Fuzz

I just found this blog...

POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG

No wonder nothing gets done, they get hung in red tape and drowned in paperwork!! ( I kinda knew that already but this guys tells it like it is, it would appear)

Andy

Fuzz

Unfapping believable

Just one cut and paste if you can't be arsed to look

Late evening in peacefull, sleepy Ruraltown. This is NOT a marginal seat.

A drunken 17 year old Irish traveller, Darren O’Brien, throws a brick through a shop window in the High Street. Darren has numerous previous convictions for similar offences. The whole event is witnessed by several commuters and recorded on the excellent town CCTV system. He then sits down on the pavement outside the shop and waits for the police to come and arrest him.

He won’t run away because he knows nothing is going to come of it in Court.

When a patrol arrives, the first thing he does is admit the whole thing with a grin on his face, saying that he did it because “Kylie works there innit” she being his ‘partner’. He is arrested on suspicion of Criminal Damage, taken to Ruraltown police station, booked in to the custody area and interviewed about the offence the next morning, when sober.

We won’t go into the details of his being sick on the pavement and fighting the police officers and shouting foul abuse at anyone passing during his arrest.

This crime took about the same amount of time to commit as you have just taken to read about it.

A relatively simple job you might think. Oh no. Not in the crazy world of British policing.

Here is a list of the paperwork required from the patrol who were unlucky enough to arrive at the scene and arrest Darren.
--------------

A full handwritten Pocket Notebook entry detailing the incident, the grounds for his arrest and anything he said about the incident.

A typed arrest statement with exactly the same information, only in more detail.

A typed form requesting the release of CCTV tapes.

A handwritten custody ’search and booking-in’ form.

A property sheet in custody, listing the contents of his pockets.

A typed Persistent Offender form, containing the same information as the arrest statement, but in a format which prevents ‘cut and paste’.

A typed Young Offender form, containing the same information as above, but in yet another format.

A typed or verbal ‘update’ for the computer log held by the Control Room, containing guess what? the same information as all of the above.

A typed Crime Report, with the same information as in the notebook, arrest statement and young offender form, but with the details in different fields which cannot be cut and pasted.

At least two MG forms for the case file, summarising all of the above.

Witness statements from at least two of the commuters who saw the whole thing.

A witness statement from the shop saying that Darren didn’t have permission to smash their window.

An ‘intelligence report’ saying that Darren has smashed a window in the High Street, with some other details we can’t discuss here.

A typed Domestic Violence form (because Kylie was mentioned by Darren as a reason for the offence) with all of the same information again, and a complete risk assessment for Kylie, even though she wasn’t there at the time.

The paperwork for fingerprinting and DNA will run into at least four pages. The Custody Record will be at least ten pages, though not completed by the patrol.

If the brick and any glass from the window was seized as evidence, there will be the forms and statements for that.

A typed ‘update’ on the ‘Night-time Economy Incident’ diary sheets. “Night-time Economy” is the hideous New Labour, Orwellian term for the chaos caused by the new licensing laws.

A three page Community Impact Assessment briefing form for the Inspector (because Darren is a traveller). I can then fill out a six page, larger version.

A handwritten two page form for the Licensing Officer about where he might have purchased the alcohol, again with all the details of the offence.

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You may think that this is insane for such a simple job. You would be correct. This isn’t the Guildford pub bombings. Darren has admitted it already because he doesn’t really care about the consequences because he knows there aren’t any.

This is why the national Neighbourhood Policing model is such a fraud. The two officers who arrested Darren were Neighbourhood policemen. They had only been outside for ten minutes when the call came in, and now they are stuck for the best part of the rest of the shift dealing with a drunk bloke who admits he threw a brick through a window in public view to get back at his girlfriend.

Can you imagine what happens when there are two offenders, or if it’s slightly more complicated than the incident described? If drugs are found in his pockets (which they usually are) Darren gets arrested for that too, and the whole process nearly doubles in size.

Half of the forms are for the CPS and the remainder are ‘data mining’ forms to satisfy various national or local initiatives (Youth Offending, Alcohol Related Violence, Domestic Violence etc etc).

