Why some policemen make themselves unpopular
Discussion
Went up to our local shops to get today's newspapers. The quue outside the butcher's was over 50 people.
I went into the baker's for some bread and was followed in by a PC (from an 'Area Car') who ordered (yes 'ordered') the owner to do something about the queue of people outside!
In an icily polite manner the baker informed the officer that it was nothing to do with him, as simple observation would have shown, and perhaps he should *ask* (emphasised) the butcher to do something about it.
I then turned to the officer and politely asked what the problem was. "Obstructing the pavement!" was his curt reply. "I've just collected my newspapers and walked through the crowd to this shop." I replied. "I wasn't obstructed." He shrugged and turned to leave. "Excuse me." I said, "I haven't finished. "What are you going to do about the cars that are parked on both sides of the road across there (pointing) right up to the junction that are clearly causing an obstruction and are creating a dangerous situation?"
"Parking's not our problem!" he harrumphed, and strutted (there is no other word to describe it) out of the shop, got into his car and drove off ... nearly colliding with an approaching vehicle as he pulled straight out.
The comments in the bakers immediately afterwards clearly showed how low the police force has fallen in the eyes of the public. This officer did nothing to rectify that, and indeed forced people's opinion even lower. It only takes one bad apple to taint the entire barrel.
The baker in particular was vehement in his condemnation of the police in general. His strength of feeling has its roots in an episode where he was assaulted by two coloured youths who beat him up and sprayed, "down with witey (whitey)" on his (blue) van. He dialled 999 and said that (a) he had been assaulted, and (b) he had been racially abused and assaulted. The police arrived two days later to take a statement and told him it couldn't be classed as a racially motivated attack because he was white!
Tony, Mike, et al - when you make sufficiently senior rank to do something about these idiots who are demeaning the entire force ... kick 'em out PDQ!
Streaky
I went into the baker's for some bread and was followed in by a PC (from an 'Area Car') who ordered (yes 'ordered') the owner to do something about the queue of people outside!
In an icily polite manner the baker informed the officer that it was nothing to do with him, as simple observation would have shown, and perhaps he should *ask* (emphasised) the butcher to do something about it.
I then turned to the officer and politely asked what the problem was. "Obstructing the pavement!" was his curt reply. "I've just collected my newspapers and walked through the crowd to this shop." I replied. "I wasn't obstructed." He shrugged and turned to leave. "Excuse me." I said, "I haven't finished. "What are you going to do about the cars that are parked on both sides of the road across there (pointing) right up to the junction that are clearly causing an obstruction and are creating a dangerous situation?"
"Parking's not our problem!" he harrumphed, and strutted (there is no other word to describe it) out of the shop, got into his car and drove off ... nearly colliding with an approaching vehicle as he pulled straight out.
The comments in the bakers immediately afterwards clearly showed how low the police force has fallen in the eyes of the public. This officer did nothing to rectify that, and indeed forced people's opinion even lower. It only takes one bad apple to taint the entire barrel.
The baker in particular was vehement in his condemnation of the police in general. His strength of feeling has its roots in an episode where he was assaulted by two coloured youths who beat him up and sprayed, "down with witey (whitey)" on his (blue) van. He dialled 999 and said that (a) he had been assaulted, and (b) he had been racially abused and assaulted. The police arrived two days later to take a statement and told him it couldn't be classed as a racially motivated attack because he was white!
Tony, Mike, et al - when you make sufficiently senior rank to do something about these idiots who are demeaning the entire force ... kick 'em out PDQ!
Streaky
Im quite happy where iam for now.I find that the higher that you go, the more detached you get from 'grass roots Policing' and you are merely a manager that spends most of his/her time spouting useless figures, changing things for the sake of change and lastly,reinforcing someone elses ideas that you dont neccesarily agree with yourself.
(phew! pleased that i managed to get all of that out)
(phew! pleased that i managed to get all of that out)
The police that turned up to investigate the attempted theft of my friend's parent's car, and the breakage of my window (see thread in General Gassing), were very polite.
