Police too busy!

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Discussion

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Wednesday 18th May 2016
quotequote all
Police 'too busy' to arrest drunk driver in Somerset
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-3631...

Pretty much sums up my experience of the police - utterly useless and couldn't care less

Evolved

3,553 posts

186 months

Wednesday 18th May 2016
quotequote all
Too busy catching the real crims... Speeding motorists!

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Wednesday 18th May 2016
quotequote all
Don't see the issue as long as they can show that their officers were all busy dealing with more important cases.


X5TUU

11,908 posts

186 months

Wednesday 18th May 2016
quotequote all
charltjr said:
Don't see the issue as long as they can show that their officers were all busy dealing with more important cases.
but what is more serious, armed robbery? where no one is hurt/injured physically but an insurance company will have to pay out, versus, a drunk driver with a huge potential to kill themselves, other innocents and also put insurance companies at a loss ... I cant see how this is the risk adverse approach personally

wiliferus

4,053 posts

197 months

Wednesday 18th May 2016
quotequote all
Common occurance. Don't blame the Police, blame the Home Sec. She's decimated Police numbers. All this waffle of protecting the front line is nothing short of blatant lies.
When I was on TraffPol 7 years ago we put out 6 cars per shift, 2 of which would be double crewed. The same base is now lucky to turn out 3 cars, with one double crewed for motorway work.
Similarly when I was at a large Home Counties station a few years back we were parading 18 bobbies. Now it's 12 on a good day.
A regular update into incident logs is 'NRA'..... No Resources Available. Basically means we've run out of coppers.
It only takes one or two jobs of reasonable seriousness, think serious RTC, GBH, something like that, and there is no one left to cover the day to day core business.

It's sad times for the Police, but more importantly the public.

finishing touch

808 posts

166 months

Wednesday 18th May 2016
quotequote all
wiliferus said:
Common occurance. Don't blame the Police, blame the Home Sec. She's decimated Police numbers. All this waffle of protecting the front line is nothing short of blatant lies.
When I was on TraffPol 7 years ago we put out 6 cars per shift, 2 of which would be double crewed. The same base is now lucky to turn out 3 cars, with one double crewed for motorway work.
Similarly when I was at a large Home Counties station a few years back we were parading 18 bobbies. Now it's 12 on a good day.
A regular update into incident logs is 'NRA'..... No Resources Available. Basically means we've run out of coppers.
It only takes one or two jobs of reasonable seriousness, think serious RTC, GBH, something like that, and there is no one left to cover the day to day core business.

It's sad times for the Police, but more importantly the public.
Look on the bright side.

We CAN afford PCC's at a £million a throw.

wiliferus

4,053 posts

197 months

Wednesday 18th May 2016
quotequote all
finishing touch said:
wiliferus said:
Common occurance. Don't blame the Police, blame the Home Sec. She's decimated Police numbers. All this waffle of protecting the front line is nothing short of blatant lies.
When I was on TraffPol 7 years ago we put out 6 cars per shift, 2 of which would be double crewed. The same base is now lucky to turn out 3 cars, with one double crewed for motorway work.
Similarly when I was at a large Home Counties station a few years back we were parading 18 bobbies. Now it's 12 on a good day.
A regular update into incident logs is 'NRA'..... No Resources Available. Basically means we've run out of coppers.
It only takes one or two jobs of reasonable seriousness, think serious RTC, GBH, something like that, and there is no one left to cover the day to day core business.

It's sad times for the Police, but more importantly the public.
Look on the bright side.

We CAN afford PCC's at a £million a throw.
irked Ain't that the truth...

jamesson

2,977 posts

220 months

Wednesday 18th May 2016
quotequote all
bmw535i said:
Police 'too busy' to arrest drunk driver in Somerset
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-3631...

Pretty much sums up my experience of the police - utterly useless and couldn't care less
I'm not poopooing your opinion in any way but it's sad that you think the police are utterly useless and couldn't care less. On both counts I would argue that you are wrong. I'm a serving officer and I can tell you I care very much. The colleagues I work with also care very much and they're not the least bit useless. They are the hardest working most dedicated people I know.

As wiliferus said, our numbers have been slashed by the Home Secretary. Traffic police, response officers, community officers, all far fewer than they used to be. I was a response sergeant for a while and I would run out of PCs regularly within an hour of coming on shift, sometimes ten minutes. Then you're constantly fire fighting trying to prioritise jobs.

I hate drink drivers and it's a crying shame there wasn't someone available to take him into custody but please don't think it's because we don't care. We're fighting with one hand tied behind our backs.

I see your profile says you're a soldier. Imagine going into battle only suddenly to find you have a third of the infantry you used to have. No impact? Or would you find it much harder to carry out your mission?

JulianHJ

8,733 posts

261 months

Wednesday 18th May 2016
quotequote all
Numbers slashed, public outraged when incidents are not attended and crimes not investigated, home secretary on the offensive - oh look how bad the police are, perhaps we should get businesses in to sort it all out...

I wonder how many politicians have interests in the companies likely to bid for such opportunities.

RogueTrooper

882 posts

170 months

Wednesday 18th May 2016
quotequote all
bmw535i said:
Police 'too busy' to arrest drunk driver in Somerset
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-3631...

Pretty much sums up my experience of the police - utterly useless and couldn't care less
The few officers on duty will likely already have been committed dealing with other incidents graded of equal or higher risk - either because those incidents were also still on going or because of the nature of what was being reported. I mean incidents like violent domestics or concern for somebody threatening to harm themselves.

It's not unusual IME.

I would expect a "good" report of a drink driver - registration, make, model, last seen in direction etc - to attract a blue light response .. but only if there was somebody available to attend in the first place.

