little-ginge

I had to rant about this somewhere....
I am off long-term sick from work and was trying to have a afternoon nap. A car pulled up outside my house playing music at what seemed like 20 million decibels. This went on for a while so I decided to take my dog out for his daily frolick.

My dog being the inqusitive (nosy) little soul that he is made a bee line straight for their car. I grabbed him before he could sloober his greetings, and in passing, asked if the driver could turn he music down as it was a tad high. All i got back was a load of abuse, and his passenger made a racist comment. I said that if the noise continued I would call the police - hoping this would make them p*ss off. All I got was a load of front saying that the police couldnt touch them etc etc. I walked back to my property and called the police. Whilst I was talking to them, the car drove past my house and the driver was shouting obscenities and threatened ' to come back later'.

The police said they would stop the vehicle if it was seen,as it was no longer stationary. I was told to call back if they returned - which they did about 20 minutes later whilst I was still playing with my dog - I felt intimidated so came back inside. I called the police again as instructed and was assured that a unit would be down to have a word with the group. The operator assured me that I had done the right thing and that the lads were almost certainly looking for trouble - particularly as they seem to think that they could take on the police.

Did the police turn up? No the car sat outisde beeping it's horn at regular intervals and after about 30 minutes drove off very slowly with the drivers hand held on the horn....

I know there are matters of greater urgency which the police need to deal with, put this isnt the first time either our neighbours or ourselves have phoned the police only to find that they never turn out - so much for Thames Valley Police... am i stupid in thinking that the police are here to protect?

Abdabz

Crazy isnt it - because if you'd taken the law into your own hands and got the lads down to teach them some manners they'd be only to happy to arrest you...
The number of times I read threads on here re the police not showing / being too busy is quite frightening...

little-ginge

quick update.. just had a phone call from the local police station to see if the car was still around...what did they expect me to do..pass the phone over ??now that's what i would call the long arm of the law!!

davegtt

you should have said yeah the car is still about but its OK, you shot the driver half hour ago and youve not heard any noise since. see how quick they turn up then

little-ginge

LOL - I'll have to remember that!!

Felix.

I know its frustrating, but there just isn't enough of us to deal with everything.

Over the last weekend (bank-holiday) we had 12 officers to cover a large town. Our current job que is about 100 outstanding jobs (burglarys, assaults, damage, missing from homes etc etc). This does not include the ongoing emergency jobs that come in and the town centre on the nights.

Bare in mind as well, that each job we go to will have the possibility of long enquiries to follow. I have about 10 ongoing jobs in my tray which need attention (people to locate and lock up, statements to get, CCTV to examine......).

Then there is the paperwork. I have just spent about 6 hours in total (over three day shifts) writing a bad character reference on a local shoplifter. This includes writing a report on each of his past offences - dates, times, MO's, outcomes at court, what was said in interview, what was said at court etc etc. He has 43 current convictions for thefts which took me a 30 page report to cover them. This is then added to the rest of the file i have done which will amount to about 70-80 pages. I now will have to wait in a que when i'm next on days in mid May (usually about 1 hour) to see the CPS clerk and discuss what to do with his latest theft.

Its a very fine juggling game that we do. We try our best to ensure that all emergencies are covered and incidents that may get out of hand are dealt with. Politicians and even our management team don't understand the work load we do. I apologise if you feel you have been let down - but we try our best.

davegtt

Felix, I understand how much work does get lumped on you guys and I agree but when you say 12 officers covering bank holiday I wonder how many people were pulled for speeding on the bank holiday when the other crimes which you listed are obviously going to be a little more important should have been delt with... your understaffed quite obviously but it doesnt mean the public cant get fustrated by it, especially how much money we pay in taxes for a better service

M444GY

iTrader: (72)

perol can, pour it on the car , pull out a lighter ..and ignite . ****ers will soon move .

rr_ww

IF they come back, set up a video camera. And go out in your front garden.

Simple.

