Felix.

But we don't have any men or women working in that. We have civilian staff working for a private company who deal with all traffic related tickets and summons. And as i said before we have about 2 traffic cars at times to cover the entire county. In fact the majority of all our 'back office staff' are from this private company. Injured officers and pregnant officers can no longer work in these rolls as they are solely for staff from this private company. Gone are the days where if you are inured on duty, they will find you a role somewhere - And thanks to the milky bar kid (Tom Windsor) if you are injured and can not pass the fitness test, you will run the risk of being dismissed for 'failing to fulfill the role'

So, we don't have any speed cameras; there are hence no issues with having them operated correctly (as they aren't any) and all process files & tickets are dealt with by civilians. I suspect many forces will work like this now.

Yet we are still short of numbers - so am i ok to continue "WHINING ABOUT NOT HAVING SO MANY MEN!!!"

Felix.

We don't work for big corporations, so i'm not sure where your argument is from?

And the 'stupid bi-laws and statutes passed in parliament' - if you mean things like dwelling burglary, rapes, thefts, criminal damage - then yes we do enforce them, or do you think the public don't want us to.

Here is a quick snap shot of last years figures to show you how many for a relatively small force:

Murder 7
Violence with injury 4150
Violence without inj 3783
Rape 328
other sexual offences 549
robbery 300
Dwelling burglary 2402
non dwelling burglary 2670
Bike thefts 1163
theft from person 346
vehicle crime 3039
Shoplifting 5628
theft other 5169
criminal damage 8309
public order 37843
ASBO 43729

Plus loads of missing from homes, sudden deaths, concerns for mental health issues, car crashes etc

So i'm not sure what revenue you think we collect from any of these

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Felix I'm sure you'll agree, the world is a significantly more complicated place than right and wrong, those figures are the end result but behind each one there is a story to be told.

The causes of crime, punishment and the reasons we have particular laws and law enforcement need to be taken into consideration, in that regard looking at the bigger picture Mr pete is not so far off the mark, even though he does come across as a little bonkers sometimes, he does have a very valid point.

Any of us could find ourselves on the wrong side of the law at any moment due to circumstances beyond our control or down and out on the streets, (they say most Americans are 3 pay cheques away from being a bum) if that or some other catastrophic life event happens to a person who knows what they may be capable of, as the OP discovered desperate times call for desperate measures and the vast majority act outside of normal behaviour patterns under such circumstances.

It's not a job I envy, dealing with the fallout and detritus of life in our modern society, it's obvious you care, so thank you for trying to make a difference.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Another facile argument...Felix, you are better than this

YOU are talking about YOUR force/area/whatever.

The REST of us are talking about the UK police in general.

neil-h

Was written by one of his tin foil hatted chums on some conspiracy forum...

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Revenue? hmmmmmm, your arguments hardly stack up when we can all watch the likes of "Interceptors" on TV every night of the week, where the bullies rev folk up, before telling them not to swear, (And what's THAT all about? It's OK to say duck off, but not fukc off???. It's just words FFS, and words cannot harm me), then promptly arresting them for swearing and giving them an £80 fixed penalty, which would, of course, be trebled etc by your dishonest friends the magistrates.
Kerching!

neil-h

The joys of public order offences.

Besides, you're given the opportunity not to get yourself in trouble. We'll stick with your example of swearing, seeing it's nice and easy. What I've just done is constructed several sentences and not once have I sworn or used any offensive language. Anyone with half an ounce of common sense would figure that telling a police officer to '**** off' is a daft idea, so why do it?

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

How on earth does your Mrs cope with you she must have the patience of a saint, that or she's totally deaf.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Ignores me 90% of the time.

Anyway, back to the argument..........

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Felix.

I thought you were talking about Humberside (or Dumberside as you call it) - and judging everything based on your experiences?

So why can't I talk about my force and base my arguments on my experiences?

As we do have numerous people from our force area arguing with me on a daily basis about how bad we are and how we just 'do speeders' and 'ignore all the pedophiles on the streets'. When you inquire further with them, they later admit that neither they or anyone they know have been 'done for speeding' and no one they know has been effected by a pedophile and they can not name a single one.

I often get the impression that people like moaning for the sake of moaning.

pflowers

Dyed Powys police drive round in £50k X5's harassing innocent motorists doing 31mph in a 30mph limit ( I'm not joking ) but when your business gets raided or your 14 year old daughter gets attacked, they treat you like an imbecile.

Patronising, money grabbing bellends I'm afraid.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

I can agree with that, seems like you are getting shot down for explaining how the system works. You would think it was you that got arrested

hodgy0_2

When have they ever worked for "us"

fat-thomas

iTrader: (4)

Utter *****,as said earlier you only realise it when you have been unfortunate to deal with them.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

I have mentioned Humberside, since I have evidence of their money-grabbing stupidity.
One of THE worst performing forces in the country, appointed a female CC, but hey..they do alright against speeding...so that's alright then.

My comment to you was that it's NOT OK to say "we don't do that", when most forces do. It doesn't make YOU right.

You must be bald now you've split so many hairs.

Lisawrx

iTrader: (1)

Really?

