Met Police, a rant
Discussion
The lack of customer service and no way of talking to someone seems to be a common problem in all of society now. Not just the police or ambulance.
I occasionally wear contact lenses, but only for playing sport. The rest of the time my eyesight is ok enough to walk around. When driving, I wear glasses. On friday, after wearing my contact lenses for a few hours, my right eye developed something seriously wrong with it… I was in a lot of pain, the eye was very red and problems with my vision (possibly an eye infection). It was obvious the contact lens caused it.
Over the weekend it was getting worse and as eyesight is pretty useful to have, so I decided to get help on Monday morning.
At first I went to a chemist, maybe they can give me some drops for an eye infection. After some consultation, the Pharmacist said my issue was way beyond him and requires a qualified Optician.
So I went to my nearest branch of my opticians (a very famous high street chain) with my swollen pink eye. Straight away they were playing the “we’ve nothing available, we can only fit you in if there’s a cancelled appointment”. I was thinking to myself, maybe there’s a lot of people with serious eye conditions that need medical treatment? But no, the appointment that was a higher priority than mine was an Old Doris buying some new frames. I was told the next available appointment is in 2 weeks time. I’m amazed this opticians put profit before the health of your eyes.
I then went to my GP, maybe they can prescribe some antibiotic eye drops? However, the Receptionist said we can no longer book an appointment through her, but have to phone this number. But you can only phone between the hours of 10:00 and 10:02 on a Tuesday. I will need to make an appointment to get triaged to make an appointment. Good luck. However, if I could have got an appointment I bet my GP would have said “go to your Opticians”.
So there we have it. There’s something seriously wrong with my eye that’s getting worse and I can’t get help from multiple sources. It’s still in discomfort now as I write this.
I went to to make a complaint on the opticians website, but there’s no phone number to be found and no human interaction, only a text box to write a complaint in and then it disappears into the ether never to be seen again. When I’ve read online reviews of this opticians, they always reply to negative reviews with a generic cut and paste response. It seems customer care is going downhill, they know it and so don’t want any human interaction for paying customers to make complaints.
I occasionally wear contact lenses, but only for playing sport. The rest of the time my eyesight is ok enough to walk around. When driving, I wear glasses. On friday, after wearing my contact lenses for a few hours, my right eye developed something seriously wrong with it… I was in a lot of pain, the eye was very red and problems with my vision (possibly an eye infection). It was obvious the contact lens caused it.
Over the weekend it was getting worse and as eyesight is pretty useful to have, so I decided to get help on Monday morning.
At first I went to a chemist, maybe they can give me some drops for an eye infection. After some consultation, the Pharmacist said my issue was way beyond him and requires a qualified Optician.
So I went to my nearest branch of my opticians (a very famous high street chain) with my swollen pink eye. Straight away they were playing the “we’ve nothing available, we can only fit you in if there’s a cancelled appointment”. I was thinking to myself, maybe there’s a lot of people with serious eye conditions that need medical treatment? But no, the appointment that was a higher priority than mine was an Old Doris buying some new frames. I was told the next available appointment is in 2 weeks time. I’m amazed this opticians put profit before the health of your eyes.
I then went to my GP, maybe they can prescribe some antibiotic eye drops? However, the Receptionist said we can no longer book an appointment through her, but have to phone this number. But you can only phone between the hours of 10:00 and 10:02 on a Tuesday. I will need to make an appointment to get triaged to make an appointment. Good luck. However, if I could have got an appointment I bet my GP would have said “go to your Opticians”.
So there we have it. There’s something seriously wrong with my eye that’s getting worse and I can’t get help from multiple sources. It’s still in discomfort now as I write this.
I went to to make a complaint on the opticians website, but there’s no phone number to be found and no human interaction, only a text box to write a complaint in and then it disappears into the ether never to be seen again. When I’ve read online reviews of this opticians, they always reply to negative reviews with a generic cut and paste response. It seems customer care is going downhill, they know it and so don’t want any human interaction for paying customers to make complaints.
Edited by Mr Miata on Thursday 23 November 13:39
Edited by Mr Miata on Thursday 23 November 13:39
The Gauge said:
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?The 24-hour licensing was not particularly impactive in my force, although it didn't help. Procedures took a lot of staff after 1984 of course. Major problems to cope with. What was worse was the cuts to CPS support. They then dumped extra work on the file submission process in the mid 1990s. This required an increase in support staff to do the necessary. It worked well I thought. They were very willing and statement typing was much better - faster and cleaner. This ended with Cameron's attack. The Home Office demanded that operation officer numbers should not reduce dramatically so stations closed, infrastructure wasn't repaired and support staffing levels were reduced. Lots of police shown on patrol, despite most of them being reduced to file production.
In my force, supervision was hit, which I think reduced quality of files (no offence to you). Also, management of reduction in funding took up significant staff of a high level.
