Police.. is this the norm these days?

I let my 2 staffies and rottweiler out last time someone hopped the back-fence to try steal a pair of ladders, put it this way the ladders didn't move :)

But er, buy some cheap CCTV and a light.

Also get your mother to get a shotgun licence or buy a cheap air rifle.
 
The police are fairly useless but I reckon is because they're disillusioned because of the spineless nitwits we call the CPS. They can have all the evidence in the world but if the CPS don't think that there's a 100% chance of conviction, they'll dismiss it all and the scumbag gets away scot-free.

Take the incident with my neighbour and my sister's car a couple of years ago.

She was parked across the bottom of my driveway when my opposite neighbour decided to plant the rear of his 4x4 into the offside wing. He got out and inspected the damage he'd caused to both vehicles and then proceeded to get back in his car and drive off.

Now the damage caused wasn't severe but it still cost over £300 to get fixed.

Now this is where it gets interesting. I have CCTV, all above board and legal. Signs on the property, letters of notification were sent out before it's installation, council were aware and approved. The video itself was high quality and had time/date stamps. In essence in a court of law it was bullet-proof.

The above incident was caught on said CCTV & had 2 independant witnesses. The young WPC's face when I showed her the raw footage and then gave her a DVD copy was priceless. A crime reported and all sewn up and all she had to do was arrest the culprit.

Hmm. She took everything back to the station, including my neighbour where even in the face of the footage, he denied it. Case was refered to the CPS who threw it out.
Their reason - "LACK OF EVIDENCE"

The WPC came to tell us herself and even she couldn't believe it.

Thankfully my neighbour's insurance company DID take it as evidence as he'd denied the incident happened to them too when my sister claimed using the details the police had obtained for her.
 
JamesM said:
It's stupid isn't it? I can see why people take it into their own hands to defend their property if the police can't seem to. Trouble is the person who defends their property gets into more trouble than the bloody person committing the crime!

I watched an american cop program a few weeks ago where a chap had shot a guy in his own home as he was threatening his daughter. The police took the guy away and simply took a statement from the old man and then placed the gun back in his drawer and that was it!

I'm not saying shooting him was right but wheres that kind of common sense in this country?

Maybe if criminals knew that if and when they try to steal someone's personal items, that they could be hurt/injured in the process they might actually think twice about it.
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Personally I'm off the opinion that if you break into someones home you put your life up for grabs. A persons home is their castle, and should be enforced far more so in law than it is.

And that's against everyone, not just criminals.



Unfortunately, whilst a few people would be deterred by violence, it would breed a criminal type that would simply escalate matters. Eg if they broke in they'd be more likely to kill/injure.
 
Resident said:
The police are fairly useless
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People say this, but if it was actually the case this country would have a crime epidemic on its hands. Time for a reality check, perhaps - if you want to see useless police look over at mainland Europe, there's plenty of poorly funded, ill-equipped, unmotivated and corrupt police forces to keep the complainers busy.
 
TheVoice said:
if you want to see useless police look over at mainland Europe, there's plenty of poorly funded, ill-equipped, unmotivated and corrupt police forces to keep the complainers busy.
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Why look elsewhere in Europe, isn't that what we have right here at home?
 
I have a couple of points:

Regarding nine officers turning up for a verbal threat, how do you know that was how the call came in? I went to a job last saturday where it was stayed that two groups were fighting at a location. No numbers started, nothing. That was literally all the information we had. So, do you think that it was unreasonable that an area car, two pandas, and a van turn up? Turns out it was done kids play fighting, but we didn't know that. I bet most people thought that was an excessive t response.

Secondly, as far people thinking that nothing comes from a report, there is lots that happens behind the scenes. Intelligence reports, warrants and operation planning takes time.

Finally, get friendly with your local beat officer, they can often be the most usefulpoint of contact for a lot of these issues.
 
Burnsy2023 said:
I have a couple of points:

Regarding nine officers turning up for a verbal threat, how do you know that was how the call came in?
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I'm confused... Earlier we had someone commenting they're not surpised ONE officer shouldn't turn up when receiving a phone call pleading for help when finding an ILLEGAL brothel in the flat you've rented out, and also DRUGS are mentioned. This sort of plea does't merit attention!

Yet, NINE officers attending goes without question given a hearsay charge. NINE officers, to arrest one law abiding individual, with no previous criminal record or any dealings with the police. And this is basically the pimp throwing accusation at the innocent victim, and NINE officers spring into action!

