Met Police, a rant
Discussion
NFT said:
vonhosen said:
All public services are knackered following austerity etc etc.
My dad has dementia & had a fall pulling my mum down with him. She struggled to get him up & inside. He was complaining of pain & had a large swelling in his leg. She rang 999 for an ambulance. "Is he breathing?" "Does he have chest pain?" "No ambulance for you ring 111". Couldn't get through on 111 for hours, kept ringing off whilst on hold. Eventually did get through "We'll get a Doctor to call you back". It was 14 hours later that the ambulance arrived at 3am him still waiting in pain & laying in the same position. He'd fractured his hip & needed surgery.
And critical call (unconscious through heart attack needing CPR etc..)response horrendous, 45 mins near me.My dad has dementia & had a fall pulling my mum down with him. She struggled to get him up & inside. He was complaining of pain & had a large swelling in his leg. She rang 999 for an ambulance. "Is he breathing?" "Does he have chest pain?" "No ambulance for you ring 111". Couldn't get through on 111 for hours, kept ringing off whilst on hold. Eventually did get through "We'll get a Doctor to call you back". It was 14 hours later that the ambulance arrived at 3am him still waiting in pain & laying in the same position. He'd fractured his hip & needed surgery.
skwdenyer said:
NFT said:
vonhosen said:
All public services are knackered following austerity etc etc.
My dad has dementia & had a fall pulling my mum down with him. She struggled to get him up & inside. He was complaining of pain & had a large swelling in his leg. She rang 999 for an ambulance. "Is he breathing?" "Does he have chest pain?" "No ambulance for you ring 111". Couldn't get through on 111 for hours, kept ringing off whilst on hold. Eventually did get through "We'll get a Doctor to call you back". It was 14 hours later that the ambulance arrived at 3am him still waiting in pain & laying in the same position. He'd fractured his hip & needed surgery.
And critical call (unconscious through heart attack needing CPR etc..)response horrendous, 45 mins near me.My dad has dementia & had a fall pulling my mum down with him. She struggled to get him up & inside. He was complaining of pain & had a large swelling in his leg. She rang 999 for an ambulance. "Is he breathing?" "Does he have chest pain?" "No ambulance for you ring 111". Couldn't get through on 111 for hours, kept ringing off whilst on hold. Eventually did get through "We'll get a Doctor to call you back". It was 14 hours later that the ambulance arrived at 3am him still waiting in pain & laying in the same position. He'd fractured his hip & needed surgery.
I remember mustering with shifts of 18 or so for just one part of the town I worked in. Now they are lucky to get into double figures for all of it.
I remember when you could pass a tape to a civvy and have it transcribed ready for the CPS file.
I remember being able to nick a suspect and be out on patrol later that shift.
I remember probationers never supervising other probationers.
I remember a floor of civilian support staff who used to type out documents for operational officers.
I remember when not answering a telephone call within 10 minutes led to the inspector being questioned as to why by those in the command suite.
I remember the start of the running down of the service, way back, in the late 1990s. This despite the press being told of the investment in the service. I remember fewer officers, longer times for vacancies being filled, of corners having to be cut.
I don't remember, at least first hand, the attack on the service by Cameron and later May, with farcical figures being mentioned. I remember retired officers being asked to join enquiry units at basic pay plus a little to do jobs civilians used to do. I remember them being cut later, so the jobs remained undone.
I accept this is a rant, but so was the first post.
I don't think the police can nowadays suggest they are still being picked on as the same problems effect all forms of social service, the NHS and much of the other infrastructure everyone took for granted.
This country is in a parlous state, entirely of the government's making. But the government blames, for instance, social services when they fail to hit impossible targets. It along with others blame the police for lacking the staff required to service all the demands placed on it.
It's odd that I can remember, way back, at the turn of the century, suggesting that sooner or later, the police would not be able to cope with demands. And that was ten years before Cameron.
I remember when you could pass a tape to a civvy and have it transcribed ready for the CPS file.
I remember being able to nick a suspect and be out on patrol later that shift.
I remember probationers never supervising other probationers.
I remember a floor of civilian support staff who used to type out documents for operational officers.
I remember when not answering a telephone call within 10 minutes led to the inspector being questioned as to why by those in the command suite.
I remember the start of the running down of the service, way back, in the late 1990s. This despite the press being told of the investment in the service. I remember fewer officers, longer times for vacancies being filled, of corners having to be cut.
I don't remember, at least first hand, the attack on the service by Cameron and later May, with farcical figures being mentioned. I remember retired officers being asked to join enquiry units at basic pay plus a little to do jobs civilians used to do. I remember them being cut later, so the jobs remained undone.
I accept this is a rant, but so was the first post.