Where I work, shift strengths have been reduced to approximately 1/3 of what they were five-six years ago.

Monkeylegend

26,226 posts

230 months

Wednesday 18th May 2016
quotequote all
bmw535i said:
Police 'too busy' to arrest drunk driver in Somerset
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-3631...

Pretty much sums up my experience of the police - utterly useless and couldn't care less
Never had a situation in your life when you needed three pairs of hands and only had one?

Easy to criticise sitting in the comfort of your home/office.

wiliferus

4,053 posts

197 months

Wednesday 18th May 2016
quotequote all
JulianHJ said:
I wonder how many politicians have interests in the companies likely to bid for such opportunities.
You mean like the Home Sec's husband having shares in Prudential, who in turn are part owners of G4S...?

walm

10,609 posts

201 months

Wednesday 18th May 2016
quotequote all
X5TUU said:
but what is more serious, armed robbery?
Ah yes... FAR more serious!
You honestly think armed robbery is less serious than someone who has confiscated the keys of a drunk driver?

Fortunately the police, sentencing guidelines and common sense all completely disagree with you.

Valgar

850 posts

134 months

Wednesday 18th May 2016
quotequote all
I don't know what it's like for the Police force but I wouldn't imagine them sitting around on their asses with nothing better to do, I expect they were very busy and it's probably because they're understaffed.

Tonsko

6,299 posts

214 months

Wednesday 18th May 2016
quotequote all
JulianHJ said:
Numbers slashed, public outraged when incidents are not attended and crimes not investigated, home secretary on the offensive - oh look how bad the police are, perhaps we should get businesses in to sort it all out...

I wonder how many politicians have interests in the companies likely to bid for such opportunities.
Seems mysteriously similar to the current strategy to 'deal' with the NHS.

X5TUU

11,908 posts

186 months

Wednesday 18th May 2016
quotequote all
walm said:
Ah yes... FAR more serious!
You honestly think armed robbery is less serious than someone who has confiscated the keys of a drunk driver?

Fortunately the police, sentencing guidelines and common sense all completely disagree with you.
No I don't, and that's the point I was attempting to make ...

walm

10,609 posts

201 months

Wednesday 18th May 2016
quotequote all
X5TUU said:
walm said:
Ah yes... FAR more serious!
You honestly think armed robbery is less serious than someone who has confiscated the keys of a drunk driver?

Fortunately the police, sentencing guidelines and common sense all completely disagree with you.
No I don't, and that's the point I was attempting to make ...
I thought I understood but now I don't. Sorry!

Are you saying the police SHOULD be prioritising armed robbery?

Tannedbaldhead

2,952 posts

131 months

Wednesday 18th May 2016
quotequote all
wiliferus said:
Common occurance. Don't blame the Police, blame the Home Sec.
Our town (population 60,000 so not small) has lost its custody suit. If arrested and requiring detention prisoners need to be driven to the next large town 25 minutes drive away. Once that town is full it's a 45 minute drive to a station in Glasgow. That adds at least an the best part of an hour of police time for any arrest.

Blame various other ministers while you're at it. Police are covering for many other cutback services and are now the main front carers for the mentally ill, the homeless, those in crisis and who should be dealt with by social services, noise issues, hell, they're even covering for dog wardens who local authorities are doing away with.

Again, in my home town the council have stopped funding for their dog warden and the local dog and cat shelter. Now problem strays have to be dealt with by Police offices and if caught need taken to a pound 45 minutes away. That means once committed to a dog an officer will easily be tied up for two hours.

fastbikes76

2,450 posts

121 months

Wednesday 18th May 2016
quotequote all
I have had this...expect no only were they blind drunk, they had also demolished a parked car and continued 'driving' a further 12 miles !

I was awoken by a huge bang late at night, looking out my window i could see the neighbors car mounted on the pavement at a very strange angle and a car a little further limping along making grinding noises..suspecting it was a hit and run I ran down stairs and jumped in my car. I caught up with the car and followed them for about 9 miles at 20-30mph while on the phone to the police. The driver was that drunk that every time an oncoming car came they would be drawn to the lights and end up with over half the car in oncoming lane, and occasionally into the hedge and verge on our side. I was 100% convinced I would witness a fatal accident that night, I was literally shouting at the operator how urgently i needed help to stop the driver.

The operator told me to stop chasing them and they would handle it from there ! Firstly I wasn't chasing them, merely following at a distance with hazards on warning others, and secondly how would they know where the hell the driver was or went if I didn't continue following ??

I managed to eventually cut them off and block the road with my car before ripping keys out the ignition. Turns out the driver was a lady who was a bereavement counsellor of all people . I had to keep her at road side for over an hour in absolutely nothing but shorts at 12am in October. I managed too keep there so long because she was that drunk she believed she had been hit by someone else and not the other way round and that the police were coming to help her.

Police eventually turned up after repeated calls while at the roadside as she was swinging from violent to trying in on with me . Copper who arrived was took a dim view of her antics as he had previously lost a relative to a DD. She was taken to the station and blew 118 almost 3 hours after the crash ! I also had dash cam footage of her driving but they didnt need to see that.

she got a 2 year ban
200 hours CS
£400 fine IIRC
and police seized her car too !


But yes, If i wasn't so persistent she would have never been caught and If i hadn't managed to warn people she probably would have wiped out an innocent family too. Police said they were too busy with incidents and one car was almost with us before being diverted to another call miles away again. I get they are busy, but thought a hit and run DD was quite high up the list.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Wednesday 18th May 2016
quotequote all
As other have pointed out, it depends on demand what what else was occurring.

You have to be a rather hard-of-thinking, as the OP appears to be, not to be able to consider these variables and unknowns.