I'm Getting Disillusioned with the Police
Discussion
Historically I've been a big supporter of the police. My mum was a policewoman for a short while and I've never been in trouble (except a parking ticket once when my car had broken down 
). However, the more exposure I have to the police, the more disillusioned I feel, and it's not just down to meeting one or two bad coppers and taring them all with the same brush:
1) Driving down the motorway in convoy with friends in three other cars. The lead car is driven by a policeman (off duty) friend of mine. Policeman pulls onto the hard shoulder waving us over. We all pull up behind him as we don't knwo where we're going and we think he has broken down. It turns out the fourth car had called him to say they'd lost him and he'd pulled all three cars onto the hard shoulder to wait for them!!
The same guy has also admitted that him and some of his police friends often buy fake watches, etc. He frequently gets into fights when he's out, usually with nightclub doormen.
2) My brother knows a guy in one of the armed response units. They often go paintballing and this guy is amazing. Unfortunately, he has a hadbit of making remarks like, "I might get to put a bit of lead in someone this week."
3) A very good friend of mine is a policewoman. She got caught doing 94mph in a 70mph zone on her way into work by a police car on a bridge (IIRC). She got to the station, took out a panda car, went back to the scene and got the copper to get rid of the evidence.
4) A guy I know, who is by far the most provocative, arrogant and generally annoying tw@t I've ever met (started martial arts so he could beat people up), has somehow got into the police force and is apparently now on a massive power trip. He is so arrogant he was refused for office training in the army...
5) A (now ex) policeman lives just round the corner from me. He is now running a 'garage' from his house - I believe this is not legal. Even if it is legal, parking the various cars on the corner of a junction is not. His dog recently bit one of my neighbours when he let it off the lead. The (very pleasant and polite) neighbour went round to tell him and was met with a "So what?" repsonse by his wife. Worse, all his police buddies often call round and park their Panda cars illegally and dangerously on the junction.
6) Two policemen live on my small road. They are without doubt the noisest households on the road. Both policemen's sons have drum kits (the only ones on this quiet cul-de-sac). One of the guys is OK and only plays now and again and not for very long. The other is a nightmare who has the residents of my road and the road running parallel despairing. The drums are so loud (they're in his garage) that even with all the windows shut and the TV on they still give me a headache and that's without his buddy with the electric guitar. I'm four houses down on the opposite side of the road - God knows what it is like for his immediate neighbours. Everyone is too scared to go and say anything because he's a policeman. However, I went over there and as politely as you could imagine asked if he could fit some mufflers. He was a tw@t about it and has done nothing some two months later.
7) I have been pulled for apparently doing 40mph+ in a 30mph zone. However, I'd seen the policeman follow me out of a car park and had kept to bang-on 30mph. I understand doing 30mph exactly can irritate policemen, but given that I have two friends who have been done for 32mph in a 30mph zone I decided this was the safest option. He gave me a bollocking, despite the fact I had done nothing wrong and then gave me a producer.
8) When I was 18 I was in my mini in Manchester with three friends. We were all wearing baseball caps. I was following my mum and she went through a traffic light and before I could get there it had gone to red, so I stopped in the left-hand lane. A police van pulled up alongside me in the right-hand lane and we both waited for the light to go green. I accelerated away from the lights (1000cc mini so not exactly a rocketship) and changed into the right-hand lane to get behind my mum, all the while being aware of where the police van was. He promptly pulled me over and started to fill in the forms for dangerous driving! Apparently I had cut him up and he had nearly crashed trying to avoid me. This was bullsh1t as I knew where he was. The real problem was that he assumed I was showing off by 'beating him from the lights'. When my mum got out of her car and asked what was going on and he found out my address was a wealthy part of Cheshire he 'let me off'.
Having said the above, I have had some nice experiences with police officers over the years, but, frankly, most of them have been bad. Am I just unlucky or is this indicactive of some wider trend where the police are increasingly taught not to actually care about getting the respect of the public they serve?
