Reporting crimes to the police
Discussion
yonex said:
IME it’s a waste of time, the Police aren’t really that bothered about theft in general. Personally I wouldn’t go out of my way to help them at all, given how I was treated in the past by the lovely folk at TVP.
I expect all those who get arrested / investigated / go to court / end up in prison for acquisitive crime would disagree. Second highest prison category after violence against the person IIRC.
speedyguy said:
I knew resources would come up, I have scant resources to pay bills so I just utilise what I have better and consider scrapping non essential b
ks, maybe the public service should try it that rather than always asking for a larger begging bowl?
It comes up because it’s very relevant. There’s only so much you can get rid of before the reality is that demand greatly outweighs supply. Policing suffered from deceased resources and increased demand since 2010. ks, maybe the public service should try it that rather than always asking for a larger begging bowl?I wonder what lengths you are legally allowed to go to now to protect your property ? They are very likely to come around again for another go so can you legitimately tool yourself up in expectation ? Then again how tooled up are they likely to be ? Many Airsoft weapons look identical to the real thing, you would hope that all but the most determined car thieves would think twice if they came up against a home owner brandashing a couple of these. Golf clubs are quite good too, keeps those pesky knives at arms length.
80 to 85% of what the police deal with isn’t crime. There are probably less officers on duty for your local overnight area than there are staff on duty at the nearest 24 hour McDonald’s. Response officers are run ragged, usually dealing with “concern for welfare” calls and immediate threats/risks to life. Throw I. A couple of high risk missing from homes, a constant supervision in the (now no longer local) cells and one or two mental health patients that need to be escorted until they’re seen by an approved mental health practitioner and that’s the box pretty much empty, I’m aftraid.
The reality is that there are about 20,000 fewer officers than there were seven or eight years ago. My own force has gone from about 3,500 officers to 2,700. Police staff numbers were reduced by about 400 or so. Demand hasn’t reduce, it’s increased. Departments have been cut, amalgamated or disbanded. We’ve lost our own helicopter to the National Police Air Service and deployment times from about 15 minutes for the entire county are at least 20 minutes to up to 40 minutes from NPAS aircraft, if they’re available and not already tied up in two of Britain’s biggest cities.
Unfortunately, if there aren’t any immediate lines of enquiry, you’re unlikely to see an officer immediately for a burglary (if at all). Proactive patrolling is a rare luxury these days. That said, I’d still recommend phoning everything in. At least that way, crime mapping can be potentially matched against resources when they’re (admittedly infrequently) available. I’m afraid it’s a bit “computer says no” for all public services these days. If it’s not recorded, it hasn’t happened. Ring it in, report it online and keep pushing.
I’m sorry you didn’t get the response you wanted. Sometimes, just explaining the realities can help people understand what all the public services are up against. It doesn’t improve the situation, but at least you might know/understand why you don’t get a visit straight away.
I had a motorbike accident back in May 2017. I was lucky that it was on the outskirts of one of our bigger towns, which still has a hospital with A&E. The response paramedic was there within 10 minutes and the ambulance was there within 15 to 20 minutes. I’m aware of people with similar, or worse, injuries in more rural areas having to wait more than an hour for an ambulance. I wouldn’t like to have had to wait much longer than I did befor the paramedic started whacking me full of morphine and entonox.
Do “the Police” as an organisation always get it right? No, of course not. Part of the current problems have been created by what we “used” to do. The “nice to do” stuff. Now, we are pretty much “firefighting”, with little, if any, proactive work, at any level (our major crimes unit has gone from three teams to two, to one and has merged with another of the special ops units, meaning that former skilled practitioners from each area have had to try and learn new skills, some of which they may not have wanted to do or aren’t capable of learning (surveillance, advanced driving, suspect interviews/management, investigations). So we’ve gone from a lot of people who were very skilled, albeit in quite a narrow field, to not very many people trying to do many more things. It’s naive to think that the quality of service/end “product” won’t suffer.