However, I think the major problem was in interference management by the home office, aided by the later introduction of PCCs. I was given the job of ensuring the smooth introduction of Blunkett's Criminal Law Act. I was on it for some three months. I went to three other forces to see what they were doing. One had three officers, two inspectors and a CI, and two support staff with the idea of cracking in in a couple of weeks. It seemed everyone had the same idea - pinch someone else's. I went to see a resident judge of my area and he told me not to bother as judges had told the government it was unworkable. This sort of thing was common I was told. Blunkett was largely derided by police officers, judges and CPS. The worst HomSec since the war was the general opinion. I doubt if this accolade still stands though.
In my opinion, the police cannot do their job as organised at present. There needs to be significant change, with all emergency response and social care being clear as to their responsibilities. Won't happen, so it'll just be stumbling from crisis to crisis with the government blaming the social service, probation, CPS, prisons, NHS, judges and police in rotation. Easier that way.
Mr Miata said:
The lack of customer service and no way of talking to someone seems to be a common problem in all of society now. Not just the police or ambulance.
I occasionally wear contact lenses, but only for playing sport. The rest of the time my eyesight is ok enough to walk around. When driving, I wear glasses. On friday, after wearing my contact lenses for a few hours, my right eye developed something seriously wrong with it… I was in a lot of pain, the eye was very red and problems with my vision (possibly an eye infection). It was obvious the contact lens caused it.
Over the weekend it was getting worse and as eyesight is pretty useful to have, so I decided to get help on Monday morning.
At first I went to a chemist, maybe they can give me some drops for an eye infection. After some consultation, the Pharmacist said my issue was way beyond him and requires a qualified Optician.
So I went to my nearest branch of my opticians (a very famous high street chain) with my swollen pink eye. Straight away they were playing the “we’ve nothing available, we can only fit you in if there’s a cancelled appointment”. I was thinking to myself, maybe there’s a lot of people with serious eye conditions that need medical treatment? But no, the appointment that was a higher priority than mine was an Old Doris buying some new frames. I was told the next available appointment is in 2 weeks time. I’m amazed this opticians put profit before the health of your eyes.
I then went to my GP, maybe they can prescribe some antibiotic eye drops? However, the Receptionist said we can no longer book an appointment through her, but have to phone this number. But you can only phone between the hours of 10:00 and 10:02 on a Tuesday. I will need to make an appointment to get triaged to make an appointment. Good luck. However, if I could have got an appointment I bet my GP would have said “go to your Opticians”.
So there we have it. There’s something seriously wrong with my eye that’s getting worse and I can’t get help from multiple sources. It’s still in discomfort now as I write this.
I went to to make a complaint on the opticians website, but there’s no phone number to be found and no human interaction, only a text box to write a complaint in and then it disappears into the ether never to be seen again. When I’ve read online reviews of this opticians, they always reply to negative reviews with a generic cut and paste response. It seems customer care is going downhill, they know it and so don’t want any human interaction for paying customers to make complaints.
To be fair, most hospitals will have an eye casualty which is where you should probably have gone. Opticians would be the wrong place, and even your GP would likely advise going to eye casualty. I have no idea what sort of appointment system your local GP is running but it doesn't sound right, I would expect to be able to speak to someone at the surgery (though this may take a while to get through) and have your problem triaged and dealt with.I occasionally wear contact lenses, but only for playing sport. The rest of the time my eyesight is ok enough to walk around. When driving, I wear glasses. On friday, after wearing my contact lenses for a few hours, my right eye developed something seriously wrong with it… I was in a lot of pain, the eye was very red and problems with my vision (possibly an eye infection). It was obvious the contact lens caused it.
Over the weekend it was getting worse and as eyesight is pretty useful to have, so I decided to get help on Monday morning.
At first I went to a chemist, maybe they can give me some drops for an eye infection. After some consultation, the Pharmacist said my issue was way beyond him and requires a qualified Optician.
So I went to my nearest branch of my opticians (a very famous high street chain) with my swollen pink eye. Straight away they were playing the “we’ve nothing available, we can only fit you in if there’s a cancelled appointment”. I was thinking to myself, maybe there’s a lot of people with serious eye conditions that need medical treatment? But no, the appointment that was a higher priority than mine was an Old Doris buying some new frames. I was told the next available appointment is in 2 weeks time. I’m amazed this opticians put profit before the health of your eyes.
I then went to my GP, maybe they can prescribe some antibiotic eye drops? However, the Receptionist said we can no longer book an appointment through her, but have to phone this number. But you can only phone between the hours of 10:00 and 10:02 on a Tuesday. I will need to make an appointment to get triaged to make an appointment. Good luck. However, if I could have got an appointment I bet my GP would have said “go to your Opticians”.
So there we have it. There’s something seriously wrong with my eye that’s getting worse and I can’t get help from multiple sources. It’s still in discomfort now as I write this.
I went to to make a complaint on the opticians website, but there’s no phone number to be found and no human interaction, only a text box to write a complaint in and then it disappears into the ether never to be seen again. When I’ve read online reviews of this opticians, they always reply to negative reviews with a generic cut and paste response. It seems customer care is going downhill, they know it and so don’t want any human interaction for paying customers to make complaints.
Edited by Mr Miata on Thursday 23 November 13:39
Edited by Mr Miata on Thursday 23 November 13:39
To answer a couple of posts, I trust my guys completely, the three that were at the scene have 30 years between them with me.