I also work with the public, although not in so much of an important job, and I find myself thinking this on pretty much a daily basis. It's commonplace for us staff to deal with people who come across like they have gone out that day looking for some sort of trouble or problem, as if they get their kicks out of the drama and having something to twist about.

Anyhow, back on topic. I've never been in trouble with the police myself, but my opinions of them are mixed from experiences long ago, when needing their help. We also interact a lot with them through work. I would say my overall conclusion, is, there are good and bad, like in any job. Experiences with police are quite personal, and as such, if your only experience has been bad, you'll hate them as a whole, which may be a bit unfair, but I can see how that feeling comes about, the flip of this may be true if any encounters have been good, and those who have had little or no interaction maybe somewhat indifferent, unless swayed one way or another by other people's stories. Then along will come the likes of Felix (who comes across as a decent copper trying to do his best in his job) who will defend the job, as they speak from their personal point of view.

Leaving aside just the odd wrong person for the job (something which should be able to be dealt with through a fair complaints system), no doubt force to force experience will differ due to the targets placed on them and the manpower, along with training. Perhaps there are failings there too at times??? I've come across police with poor people skills just as simple as in the way they speak to people, and it's no wonder friction sparks up. Then, there are some really good who take a totally different approach to keeping situations friendly, as Felix has said, so people don't kick off.

Thing is, they are not perfect, nor are the public and that over the course of years may also have an impact on how they behave too, but regardless of any failings, I still wouldn't want to be without them and it's worth keeping in mind, for every one complaint there is made about them, there will be several 'thumbs up' to them that most of us will never hear of.

I do think though, considering there are bad eggs out there, or just some who could benefit from extra training on how to deal with people better, people should feel absolutely free to complain without fear of it coming back to bite them somehow.

Felix.

They won't convict for 31 in a 30 - unless you can give some examples.....
They also use Volvo D5's
And last year they had 400,000 non emergency calls and nearly 25,000 emergency.

pflowers

Are you saying I'm making it up?

I see them in their beemers (they have 3 series as well) most days, usually parked illegally on roundabouts so they can get a good angle for the ANPR.

They may well get 425,000 calls a year but how many do they actually respond to?

When my daughter got attacked it took three 999 calls to get a physical response, they lied twice saying they had already attended. I have gone into details about this on SN before..

When my business got broken into and tens of thousands of £'s of equipment got stolen they behaved appallingly. Told me a gang had come from far away in England and there was nothing they could do. When some items turned up very locally a few weeks later in a guys garage (they had gone round for drugs offences) despite them having photos and serial numbers of my stolen stuff, the very same policeman ( Mr bean we called him in the end) who had attended our premises couldn't put two and two together and work out they were mine. It took a civillian who worked in the storage warehouse to work it out and phone me. The guy who had possession of some of my stuff had been to my premises a few weeks before ( we had his name and signature on our signing on sheet ) but they still didn't even attempt to look into it further - he got done for the drugs though.....

When my father saw a man throwing a child's bicycle into a river and running off, he got told the dumping of bicycles was not an emergency. When he suggested to them that perhaps a child had been thrown in first they decided to come for a look.

Felix, these may well be isolated cases but can you see now why the public's perception is so bad?

pflowers

Oh and I will see if I can find the local paper from a couple of weeks ago where some poor women got done for doing 31.xx in a 30.

I can give you many many more examples of police incompetence if you want them?

Chip

Yet they would be the first people who you would call if, God forbid, your Mrs, kids or even yourself for that matter were assaulted in any way.

pflowers

Correct, and that's exactly what we did - but did they help? Did they ****.

If I was the victim of crime again I probably wouldn't bother ringing them - lets just say I would deal with matters myself.

stipete75

Just like they did when my old r5 turbo got vandalised (years ago I admit).
Just like they did when my mrs car got broken into, I'm sorry because it's been raining there is nothing we can do......
Just like they did when my brother got stabbed.....
They were pretty quick to give my mother a speeding fine in her rover metro doing 34mph down a long hill.
**** em, I will never have respect for the filth, in fact I can't stand the sight of them, nothing more than armed thugs in a very **** like uniform, very very dangerous people indeed.
Off duty then yes of course I would respect them as human beings, as people, in that uniform no fooooking way.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

But Lisa.......when SOOOO much of our TV entertainment relies on watching people bullied, belittled and sworn at...do you REALLY expect better behaviour from Joe and Joanne Public?

Forty years ago, batman and robin were walking along a pier, where they passed a "wino". Robin made some comment about, "Look, Batman, a dreg of society, you'd think he would get himself sorted out...", and Batman replies, "No, Robin, he's sick and sad....it's probably not his fault he's there and if asked, he'd probably give anything to be ABLE to have a better life...etc etc"

NOW, we see a cartoon "hero" not only knock out the baddy, but then kick him in the head and ABUSE HIM too.

What, exactly, do we expect our children to learn from all this?

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Not me...not any more...not now I've seen how they "deal" with it......

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Just a question seeing you've mentioned this at least several times now....what country's police uniform doesn't look ****-like?


Unless you mean that you want them all in plain clothes...in which case its the plained clothed coppers I've had the most aggro from.