Yes, there are a very small minority of cops who are lazy/racist/bent, but there are fewer and fewer places for them to hide. They’re getting challenged and dealt with much sooner than previously. Most of the cops I know want to do a good job and genuinely want to help people. Everyone enjoys locking up the bad guys.
The reality is that there are about 20,000 fewer officers than there were seven or eight years ago. My own force has gone from about 3,500 officers to 2,700. Police staff numbers were reduced by about 400 or so. Demand hasn’t reduce, it’s increased. Departments have been cut, amalgamated or disbanded. We’ve lost our own helicopter to the National Police Air Service and deployment times from about 15 minutes for the entire county are at least 20 minutes to up to 40 minutes from NPAS aircraft, if they’re available and not already tied up in two of Britain’s biggest cities.
Unfortunately, if there aren’t any immediate lines of enquiry, you’re unlikely to see an officer immediately for a burglary (if at all). Proactive patrolling is a rare luxury these days. That said, I’d still recommend phoning everything in. At least that way, crime mapping can be potentially matched against resources when they’re (admittedly infrequently) available. I’m afraid it’s a bit “computer says no” for all public services these days. If it’s not recorded, it hasn’t happened. Ring it in, report it online and keep pushing.
I’m sorry you didn’t get the response you wanted. Sometimes, just explaining the realities can help people understand what all the public services are up against. It doesn’t improve the situation, but at least you might know/understand why you don’t get a visit straight away.
I had a motorbike accident back in May 2017. I was lucky that it was on the outskirts of one of our bigger towns, which still has a hospital with A&E. The response paramedic was there within 10 minutes and the ambulance was there within 15 to 20 minutes. I’m aware of people with similar, or worse, injuries in more rural areas having to wait more than an hour for an ambulance. I wouldn’t like to have had to wait much longer than I did befor the paramedic started whacking me full of morphine and entonox.
Do “the Police” as an organisation always get it right? No, of course not. Part of the current problems have been created by what we “used” to do. The “nice to do” stuff. Now, we are pretty much “firefighting”, with little, if any, proactive work, at any level (our major crimes unit has gone from three teams to two, to one and has merged with another of the special ops units, meaning that former skilled practitioners from each area have had to try and learn new skills, some of which they may not have wanted to do or aren’t capable of learning (surveillance, advanced driving, suspect interviews/management, investigations). So we’ve gone from a lot of people who were very skilled, albeit in quite a narrow field, to not very many people trying to do many more things. It’s naive to think that the quality of service/end “product” won’t suffer.
Yes, there are a very small minority of cops who are lazy/racist/bent, but there are fewer and fewer places for them to hide. They’re getting challenged and dealt with much sooner than previously. Most of the cops I know want to do a good job and genuinely want to help people. Everyone enjoys locking up the bad guys.
yonex said:
Bluff.
Wasn’t it 6% of burglaries solved?
Good effort!
Burglaries are by their nature a crime that has a low detection rate. This was true even when their numbers / detection rates were a primary performance measure during New Labour’s years and when resources were available to have CID attend them all, SOCO attend them all and specific departments dedicated to burglaries etc. Wasn’t it 6% of burglaries solved?
Good effort!
The issue, from a reactive point of view, is rarely much evidence. Most burglars are forensically aware, most CCTV isn’t good enough and burglars will conceal their faces. There are rarely ever any human witnesses. Either in the house or neighbours etc.
It isn’t like CSI whatever in the real world.
Burglary also has a much wider definition than people breaking in and stealing and what most people think a burglary is.
Nice try though. Devil is in the detail.
NikBartlett said:
I wonder what lengths you are legally allowed to go to now to protect your property ? They are very likely to come around again for another go so can you legitimately tool yourself up in expectation ? Then again how tooled up are they likely to be ? Many Airsoft weapons look identical to the real thing, you would hope that all but the most determined car thieves would think twice if they came up against a home owner brandashing a couple of these. Golf clubs are quite good too, keeps those pesky knives at arms length.