I really hope someone can turn my view round on this - I genuienly don't want to be anti-police!
>> Edited by roadsweeper on Wednesday 28th September 12:41
). However, the more exposure I have to the police, the more disillusioned I feel, and it's not just down to meeting one or two bad coppers and taring them all with the same brush: 1) Driving down the motorway in convoy with friends in three other cars. The lead car is driven by a policeman (off duty) friend of mine. Policeman pulls onto the hard shoulder waving us over. We all pull up behind him as we don't knwo where we're going and we think he has broken down. It turns out the fourth car had called him to say they'd lost him and he'd pulled all three cars onto the hard shoulder to wait for them!!
The same guy has also admitted that him and some of his police friends often buy fake watches, etc. He frequently gets into fights when he's out, usually with nightclub doormen. 2) My brother knows a guy in one of the armed response units. They often go paintballing and this guy is amazing. Unfortunately, he has a hadbit of making remarks like, "I might get to put a bit of lead in someone this week."
3) A very good friend of mine is a policewoman. She got caught doing 94mph in a 70mph zone on her way into work by a police car on a bridge (IIRC). She got to the station, took out a panda car, went back to the scene and got the copper to get rid of the evidence.
4) A guy I know, who is by far the most provocative, arrogant and generally annoying tw@t I've ever met (started martial arts so he could beat people up), has somehow got into the police force and is apparently now on a massive power trip. He is so arrogant he was refused for office training in the army...
5) A (now ex) policeman lives just round the corner from me. He is now running a 'garage' from his house - I believe this is not legal. Even if it is legal, parking the various cars on the corner of a junction is not. His dog recently bit one of my neighbours when he let it off the lead. The (very pleasant and polite) neighbour went round to tell him and was met with a "So what?" repsonse by his wife. Worse, all his police buddies often call round and park their Panda cars illegally and dangerously on the junction.
6) Two policemen live on my small road. They are without doubt the noisest households on the road. Both policemen's sons have drum kits (the only ones on this quiet cul-de-sac). One of the guys is OK and only plays now and again and not for very long. The other is a nightmare who has the residents of my road and the road running parallel despairing. The drums are so loud (they're in his garage) that even with all the windows shut and the TV on they still give me a headache and that's without his buddy with the electric guitar. I'm four houses down on the opposite side of the road - God knows what it is like for his immediate neighbours. Everyone is too scared to go and say anything because he's a policeman. However, I went over there and as politely as you could imagine asked if he could fit some mufflers. He was a tw@t about it and has done nothing some two months later.
7) I have been pulled for apparently doing 40mph+ in a 30mph zone. However, I'd seen the policeman follow me out of a car park and had kept to bang-on 30mph. I understand doing 30mph exactly can irritate policemen, but given that I have two friends who have been done for 32mph in a 30mph zone I decided this was the safest option. He gave me a bollocking, despite the fact I had done nothing wrong and then gave me a producer.
8) When I was 18 I was in my mini in Manchester with three friends. We were all wearing baseball caps. I was following my mum and she went through a traffic light and before I could get there it had gone to red, so I stopped in the left-hand lane. A police van pulled up alongside me in the right-hand lane and we both waited for the light to go green. I accelerated away from the lights (1000cc mini so not exactly a rocketship) and changed into the right-hand lane to get behind my mum, all the while being aware of where the police van was. He promptly pulled me over and started to fill in the forms for dangerous driving! Apparently I had cut him up and he had nearly crashed trying to avoid me. This was bullsh1t as I knew where he was. The real problem was that he assumed I was showing off by 'beating him from the lights'. When my mum got out of her car and asked what was going on and he found out my address was a wealthy part of Cheshire he 'let me off'.
Having said the above, I have had some nice experiences with police officers over the years, but, frankly, most of them have been bad. Am I just unlucky or is this indicactive of some wider trend where the police are increasingly taught not to actually care about getting the respect of the public they serve?
