BIB turning up on the doorstep?
Discussion
A friend of mine had a phone call at his business (he's the director there) the other day, they said they were from the police and could they speak to the managing director. Receptionist asked what it was about, caller refused to say, so she said "Well unfortunately I cannot put your call through then." Caller asked again, being quite rude. This time receptionist said "I could put you through to the admin manager who normally deals with general unsolicited calls?". Caller said "I do not want to speak to the general manager, I WANT TO SPEAK TO THE MANAGING DIRECTOR! RIGHT, THAT'S IT, I'M TURNING UP AT THE OFFICE!" And put the phone down.
Discounting the fact that it might not have been the police, would they be allowed to turn up like that without stating what the purpose of the visit was? Would he be under obligation to speak to them. He's not got a guilty conscience, the receptionist stated and carried out his company policy correctly, but its just the manner of the call has got his back up. Surely they should've at least known him by name?
Strange.....
Edited to say : Oops, wrong area. Can someone move it to SP&L for me...
>>> Edited by neil.b on Saturday 19th March 08:08
Discounting the fact that it might not have been the police, would they be allowed to turn up like that without stating what the purpose of the visit was? Would he be under obligation to speak to them. He's not got a guilty conscience, the receptionist stated and carried out his company policy correctly, but its just the manner of the call has got his back up. Surely they should've at least known him by name?
Strange.....
Edited to say : Oops, wrong area. Can someone move it to SP&L for me...
>>> Edited by neil.b on Saturday 19th March 08:08
Well, they can't insist, but they want to talk to this guy, so they don't have any option really. I wouldn't have a problem with a cop turning up for a chat as long as they were sensibly discreet.
It is a Catch-22 ; it could be something personal or private that the cop felt could only be discussed with the bloke.
Having said that, I think that the lack of ID is debatable. (i.e. not "Hello this is PC Jones from Barley Police").
And if there's any doubt about the legitimacy of the "Policeman" then ask for their station number and call them back to check they are who they say they are.
>> Edited by autismuk on Saturday 19th March 08:57
It is a Catch-22 ; it could be something personal or private that the cop felt could only be discussed with the bloke.
Having said that, I think that the lack of ID is debatable. (i.e. not "Hello this is PC Jones from Barley Police").
And if there's any doubt about the legitimacy of the "Policeman" then ask for their station number and call them back to check they are who they say they are.
>> Edited by autismuk on Saturday 19th March 08:57
autismuk said:This is not a positive check. They could give any telephone number (i.e. the one they are calling from). Ask for the name of the force (sorry, 'service') and the officer's name and collar number and station. Then either look up the number of the station in the directory or call the Force HQ and ask for the number of the station. When connected ask for the officer by name and when speaking to them ask for their collar number. Only then ask whether they called and what the call was about. If the link fails at any of these points, ask to be connected to someone who can take a complaint of impersonating a police officer.
[ ... ]
And if there's any doubt about the legitimacy of the "Policeman" then ask for their station number and call them back to check they are who they say they are.
Streaky
)My Dads Next door neighbour (OBE) got a visit and had his house searched by 5 BIBs a few months ago. All legit warrant etc. Turns out they were looking for stolen goods and were acting on a tipoff from a little scrote. All very embarassing for the leading officer. I guess like any other job misakes will be made and maybe the guy on the phone was at the end of his tether that day. Sounds unlikely though or not the full story anyway.
Personally don't think it is at all rude not to wish to discuss details with the telephone operator. Also let's face it we are getting this third hand and don't really know the background or if any history between the individual and the officers concerned.
Mind you the best line I heard was years ago while waiting in the reception area of a place I was visiting.
CID walk in, by pure chance I knew one of the DCs socially, and according to pub talk later there was some "history" between his guvnor and the firm's boss.
Anyway when they get the attempted bums rush from the receptionist with "Have you an appointment" his gaffer pulls out his ID folder flipping it open with "THIS is my appointment darling!"
His tone was such that to be honest I almost looked round for the TV cameras expecting them to be filming an episode of The Sweeney.
Mind you the best line I heard was years ago while waiting in the reception area of a place I was visiting.
CID walk in, by pure chance I knew one of the DCs socially, and according to pub talk later there was some "history" between his guvnor and the firm's boss.
Anyway when they get the attempted bums rush from the receptionist with "Have you an appointment" his gaffer pulls out his ID folder flipping it open with "THIS is my appointment darling!"
His tone was such that to be honest I almost looked round for the TV cameras expecting them to be filming an episode of The Sweeney.
Takes me back to when I was about 19 (over 20 years ago) and received a phone call from the BiB asking to speak to the driver of vehicle registration XXXX XXX (my company car). "That'd be me" says I in all innocence and dutifully gave my name. "Wait there, we'll call you back". So I did.
"We'll call you back" is, apparently, code-speak for "We're coming round to your place of work to take you away". Which they did.
Turns out they (Met Police) had been asked to bring me in by Bedfordshire Police for questioning. En-route to the nick one of them tried to lighten the atmosphere with "So, what you done then?". Seems they didn't even know what they were nicking me for.
It took the yokels 8 hours to get from Leighton Buzzard to Highgate in north London whereupon some of the most inept questioning I have ever seen in my life ensued.