Wonder no more: https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/self-defence...NikBartlett said:
I wonder what lengths you are legally allowed to go to now to protect your property ? They are very likely to come around again for another go so can you legitimately tool yourself up in expectation ? Then again how tooled up are they likely to be ? Many Airsoft weapons look identical to the real thing, you would hope that all but the most determined car thieves would think twice if they came up against a home owner brandashing a couple of these. Golf clubs are quite good too, keeps those pesky knives at arms length.
I know it’s really tempting to want to protect your property, but please, please, PLEASE try and avoid someone armed with a knife. It’s a weapon that requires very little skill to cause a fatal injury. I’d much rather investigate a string of burglaries than a single murder.Stuff is just stuff and can be replaced. It’s irritating, you’ll feel violated and you’ll no doubt lose out financially. You won’t be dead though.
Part of the problem to my mind is the resources are not spent wisely. At the moment "hate" crimes against the LGBT community get a lot of attention as those who feel someone has been mean to them can whip up a lot of bad social media attention.
Same as people who bought a home on a main road then campaign against the limits, very vocal time bandits.
How much was wasted chasing pedophiles on allegations by a fantasist they are now prosecuting.
And finall how many officers would the money spent on looking for Madeline McCann have funded?
Everyone feels we need more officers on the beat but spending has been cut and it is the easiest action to take to slash police on the front line. It gets the quickest negative reaction to use against governments.
I feel sorry for officers, they are led by people more interested in good pr from the shouty lobby groups and politicians than dealing with the other chunk of the problems affecting us
Same as people who bought a home on a main road then campaign against the limits, very vocal time bandits.
How much was wasted chasing pedophiles on allegations by a fantasist they are now prosecuting.
And finall how many officers would the money spent on looking for Madeline McCann have funded?
Everyone feels we need more officers on the beat but spending has been cut and it is the easiest action to take to slash police on the front line. It gets the quickest negative reaction to use against governments.
I feel sorry for officers, they are led by people more interested in good pr from the shouty lobby groups and politicians than dealing with the other chunk of the problems affecting us
Dibble said:
NikBartlett said:
I wonder what lengths you are legally allowed to go to now to protect your property ? They are very likely to come around again for another go so can you legitimately tool yourself up in expectation ? Then again how tooled up are they likely to be ? Many Airsoft weapons look identical to the real thing, you would hope that all but the most determined car thieves would think twice if they came up against a home owner brandashing a couple of these. Golf clubs are quite good too, keeps those pesky knives at arms length.
I know it’s really tempting to want to protect your property, but please, please, PLEASE try and avoid someone armed with a knife. It’s a weapon that requires very little skill to cause a fatal injury. I’d much rather investigate a string of burglaries than a single murder.Stuff is just stuff and can be replaced. It’s irritating, you’ll feel violated and you’ll no doubt lose out financially. You won’t be dead though.
I'll admit that when I tried to confront them the first thing I did was delete part of the recording that featured me as the star , I didn't go out empty handed and I hope the would be burgalers saw this . However , as I said in my original post , once outside in the street reality set in , wife in the house alone and door wide open , me outside armed like a knuckle dragging moron realising that there could be half a dozen of them outside and it could have been the plan all along !
I grew up with wronguns , and burglary was part and parcel of owning a builders yard so I know the way the world works .
Best plan is make the place as secure as possible and a pain in the arse to rob so they go elsewhere, sorry everyone else !
Sa Calobra said:
Where do you live OP?
On night shift this weekend we have had three cops in total on. So you'd struggle for a response.
..who where no doubt all tied up with trying to trace the IP of an immature teenager that had been calling someone nasty names on Facebook and had rung the police to report it. On night shift this weekend we have had three cops in total on. So you'd struggle for a response.
Lemming Train said:
..who where no doubt all tied up with trying to trace the IP of an immature teenager that had been calling someone nasty names on Facebook and had rung the police to report it.