I don't think the police can nowadays suggest they are still being picked on as the same problems effect all forms of social service, the NHS and much of the other infrastructure everyone took for granted.
This country is in a parlous state, entirely of the government's making. But the government blames, for instance, social services when they fail to hit impossible targets. It along with others blame the police for lacking the staff required to service all the demands placed on it.
It's odd that I can remember, way back, at the turn of the century, suggesting that sooner or later, the police would not be able to cope with demands. And that was ten years before Cameron.
turbobloke said:
Greendubber said:
Remember when you could walk into an actual police station to report stuff?
Yes! Thanks for the memory. vaud said:
OP, you have elected officials who may help - local councillor, local MP. Try them, they often know which officials to call.
But what can they do? As others have pointed out, the system is completely shot to sh*t, there are no resources. In the case of the police, the “modern” approach is that you log on, submit a report and then later on get a brief response from somebody to say thanks, bye, have a nice day; that is it.In the ambulance service the outcome of this same approach is that no ambulance appears; like other posters I also have an elderly relative tale, in this case my Grandmother who fell at home and fractured her ankle, and waited in excess of TEN HOURS (yes, honestly) for an ambo. When it arrived the crew asked her if she knew where the hospital was (they’d come miles on another shout and were subsequently allocated a local job).
Government have f*cked society up, they don’t care because their healthcare is private and their security is paid for; why should they give a sh*t about you? You are of zero significance to them until they want your vote once every few years, at which point they’ll tell you lies on the assumption that you’re stupid and will believe them. And then they’ll go back to pretending you don’t exist again.
Sadly, “elected officials” have got naff all chance of changing it, even if they actually wanted to.
Edited by Southerner on Wednesday 22 November 22:52
vonhosen said:
My dad has dementia & had a fall pulling my mum down with him. She struggled to get him up & inside. He was complaining of pain & had a large swelling in his leg. She rang 999 for an ambulance. "Is he breathing?" "Does he have chest pain?" "No ambulance for you ring 111". Couldn't get through on 111 for hours, kept ringing off whilst on hold. Eventually did get through "We'll get a Doctor to call you back". It was 14 hours later that the ambulance arrived at 3am him still waiting in pain & laying in the same position. He'd fractured his hip & needed surgery.
And they didn't think of calling you for help before the "14 hours"?Sebring440 said:
vonhosen said:
My dad has dementia & had a fall pulling my mum down with him. She struggled to get him up & inside. He was complaining of pain & had a large swelling in his leg. She rang 999 for an ambulance. "Is he breathing?" "Does he have chest pain?" "No ambulance for you ring 111". Couldn't get through on 111 for hours, kept ringing off whilst on hold. Eventually did get through "We'll get a Doctor to call you back". It was 14 hours later that the ambulance arrived at 3am him still waiting in pain & laying in the same position. He'd fractured his hip & needed surgery.
And they didn't think of calling you for help before the "14 hours"?Derek Smith said:
I remember the start of the running down of the service, way back, in the late 1990s.
My knowledge of policing started around this time, so I have no knowledge of any time before. What in your opinion was it that set about the start of running down of the service? Politics, management, procedures, 24hr licensing?br d said:
This is all a waste of breath but I just want to vent.
I have a fleet of vehicles for work, I have one 'spare' parked up in a secure yard owned by a storage company that I pay a monthly rent on. It's just there in case we get silly busy or a couple of the normal vans break down simultaneously and I need a backup.
One of my teams phoned me to say that driving through Canning Town they've spotted a van parked up on a driveway with my spare van plates on it.
They've stopped to have a look and the van has all it's dash and ignition pulled out and a neighbour says that the vehicle comes and goes at all hours. Over the years I've had plenty of vans stolen, crashed and used in robberies so it's clear what this is, they're using it for dodgy s
t and it'll eventually come back on me.
The plate has a Halfords E6 stamp on it which is Becton, so first thing I want to know is why are they supplying plates without the proper documentation.
I'll ring the store.
Yeah, forget that, you can't ring. So I'll try the 'Chat'.
Endless repetitions of a bot asking me if I want to buy a bike and is this helpful later I keep saying I want to talk to a person as it's regarding a crime.
I finally get a human being who assures me this couldn't have happened, when i press he says I have to go into the store and cuts the chat.
Cheers all the best.
The Police next,
I ring 101 and ask for the Met. Obviousy, they don't answer. A message that says if it's an emergency ring 999 otherwise go on their website.
I try this. A hundred fking questions and a "Can you show on a map where the crime occured". The map doesn't work, I can hover the pin but then no other options and going back drops me straight back to google.
