aback by the rejection of a friendly appraoch.

The officer could have just directed OP in the direction of travel, and this is probably what he will do next time. Why should he bother to be friendly when, quite obviously, certain members of the public don't what him to.

Had the OP been that rude to me and rejected my overtures of friendliness I would have engaged the person in conversation and discussed the fact that in all probability he was not entitled to the salutation of sir, that common use was an affectation and that if he wanted to be called sir he would have to do something tremendous for the Queen or pay the PM a lot of money.

I had a female brief criticise a statement of mine for referring to the defendant as a woman and not a lady.

To the OP: if you have a problem with friendliness then you have a big problem. As others have said, get over yourself.