Don't blame the police force for that. Powers that be, tell what to do and how to proceed etc.Dibble said:
80 to 85% of what the police deal with isn’t crime. There are probably less officers on duty for your local overnight area than there are staff on duty at the nearest 24 hour McDonald’s. Response officers are run ragged, usually dealing with “concern for welfare” calls and immediate threats/risks to life. Throw I. A couple of high risk missing from homes, a constant supervision in the (now no longer local) cells and one or two mental health patients that need to be escorted until they’re seen by an approved mental health practitioner and that’s the box pretty much empty, I’m aftraid.
The reality is that there are about 20,000 fewer officers than there were seven or eight years ago. My own force has gone from about 3,500 officers to 2,700. Police staff numbers were reduced by about 400 or so. Demand hasn’t reduce, it’s increased. Departments have been cut, amalgamated or disbanded. We’ve lost our own helicopter to the National Police Air Service and deployment times from about 15 minutes for the entire county are at least 20 minutes to up to 40 minutes from NPAS aircraft, if they’re available and not already tied up in two of Britain’s biggest cities.
Unfortunately, if there aren’t any immediate lines of enquiry, you’re unlikely to see an officer immediately for a burglary (if at all). Proactive patrolling is a rare luxury these days. That said, I’d still recommend phoning everything in. At least that way, crime mapping can be potentially matched against resources when they’re (admittedly infrequently) available. I’m afraid it’s a bit “computer says no” for all public services these days. If it’s not recorded, it hasn’t happened. Ring it in, report it online and keep pushing.
I’m sorry you didn’t get the response you wanted. Sometimes, just explaining the realities can help people understand what all the public services are up against. It doesn’t improve the situation, but at least you might know/understand why you don’t get a visit straight away.
I had a motorbike accident back in May 2017. I was lucky that it was on the outskirts of one of our bigger towns, which still has a hospital with A&E. The response paramedic was there within 10 minutes and the ambulance was there within 15 to 20 minutes. I’m aware of people with similar, or worse, injuries in more rural areas having to wait more than an hour for an ambulance. I wouldn’t like to have had to wait much longer than I did befor the paramedic started whacking me full of morphine and entonox.
Do “the Police” as an organisation always get it right? No, of course not. Part of the current problems have been created by what we “used” to do. The “nice to do” stuff. Now, we are pretty much “firefighting”, with little, if any, proactive work, at any level (our major crimes unit has gone from three teams to two, to one and has merged with another of the special ops units, meaning that former skilled practitioners from each area have had to try and learn new skills, some of which they may not have wanted to do or aren’t capable of learning (surveillance, advanced driving, suspect interviews/management, investigations). So we’ve gone from a lot of people who were very skilled, albeit in quite a narrow field, to not very many people trying to do many more things. It’s naive to think that the quality of service/end “product” won’t suffer.
Yes, there are a very small minority of cops who are lazy/racist/bent, but there are fewer and fewer places for them to hide. They’re getting challenged and dealt with much sooner than previously. Most of the cops I know want to do a good job and genuinely want to help people. Everyone enjoys locking up the bad guys.
This is the true state of affairs I see from the inside. The reality is that there are about 20,000 fewer officers than there were seven or eight years ago. My own force has gone from about 3,500 officers to 2,700. Police staff numbers were reduced by about 400 or so. Demand hasn’t reduce, it’s increased. Departments have been cut, amalgamated or disbanded. We’ve lost our own helicopter to the National Police Air Service and deployment times from about 15 minutes for the entire county are at least 20 minutes to up to 40 minutes from NPAS aircraft, if they’re available and not already tied up in two of Britain’s biggest cities.
Unfortunately, if there aren’t any immediate lines of enquiry, you’re unlikely to see an officer immediately for a burglary (if at all). Proactive patrolling is a rare luxury these days. That said, I’d still recommend phoning everything in. At least that way, crime mapping can be potentially matched against resources when they’re (admittedly infrequently) available. I’m afraid it’s a bit “computer says no” for all public services these days. If it’s not recorded, it hasn’t happened. Ring it in, report it online and keep pushing.