They did remove the plates and the V5 from the vehicle.
It was parked in the entrance to a small car park that serves a block of flats, the neighbour they spoke to said a couple of guys always come up the street and take it so it's not anyone living there.
It is the East End and we do a great deal of work in the area so this sort of stuff is part and parcel and to be expected.
My frustrations are as I stated, for somebody old, or vulnerable, or just busy, getting anything done about these things is made too difficult.
Calling for help when somebody vulnerable needs it should be straightforward.
They did remove the plates and the V5 from the vehicle.
It was parked in the entrance to a small car park that serves a block of flats, the neighbour they spoke to said a couple of guys always come up the street and take it so it's not anyone living there.
It is the East End and we do a great deal of work in the area so this sort of stuff is part and parcel and to be expected.
My frustrations are as I stated, for somebody old, or vulnerable, or just busy, getting anything done about these things is made too difficult.
Calling for help when somebody vulnerable needs it should be straightforward.
Unfortunately the only cases the police will respond to in central london are actual, active crimes where someone is getting hurt and you call 999. All other crimes are permitted to happen and let to rot in the backlog (fraud/theft/etc)
I don't think it's the fault of the police, rather the constant budget cuts by the incumbent administration.
Except of course they're getting really into the automated way of fleecing the motorist for accidentally taking a wrong turn (and similar)
I don't think it's the fault of the police, rather the constant budget cuts by the incumbent administration.
Except of course they're getting really into the automated way of fleecing the motorist for accidentally taking a wrong turn (and similar)
jm doc said:
To be fair, most hospitals will have an eye casualty which is where you should probably have gone. Opticians would be the wrong place, and even your GP would likely advise going to eye casualty. I have no idea what sort of appointment system your local GP is running but it doesn't sound right, I would expect to be able to speak to someone at the surgery (though this may take a while to get through) and have your problem triaged and dealt with.
Thanks for another avenue that I can go down (if I can see it).The point I’m trying to get across is, these companies are making human interaction almost impossible, they don’t want to know your complaints or their failures.
I find it odd how the UK is supposed to be a rich prosperous first world country, yet GP level healthcare is now non existent. Their solution to health issues is do nothing for 2 or 3 weeks.
NFT said:
turbobloke said:
Greendubber said:
Remember when you could walk into an actual police station to report stuff?
Yes! Thanks for the memory. So you may well be tens of miles from the nearest police station.
Now... If you had your doubts about a police officer trying to pull you over, the advice used to be to acknowledge them, then keep driving to the nearest station. Might be a struggle these days as you drive round all the old closed police stations on a slow 30 mile trip to the one remaining station in the county town! I can't imagine even a genuine copper would be happy with that. Sure, if you have your phone to hand you could try phoning, but you probably won't get through.
donkmeister said:
Many counties have just one police station that is manned. Most police stations are effectively mothballed or sold off.
So you may well be tens of miles from the nearest police station.
Now... If you had your doubts about a police officer trying to pull you over, the advice used to be to acknowledge them, then keep driving to the nearest station. Might be a struggle these days as you drive round all the old closed police stations on a slow 30 mile trip to the one remaining station in the county town! I can't imagine even a genuine copper would be happy with that. Sure, if you have your phone to hand you could try phoning, but you probably won't get through.
HGV's used to put signs in window saying have to go to police station due to value of goods/hijacking etc.. hoping to be let off small things due to the hassle, I wonder if they have better chance these days.So you may well be tens of miles from the nearest police station.
Now... If you had your doubts about a police officer trying to pull you over, the advice used to be to acknowledge them, then keep driving to the nearest station. Might be a struggle these days as you drive round all the old closed police stations on a slow 30 mile trip to the one remaining station in the county town! I can't imagine even a genuine copper would be happy with that. Sure, if you have your phone to hand you could try phoning, but you probably won't get through.
Serving officer here 
, albeit not with the Met.
Thank you to those of you who pointed out it's not the fault of individual officers. My colleagues are overworked like never before. Thank you to the rest of you for not attacking us in this thread.
I currently work on a specialist unit but had a secondment back to 'the real world' last year. I felt like Sly Stallone in Demolition Man when he wakes up X years in the future to amazement at how bad things have become.
Derek Smith (hello sir) will probably get the most from this next comment as he was in the same force as me, but where years ago as a uniformed response officer I would not have been investigating more than a handful of jobs at any one time, today it is incomprehensible to anyone who left the job more than say, five years ago. 70-80 jobs is the norm for investigating officers now and one lady I know had 128 on the go. None of those crimes were established as linked, so that's 128 separate victims of crime and potentially up to 128 separate suspects to locate and process.
Despite individual officers' best efforts, it is an impossible task to keep on top of workloads. Effective officers just get given more to do. Sergeants are apologetic at dishing out more files, but what can they do? One sergeant I know had a breakdown because she was carrying 50 odd jobs herself and trying to work through them as well as do everything else a sergeant is supposed to do. She said she kept those jobs because she just couldn't bear passing them on to her PCs who were already breaking under the strain.
Some towns regularly have no police officers whatsoever and emergencies are dealt with by officers from other areas in the county.