David Lock

Felix, Can you tell me why you need to take your time up writing up reports rather than dictating and getting them typed up for you to check and sign off? This is NOT a go at you but a genuine question. I'm sure there is a good reason for not doing this but I have always wondered about it as we read so much about all the time you guys spend on "paperwork". The same with stop and search stuff. Why not just a verbal report into a dictaphone or whatever they are called nowadays. Thanks. (sorry for very brief hijack). DL

Jerome

Red tape and bureacracy seem to be favouring the criminal and anti-social. They must have a good laugh, at our expense, when they get away with their behaviour because plod is handcuffed to their desk. I'm guessing a large amount of the paperwork is to protect the rights of crims.

Felix., correct me if I'm wrong, but I would also guess your level of paperwork has increased since 1997...

Chris5-0

Money!

Why pay someone to type up officers reports all day long when you can get the officers themselves to do it!

Also for this to work you would need a member of staff per officer for the amount of work they would be expected to do. And that is no joke or embellishment on truth.

The amount of paperwork is awesome, 60/70 pages for a simple offence is now about standard, since the 'reducing bureacracy' drive we fill in our normal paperwork plus then the same again explaining why we filled in the first set!!

Little-ginge.

Yes you did the right thing reporting the unsocial behaviour and no you should not be subject to abuse at all but you don't know what was happening at the time elsewhere do you? All officers may have been tied up with other jobs and the call from comms seems to suggest this was the case. Operators are not going to say they have no staff but this regularly happens, last night i was driving round the force helping out on every division we went on cus it was Bank Holiday and the powers that be had less staff on, in some cases one double crewed van and a single crewed van, (not going to say where but lets say its big!). There aren't enough cops i know but not our fault, this thread should have started, 'Government policy on policing, what help!'

Dave.

Speeders? Get a grip son. I'm fed up of whiners (not aimed at you specifically mate) on here going on about getting caught speeding or cameras and the like. I drive a scoob, i know the risk of getting caught speeding, i know there are dedicated units out there looking for speeders, i know there are cameras (it might suprise some that i can't get out of speeding tickets either) and i accept the risk and would accept the punishment if caught speeding (i do on occasion). How many of these threads start, 'was travelling down the motorway/road/country lane doing about 90/50/70mph' and then go on to bleat about getting stopped by us.

If you'd seen the affect of a car doing 50 in a 30 hitting a small child (i have) you would have no sympathy for these idiots speeding along like they have a god given right cus they drive fast cars. We need harsher penalties for speeding, lets go like New Zealand where speeding can cost you thousands, that'll stop you!

Sorry ginge didn't mean to hijack thread but i get wound up sometimes, idiots speeding and being ***** in cars takes up a good amount of our time when we could be doing better things like helping you out with your problems. Its all about time management, if we had to deal less with lower level incidents like speeding etc that are basically down to drivers intolerance, bravado etc we could spend more time helping!

Just my thoughts.

Lum

Should have told the control centre that the car drove off at 36mph, then they could use these additional units

Chris5-0: I don't think anyone here would condone doing 50 in a 30. Most of the "been done" threads I see are on NSL roads or motorways, not play streets.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

I'd like to know what effect New Zeland's policy of heavy fines has actually had on raod deaths. Let me guess, not a lot?

We need limits, but a lot of the limits are too low. In many cases they even design them in so low to encourage you to speed where they have a camera. You know the examples, brand new road, two lanes, with a limit lower than the more dangerous road that connects to it, etc etc.

The Isle of Man has one of the best speed policing and limits in the world. No national limit at all, and very strict enforcement of the limits that they do have in the towns.

Felix.

Because, we are told to. Some stuff could be easily be done by civilian admin staff, but for some reason they have said no. Admin support have said no they are too busy. Typing pool have said no - they are too busy. So it all comes back to response officers.

The case file itself is our responsibility to complete as it is our investigation and we know all the ins and outs of it. The same is true of crime reports and their updates. And all field reports (such as domestic violence forms, RTA forms, missing from homes etc etc) can only be completed by us as we we are the first on scene.

Its too dificult to have a dictaphone approach as most agencies need the reports the next day which they obviously won't get if its being typed up.

