"What has happened to our police force?"

[anonymous-user]

Jim1556 said:

Incidentally, if I caught someone breaking in my home, I'd assume they were armed, and cause enough damage, they couldn't be a danger to me (or my 7 yr old daughter) ever again! Thankfully, several recent cases where this has happened - even where the homeowner has been arrested - have not resulted in prosecutions due to self defence.

The law's more than happy for you to use as much force as is necessary, even causing death if the circumstances are met. You're not expected to make fine judgements in the heat of the moment and during a terrifying experience. It's quite hard to get yourself in trouble, especially how the law stands now. The main risk lies when people take revenge after the threat has clearly gone.

It's perverse, but sometimes it's advantageous to be arrested to enable to quickest resolution of people who seriously injured / killed an intruder.

Jim1556 said:

You cannot compare advanced driving/pursuit techniques to riding a sodding bike! Something that should be taught in schools (and in many cases is), I'd hazard a guess and say that 'most' Police Officers can drive, therefore know enough about the highway code to navigate a bike safely, and if they don't, perhaps they shouldn't have driving licences? The fitness thing would come in time - didn't there used to be a fitness test?

It's not the best comparison, I'll give you that. There is a fitness test but it's not the same as doing 30 miles a day for three days on a bike when you're not used to it. Like I say there will be all different people of varying skill and confidence so taking a day or two more than already-competent people need isn't a big deal to ensure everyone's at a reasonable level.

[XCP]

Bigends said:

I was just given one and told to ride it. No protective clobber - just helmet and tunic. Didnt go off road though

Did you get issued with bicycle clips and a padlock?

[XCP]

Greendubber said:

Eclassy said:

Carinaman raises the issue of a policeman abusing his authority and position and not one of the so called policemen who has responded as deemed it reasonable to condemn the deplorable behaviour of this corrupt policeman. They have instead chosen to attack Carinaman.

Does this mean the actions of this policeman is acceptable and commonplace?Maybe seen as a perk of the office?

What do you think?

I think that a reluctance to embark upon a trip to the strange world of Carinaman should not imply any acceptance of or support for police wrongdoing.

[Bigends]

XCP said:

Bigends said:

I was just given one and told to ride it. No protective clobber - just helmet and tunic. Didnt go off road though

Did you get issued with bicycle clips and a padlock?

Certainly did. Used it purely to get from a to b - had quite a large beat as a neighbourhood cop. Had plenty of places to tuck it out of the way if I didnt need it and didnt want it nicked. I see the bike training courses for cops and PCSOs's at HQ - all helmets, spandex and sunglasses - god knows what they take a couple of days to teach them. My lots so short that you're unlikely to see a anyone out on a bike - I havent seen one for years.
Was at my old nick recently - in one of the garages must have been a dozen good quality off road bikes sat rotting from when the force had a push to get as many out on bikes as possible.

[Bigends]

Bigends said:

XCP said:

Bigends said:

I was just given one and told to ride it. No protective clobber - just helmet and tunic. Didnt go off road though

Did you get issued with bicycle clips and a padlock?

Certainly did. Used it purely to get from a to b - had quite a large beat as a neighbourhood cop. Had plenty of places to tuck it out of the way if I didnt need it and didnt want it nicked. I see the bike training courses for cops and PCSOs's at HQ - all helmets, spandex and sunglasses - god knows what they take a couple of days to teach them. My lots so short that you're unlikely to see a anyone out on a bike - I havent seen one for years.
Was at my old nick recently - in one of the garages must have been a dozen good quality off road bikes sat rotting from when the force had a push to get as many out on bikes as possible.

Back to the original thread about the Welsh cop and his shenanigans in custody - if theyre true then hes a tosser and deserves the sack

[Rovinghawk]

Bigends said:

Back to the original thread about the Welsh cop and his shenanigans in custody - if theyre true then hes a tosser and deserves the sack

Nice to see (if guilty, obviously) a clear expression of distaste for unprofessionalism/naughtiness.

[Bigends]

Rovinghawk said:

Bigends said:

Back to the original thread about the Welsh cop and his shenanigans in custody - if theyre true then hes a tosser and deserves the sack

Nice to see (if guilty, obviously) a clear expression of distaste for unprofessionalism/naughtiness.

Exactly - its not a dating agency or a night club in there -its a Police custody unit and he has responsibilities to act properly

[carinaman]

Surely that he's in the dock for it when it happened in 2003 makes it a good news story?

It may make a few officers that have had errors of judgement while at work and in uniform between now and 2003 something to ponder? You can hide the sausage but you can't run?