OP - I'm sorry to hear you've had such deplorable service, and the same goes to others who have had cause to ring and subsequently be on the receiving end of dismissive behaviour and attitudes. I really don't know what to say other than I'm sorry you are all being failed.
Cameron and May were the worst but Labour was no better when they were last in power and that's where the rot started in my view. I dare say the next Labour government will be no better and that's not a dig at them. Everything is so broken, I don't think it will ever get fixed. It would take so much money, rebuilding and numerous other factors to get back to how things were, it's just not viable as far as I can see.
As someone who loves his job, it saddens me to see what has become of it and the poor service we give to the public now.
, albeit not with the Met.Thank you to those of you who pointed out it's not the fault of individual officers. My colleagues are overworked like never before. Thank you to the rest of you for not attacking us in this thread.
I currently work on a specialist unit but had a secondment back to 'the real world' last year. I felt like Sly Stallone in Demolition Man when he wakes up X years in the future to amazement at how bad things have become.
Derek Smith (hello sir) will probably get the most from this next comment as he was in the same force as me, but where years ago as a uniformed response officer I would not have been investigating more than a handful of jobs at any one time, today it is incomprehensible to anyone who left the job more than say, five years ago. 70-80 jobs is the norm for investigating officers now and one lady I know had 128 on the go. None of those crimes were established as linked, so that's 128 separate victims of crime and potentially up to 128 separate suspects to locate and process.
Despite individual officers' best efforts, it is an impossible task to keep on top of workloads. Effective officers just get given more to do. Sergeants are apologetic at dishing out more files, but what can they do? One sergeant I know had a breakdown because she was carrying 50 odd jobs herself and trying to work through them as well as do everything else a sergeant is supposed to do. She said she kept those jobs because she just couldn't bear passing them on to her PCs who were already breaking under the strain.
Some towns regularly have no police officers whatsoever and emergencies are dealt with by officers from other areas in the county.
OP - I'm sorry to hear you've had such deplorable service, and the same goes to others who have had cause to ring and subsequently be on the receiving end of dismissive behaviour and attitudes. I really don't know what to say other than I'm sorry you are all being failed.
Cameron and May were the worst but Labour was no better when they were last in power and that's where the rot started in my view. I dare say the next Labour government will be no better and that's not a dig at them. Everything is so broken, I don't think it will ever get fixed. It would take so much money, rebuilding and numerous other factors to get back to how things were, it's just not viable as far as I can see.
As someone who loves his job, it saddens me to see what has become of it and the poor service we give to the public now.
jamesson said:
Serving officer here , albeit not with the Met.
Thank you to those of you who pointed out it's not the fault of individual officers. My colleagues are overworked like never before. Thank you to the rest of you for not attacking us in this thread.
I currently work on a specialist unit but had a secondment back to 'the real world' last year. I felt like Sly Stallone in Demolition Man when he wakes up X years in the future to amazement at how bad things have become.
Derek Smith (hello sir) will probably get the most from this next comment as he was in the same force as me, but where years ago as a uniformed response officer I would not have been investigating more than a handful of jobs at any one time, today it is incomprehensible to anyone who left the job more than say, five years ago. 70-80 jobs is the norm for investigating officers now and one lady I know had 128 on the go. None of those crimes were established as linked, so that's 128 separate victims of crime and potentially up to 128 separate suspects to locate and process.
Despite individual officers' best efforts, it is an impossible task to keep on top of workloads. Effective officers just get given more to do. Sergeants are apologetic at dishing out more files, but what can they do? One sergeant I know had a breakdown because she was carrying 50 odd jobs herself and trying to work through them as well as do everything else a sergeant is supposed to do. She said she kept those jobs because she just couldn't bear passing them on to her PCs who were already breaking under the strain.
Some towns regularly have no police officers whatsoever and emergencies are dealt with by officers from other areas in the county.
OP - I'm sorry to hear you've had such deplorable service, and the same goes to others who have had cause to ring and subsequently be on the receiving end of dismissive behaviour and attitudes. I really don't know what to say other than I'm sorry you are all being failed.
Cameron and May were the worst but Labour was no better when they were last in power and that's where the rot started in my view. I dare say the next Labour government will be no better and that's not a dig at them. Everything is so broken, I don't think it will ever get fixed. It would take so much money, rebuilding and numerous other factors to get back to how things were, it's just not viable as far as I can see.
As someone who loves his job, it saddens me to see what has become of it and the poor service we give to the public now.
I was in crime management in a similar county force (following 30yrs inc 4 on a specialist beat crimes unit carrying an average workload of 40plus all with offenders or named suspects linked) Theres no way anyone should be carrying a workload of 128 live crimes - its not physically or mentally possible to manage that lot and her supervisor needs to get it sorted. I retired some years back but am still involved with my old force so have a good handle on current trends and workloads., albeit not with the Met.Thank you to those of you who pointed out it's not the fault of individual officers. My colleagues are overworked like never before. Thank you to the rest of you for not attacking us in this thread.
I currently work on a specialist unit but had a secondment back to 'the real world' last year. I felt like Sly Stallone in Demolition Man when he wakes up X years in the future to amazement at how bad things have become.
