Felix.

I've read a lot of links on here saying "...... police should go out a catch some burglars instead" and such like.

I was wondering, any bright ideas then about how we go and 'catch' them.

Not as easy as you think - but I'm open to suggestions

stevoWRX

With a key to a Scoob as bait and a baseball bat as his welcoming party

ajm

Ever watch that programme "Swag"? The one where they lock that thieving toerag in the back of the truck whislt he tries to have the goods away.

Like that, basically.... except you don't make a joke about it, and you don't let him go either!

You also change the law to allow people to defend their property properly and I'm sure the morgue would be doing a roaring trade on "state" funerals for ex-burglars!

big500

Try a Henry Crank alarm mine with the blank cartridge swapped for a 3 in magnum loaded with 1.5 oz of gritsalt

beemerboy

how about "walking the beat"

cant remember the last time is saw plod walking around the streets, chatting to old folk, and being part of the community.

hiding behind bushes with a radar or stuffing their faces in the staff canteen doesn't really fill me with confidence in property safety.

BB

damian666

You should move to kingston - they walk the streets reassuringly.

I've reported a crime twice though, and litteraly nothing was done.

beemerboy

yeah damien, theres walking the streets, and theres walking the streets, if you know what i mean.
ones a form of token gesture and a chance to have a chinwag with a fellow officer (maybe a bird, if your lucky), and the other is nosey old fashioned policing, actually on the look out for crime, and not the end of the shift.

BB

damian666

Two kids, on a scooter, on 'L' plates, no helmets through Kingston town center. Literally one minute after they pass me, I see a police man, and report the crime(s)

And there the kids are, getting off it. The guy went over and had a word. 'Ill keep an eye out' he says - nothing can be done if he hasnt seen it. What?!?! Thats how reporting a crime works

Damo

Felix.

And how long is it before the word gets around the street that this is a 'dodgy' truck. Besides are we supposed to do this with every property in a town and city. As far defending your property - you can with in reason, but most burglaries happen to properties where their is no-one in. Average time for a burglary is 45 seconds - straight in and out, with something easy to carry that can be readily sold on.



Ok put people out on foot. Billy Burglar drives around the area, spots foot beat police and so drives elsewhere, burgles a house and drives off. If somebody spots them and calls the police your nearest response is 2 miles away on foot!!!. Or Mr burglar waites until plod walks passed, waites 10 minutes and burglars the house he's stood next to. Burglars don't often break in via the front doors either or walk up to a house via the front path. Do you expect police to foot patrol around your back garden and indeed garden hop from one to the other!!. And how does 'chatting to old folk' stop burglaries unless its the old folks that are doing it.



Only traffic use radar guns and traffic tend to deal with only traffic related matters. The shifts deal with the burglaries. There is always far more shift strength than traffic strength. Offences do occur on the road as well (hence the need for traffic police) - however if people stick to the speed limits or except the fact that they take a risk when speeding it won't get people's backs up when they are caught. And, do you not stuff your face in the works canteen, do you expect police to work 12 hour shifts with no meal break!!! Sometimes emergency personnel don't get their full break if its busy or a break at all.

Felix.

This is not classed as a crime, but a traffic offence (unless it was a stolen scooter) i.e. no helmets. Enqs could have been made into the owner of the bike and their documentation (licence, mot, insurance etc) but they would have had to have been seen driving on the road by the police or else the courts will not take it further. Not the police's fault but the law of the land.

Chris29

Here, here!!

I've just finished a 12 hour shift and didn't manage any food at all!! And our canteen's been closed.Dealt with criminal damage, section 18 assaults, burglaries and car crime.Oh and an hour lecture from them upstairs telling us we need to crack down on burglaries (on overlap so as not to drain resources!)

Get a grip, foot patrol does just one thing, stops people like you moaning bout there being no police. It is, as a feasible method, useless, good only for standing on scenes and lifting the tape up to let vehicles in. One of these days people might have the smallest clue what we do! I would love for people to come and sit with me for a few shifts and see if your opinion changes.