So the point is again. Someone phones up when faced with a situation which is completely out of their realm of experience. A pimp running a brothel in the flat they've rented out to someone who they thought was a business man. Mess, damage, sexual equipment, bondage gear, condoms, lubricant, gags, masks.... you name it... in every room. And not ONE officer is availble to assist or investigate this ILLEGAL situation, which they were made aware of weeks before by other individuals.

To my mind, there's no defense for it... Or should I say common sense to it. Again I apologize if I sound bitter or cynical about this, but having seen the police and judicial system in action surround this event my relative found themselve in the middle of, through no wrong doing of their own, I feel the word "farce" is more than fair regarding the handling of the matter, from start to finish.


Burnsy2023 said:
Finally, get friendly with your local beat officer, they can often be the most usefulpoint of contact for a lot of these issues.
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I haven't seen a beat officer in our town... ever...?
 
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I personally would have knocked and had a word but it's easy for me to say that.

At the op. If you aren't happy with the service you've had then it's your right to complain. Contrary to some beliefs, the police actually are accountable.
 
I just looked at the crime statistics by the police in my area, latest is April 2012, 109 crimes, only 68 outcomes. And of those 68, 3 were warned by the police, 1 warned by the court, and 6 charged. So only a small % got any real action taken against them (and those 6 charged may still get off when it goes to court). 21 are still under investigation but 37 (over half of those outcomes) was just dropped by the police.
 
Von Smallhausen said:
I personally would have knocked and had a word but it's easy for me to say that.

At the op. If you aren't happy with the service you've had then it's your right to complain. Contrary to some beliefs, the police actually are accountable.
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Indeed.

NeilFawcett said:
I haven't seen a beat officer in our town... ever...?
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Their contact details will be available online.
 
Soviet said:
The same old "police prefer to deal with easy stuff like speeders" is so tired and boring. I'm guessing the large majority of this type of complaint is from people who have been ticketed and would rather belittle the police than take responsibility for their actions.
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Go back to your la la land. I've got enough friends who've been assaulted and burgled etc.. and i've been mugged and burgled once .. to know that they really don't care and its all about PR on the 'big cases'. I've never had a ticket or even a parking fine in my decade + of driving but i agree that the motorist is being targeted a lot as we are a big soft easy target.
 
Last year, I had some chavs clearing out my garden of those little solar lights, during the daytime, on the 1st day of my new job of all days. The thing is, their combined price to me was £55 but I bet they only got a fiver when they sold them on or just chucked them. They went into my garden shed too, could have taken my lawn mower but they didn't, they just moved things around.

Local PCSO popped around, gave some advice about garden security. Was given a crime number too but I didn't go through insurance, not for the sake of £55.
 
I've never had any dealings with the police forces I keep seeing described.

For example, I was burgled once. Came home from work, found the place in a mess and the back door smashed in. Nobody there - they were long gone with stuff they could carry off. I called the police. Couple of coppers turned up in a car about 20 minutes later, had a look, called it in. Some more turned up a little later with some kit, went over my place looking for fingerprints and whatever. They also went over my back yard and the walls, looking for footprints and whatever, and spoke with people on the next street (where the burglars got access from) to ask if anyone saw anything useful. I got a crime number and a phone number for someone who'd board up the back door to make it safe until I could get it fixed.

They didn't catch the thieves (who wore gloves and very common trainers) but they did the job thoroughly. It wasn't the "here's a crime number, we might pop round some time next month if we're bored" thing that people seem to be saying is normal.
 
Justintime said:
Go back to your la la land. I've got enough friends who've been assaulted and burgled etc.. and i've been mugged and burgled once .. to know that they really don't care and its all about PR on the 'big cases'. I've never had a ticket or even a parking fine in my decade + of driving but i agree that the motorist is being targeted a lot as we are a big soft easy target.
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I'm pretty sure actually doing the job gives me a little more of an opinion than you give credit for. Traffic police target motorists because that's their job, I prefer to target robbers and burglars that you seem to think I couldn't care less about. I prefer this over writing FPNs any day of the week but when I see someone on their mobile phone I need to take action. Why? Because it's against the law to do that.

I can't and won't comment on individual cases but as Von mentioned - if you're unhappy about the way you've been dealt with by police - simply complain. If you're unhappy about traffic legislation then write to your MP.
 
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