Derek Smith (hello sir) will probably get the most from this next comment as he was in the same force as me, but where years ago as a uniformed response officer I would not have been investigating more than a handful of jobs at any one time, today it is incomprehensible to anyone who left the job more than say, five years ago. 70-80 jobs is the norm for investigating officers now and one lady I know had 128 on the go. None of those crimes were established as linked, so that's 128 separate victims of crime and potentially up to 128 separate suspects to locate and process.
Despite individual officers' best efforts, it is an impossible task to keep on top of workloads. Effective officers just get given more to do. Sergeants are apologetic at dishing out more files, but what can they do? One sergeant I know had a breakdown because she was carrying 50 odd jobs herself and trying to work through them as well as do everything else a sergeant is supposed to do. She said she kept those jobs because she just couldn't bear passing them on to her PCs who were already breaking under the strain.
Some towns regularly have no police officers whatsoever and emergencies are dealt with by officers from other areas in the county.
OP - I'm sorry to hear you've had such deplorable service, and the same goes to others who have had cause to ring and subsequently be on the receiving end of dismissive behaviour and attitudes. I really don't know what to say other than I'm sorry you are all being failed.
Cameron and May were the worst but Labour was no better when they were last in power and that's where the rot started in my view. I dare say the next Labour government will be no better and that's not a dig at them. Everything is so broken, I don't think it will ever get fixed. It would take so much money, rebuilding and numerous other factors to get back to how things were, it's just not viable as far as I can see.
As someone who loves his job, it saddens me to see what has become of it and the poor service we give to the public now.
jamesson said:
Serving officer here , albeit not with the Met.
Thank you to those of you who pointed out it's not the fault of individual officers. My colleagues are overworked like never before. Thank you to the rest of you for not attacking us in this thread.
I currently work on a specialist unit but had a secondment back to 'the real world' last year. I felt like Sly Stallone in Demolition Man when he wakes up X years in the future to amazement at how bad things have become.
Derek Smith (hello sir) will probably get the most from this next comment as he was in the same force as me, but where years ago as a uniformed response officer I would not have been investigating more than a handful of jobs at any one time, today it is incomprehensible to anyone who left the job more than say, five years ago. 70-80 jobs is the norm for investigating officers now and one lady I know had 128 on the go. None of those crimes were established as linked, so that's 128 separate victims of crime and potentially up to 128 separate suspects to locate and process.
Despite individual officers' best efforts, it is an impossible task to keep on top of workloads. Effective officers just get given more to do. Sergeants are apologetic at dishing out more files, but what can they do? One sergeant I know had a breakdown because she was carrying 50 odd jobs herself and trying to work through them as well as do everything else a sergeant is supposed to do. She said she kept those jobs because she just couldn't bear passing them on to her PCs who were already breaking under the strain.
Some towns regularly have no police officers whatsoever and emergencies are dealt with by officers from other areas in the county.
OP - I'm sorry to hear you've had such deplorable service, and the same goes to others who have had cause to ring and subsequently be on the receiving end of dismissive behaviour and attitudes. I really don't know what to say other than I'm sorry you are all being failed.
Cameron and May were the worst but Labour was no better when they were last in power and that's where the rot started in my view. I dare say the next Labour government will be no better and that's not a dig at them. Everything is so broken, I don't think it will ever get fixed. It would take so much money, rebuilding and numerous other factors to get back to how things were, it's just not viable as far as I can see.
As someone who loves his job, it saddens me to see what has become of it and the poor service we give to the public now.
So sorry to hear this., albeit not with the Met.Thank you to those of you who pointed out it's not the fault of individual officers. My colleagues are overworked like never before. Thank you to the rest of you for not attacking us in this thread.
I currently work on a specialist unit but had a secondment back to 'the real world' last year. I felt like Sly Stallone in Demolition Man when he wakes up X years in the future to amazement at how bad things have become.
Derek Smith (hello sir) will probably get the most from this next comment as he was in the same force as me, but where years ago as a uniformed response officer I would not have been investigating more than a handful of jobs at any one time, today it is incomprehensible to anyone who left the job more than say, five years ago. 70-80 jobs is the norm for investigating officers now and one lady I know had 128 on the go. None of those crimes were established as linked, so that's 128 separate victims of crime and potentially up to 128 separate suspects to locate and process.
Despite individual officers' best efforts, it is an impossible task to keep on top of workloads. Effective officers just get given more to do. Sergeants are apologetic at dishing out more files, but what can they do? One sergeant I know had a breakdown because she was carrying 50 odd jobs herself and trying to work through them as well as do everything else a sergeant is supposed to do. She said she kept those jobs because she just couldn't bear passing them on to her PCs who were already breaking under the strain.
Some towns regularly have no police officers whatsoever and emergencies are dealt with by officers from other areas in the county.
OP - I'm sorry to hear you've had such deplorable service, and the same goes to others who have had cause to ring and subsequently be on the receiving end of dismissive behaviour and attitudes. I really don't know what to say other than I'm sorry you are all being failed.