DS: "What time did you get to Leighton Buzzard yesterday?"
Me: "I've never been to Leighton Buzzard"
Two questions later...
DS: What time did you leave Leighton Buzzard yesterday?"
Me: "I've never been to Leighton Buzzard"
Two questions later...........
DS: "What time did you pass through Leighton Buzzard yesterday?"
Me: Writes on piece of paper "I have never been to Leighton Buzzard" and holds it up.
This went on for hours, even the Met BiB present at the interview were getting sick of it.
After three hours I clammed up, said I'd had enough and wanted a solicitor. Luckily a friend of mine was one. So they went off to check my alibi with my parents and got lost on the way back to the nick!!
Never did find out what it was all about, they wouldn't tell me. Solicitor/friend wrote to the Chief Constable who replied to the effect that I was not arrested. The property bag tags with my name on (they stripped and bagged the contents of my car) made him cough into his tea but they still wouldn't tell me what it was all about. Or apologise.
(Thread hijack over. Needed to get that off my chest )
"We'll call you back" is, apparently, code-speak for "We're coming round to your place of work to take you away". Which they did.
Turns out they (Met Police) had been asked to bring me in by Bedfordshire Police for questioning. En-route to the nick one of them tried to lighten the atmosphere with "So, what you done then?". Seems they didn't even know what they were nicking me for.
It took the yokels 8 hours to get from Leighton Buzzard to Highgate in north London whereupon some of the most inept questioning I have ever seen in my life ensued.
DS: "What time did you get to Leighton Buzzard yesterday?"
Me: "I've never been to Leighton Buzzard"
Two questions later...
DS: What time did you leave Leighton Buzzard yesterday?"
Me: "I've never been to Leighton Buzzard"
Two questions later...........
DS: "What time did you pass through Leighton Buzzard yesterday?"
Me: Writes on piece of paper "I have never been to Leighton Buzzard" and holds it up.
This went on for hours, even the Met BiB present at the interview were getting sick of it.
After three hours I clammed up, said I'd had enough and wanted a solicitor. Luckily a friend of mine was one. So they went off to check my alibi with my parents and got lost on the way back to the nick!!
Never did find out what it was all about, they wouldn't tell me. Solicitor/friend wrote to the Chief Constable who replied to the effect that I was not arrested. The property bag tags with my name on (they stripped and bagged the contents of my car) made him cough into his tea but they still wouldn't tell me what it was all about. Or apologise.
(Thread hijack over. Needed to get that off my chest
)
Flat in Fifth said:
Personally don't think it is at all rude not to wish to discuss details with the telephone operator. Also let's face it we are getting this third hand and don't really know the background or if any history between the individual and the officers concerned.
Mind you the best line I heard was years ago while waiting in the reception area of a place I was visiting.
CID walk in, by pure chance I knew one of the DCs socially, and according to pub talk later there was some "history" between his guvnor and the firm's boss.
Anyway when they get the attempted bums rush from the receptionist with "Have you an appointment" his gaffer pulls out his ID folder flipping it open with "THIS is my appointment darling!"
His tone was such that to be honest I almost looked round for the TV cameras expecting them to be filming an episode of The Sweeney.
Know what you mean but the caller didn't even give then name of the person he wanted to speak to - just "Your Managing Director" - so I think that rules out not wanting to discuss a personal matter with the receptionist.
As you say, relayed to me by the receptionist, third-hand.
Still a bit wierd though.
While I was working as a Forensic Data Recovery Officer with Sorry Police, I was attached to the as then Paedophile Squad. Sometimes we would obviously get intel to say that the person works at a particular company and obviously in the interest of confidentiality we would insist on speaking to the Chairman/MD of the company. We would not divulge who we were other than I am soandso from Sorry Police. I do think that some Officers leave themselves open to criticism. I myself would have said that could the MD call back via the Force contact centre and ask to be transferred to myself, thereby confirming who I am.
willmcc said:
We used to get a few of these types of calls usually were from complainants, creditors or even financial "advisors"
People seem to think it is the only way to get through to complain and to be honest it probably was.
Flat in Fifth said:
Anyway when they get the attempted bums rush from the receptionist with "Have you an appointment" his gaffer pulls out his ID folder flipping it open with "THIS is my appointment darling!"
Happy to stand corrected but I don't think flashing the warrent card entitles CID to anything, it merely shows who he is. The reception would be fully in her right to ask the offcer to leave the premises immediately.
The police can only enter the premises with a warrent or if actively in the pursuit of criminal (or something along those lines)
They have no rights to question you or accompany them to the station. There sole right is the power of arrest which they don't like using in "real" crimes (eg other than social order stuff) as it starts the 48hr clock and you can't keep arresting people for the same crime.
May be an old wife's tale by the one I like is if they do kick the door down in the middle of the night switch all the lights off, if they switch them on you can sue for theft of electricity.
bluepolarbear said:Slightly (well, actually, quite a bit) different, but an old Det. Chief Superintendent of my acquaintance used to say that when he was attending (as a guest) a stag night, the first thing he did was locate the main switch. Then, if the place was raided, he could plunge it into darkness and make his escape
[ ... ]
May be an old wife's tale by the one I like is if they do kick the door down in the middle of the night switch all the lights off, if they switch them on you can sue for theft of electricity.
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