I’m sorry you didn’t get the response you wanted. Sometimes, just explaining the realities can help people understand what all the public services are up against. It doesn’t improve the situation, but at least you might know/understand why you don’t get a visit straight away.
I had a motorbike accident back in May 2017. I was lucky that it was on the outskirts of one of our bigger towns, which still has a hospital with A&E. The response paramedic was there within 10 minutes and the ambulance was there within 15 to 20 minutes. I’m aware of people with similar, or worse, injuries in more rural areas having to wait more than an hour for an ambulance. I wouldn’t like to have had to wait much longer than I did befor the paramedic started whacking me full of morphine and entonox.
Do “the Police” as an organisation always get it right? No, of course not. Part of the current problems have been created by what we “used” to do. The “nice to do” stuff. Now, we are pretty much “firefighting”, with little, if any, proactive work, at any level (our major crimes unit has gone from three teams to two, to one and has merged with another of the special ops units, meaning that former skilled practitioners from each area have had to try and learn new skills, some of which they may not have wanted to do or aren’t capable of learning (surveillance, advanced driving, suspect interviews/management, investigations). So we’ve gone from a lot of people who were very skilled, albeit in quite a narrow field, to not very many people trying to do many more things. It’s naive to think that the quality of service/end “product” won’t suffer.
Yes, there are a very small minority of cops who are lazy/racist/bent, but there are fewer and fewer places for them to hide. They’re getting challenged and dealt with much sooner than previously. Most of the cops I know want to do a good job and genuinely want to help people. Everyone enjoys locking up the bad guys.
OP, please keep reporting incidents to give your local plod a true picture of what's happening.
Pothole said:
Dibble said:
80 to 85% of what the police deal with isn’t crime. There are probably less officers on duty for your local overnight area than there are staff on duty at the nearest 24 hour McDonald’s. Response officers are run ragged, usually dealing with “concern for welfare” calls and immediate threats/risks to life. Throw I. A couple of high risk missing from homes, a constant supervision in the (now no longer local) cells and one or two mental health patients that need to be escorted until they’re seen by an approved mental health practitioner and that’s the box pretty much empty, I’m aftraid.
The reality is that there are about 20,000 fewer officers than there were seven or eight years ago. My own force has gone from about 3,500 officers to 2,700. Police staff numbers were reduced by about 400 or so. Demand hasn’t reduce, it’s increased. Departments have been cut, amalgamated or disbanded. We’ve lost our own helicopter to the National Police Air Service and deployment times from about 15 minutes for the entire county are at least 20 minutes to up to 40 minutes from NPAS aircraft, if they’re available and not already tied up in two of Britain’s biggest cities.
Unfortunately, if there aren’t any immediate lines of enquiry, you’re unlikely to see an officer immediately for a burglary (if at all). Proactive patrolling is a rare luxury these days. That said, I’d still recommend phoning everything in. At least that way, crime mapping can be potentially matched against resources when they’re (admittedly infrequently) available. I’m afraid it’s a bit “computer says no” for all public services these days. If it’s not recorded, it hasn’t happened. Ring it in, report it online and keep pushing.
I’m sorry you didn’t get the response you wanted. Sometimes, just explaining the realities can help people understand what all the public services are up against. It doesn’t improve the situation, but at least you might know/understand why you don’t get a visit straight away.
I had a motorbike accident back in May 2017. I was lucky that it was on the outskirts of one of our bigger towns, which still has a hospital with A&E. The response paramedic was there within 10 minutes and the ambulance was there within 15 to 20 minutes. I’m aware of people with similar, or worse, injuries in more rural areas having to wait more than an hour for an ambulance. I wouldn’t like to have had to wait much longer than I did befor the paramedic started whacking me full of morphine and entonox.