Cameron and May were the worst but Labour was no better when they were last in power and that's where the rot started in my view. I dare say the next Labour government will be no better and that's not a dig at them. Everything is so broken, I don't think it will ever get fixed. It would take so much money, rebuilding and numerous other factors to get back to how things were, it's just not viable as far as I can see.
As someone who loves his job, it saddens me to see what has become of it and the poor service we give to the public now.
Given that it simply *has* to get fixed, how would one start? Is the issue that too much organisational knowledge has left? Or that there's simply such an impossibly-large backlog that the prospect of trying to move forward looks impossible?
We need a new political movement in this country (whether or not from or with one of the existing parties): one that recognises the problems the country has, and tells the population straight how it can be fixed and what will be required to get there. Not perfect, but honest, truth and reconciliation seems the only way forward right now.
skwdenyer said:
So sorry to hear this.
Given that it simply *has* to get fixed, how would one start? Is the issue that too much organisational knowledge has left? Or that there's simply such an impossibly-large backlog that the prospect of trying to move forward looks impossible?
We need a new political movement in this country (whether or not from or with one of the existing parties): one that recognises the problems the country has, and tells the population straight how it can be fixed and what will be required to get there. Not perfect, but honest, truth and reconciliation seems the only way forward right now.
Sir,Given that it simply *has* to get fixed, how would one start? Is the issue that too much organisational knowledge has left? Or that there's simply such an impossibly-large backlog that the prospect of trying to move forward looks impossible?
We need a new political movement in this country (whether or not from or with one of the existing parties): one that recognises the problems the country has, and tells the population straight how it can be fixed and what will be required to get there. Not perfect, but honest, truth and reconciliation seems the only way forward right now.
I don't think anyone really has the answers as to how it would get fixed. A simply astonishing amount of money would help. Having suspects appear in court within reasonable timeframes would help. A colleague this week went to a court case for an incident which is over four years old. How can it possibly be right to have to wait so long? Witnesses don't turn up or can't be contacted, officers forget exactly what happened. Court closures all over the country amongst other factors have led to this.
When I joined, there was so much experience on my section. Today, officers with 18 months' service are considered senior PCs on response.
Backlogs are astonishing. On my secondment to the real world, I found phones which had been seized over two years ago which had not been examined for evidence.
Good officers have left in their droves for better pay and conditions. New officers are getting a taste and bailing out very quickly, baulking at the prospect of doing the job for 35 years with little to no thanks from senior officers and vocal sections of the public. Being on the receiving end of violence is a daily occurrence for a lot of officers now.
If I were a politician, I would absolutely stand up and say exactly how it is but I'd never get elected because large swathes of the hand wringing public don't want someone with a Judge Dredd mentality/approach in charge and the incumbents don't want to say just how bad it really is.
Bigends said:
I was in crime management in a similar county force (following 30yrs inc 4 on a specialist beat crimes unit carrying an average workload of 40plus all with offenders or named suspects linked) Theres no way anyone should be carrying a workload of 128 live crimes - its not physically or mentally possible to manage that lot and her supervisor needs to get it sorted. I retired some years back but am still involved with my old force so have a good handle on current trends and workloads.
Agreed on the supervisor needing to get a grip of that, but even the strong PCs/DCs are carrying 70-80 jobs these days. Totally unmanageable.Small crimes need courts need that can hammer through them ten to the dozen. Less proof or whatever, I don’t know. But as I’ve posted before I live near a magistrates court in London and I reckon they see one or two customers a day (if that)! I see virtually no one go in there, so f
k knows how anyone gets dealt with.
Re the van I would have rendered it inoperable…
k knows how anyone gets dealt with.Re the van I would have rendered it inoperable…
It's not a new thing. Several years ago when I was nursing I had an elderly patient who had died on the ward. The only next of kin was his equally elderly wife. I didn't want to phone her up and break the news over the phone, she deserved better than that. In times gone by we used to have the number of the local police station and they would invariably send someone out to break the news and bring her to the ward.
This wasn't an emergency, so I rang 101 - on hold for over an hour. Then cut off. It wasn't an emergency so 999 was not an option. There was no way to contact the local police station, so back on to 101.
In the end I said I would go to her house, break the news to her and then get her to the hospital. Interestingly, at the end of my shift I went to the local police station. The car park was full, lights blazing in the offices but no public access. There was a phone outside that had one button "101".
It's not the individual officers, but with the highest tax take since WW2 surely we should have better service?
SD.
This wasn't an emergency, so I rang 101 - on hold for over an hour. Then cut off. It wasn't an emergency so 999 was not an option. There was no way to contact the local police station, so back on to 101.
In the end I said I would go to her house, break the news to her and then get her to the hospital. Interestingly, at the end of my shift I went to the local police station. The car park was full, lights blazing in the offices but no public access. There was a phone outside that had one button "101".
It's not the individual officers, but with the highest tax take since WW2 surely we should have better service?
SD.
I'm afraid the current tax take is nothing like sufficient to put pubic services back on their feet.
For example, we've made the dreadful mistake of skimping on capital expenditure to try to massage budgets from one year to the next. But that just defers spending that eventually has to happen. School buildings are falling to bits. Roads are falling to bits. At some point soon we've got to pour money into those things and that isn't going to improve services. It's just going to stop them collapsing.