If any of those forms have a single mistake, they will be sent back to the officers themselves to re-do, even if it’s a date or postcode which could be corrected by the admin clerk who discoverd it.

OllyK

I'll start taking an interest in the internal issues of the Police when they start worrying about the $hit I have to put up with in my daily job, until that point I just expect them to get the job done, same as my customers do of me.

[Davey]

The beurocracy in the police force is a ****ing joke! And the same can be said for the NHS and local council.. And imagine if the government gets the ability to take everyone's DNA at birth, crime fighting will literally be a desk job with the odd collection of evidence and taxing of 'suspects'.

It sickens me!

dpb

A witness statement from the shop owner saying Darren didnt have permission to smash thier window

[Davey]

That blog about the 4x4's is brilliant got to love Health and Saftey bull****

Chris L

That is really quite sad - very well written too. Just what has this government turned our policeman into?

Abdabz

Good post and thread... Shocking reading

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

so the one thing that is obvious there is a poor I.T. system. if loads of things have to be duplicated, simply have a system (simple exel spreadsheet would do it) that takes the info from one page and puts it on all of the others. Simple!

Besides some of the stuff like the custody forms etc are done by the desk sargent aren't they?

SteveScooby

iTrader: (2)

100% accurate as well.
I'd estimate 70%+ of my time is spent on paperwork

Fuzz

Cant the police service employ secretaries or something to do at that paperwork??
Simplistic question I know it's not that simple but.....

How do you see a way to make it any better?

PeteBrant

[devils advocate]This is exaclty as it should be. You need due process and exacting records and responses in order to secure a conviction in court, it is all to easy for a case to fall donw on a technicality[/devils advocate]

rgv_stu

just give them guns
least they will only have to fill the forms out once and then he is off the streets forever

Jamescsti

This is true, because the lad could say, well I had permission to throw a brick at the window and if there is no statement to the contrary the court will say good point, and throw the case out! The whole system is a joke.

dpb

Its absolutly bloody bound to be like this tho

A combination of an ever more litigious society drawing from our american cousins together with our firm adherence to every daft human rights proposal dreamt up by brussels .


Theres never been a better time for your average crim/scally

Holy Ghost

i blame ACPO. this mess is largely their responsibility. they're complicit in the introduction of much of this rubbish themselves from what i can gather - along with idiot ministers. which is what happens when too many senior policemen are simply sociology graduate dullards in uniform - rather than officers with donkey's years of gritty law enforcement experience behind them who can - and will - kick against the p**cks.

this makes me so angry i can hardly speak.

stormyuklondon1

job's fcuked.
we're drowning in a sea of paperwork and targets at the moment.
the annual pdr is a prime example. i'm currently in an office based position,and have little contact with the public. the most important example on the form i had to evidence was not how good i am at my job, but 'respect for race and diversity'
i was quite tempted to put 'if a white, black and asian officer come into my office, i'll treat them all with equal contempt, no discrimination from me, no siree. i'll even treat the plonk's the same as the men. provided they can make a nice cup of tea'.
dont think it would go down well though.

Fuzz

vindaloo

Nope... The more apparent copies of versions of events, the more we can be sure that "justice" is done. By that I mean we don't convict an innocent.

i.e. The more versions you have, the more apparent contradictions and technicality opportunities arise.

If the officers in question only wandered off to the bogs for 1/2 an hour to get their story's straight, the country wouldn't be in such a mess.

Campaign for better Police station rest facilities!

J.

_RIP_

But if the job is so tedious and frustrating, then why bother? Surely there are other jobs you might like to try? Not a dig, just the same sh*t response we all get hit with when we moan about our crappy thankless jobs

Is it just a case of simple altruism?

billythekid

I am with Ghost, its gone that far its difficult to start to discuss where its gone wrong. IMHO the problems started about 10 years ago and its gone down hill since then.

I saw a pcso riding a motorcycle in full livery today, not got a clue what that was all about !!!

SteveScooby

iTrader: (2)

Because I love the 30% of the job when i'm out doing what I should be

_RIP_

What part do you love? Honest answer