[mph1977]

with regard to emergency services cycling

the bicycle is a piece of work equipment , therefore the employer has to fulfil their obligations under PUWER with regard to training

the most straight forward way of doing this is to start with bikeability training up to level 3 (of 3)

http://www.ctc.org.uk/courses-and-training/persona...

this the aforementioned and oft ridiculed 2 day course

however all this training does is teach skills to ride a bike safety and appropriately on the road - so to some degree it is a glorified version of the cycling proficiency test of yore

response cycling and 'exemptions' cycling requires further training e.g. IPMBA

http://ipmba.org/training/about-the-courses

[hippy82]

In my force we have a 'cycle test' in which you got for a nice 10-15 mins ride. We have a three day course however that involves off road, down stairs, pursuit, and using the bike as a weapon.

Even so it's hard to use the bikes over a car as when something comes in you may still be the only officer avaliable and 30 mins away.

[sdc77]

In reply to the original question.. 'What happened to our police force'

It became a service

[bad company]

sdc77 said:

In reply to the original question.. 'What happened to our police force'

It became a service

In which case it doesn't 'serve' the public very well any more.

[anonymous-user]

When was it better and why?

[dacouch]

Police standards are definately slipping abroad

[bad company]

La Liga said:

When was it better and why?

It was better when our local police station was still open. Even when it closed I could phone another station and speak with a policeman\woman. When I did so my matter was investigated and out here in this small village the matter was usually dealt with.

Now I have to ring 101, speak to a call centre and all I get is a crime number. No attempt to deal with actual crime.

I would add that I do not blame current serving officers, IMO there are not enough of them and they are bogged down with tick boxes.

[mph1977]

bad company said:

It was better when our local police station was still open. Even when it closed I could phone another station and speak with a policeman\woman. When I did so my matter was investigated and out here in this small village the matter was usually dealt with.

Now I have to ring 101, speak to a call centre and all I get is a crime number. No attempt to deal with actual crime.

I would add that I do not blame current serving officers, IMO there are not enough of them and they are bogged down with tick boxes.

that's rubbish, the experience I have had with 101 and/or 999 across a number of force areas has been entirely satisfactory and it's very rare that an incident of any significance has been closed solely by the call taker. however due to good practice / good luck i've not had a shed break-in or negligent loss of a pedal cycle ...

[Elroy Blue]

bad company said:

It was better when our local police station was still open. Even when it closed I could phone another station and speak with a policeman\woman. When I did so my matter was investigated and out here in this small village the matter was usually dealt with.

Now I have to ring 101, speak to a call centre and all I get is a crime number. No attempt to deal with actual crime.

I would add that I do not blame current serving officers, IMO there are not enough of them and they are bogged down with tick boxes.

Complain to that nice Mr Cameron. He took the axe to Police budgets, forcing the closure of most Police stations. Mine has gone from 40 to 9 in the last couple of years.

This is what's happening to our Police today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-28926988

[bad company]

mph1977 said:

that's rubbish, the experience I have had with 101 and/or 999 across a number of force areas has been entirely satisfactory and it's very rare that an incident of any significance has been closed solely by the call taker. however due to good practice / good luck i've not had a shed break-in or negligent loss of a pedal cycle ...

It's not rubbish just because it did not match your experience. Fortunately I have not needed to call 999 for some time so I hope that would be ok.

Why do you assume that the loss of a pedal cycle is likely to be negligent?

My experiences years ago related to vandalism and the local police seemed to know who was likely to be responsible and they dealt with it. Alas that is no longer the case.

[bad company]

Elroy Blue said:

Complain to that nice Mr Cameron. He took the axe to Police budgets, forcing the closure of most Police stations. Mine has gone from 40 to 9 in the last couple of years.

This is what's happening to our Police today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-28926988

The rot set in before Cameron got into power. Never mind tho, according to mph1977 everything is just fine with plod.

[mph1977]

bad company said:

mph1977 said:

that's rubbish, the experience I have had with 101 and/or 999 across a number of force areas has been entirely satisfactory and it's very rare that an incident of any significance has been closed solely by the call taker. however due to good practice / good luck i've not had a shed break-in or negligent loss of a pedal cycle ...

It's not rubbish just because it did not match your experience. Fortunately I have not needed to call 999 for some time so I hope that would be ok.

Why do you assume that the loss of a pedal cycle is likely to be negligent?

My experiences years ago related to vandalism and the local police seemed to know who was likely to be responsible and they dealt with it. Alas that is no longer the case.

99.9999999999999999999999% of complaints against both the NHS and police come down to things


1. a lack of planning and prepartion on behalf of the complainant does not amount to an emergency on behalf of the Service in question - so unfortunately you cannot expect an immediate / cat A/ red 1 response regardless of whether you 'pay my wages', 'know the matron / super ' etc etc etc

2. grossly distorted opinion of the importance of their concenr in the light of the bigger picture - while in theory it may be possible to get DNA or prints from many shed burgularies / low levle criminal damage etc it's far more important to secure evidence from crime scenes where there are offences against the person or the loss is far more significant in monetary terms - the NHS comparision is while sfor many people panic sets in at the first signs of any health issue, services have to prioritise based on resources and emands ant that time -