I really hope someone can turn my view round on this - I genuienly don't want to be anti-police!
>> Edited by roadsweeper on Wednesday 28th September 12:41
Any policeman who likes working Reading on a Sat night is a total nutter
www.getreading.co.uk/story.asp?intid=11245
www.getreading.co.uk/story.asp?intid=11245
Roadsweeper Liebchen - are indeed some (about 10%) who are not worthy of wearing that uniform. Posted last year in one of my tiffs with Strassen
about the police officer at the supermarket who kept parking in disabled bay and being a stroppy so and so when asked by management not to do so. I did mention this to him myself on third occasion I saw him do this und he went all huffy over it. On the occasion when the store manager broached him about his contnued abuse of these bays near the entrance - I was heavily pregant und he saw me waddling along towards the store. He shoved a trolley in my direction und if my youngest son had not been so quick thinking - I may have had a problem on my hands with the unborn baby 
Mad Doc did complain about this und we got apology.. but there ist no excuse for that kind of behaviour in my opinion. But thankfully, not all behave like that or react to stress that way. (It was excuse given 
)
Also Mad Doc's elderly aunt used to live next door to a now ex WPC who used to block her driveway, have parties with colleagues all through the night, use the old lady's wheely bin for her rubbish - including the doggy doo-dahs from her dog. After the WPC threatened the elderly lady with arrest for daring to complain over the behaviour and then threatening the Mad Doc with the same when we visited to find his aunt on verge of a breakdown over it and he went to have a polite and calm word - only to get screamed at in a most bizarre fashion and when she threatened to call he colleagues to come and arrest him for "disturbing the peace", Mad D oc
calmly took out his own Handy und called them himself. She ist no longer WPC und has since moved und Aunty ist now happy und getting on with the new neighbours as she does with everyone else. No one around liked the ex WPC in any case. Again - seem she resign over stress problem.
But for all that - even your rogue experiences - am sure by no means representative of majority und we do count a fair few BiB as pals we are very proud to know und would say majority we do meet are well worthy of that uniform. Ist like everything else - about 10-15% should be weeded out... und seem you have met them all.
Most BiB on here come across as types to be proud of anyway und do not begrudge my taxes paying for these professionals. Like us - they'd rather see the bad apples whizzed out.
about the police officer at the supermarket who kept parking in disabled bay and being a stroppy so and so when asked by management not to do so. I did mention this to him myself on third occasion I saw him do this und he went all huffy over it. On the occasion when the store manager broached him about his contnued abuse of these bays near the entrance - I was heavily pregant und he saw me waddling along towards the store. He shoved a trolley in my direction und if my youngest son had not been so quick thinking - I may have had a problem on my hands with the unborn baby Mad Doc did complain about this und we got apology.. but there ist no excuse for that kind of behaviour in my opinion. But thankfully, not all behave like that or react to stress that way. (It was excuse given ) Also Mad Doc's elderly aunt used to live next door to a now ex WPC who used to block her driveway, have parties with colleagues all through the night, use the old lady's wheely bin for her rubbish - including the doggy doo-dahs from her dog. After the WPC threatened the elderly lady with arrest for daring to complain over the behaviour and then threatening the Mad Doc with the same when we visited to find his aunt on verge of a breakdown over it and he went to have a polite and calm word - only to get screamed at in a most bizarre fashion and when she threatened to call he colleagues to come and arrest him for "disturbing the peace", Mad D oc
calmly took out his own Handy und called them himself. She ist no longer WPC und has since moved und Aunty ist now happy und getting on with the new neighbours as she does with everyone else. No one around liked the ex WPC in any case. Again - seem she resign over stress problem. But for all that - even your rogue experiences - am sure by no means representative of majority und we do count a fair few BiB as pals we are very proud to know und would say majority we do meet are well worthy of that uniform. Ist like everything else - about 10-15% should be weeded out... und seem you have met them all.