They responded quickly, and were very helpfull. There was little they could do really, but they still did as full a investigation as they could.
A rather tasty WPC even came and dusted for prints (didnt find any) which really surprised me. You hear all these stories about policing problems, lack of responce but you never hear the good stories.
As will all professions and groups, you will always get bad eggs, but thankfully, they are few and far between.
The police on the ground do a stirling job. all it takes though, is some knob in the CPS, a top brass compleatly out of touch with reality (brunstrom) or a civie worker acting on behalf of the police, to give the Police force a bad name
>> Edited by chief-0369 on Wednesday 24th December 10:42
>> Edited by chief-0369 on Wednesday 24th December 10:42
They responded quickly, and were very helpfull. There was little they could do really, but they still did as full a investigation as they could.
A rather tasty WPC
even came and dusted for prints (didnt find any) which really surprised me. You hear all these stories about policing problems, lack of responce but you never hear the good stories. As will all professions and groups, you will always get bad eggs, but thankfully, they are few and far between.
The police on the ground do a stirling job. all it takes though, is some knob in the CPS, a top brass compleatly out of touch with reality (brunstrom) or a civie worker acting on behalf of the police, to give the Police force a bad name
>> Edited by chief-0369 on Wednesday 24th December 10:42
>> Edited by chief-0369 on Wednesday 24th December 10:42
Once rolled my car in North Yorks. It really wasnt my fault as black ice and a badly repaired road was to blame. Anyway, took out someones wall in the process and they obviously wanted me prosecuted.
Nort Yorks Police informed me and sent me a nice letter saying that this was the case. They then investigated the crash and informed me of the case - I still have the letter and it basically says that the road and the council were to blame for making it unsafe. They then exhonorated me and thanked me for my co-operation.
My father was so impressed with the way that I had been dealt (letter had gone to home rather than my address) that he went to see them - thanked them in person for being so polite. I sent a letter - I was 100 miles away, broke and without a car.... shame.
We even got a thank you letter back from them for the thank you ..... very nice.
Nort Yorks Police informed me and sent me a nice letter saying that this was the case. They then investigated the crash and informed me of the case - I still have the letter and it basically says that the road and the council were to blame for making it unsafe. They then exhonorated me and thanked me for my co-operation.
My father was so impressed with the way that I had been dealt (letter had gone to home rather than my address) that he went to see them - thanked them in person for being so polite. I sent a letter - I was 100 miles away, broke and without a car.... shame.
We even got a thank you letter back from them for the thank you ..... very nice.
OK - perhaps some old dear with her zimmer frame had difficulty negotiating the pavement because of the queue. So she complained to the police. The police were obliged to act - obstructing a pavement is an offence (designed to stop street hawkers) so they had to act. They are very pissed off as they have better things to do but as a member of public has made a complaint they have to carry out their duty. The old dear has also requested that the fact she has made a complaint should not to be disclosed.
Might go some way to explaining his manner don't you think? Think out of the box people.
Might go some way to explaining his manner don't you think? Think out of the box people.
Big_M said:
OK - perhaps some old dear with her zimmer frame had difficulty negotiating the pavement because of the queue. So she complained to the police. The police were obliged to act - obstructing a pavement is an offence (designed to stop street hawkers) so they had to act. They are very pissed off as they have better things to do but as a member of public has made a complaint they have to carry out their duty. The old dear has also requested that the fact she has made a complaint should not to be disclosed.
Might go some way to explaining his manner don't you think? Think out of the box people.
The attending officer could have explained that, wouldnt have taken 2 minutes?
knowley said:
eek!Hear stories like this more and more these days, its a shame really.
tonyrec said:Don't be too complacent Tony. In my experience, which is after all the public's perception, there are more jumped-up “little hitlers” in the police these days than ever before. It comes to something when even my 83y old father in-law says he has no time for the police these days because in his view all they do is concentrate on trivial issues to make the stats’ look good and do bugger a about real crimes like burglary, rape, mugging and druggies. Rich...
I could however bore you with good stories too......but dont want to bore anyone.