Or better still, here's a new topic,

Postmen, what a bunch of ****!!

Not half as interesting is it?

beemerboy

not me mate, self employed, i work through my lunch.

so i see, if its not a police issue its a traffic issue, if its a traffic issue, the police cant deal.

right, i get the picture.

buck passing

seems the police are far more interested in the sound of their own sirens.

dont get me wrong, i think the police do try hard and generally do a good job, but things have changed somewhere along the years, i think its the softly softly approach which is not deterrent enough.

give 'em guns!!! (just kidding by the way)

keep up the good work.

BB

Chris29

And that's my fault is it? I sat in a van yesterday and for 25 minutes listened to a 17 year old streak of p*** drug dealer shout what he had done to my wife, daughter etc and how he would snap my jaw if he saw me on the street. Then went on to start on my female partner for another 10 mins. Decided to start smashing the back of the van up when we got where we were going and when i opened it to stop him lent forward shouting 'go on pr***, right on the chin' Then spent another 5 mins calling me every name under the sun finishing it off by calling me a 'skinny c***' (I'm 6' and 13 stone, which aint from doughnuts!)

And what happened when we got in? He lodged a complaint saying i abused him and tried to strangle him. I told the sergeant what had happened and what do you think the upshot was? Today i was told an official complaint has been taken, because we have too!

Go back to your job and if you have nothing constructive to say don't, there's people out there putting their lives on the line daily for very little money because we think its worth it!

Sith

It p!sses me off that low life scum as described above can get away with that.

Police - A thankless job. Your damned if do, damned if you don't. Glad I'm not in the Police Force.

rotty

While its not the fault of individual police officers ( more of the sytem and lack of funding )I would expect a response of less than 90 mins when I phone 999 to say someone has nicked my dads car and I'm following it as we speak , its this sort of thing that annoys people

tiggers

Look let's be honest here, for all I call the police I know it's not the average copper who's at fault.

No, the problem is the senior offices and civil servants who decide what the overall policing policies are going to be. It is them too who are responsible for the rising levels of red tape and paperwork that any copper has to undertake whenever he or she dares to arrest someone.

What I will say is that I think the people who can most affect change higher up the ranks are the coppers themselves and if they want things to change they need to lobby and keep lobbying their senior officers, politicians etc.

It's no good just saying "well we're told to do this and told to do that" - they must stand up for what they believe will be effective police policies.

I resigned my reasonably senior position in my previous company over the way external influences were affecting my staff so I know what it is like to stand up for a point of principle and sometimes it hurts, but at least I have a clear conscience.

In addition to that actually giving people the right to defend their property or themselves without fear of silly retribution would be a good idea. The fact is that a burglar knows that even if he gets caught red handed by a homeowner they can't do anything as he can legally sue them if they do - this doesn't exactly deter them does it now? If they knew that their human rights were basically gone the minute they set foot without permission in someone else's house it might make some of them think twice.

As for the situation above with the drug dealer yelling and screaming as far as I'm concerned that's assault and the coppers should be quite within their rights to restrain the aggressor by any (hopefully extremely violent) means they see fit.

It's about time this country's laws were severely tightened up - at the minute it's a criminal's playground and getting worse. I work part time in the US and you can forget all the crap you see on the TV about the States - for the most part it's a far far safer place than the UK. In addition to that over there Tony Martin would rightfully have been hailed a hero rather than locked up for protecting his property.

Sorry to drift off topic a bit and for ranting a little, but it is a somewhat emotive topic.

Regards,

tiggers.

r32

Its not down to the average Bill, they try and do a good job, but they are starved of resources. Blame the Government (or consecutive Governments) for not putting funds into the Police. And the courts for letting offenders off so lightly.

