Police should commute in uniform

dmpoole said:
Absolutely ridiculous idea and for those of you who think it's a good idea how many of your neighbours know what you do?
Some people are going to find this hard to believe but my OCUK persona is not my real life persona.
I've lived in this street for 27 years and know most of the close neighbours and not one person knew what my job was when I worked at a factory for 27 years because I didn't want knocks on the door asking me to fix appliances.
Absolutely no one in this street knows what my job is now and only a couple of close mates know.
Once again not one of my neighbours know I play in rock bands at the weekend and when I worked at a factory of 2500 workers only about 10 knew and I asked them not to tell anyone.
It doesn't matter on here because none of you know me but in real life I don't want neighbours/friends knowing what I get up to and I'm pretty sure no copper wants the world to know.
Ridiculous.
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What an unfortunate note on society, sure is a shame.
 
But should the job not be considered vocational? Back in the victorian times they used to live in barracks and have but a few days of holiday!

Not saying we should be like that, but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a bit more dedication towards a job.

It's no wonder they don't get any respect. Police are meant to be the arm of the law and therefore detached to a certain point, not just Joe Bloggs wearing a gay hat and putting himself in the role of an enforcer.
 
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Richie said:
Some of these roles require a constable to carry them out and cannot be given to civilian staff. Granted that not all of them do but a large percentage require the people that do them to be cops.

I cannot read your FT.com link as I am not subscribed but I would hazard a guess it won't mention the office based roles that need a cop to do them.
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The FT link refers specifically to the 14,000 or so officers in police forces who responded in roles that do not require a constable to carry them out.
 
StriderX said:
What an unfortunate note on society, sure is a shame.
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You may tell everyone what you do with your life but I don't want real life people knowing what I do.

I'd been working with blokes for about 15 years when one of them saw me out with Mrs Dimple and we'd been married about 20 years at the time.
The following day he started to quiz me about the woman I was with and when I told him she was my wife he said "We all thought you were gay".
 
I work in a specialised role and generally do not make arrests. However, I am involved in the most serious of crimes. People have to understand there is more to it than the officer on the beat, and to be effective there requires a lot going on in the background.
 
I would suggest a part of the problem is the public. They seem to take any and every opportunity to slate the police when they can....

See a cop sitting in a car having just bought a cup of tea from a snack van and a lot of the public will waste no time filming it on their mobile and sending it to the Daily Mail or The Sun and then the cop is attacked for being lazy... Why?

Do most people that work not have 5 mins or so downtime outside of their official breaks where they have a cuppa or a quick chocolate bar or just 5 mins rest from work themselves?

Could you imagine the grief they would get travelling to work in their uniform whilst reading a paper on the bus?


Go to the USA and you will, for example, regularly see cops sitting down at a fast food place in full uniform, on duty and having something to eat and nothing is said. If you tried that here, the public would be outraged... I mean, how dare that cop take their break and actually not work their full shift constantly... But then, the public over there seem to have some form of respect for their service personnel (forces, police, fire etc). Over here, it's not just the criminals that hate the police, everyone does!
 
dmpoole said:
You may tell everyone what you do with your life but I don't want real life people knowing what I do.

I'd been working with blokes for about 15 years when one of them saw me out with Mrs Dimple and we'd been married about 20 years at the time.
The following day he started to quiz me about the woman I was with and when I told him she was my wife he said "We all thought you were gay".
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Some people would say that giving just enough information is good, otherwise you get things randomly labelled onto you.
 
The way I think of it is this, on the way too and from work what a person wears is compleatly up to them. If they want officers to wear the uniform then thats their opinion and no member of the police force should be forced to wear uniform while on the way to work. If they want to start giving orders to police out of work hours, then they can start paying them for the time spent on the way to/from work.

If there are police officers who don't mind then they should be free to wear work clothes if thats their choice, but that choice shouldn't be forced on to others.
 
Richie said:
I would suggest a part of the problem is the public. They seem to take any and every opportunity to slate the police when they can....

See a cop sitting in a car having just bought a cup of tea from a snack van and a lot of the public will waste no time filming it on their mobile and sending it to the Daily Mail or The Sun and then the cop is attacked for being lazy... Why?