Do “the Police” as an organisation always get it right? No, of course not. Part of the current problems have been created by what we “used” to do. The “nice to do” stuff. Now, we are pretty much “firefighting”, with little, if any, proactive work, at any level (our major crimes unit has gone from three teams to two, to one and has merged with another of the special ops units, meaning that former skilled practitioners from each area have had to try and learn new skills, some of which they may not have wanted to do or aren’t capable of learning (surveillance, advanced driving, suspect interviews/management, investigations). So we’ve gone from a lot of people who were very skilled, albeit in quite a narrow field, to not very many people trying to do many more things. It’s naive to think that the quality of service/end “product” won’t suffer.
Yes, there are a very small minority of cops who are lazy/racist/bent, but there are fewer and fewer places for them to hide. They’re getting challenged and dealt with much sooner than previously. Most of the cops I know want to do a good job and genuinely want to help people. Everyone enjoys locking up the bad guys.
This is the true state of affairs I see from the inside. The reality is that there are about 20,000 fewer officers than there were seven or eight years ago. My own force has gone from about 3,500 officers to 2,700. Police staff numbers were reduced by about 400 or so. Demand hasn’t reduce, it’s increased. Departments have been cut, amalgamated or disbanded. We’ve lost our own helicopter to the National Police Air Service and deployment times from about 15 minutes for the entire county are at least 20 minutes to up to 40 minutes from NPAS aircraft, if they’re available and not already tied up in two of Britain’s biggest cities.
Unfortunately, if there aren’t any immediate lines of enquiry, you’re unlikely to see an officer immediately for a burglary (if at all). Proactive patrolling is a rare luxury these days. That said, I’d still recommend phoning everything in. At least that way, crime mapping can be potentially matched against resources when they’re (admittedly infrequently) available. I’m afraid it’s a bit “computer says no” for all public services these days. If it’s not recorded, it hasn’t happened. Ring it in, report it online and keep pushing.
I’m sorry you didn’t get the response you wanted. Sometimes, just explaining the realities can help people understand what all the public services are up against. It doesn’t improve the situation, but at least you might know/understand why you don’t get a visit straight away.
I had a motorbike accident back in May 2017. I was lucky that it was on the outskirts of one of our bigger towns, which still has a hospital with A&E. The response paramedic was there within 10 minutes and the ambulance was there within 15 to 20 minutes. I’m aware of people with similar, or worse, injuries in more rural areas having to wait more than an hour for an ambulance. I wouldn’t like to have had to wait much longer than I did befor the paramedic started whacking me full of morphine and entonox.
Do “the Police” as an organisation always get it right? No, of course not. Part of the current problems have been created by what we “used” to do. The “nice to do” stuff. Now, we are pretty much “firefighting”, with little, if any, proactive work, at any level (our major crimes unit has gone from three teams to two, to one and has merged with another of the special ops units, meaning that former skilled practitioners from each area have had to try and learn new skills, some of which they may not have wanted to do or aren’t capable of learning (surveillance, advanced driving, suspect interviews/management, investigations). So we’ve gone from a lot of people who were very skilled, albeit in quite a narrow field, to not very many people trying to do many more things. It’s naive to think that the quality of service/end “product” won’t suffer.
Yes, there are a very small minority of cops who are lazy/racist/bent, but there are fewer and fewer places for them to hide. They’re getting challenged and dealt with much sooner than previously. Most of the cops I know want to do a good job and genuinely want to help people. Everyone enjoys locking up the bad guys.
OP, please keep reporting incidents to give your local plod a true picture of what's happening.
No one wants to work with them but people still tend to put up with them as the hassle of doing the job, carrying all their extra work and having a go is just too much hassle and energy expended.
Sa Calobra said:
The lazy ones stand out a country mile. Everyone knows them and some of them are oblivious that everyone knows.
No one wants to work with them but people still tend to put up with them as the hassle of doing the job, carrying all their extra work and having a go is just too much hassle and energy expended.