I ring again and wait. Lot's of bks about crimes on Trains which obviously doesn't apply but if you stick out all this telling you to go to the website ste you eventually get "Press 9 for an operator".
This I do and then to no surprise whatsoever I get "We are experiencing a high volume of calls go to the website blah blah blah".
Now firstly, this is a number for reporting crimes, not buying a fking mattress, if you don't have enough people to answer the phone to victims of crime then employ some more, it isn't a mystery.
And secondly your website doesn't even work properly ffs.
I waited 40 minutes listening to the same crap.
I'm not anti Police at all. They've got the st end of the stick all day long and I get that but fking hell.
I've been around long enough to just put up with this kind of st and pull through, it isn't poor me I'm concerned about.
But lets say you're an old person who comes home from shopping to find someone has tried to break into your house. You're worried and vulnerable so you ring the Police and this is what you get? How the fk can they deal with this? You can't speak to a human and the website will just confuse you, there are hundreds of thousands of people like this in London, what are they supposed to do?
I told you I was just venting but this really fking annoys me. This is the Capitals Police Force for Christ sake. You have to struggle to report a crime?
"Employ some more" wouldn't be such an issue if the Government hadn't agreed to a 7% pay rise ......that has to come out of the existing budget.I have a fleet of vehicles for work, I have one 'spare' parked up in a secure yard owned by a storage company that I pay a monthly rent on. It's just there in case we get silly busy or a couple of the normal vans break down simultaneously and I need a backup.
One of my teams phoned me to say that driving through Canning Town they've spotted a van parked up on a driveway with my spare van plates on it.
They've stopped to have a look and the van has all it's dash and ignition pulled out and a neighbour says that the vehicle comes and goes at all hours. Over the years I've had plenty of vans stolen, crashed and used in robberies so it's clear what this is, they're using it for dodgy s
t and it'll eventually come back on me.The plate has a Halfords E6 stamp on it which is Becton, so first thing I want to know is why are they supplying plates without the proper documentation.
I'll ring the store.
Yeah, forget that, you can't ring. So I'll try the 'Chat'.
Endless repetitions of a bot asking me if I want to buy a bike and is this helpful later I keep saying I want to talk to a person as it's regarding a crime.
I finally get a human being who assures me this couldn't have happened, when i press he says I have to go into the store and cuts the chat.
Cheers all the best.
The Police next,
I ring 101 and ask for the Met. Obviousy, they don't answer. A message that says if it's an emergency ring 999 otherwise go on their website.
I try this. A hundred f
king questions and a "Can you show on a map where the crime occured". The map doesn't work, I can hover the pin but then no other options and going back drops me straight back to google.I ring again and wait. Lot's of b
ks about crimes on Trains which obviously doesn't apply but if you stick out all this telling you to go to the website ste you eventually get "Press 9 for an operator".This I do and then to no surprise whatsoever I get "We are experiencing a high volume of calls go to the website blah blah blah".
Now firstly, this is a number for reporting crimes, not buying a f
king mattress, if you don't have enough people to answer the phone to victims of crime then employ some more, it isn't a mystery.And secondly your website doesn't even work properly ffs.
I waited 40 minutes listening to the same crap.
I'm not anti Police at all. They've got the s
t end of the stick all day long and I get that but fking hell.I've been around long enough to just put up with this kind of s
t and pull through, it isn't poor me I'm concerned about.But lets say you're an old person who comes home from shopping to find someone has tried to break into your house. You're worried and vulnerable so you ring the Police and this is what you get? How the f
k can they deal with this? You can't speak to a human and the website will just confuse you, there are hundreds of thousands of people like this in London, what are they supposed to do?I told you I was just venting but this really f
king annoys me. This is the Capitals Police Force for Christ sake. You have to struggle to report a crime?skwdenyer said:
Worthy reminder:
Meanwhile........... Old Joke said:
A man sees someone breaking into his shed. He calls police. They say they don't have anyone available right now. They'll be there as soon as they can, but it may be two hours. The man hangs up.
A few minutes later he calls again and tells them to take their time. He's pulled out his rifle and shot the man. He's not going anywhere. Within minutes the place is swarming with police, helicopters, cars, dogs, etc. They find the man breaking into the shed and arrest him.
The police go to the man, "I thought you said you shot him!" The man responds "I thought you said you had no one available"
A few minutes later he calls again and tells them to take their time. He's pulled out his rifle and shot the man. He's not going anywhere. Within minutes the place is swarming with police, helicopters, cars, dogs, etc. They find the man breaking into the shed and arrest him.