Most BiB on here come across as types to be proud of anyway und do not begrudge my taxes paying for these professionals. Like us - they'd rather see the bad apples whizzed out.
Raify said:
I reckon good policeman are like good football referees, you don't notice the great ones. I'm sure there are plenty of great policemen / women out there, and if you're lucky (to not be involved in a crime), you'll never have occasion to cross their paths...
Hopefully this is the case.
I'm not going to stand on a soapbox here, but most of us are perfectly normal
human beings that enjoy the job for the good that can be done and not to gain a personal power trip. Thanks for the posts everyone. 
I have had some good experiences with the police. One in particular springs to mind where I was caught doing something wrong in the car (though I was provoked) and I got a bollocking and let-off, I think because they could see I was genuinely sorry. I did learn from that experience and my driving improved.
I also had a nice experience in Manchester when out with my American girlfriend. The American police are very different from the Brits in many ways - I think the fact that they carry guns just changes the hold way in which interactactions between them and the public happen. Anyway, this British policeman was very polite and helpful and even let her have her picture taken with her wearing his helmet so she could show her friends at home! That picture was a big hit with her friends and he actually made me feel proud of our police force that day and backed-up all I had told her about how British policing worked.
I think the problem is just that I've had so many bad experiences recently. The drummer dibble probably pushed me over the edge!
I have had some good experiences with the police. One in particular springs to mind where I was caught doing something wrong in the car (though I was provoked) and I got a bollocking and let-off, I think because they could see I was genuinely sorry. I did learn from that experience and my driving improved.
I also had a nice experience in Manchester when out with my American girlfriend. The American police are very different from the Brits in many ways - I think the fact that they carry guns just changes the hold way in which interactactions between them and the public happen. Anyway, this British policeman was very polite and helpful and even let her have her picture taken with her wearing his helmet so she could show her friends at home! That picture was a big hit with her friends and he actually made me feel proud of our police force that day and backed-up all I had told her about how British policing worked.
I think the problem is just that I've had so many bad experiences recently. The drummer dibble probably pushed me over the edge!
Being unhappy with police response is now getting to be normal nowadays. I know of three separate times when things have been reported to our local police ranging from kids throwing stones at passing cars then hiding in the bushes by their house, ripping up the bushes that are also near their own house and other things. Each time the police said they would come and they never turn up. If they have no intention of coming why the pretence? just tell us I know you pay your taxes and we tell people the only way we can combat crime is with help from the public, but we cant be bothered we have something else to do.
medusa said:
Being unhappy with police response is now getting to be normal nowadays.
When my house got burgled a few years ago the BiB took ages to get there after I reported it. The culprit was long gone anyway, but while talking to the two BiB, who were very polite and helpful they said they've only got 2 panda cars to cover the entire South/East Reading area, including some of the villages south of Reading. Clearly they are well understaffed!
Situation might be better now, but I gained some understanding of how difficult their job can be if they're needed in several places at the same time.
>> Edited by T5-R on Wednesday 28th September 16:49
Raify said:
I reckon good policeman are like good football referees, you don't notice the great ones. I'm sure there are plenty of great policemen / women out there, and if you're lucky (to not be involved in a crime), you'll never have occasion to cross their paths...
That's exactly the way I see it!
And they will be having words in some shell likes while the game is running, just to make sure they know where the line is drawn.
roadsweeper said:
Historically I've been a big supporter of the police..........
I genuienly don't want to be anti-police!
>> Edited by roadsweeper on Wednesday 28th September 12:41
its a shame, and you could be right about bad apples. Its something i always try to keep and i like people to support the police, its how we operate.
There is always lots of bravdo on days off with colleagues, its a stress relief type thing.
Sorry youve not met enough of the good ones.