It's still too hard to get rid of people like that. No one wants to work with them but people still tend to put up with them as the hassle of doing the job, carrying all their extra work and having a go is just too much hassle and energy expended.
UPP is unfit for purpose, and of all the things Windsor did to reform the police, he left that untouched (I think).
Dibble said:
80 to 85% of what the police deal with isn’t crime. There are probably less officers on duty for your local overnight area than there are staff on duty at the nearest 24 hour McDonald’s. Response officers are run ragged, usually dealing with “concern for welfare” calls and immediate threats/risks to life. Throw I. A couple of high risk missing from homes, a constant supervision in the (now no longer local) cells and one or two mental health patients that need to be escorted until they’re seen by an approved mental health practitioner and that’s the box pretty much empty, I’m aftraid.
The reality is that there are about 20,000 fewer officers than there were seven or eight years ago. My own force has gone from about 3,500 officers to 2,700. Police staff numbers were reduced by about 400 or so. Demand hasn’t reduce, it’s increased. Departments have been cut, amalgamated or disbanded. We’ve lost our own helicopter to the National Police Air Service and deployment times from about 15 minutes for the entire county are at least 20 minutes to up to 40 minutes from NPAS aircraft, if they’re available and not already tied up in two of Britain’s biggest cities.
Unfortunately, if there aren’t any immediate lines of enquiry, you’re unlikely to see an officer immediately for a burglary (if at all). Proactive patrolling is a rare luxury these days. That said, I’d still recommend phoning everything in. At least that way, crime mapping can be potentially matched against resources when they’re (admittedly infrequently) available. I’m afraid it’s a bit “computer says no” for all public services these days. If it’s not recorded, it hasn’t happened. Ring it in, report it online and keep pushing.
I’m sorry you didn’t get the response you wanted. Sometimes, just explaining the realities can help people understand what all the public services are up against. It doesn’t improve the situation, but at least you might know/understand why you don’t get a visit straight away.
I had a motorbike accident back in May 2017. I was lucky that it was on the outskirts of one of our bigger towns, which still has a hospital with A&E. The response paramedic was there within 10 minutes and the ambulance was there within 15 to 20 minutes. I’m aware of people with similar, or worse, injuries in more rural areas having to wait more than an hour for an ambulance. I wouldn’t like to have had to wait much longer than I did befor the paramedic started whacking me full of morphine and entonox.
Do “the Police” as an organisation always get it right? No, of course not. Part of the current problems have been created by what we “used” to do. The “nice to do” stuff. Now, we are pretty much “firefighting”, with little, if any, proactive work, at any level (our major crimes unit has gone from three teams to two, to one and has merged with another of the special ops units, meaning that former skilled practitioners from each area have had to try and learn new skills, some of which they may not have wanted to do or aren’t capable of learning (surveillance, advanced driving, suspect interviews/management, investigations). So we’ve gone from a lot of people who were very skilled, albeit in quite a narrow field, to not very many people trying to do many more things. It’s naive to think that the quality of service/end “product” won’t suffer.
Yes, there are a very small minority of cops who are lazy/racist/bent, but there are fewer and fewer places for them to hide. They’re getting challenged and dealt with much sooner than previously. Most of the cops I know want to do a good job and genuinely want to help people. Everyone enjoys locking up the bad guys.
Everyone can see that resources have been overstretched, not doubt about that. I think what doesn't help is seeing coppers sitting in camera vans day in day out (often at locations that naturally fool people into speeding - one here at the M5 J25 exit - looks just like a NSL but it's a 30 with no obvious repeaters). I just can't see how any police force can justify putting any resources into regular speed traps when people are suffering far more serious crimes. The reality is that there are about 20,000 fewer officers than there were seven or eight years ago. My own force has gone from about 3,500 officers to 2,700. Police staff numbers were reduced by about 400 or so. Demand hasn’t reduce, it’s increased. Departments have been cut, amalgamated or disbanded. We’ve lost our own helicopter to the National Police Air Service and deployment times from about 15 minutes for the entire county are at least 20 minutes to up to 40 minutes from NPAS aircraft, if they’re available and not already tied up in two of Britain’s biggest cities.