The police go to the man, "I thought you said you shot him!" The man responds "I thought you said you had no one available"
skwdenyer said:
Worthy reminder:
It's only a cracking good joke but that's got a few feathers ruffled. Old Joke said:
A man sees someone breaking into his shed. He calls police. They say they don't have anyone available right now. They'll be there as soon as they can, but it may be two hours. The man hangs up.
A few minutes later he calls again and tells them to take their time. He's pulled out his rifle and shot the man. He's not going anywhere. Within minutes the place is swarming with police, helicopters, cars, dogs, etc. They find the man breaking into the shed and arrest him.
The police go to the man, "I thought you said you shot him!" The man responds "I thought you said you had no one available"
A few minutes later he calls again and tells them to take their time. He's pulled out his rifle and shot the man. He's not going anywhere. Within minutes the place is swarming with police, helicopters, cars, dogs, etc. They find the man breaking into the shed and arrest him.
The police go to the man, "I thought you said you shot him!" The man responds "I thought you said you had no one available"
OP, if you can do it with a timestamp, take pics of the van with the cloned plates on, including the address, and get someone else to do the same with yours at the same time. That way, you'll have proof that there's two vans in two different locations with the same reg, which should hopefully help mitigate any accusations of parking fines or speeding etc if that ever happens.
Personally, I'd be knocking on the door of the house with the clone outside, but I've yet to learn my lesson about asking for trouble. I wouldn't be letting it lie with Halfords either.
Not a pleasant consideration, but it needs asking, how well do you know and trust all of your staff, and do they have access to logbooks? If Halfords have a record of making the plate, which legally they must, there might also be cctv.......
Personally, I'd be knocking on the door of the house with the clone outside, but I've yet to learn my lesson about asking for trouble. I wouldn't be letting it lie with Halfords either.
Not a pleasant consideration, but it needs asking, how well do you know and trust all of your staff, and do they have access to logbooks? If Halfords have a record of making the plate, which legally they must, there might also be cctv.......
Edited by Heaveho on Thursday 23 November 09:34
Edited by Heaveho on Thursday 23 November 09:38
Couple of months ago I was walking the dogs on some open fields (Kent, not Met) and about 200 yards away was a woman on her own walking her dog. This quad appeared with two blokes on it, who proceeded to start “buzzing” the woman and the dog, riding really close past her, turning round, doing it again, so I rang 999 (in my view there was a real risk they were going to hit her).
When I told the 999 operator, they practically yelled at me, “that’s not an emergency, get off this line NOW”.
Unreal. I walked towards the woman and luckily the quad boys buggered off, I checked she was ok and she was. But that could have gone horribly wrong and the police wouldn’t even take details.
I tried 101 once a long time ago and gave up; it was clear that it would take me longer to report the crime than any subsequent sentence which might have been handed down.
As someone said above, I was always a staunch supporter of the police, and I get that it’s not the Bobby’s fault, but it’s largely a broken institution now.
When I told the 999 operator, they practically yelled at me, “that’s not an emergency, get off this line NOW”.
Unreal. I walked towards the woman and luckily the quad boys buggered off, I checked she was ok and she was. But that could have gone horribly wrong and the police wouldn’t even take details.
I tried 101 once a long time ago and gave up; it was clear that it would take me longer to report the crime than any subsequent sentence which might have been handed down.
As someone said above, I was always a staunch supporter of the police, and I get that it’s not the Bobby’s fault, but it’s largely a broken institution now.
-Cappo- said:
I tried 101 once a long time ago and gave up; it was clear that it would take me longer to report the crime than any subsequent sentence which might have been handed down.
As someone said above, I was always a staunch supporter of the police, and I get that it’s not the Bobby’s fault, but it’s largely a broken institution now.
Pretty much word for word my feelings as well. As someone said above, I was always a staunch supporter of the police, and I get that it’s not the Bobby’s fault, but it’s largely a broken institution now.
I called 999 to report drugs being dealt openly on the streets near Bethnal Green (i.e London - Met). Was told that it wasn't a crime so had to call 101.
After about 20 minutes wait the 101 call was answered, whereupon I reported what I had seen. I was told that there were no officers available but they would have someone visit the location of the alleged crime within 24 hours. When I suggested that this would be a complete waste of time as the dealers would be long gone by then the guy on the other end of the 'phone pretty much asked why I had bothered calling.
I subscribe to the view that says that if you don't do a job properly then it's not worth doing at all. If the officers are given fool's errands (such as visiting a street corner where there may or may not have been drug deals conducted 24 hours previously) then they may as well not bother; the whole exercise is a waste of time.
Heaveho said:
If Halfords have a record of making the plate, which legally they must, there might also be cctv.......
Ah, you see that's where you're going wrong, that would involve a bit of 'policing' which the modern force don't seem to be interested in . . .(if you could actually get through to them to report it)
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