Yes, the amount of paperwork has increased over the past few years. The majority of this is due to the court process. Defence solicitors are now encouraging their clients to go 'not guilty' unless they have statements off every single Tom, Dick or Harry that has seen the incident - and it comes back to us to get them. Imagine a large fight down town with about 20 people watching it. They also now need evidence of former bad character. This all adds to the silly 'game-of-tennis' between the courts and the defence in which we (the police and public) are caught in the middle.

The list is endless and I can't see how they can solve it. I am keen to see how Mr Howard is going to cut our paperwork by 80%. I think however this is an impossible goal.

Johnny E

Lets give Mr Howard ago he cannot be as bad as the p@@@k we have now

mart360

dead easy...

arrest.. charge.. court. convict / release.. within 24hrs..

if someone has previous why write a report.. pull his previous and produce it.
prehpsa if we had couert who actually sentence crims, rether than reward them, people might get the message...

mind you i have to agree with the service supplied..

i,m still waiting to have a statement taken for an incident in 2000.. being the main witness, and assured i would be contacted for a statement..

or the motorcyclist,s dropped wallet i recoverd and took to the station, and was told.. we are too busy to keep an eye out for a yamaha reg no xxxxxx with description of rider.

really, isnt that what radio,s and observation is about...

M

David Lock

Felix - thank you for your reply. I feel for you. I am in no position to comment and I just hope that some common sense eventually infiltrates the service. DL

David Lock

So it can only be a year or two away before dictaphone type stuff is sent down the wire to an overseas agency who work on a different timescale and reports are typed up and e-mailed back (securely) so they are ready by the next day. Probably a lot cheaper than using UK staff too.

I am not saying this is a good thing, just that it seems one likely scenario. DL (having said I won't comment )

Johnny E

'I had to rant about this somewhere....
'I am off long-term sick from work and was trying to have a afternoon nap'.
'I decided to take my dog out for his daily frolick'.
'20 minutes later whilst I was still playing with my dog'

'I know there are matters of greater urgency which the police need to deal with, put this isnt the first time either our neighbours or ourselves have phoned the police only to find that they never turn out - so much for Thames Valley Police... am i stupid in thinking that the police are here to protect?'

Maybe the police are all off long term sick, having an afternoon nap or frolicking with their dogs.....what a life

Jap2Scrap

I don't know whether it's the Police's fault, the CPS's fault, the government's fault, the media's fault or even the public's fault. All I know is that the Police nowadays are perceived as useless at best and at worst bullies of the motorist and other easy targets. Long gone are the days of the feeling of protection and security the force used to offer. It's sad. Respect has turned to contempt for what was once a worldwide admired institution. I mean no offence to individuals - in every job there are those who are there because they have something to offer and those who are there for what they can take - it's the faceless corporation that revulses me and no amount of defensive, or even aggressive comments can change that. I've seen the evidence of a disinterested system when I've been a victim of crime and I've seen the arrogant superiority of a Police Officer punishing an unworthy criminal when I was booked doing 44 in a 40.

little-ginge

cheeky git! I was going to dignify that with rude answer but I shall refrain and be mature..

well actually...


p.s Johnny E - how much does the dole pay these days?

Johnny E

Sorry if I upset your sensibilities, but I say it as I see it, lazy moaning tosser

little-ginge

Doesnt upset my sensibilities - found it quite funny.. say as you see fit but I am definately not a tosser!!!!

Johnny E

Love to stay & play, but some of us got work tomorrow

mart360

becuase it was originally a police force!!!

now its a police service, run by politicians..

M

little-ginge

I'd swap positions but i don't think you would want what I've got... have fun at work.. I'll be thinking of you whilst watching This Morning!!

Lum

Did anyone else reading the first post of this thread expect it to turn into a story where dog "accdentially" savages the chavs in the car "honest" and now the police are trying to do him for having a dangerous animal?

Johnny E

Have a good one, supposed to be nice tomorrow

little-ginge

Can i just set you straight on 2 points..?

1) my dog is lovely boy and the only danger you would be in if you met him would be to be slobbered to death!
2)
i am a girl!!!! i'm so offended...