We've now got loads of public services that are sufficiently undermanned that productivity falls off a cliff. You get the same pattern with organisations as you do with individuals. As you heap more work on people initially they can cope but it's like giving a juggler too many balls to juggle. When they get overloaded they don't just drop the most recent ball they've been thrown, they drop the lot.
Anotger problem in many services is that the most experienced staff have seen things go to st, their morale plummeted and so they've resigned and taken all their experience with them. This strips organisations of their capacity to bring new staff up to speed, making the damage even harder to repair.
If we want to see services improve we're going to have to invest a lot and then wait for quite some time to see much benefit from the investment. I hope the next government will have the balls to raise public spending substantially and then ride out the unpopularity for a few years until the spending starts to bear fruit towards the end of their term. If we want people to take financial risk and be entrepreneurial, they'll be encouraged to do so if they know their kids will get a decent education from the state and their families can rely on the NHS. That safety net lets people take risk. It therefore contributes to productivity.
For example, we've made the dreadful mistake of skimping on capital expenditure to try to massage budgets from one year to the next. But that just defers spending that eventually has to happen. School buildings are falling to bits. Roads are falling to bits. At some point soon we've got to pour money into those things and that isn't going to improve services. It's just going to stop them collapsing.
We've now got loads of public services that are sufficiently undermanned that productivity falls off a cliff. You get the same pattern with organisations as you do with individuals. As you heap more work on people initially they can cope but it's like giving a juggler too many balls to juggle. When they get overloaded they don't just drop the most recent ball they've been thrown, they drop the lot.
Anotger problem in many services is that the most experienced staff have seen things go to s
t, their morale plummeted and so they've resigned and taken all their experience with them. This strips organisations of their capacity to bring new staff up to speed, making the damage even harder to repair.If we want to see services improve we're going to have to invest a lot and then wait for quite some time to see much benefit from the investment. I hope the next government will have the balls to raise public spending substantially and then ride out the unpopularity for a few years until the spending starts to bear fruit towards the end of their term. If we want people to take financial risk and be entrepreneurial, they'll be encouraged to do so if they know their kids will get a decent education from the state and their families can rely on the NHS. That safety net lets people take risk. It therefore contributes to productivity.
ATG said:
I'm afraid the current tax take is nothing like sufficient to put pubic services back on their feet.
For example, we've made the dreadful mistake of skimping on capital expenditure to try to massage budgets from one year to the next. But that just defers spending that eventually has to happen. School buildings are falling to bits. Roads are falling to bits. At some point soon we've got to pour money into those things and that isn't going to improve services. It's just going to stop them collapsing.
We've now got loads of public services that are sufficiently undermanned that productivity falls off a cliff. You get the same pattern with organisations as you do with individuals. As you heap more work on people initially they can cope but it's like giving a juggler too many balls to juggle. When they get overloaded they don't just drop the most recent ball they've been thrown, they drop the lot.
Anotger problem in many services is that the most experienced staff have seen things go to st, their morale plummeted and so they've resigned and taken all their experience with them. This strips organisations of their capacity to bring new staff up to speed, making the damage even harder to repair.
If we want to see services improve we're going to have to invest a lot and then wait for quite some time to see much benefit from the investment. I hope the next government will have the balls to raise public spending substantially and then ride out the unpopularity for a few years until the spending starts to bear fruit towards the end of their term. If we want people to take financial risk and be entrepreneurial, they'll be encouraged to do so if they know their kids will get a decent education from the state and their families can rely on the NHS. That safety net lets people take risk. It therefore contributes to productivity.
For example, we've made the dreadful mistake of skimping on capital expenditure to try to massage budgets from one year to the next. But that just defers spending that eventually has to happen. School buildings are falling to bits. Roads are falling to bits. At some point soon we've got to pour money into those things and that isn't going to improve services. It's just going to stop them collapsing.
We've now got loads of public services that are sufficiently undermanned that productivity falls off a cliff. You get the same pattern with organisations as you do with individuals. As you heap more work on people initially they can cope but it's like giving a juggler too many balls to juggle. When they get overloaded they don't just drop the most recent ball they've been thrown, they drop the lot.
Anotger problem in many services is that the most experienced staff have seen things go to s
t, their morale plummeted and so they've resigned and taken all their experience with them. This strips organisations of their capacity to bring new staff up to speed, making the damage even harder to repair.If we want to see services improve we're going to have to invest a lot and then wait for quite some time to see much benefit from the investment. I hope the next government will have the balls to raise public spending substantially and then ride out the unpopularity for a few years until the spending starts to bear fruit towards the end of their term. If we want people to take financial risk and be entrepreneurial, they'll be encouraged to do so if they know their kids will get a decent education from the state and their families can rely on the NHS. That safety net lets people take risk. It therefore contributes to productivity.
ATG said:
I'm afraid the current tax take is nothing like sufficient to put pubic services back on their feet.
For example, we've made the dreadful mistake of skimping on capital expenditure to try to massage budgets from one year to the next. But that just defers spending that eventually has to happen. School buildings are falling to bits. Roads are falling to bits. At some point soon we've got to pour money into those things and that isn't going to improve services. It's just going to stop them collapsing.