Unfortunately, if there aren’t any immediate lines of enquiry, you’re unlikely to see an officer immediately for a burglary (if at all). Proactive patrolling is a rare luxury these days. That said, I’d still recommend phoning everything in. At least that way, crime mapping can be potentially matched against resources when they’re (admittedly infrequently) available. I’m afraid it’s a bit “computer says no” for all public services these days. If it’s not recorded, it hasn’t happened. Ring it in, report it online and keep pushing.
I’m sorry you didn’t get the response you wanted. Sometimes, just explaining the realities can help people understand what all the public services are up against. It doesn’t improve the situation, but at least you might know/understand why you don’t get a visit straight away.
I had a motorbike accident back in May 2017. I was lucky that it was on the outskirts of one of our bigger towns, which still has a hospital with A&E. The response paramedic was there within 10 minutes and the ambulance was there within 15 to 20 minutes. I’m aware of people with similar, or worse, injuries in more rural areas having to wait more than an hour for an ambulance. I wouldn’t like to have had to wait much longer than I did befor the paramedic started whacking me full of morphine and entonox.
Do “the Police” as an organisation always get it right? No, of course not. Part of the current problems have been created by what we “used” to do. The “nice to do” stuff. Now, we are pretty much “firefighting”, with little, if any, proactive work, at any level (our major crimes unit has gone from three teams to two, to one and has merged with another of the special ops units, meaning that former skilled practitioners from each area have had to try and learn new skills, some of which they may not have wanted to do or aren’t capable of learning (surveillance, advanced driving, suspect interviews/management, investigations). So we’ve gone from a lot of people who were very skilled, albeit in quite a narrow field, to not very many people trying to do many more things. It’s naive to think that the quality of service/end “product” won’t suffer.
Yes, there are a very small minority of cops who are lazy/racist/bent, but there are fewer and fewer places for them to hide. They’re getting challenged and dealt with much sooner than previously. Most of the cops I know want to do a good job and genuinely want to help people. Everyone enjoys locking up the bad guys.
I get it that the crimes we are talking about are at night, and speed traps are usually out in the day, when I guess it's quiet, but still, it sends across totally the wrong message. I have a plod friend and he agrees completely. Ruins their image and relationship with the public.
I had a burglary in progress in London - caught them stealing my scooter. They gave me the bird and walked up the (long) road, pushing it, as they couldn't start it. Easiest catch in the world..... Plod came round the next day. 10 odd months later it traspired it was used in lots of robberies, and I was asked to attend court - I declined as I'd moved abroad. I got quite a s
tty response. I shook my head in disbelief.RogerDodger said:
I get it that the crimes we are talking about are at night, and speed traps are usually out in the day, when I guess it's quiet, but still, it sends across totally the wrong message. I have a plod friend and he agrees completely. Ruins their image and relationship with the public.
The request from vocal groups within communities is to enforce speed limits.The resources used to enforce speed limits aren't suitable for investigating burglaries so they can't just be taken from one & given to the other (that aside they will still have road traffic responsibilities & that will require some resources).
Far more resources are set aside for immediate response & burglary investigation than speed enforcement, but burglary investigation is far more time consuming so even though there are more resources used they are spread thin when it comes to that activity.
Road traffic resources have already been stripped to the bone, which is part of the reason that cameras are used as a back fill (& of course that cameras are more cost effective & efficient in the processing of that particular offence than officers patrolling in vehicles doing it).
La Liga said:
t's still too hard to get rid of people like that.
UPP is unfit for purpose, and of all the things Windsor did to reform the police, he left that untouched (I think).
Quality and depth of resourcing is also highly dependent on the quality of the resourcing unit and their ability to get shift numbers right.........UPP is unfit for purpose, and of all the things Windsor did to reform the police, he left that untouched (I think).
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