Its just a shame that the most common contact the General Public have is with the Traffic Bill. The poor manners and petty way in which these people deal with us reflects badly on the rest of the Force. The Police needs the Publics support but the Traffic Bill provoke the wrong attitudes.
Then when you call and report a burgalary on an elderly Aunt, where they removed the whole window frame with a spade, and are told to drop a list of stolen items in next time youre in town doesnt give you that warm looked after feeling. Also seeing the prat that runs the N Wales force redirect most of his resources to aprehend speeding motorists (to the point where tourism is seriously affected) and ends up with the lowest crime resolution rate also alters the Publics preception.

So if you want a stronger Police force (not tough on crime like Tony claimed!) then get this lot out and put another lot in ...
STEVE................

big500

Slow response times ?? Tell the control that you are psychopathic and have a gun / knife and that you intend to kill the offendants.
VOILA 90 mins becomes 90 seconds.
(advised to keep hands in view when ARV arrives)

ajm

The simple fact of the matter is that if burglars thought that they would get shot/blown up/electrocuted if they tried to burgle someones home then I bet the burgalry rate would go down.

I saw somewhere in the US they were actually offering a cash incentive to home owners who shot and killed burglars in their home. And why not? They have saved the tax payer a fortune!

The result of this campaign was a reduction in burgalry because there was a real deterrant.

What is the deterrant in this country?

tiggers

Couldn't agree more!

Like who? We had years of the previous lot and things were getting worse and worse with them too (please put the rose tinted spectacles away if you think differently).

Anyway it's not just the government's fault - senior police and civil servants have to take a lot of the responsibilty as well as does the average copper to be honest - it's not good enough to say they are just doing what they are told - shades of Nuremburg there I'm afraid.

tiggers.

Luke

Rent a flat in a medium nice area. leave some nice empty computer /plasma/ hifi boxes outside. wait with a few mates. Thats the hard bit. No noise or lights. when the first pikey breakes in. Cover them with roofing sealer and tie them up. let this happen to about 4 pikeys. Then take them down town in a van. Let them out and set them on fire.

Might put their mates off.

Lord Of The Bling...

well the best thing to to would be to leave alone the car drivers, and all the speed cameras etc, then there would be more police free to tackle the rougher area`s where the drug problems/crime sprees happen..


simple.........

ajm

Firstly I agree totally.... just thought I should add, for the benefit of the bleeding hearts anti speeding mob who are heading this way, that this is a question of PRIORITY.

We recognise that there aren't enough resources to deal with everything, hence the worse crimes, i.e. burglary must be tackled first and if that means letting speeders off then so be it.

tiggers

Agree entirely, but while chief constables such as N. Wales' Richard Brunstrom are in their lofty positions we don't stand a chance as he thinks speeding is a worse crime than burglary - what a **** !!!!

tiggers.

Felix.

Like it or not, traffic offences do matter. Speeding cars and dangerously kept cars kill more people in a year than burglaries ever have.

If you get burgled, the chances are you will get over it, where as being hit head on by a speeding car......is something different!

Burglars are not daft, unless you can put a police officer in every house, they will find one to burgle.

Jye

--Speeding cars and dangerously kept cars kill more people in a year than burglaries ever have--

Thats only because were not allowed to kill the thievin *******

Poor Guy

by the scuff of the neck then kick his teeth in.

tiggers

OK then Felix, tell you what - we'll just forget about it as there's obviously nothing we can do.

So come on then burglars get stuck in 'cos no one wants to stop you and anyway being burgled is actually quite nice as it doesn't kill anyone - well not usually. Just don't speed on the way to the jobs OK?

tiggers.

ajm

exactly, which is why we need a DETERRENT!!!

It costs the Government nothing to enable us to properly protect our property. By "properly" I mean that if a I catch a burglar in my house I can shoot him dead.

As you say, burglars aren't daft, but they aren't brave either. If they thought for a minute there was a good chance they would be killed then they wouldn't do it.

No extra police needed, a simple shift in the law away from protecting the criminal toward protecting the victim. Job done.

stevoWRX

Well said ajm !!

The 1st party that makes this their legislation will probably get 99% of the populations vote into power ... the other 1% are the thieving , lawbreaking , lowlife , sh*tebags who we have to protect our cars , houses and lives from !