Firefly said:
Well said T5R. There seems to be a growing number of pointless BiB-bashing posts on here lately, it achieves nothing. We may as well have posts slagging off any profession. It's just boring reading these pointless rants.......
Noone is making you read them, and as longas they are moderate and not personally offensive why shouldnt RS let off steam?
I don't think Roadsweeper was particularly having a dig, I have read a lot worse one liner sniping type comments than his post. He is as he says disillusioned by a few numpties.
It's fair to assume that if you have dealings with a few that give off the wrong impression that your opinion will be tainted, but also worth keeping an open mind - granted this will close the more numpties you meet - you get them in all professions.
And yes, there are quite a few bib bashing threads that some jump on the bandwagon with. Personally if they are pointless rubbish they aren't worth an answer, and certainly not worth rising to. I don't anyway. Some, deserve an answer from 'my' or 'our' side of the fence, which generally get answered realistically from the bib on here.
Anyway, I'm on nights tonight.
It's fair to assume that if you have dealings with a few that give off the wrong impression that your opinion will be tainted, but also worth keeping an open mind - granted this will close the more numpties you meet - you get them in all professions.
And yes, there are quite a few bib bashing threads that some jump on the bandwagon with. Personally if they are pointless rubbish they aren't worth an answer, and certainly not worth rising to. I don't anyway. Some, deserve an answer from 'my' or 'our' side of the fence, which generally get answered realistically from the bib on here.
Anyway, I'm on nights tonight.
Like anything else, it's the actions of a few that spoil it for the majority.
Like the latest Police stupidity, arresting an 80 year old man for "Terrorism" (real problem ; disagreeing with Jack Straw at the Labour Party conference). What *CRETIN* authorised that ?
I find this abuse of power quite scary, and a better argument against *any* new powers for the Police it is difficult to find.
Virtually all these "new rules" are brought in, supposedly, for terrorist, drug dealers, yobbos, and then they are applied to people who simply dissent.
That is Orwellian.
The appalling behaviour of a tiny few (which includes the witless Ian Blair) damage the public's view of the 98% straight BiB.
It's appalling.
Like the latest Police stupidity, arresting an 80 year old man for "Terrorism" (real problem ; disagreeing with Jack Straw at the Labour Party conference). What *CRETIN* authorised that ?
I find this abuse of power quite scary, and a better argument against *any* new powers for the Police it is difficult to find.
Virtually all these "new rules" are brought in, supposedly, for terrorist, drug dealers, yobbos, and then they are applied to people who simply dissent.
That is Orwellian.
The appalling behaviour of a tiny few (which includes the witless Ian Blair) damage the public's view of the 98% straight BiB.
It's appalling.
It's the same as every walk of life, you meet some bad, most good....
There do seem to be few too many "I got pulled over today for something i admit doing, but i didn't like being told off so am going to have a huge sweeping-statement whinge about Police" threads on here the past couple of weeks, normally posted by people who aren't regular contributors to this section. Most of us here seem a reasonable enough bunch, even when we're in disagreement over certain things.....
Oh and Autismuk, i won't have a word said against Ian Blair.....lovely man..... who is really really liked by us grass roots coppers....
There do seem to be few too many "I got pulled over today for something i admit doing, but i didn't like being told off so am going to have a huge sweeping-statement whinge about Police" threads on here the past couple of weeks, normally posted by people who aren't regular contributors to this section. Most of us here seem a reasonable enough bunch, even when we're in disagreement over certain things.....
Oh and Autismuk, i won't have a word said against Ian Blair.....lovely man..... who is really really liked by us grass roots coppers....
medusa said:
I totally understand that man power shortage is a problem in most walks of life, but people would be a lot happier if they were told there is no one available at this time, not we will send someone straight away and then never arriving.
Man power shortage is a big problem....
When I was with West Yorkshire in the large town I worked we had about 20PCs working a shift. I understand this is now down to 2-4PCs...Not good
Phil
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