Big_M said:
OK - perhaps some old dear with her zimmer frame had difficulty negotiating the pavement because of the queue. So she complained to the police. The police were obliged to act - obstructing a pavement is an offence (designed to stop street hawkers) so they had to act. They are very pissed off as they have better things to do but as a member of public has made a complaint they have to carry out their duty. The old dear has also requested that the fact she has made a complaint should not to be disclosed.
Might go some way to explaining his manner don't you think? Think out of the box people.
OK so some old biddy complained and the Police had to act. Sounds fair, but why did the nice PC go into the wrong shop and make himself look a right plonker. If he can't tell which way a queue is heading then he won't make CID
Jim'schim said:I am sure everyone on here has off days. When you are dealing with the general public it is very hard to be nice 100% of the time. Believe me - I used to be an estate agent - another profession that the public like to ridicule and abuse. Anyone who has been in house sales will tell you it is not an easy job. Can you honestly say that you have never been short with someone at work when you are really busy or had problems at home?
OK so some old biddy complained and the Police had to act. Sounds fair, but why did the nice PC go into the wrong shop and make himself look a right plonker. If he can't tell which way a queue is heading then he won't make CID
I've always had good experiences of the Police, until last week when I was stopped for speeding. Fair enough, I was speeding, but the circumstances were a bit poor.
The Area Car caught up with me (doing 93mph) on it's way to an emergency. Instead of attending this, they pulled me over for speeding instead. Whilst following me on the dual carriageway, a guy in a silver Mondeo pulled out in front of them without signalling, causing them to emergency brake. Despite this, it was me who got a ticket for speeding despite there being "absolutely nothing wrong with your driving, only slightly too fast".
My only conclusion can be that I was the easiest option for them. To attend an emergency, or book someone for careless driving must be much more hassle than giving me a fixed penalty notice?
Having said that, if I'd been caught every time I speeded since my last SP50 3.5 years ago, I'd have accumulated £5,634,300 fines 56,823 points and a 367year band, so can't complain, really ;-)
The Area Car caught up with me (doing 93mph) on it's way to an emergency. Instead of attending this, they pulled me over for speeding instead. Whilst following me on the dual carriageway, a guy in a silver Mondeo pulled out in front of them without signalling, causing them to emergency brake. Despite this, it was me who got a ticket for speeding despite there being "absolutely nothing wrong with your driving, only slightly too fast".
My only conclusion can be that I was the easiest option for them. To attend an emergency, or book someone for careless driving must be much more hassle than giving me a fixed penalty notice?
Having said that, if I'd been caught every time I speeded since my last SP50 3.5 years ago, I'd have accumulated £5,634,300 fines 56,823 points and a 367year band, so can't complain, really ;-)
pbrettle said:
Once rolled my car in North Yorks. It really wasnt my fault as black ice and a badly repaired road was to blame. Anyway, took out someones wall in the process and they obviously wanted me prosecuted.
Nort Yorks Police informed me and sent me a nice letter saying that this was the case. They then investigated the crash and informed me of the case - I still have the letter and it basically says that the road and the council were to blame for making it unsafe. They then exhonorated me and thanked me for my co-operation.
My father was so impressed with the way that I had been dealt (letter had gone to home rather than my address) that he went to see them - thanked them in person for being so polite. I sent a letter - I was 100 miles away, broke and without a car.... shame.
We even got a thank you letter back from them for the thank you ..... very nice.
All our Police are angels up here in God's Country
I'd like to thank them again for all their good work this year in protecting our homes and businesses in such an efficient way and for keeping our roads (relatively) speed camera free.
Good old Della.
Big_M said:
Can you honestly say that you have never been short with someone at work when you are really busy or had problems at home?
Oh yes I've been short with people, and that made me look like a plonker. Do you think policemen are imune from making themselves looks stupid, as the hero in this story did? BTW when I do it though I don't have the power to arrest people and have them fined or put in jail.
Also I have never came on here and attacked the police with generalisations. Mostly the dealings I've had with police have been good. Although I have met one who was a plonker, a dangerous plonker at that.
Merry Christmas to all my readers
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