We've now got loads of public services that are sufficiently undermanned that productivity falls off a cliff. You get the same pattern with organisations as you do with individuals. As you heap more work on people initially they can cope but it's like giving a juggler too many balls to juggle. When they get overloaded they don't just drop the most recent ball they've been thrown, they drop the lot.
Anotger problem in many services is that the most experienced staff have seen things go to st, their morale plummeted and so they've resigned and taken all their experience with them. This strips organisations of their capacity to bring new staff up to speed, making the damage even harder to repair.
If we want to see services improve we're going to have to invest a lot and then wait for quite some time to see much benefit from the investment. I hope the next government will have the balls to raise public spending substantially and then ride out the unpopularity for a few years until the spending starts to bear fruit towards the end of their term. If we want people to take financial risk and be entrepreneurial, they'll be encouraged to do so if they know their kids will get a decent education from the state and their families can rely on the NHS. That safety net lets people take risk. It therefore contributes to productivity.
Totally agree.For example, we've made the dreadful mistake of skimping on capital expenditure to try to massage budgets from one year to the next. But that just defers spending that eventually has to happen. School buildings are falling to bits. Roads are falling to bits. At some point soon we've got to pour money into those things and that isn't going to improve services. It's just going to stop them collapsing.
We've now got loads of public services that are sufficiently undermanned that productivity falls off a cliff. You get the same pattern with organisations as you do with individuals. As you heap more work on people initially they can cope but it's like giving a juggler too many balls to juggle. When they get overloaded they don't just drop the most recent ball they've been thrown, they drop the lot.
Anotger problem in many services is that the most experienced staff have seen things go to s
t, their morale plummeted and so they've resigned and taken all their experience with them. This strips organisations of their capacity to bring new staff up to speed, making the damage even harder to repair.If we want to see services improve we're going to have to invest a lot and then wait for quite some time to see much benefit from the investment. I hope the next government will have the balls to raise public spending substantially and then ride out the unpopularity for a few years until the spending starts to bear fruit towards the end of their term. If we want people to take financial risk and be entrepreneurial, they'll be encouraged to do so if they know their kids will get a decent education from the state and their families can rely on the NHS. That safety net lets people take risk. It therefore contributes to productivity.
However, if we pay more taxes, it's likely the Government will just squander the extra cash IMO.
Leicester Loyal said:
ATG said:
I'm afraid the current tax take is nothing like sufficient to put pubic services back on their feet.
For example, we've made the dreadful mistake of skimping on capital expenditure to try to massage budgets from one year to the next. But that just defers spending that eventually has to happen. School buildings are falling to bits. Roads are falling to bits. At some point soon we've got to pour money into those things and that isn't going to improve services. It's just going to stop them collapsing.
We've now got loads of public services that are sufficiently undermanned that productivity falls off a cliff. You get the same pattern with organisations as you do with individuals. As you heap more work on people initially they can cope but it's like giving a juggler too many balls to juggle. When they get overloaded they don't just drop the most recent ball they've been thrown, they drop the lot.
Anotger problem in many services is that the most experienced staff have seen things go to st, their morale plummeted and so they've resigned and taken all their experience with them. This strips organisations of their capacity to bring new staff up to speed, making the damage even harder to repair.
If we want to see services improve we're going to have to invest a lot and then wait for quite some time to see much benefit from the investment. I hope the next government will have the balls to raise public spending substantially and then ride out the unpopularity for a few years until the spending starts to bear fruit towards the end of their term. If we want people to take financial risk and be entrepreneurial, they'll be encouraged to do so if they know their kids will get a decent education from the state and their families can rely on the NHS. That safety net lets people take risk. It therefore contributes to productivity.
Totally agree.For example, we've made the dreadful mistake of skimping on capital expenditure to try to massage budgets from one year to the next. But that just defers spending that eventually has to happen. School buildings are falling to bits. Roads are falling to bits. At some point soon we've got to pour money into those things and that isn't going to improve services. It's just going to stop them collapsing.
We've now got loads of public services that are sufficiently undermanned that productivity falls off a cliff. You get the same pattern with organisations as you do with individuals. As you heap more work on people initially they can cope but it's like giving a juggler too many balls to juggle. When they get overloaded they don't just drop the most recent ball they've been thrown, they drop the lot.
Anotger problem in many services is that the most experienced staff have seen things go to s
t, their morale plummeted and so they've resigned and taken all their experience with them. This strips organisations of their capacity to bring new staff up to speed, making the damage even harder to repair.If we want to see services improve we're going to have to invest a lot and then wait for quite some time to see much benefit from the investment. I hope the next government will have the balls to raise public spending substantially and then ride out the unpopularity for a few years until the spending starts to bear fruit towards the end of their term. If we want people to take financial risk and be entrepreneurial, they'll be encouraged to do so if they know their kids will get a decent education from the state and their families can rely on the NHS. That safety net lets people take risk. It therefore contributes to productivity.
However, if we pay more taxes, it's likely this Government will just squander the extra cash IMO.
We need a clean sweep of politicians, thinking & morality
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