Do most people that work not have 5 mins or so downtime outside of their official breaks where they have a cuppa or a quick chocolate bar or just 5 mins rest from work themselves?

Could you imagine the grief they would get travelling to work in their uniform whilst reading a paper on the bus?


Go to the USA and you will, for example, regularly see cops sitting down at a fast food place in full uniform, on duty and having something to eat and nothing is said. If you tried that here, the public would be outraged... I mean, how dare that cop take their break and actually not work their full shift constantly... But then, the public over there seem to have some form of respect for their service personnel (forces, police, fire etc). Over here, it's not just the criminals that hate the police, everyone does!
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Thats because in the US if you film the police, they take it as an offence and imprison the "offender".

The justice system is just as much to blame, but its hardly good when the police force cannot even follow the guidelines (declaration) their great-great-etc grand father died over now is it?
 
I find this odd.
I have family members who are police officers, they go to work in there uniform, just wear a coat or jacket over it.

when all said and done it is black shoes, black trousers and white shirt.

They have there handcuffs with them, pretty much everything except radio and CS sprays.

I fail to see how this can change anything. They are always on duty even when off duty if they see something they believe they should deal with there and then.
 
Richie said:
I would suggest a part of the problem is the public. They seem to take any and every opportunity to slate the police when they can....

See a cop sitting in a car having just bought a cup of tea from a snack van and a lot of the public will waste no time filming it on their mobile and sending it to the Daily Mail or The Sun and then the cop is attacked for being lazy... Why?

Do most people that work not have 5 mins or so downtime outside of their official breaks where they have a cuppa or a quick chocolate bar or just 5 mins rest from work themselves?

Could you imagine the grief they would get travelling to work in their uniform whilst reading a paper on the bus?
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The really stupid thing is, that as I understand it these days very few police stations have any sort of rest area and it's not uncommon for officers to have nowhere they can go during a "rest" period (assuming they aren't simply rushed off their feet all shift) to have something to eat.
So they can/do end up grabbing some fast food in uniform in public simply because that might be the only chance they get in an 8+ hour shift to get any refreshments.
And then some idiot sees them, takes a picture and the Daily Mail prints it with a caption like "lazy officers sit down to eat whilst 3 year old drowns", because 200 miles away an unsupervised toddler is left by a pond...(you get the idea).
 
Not in favour of this at all, for all the reasons people have mentioned above. It's a poor attempt at increasing police visibility without increasing their effectiveness.

Totally pointless and unfair, are they going to suggest that police officers have battenburg markings applied to their private vehicles next, to increase police visibility further?
 
I'm undecided about this. I can see where they are coming from regarding the dangers of police homes being targetted. I don't really see how an employer can dictate uniform outside of working hours anyway (except for the other way round of course - banning use of uniform when offduty)
 
Werewolf said:
The really stupid thing is, that as I understand it these days very few police stations have any sort of rest area and it's not uncommon for officers to have nowhere they can go during a "rest" period (assuming they aren't simply rushed off their feet all shift) to have something to eat.
So they can/do end up grabbing some fast food in uniform in public simply because that might be the only chance they get in an 8+ hour shift to get any refreshments.
And then some idiot sees them, takes a picture and the Daily Mail prints it with a caption like "lazy officers sit down to eat whilst 3 year old drowns", because 200 miles away an unsupervised toddler is left by a pond...(you get the idea).
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Nail. Head.

The reason I bring this up is because I foresee it happening more and more where cops travelling to work in uniform and doing something like reading a paper, eating something whilst travelling, listening to music etc. You know, like most people do when they travel to work. The only difference being, the public will be "shocked" and start taking pictures/videos for the DM readers.

Also, who here has completed a 10 hour shift at work only for them to start getting grief on a bus/train/walk from some *** who wants to relay a blow by blow account of what a neighbour has been upto and asking "are you going to do something about it?"

I know when I finish work I just want to get home and relax, not continue with my profession.


All the people that are agreeing with this policy won't actually be personally affected by it. I would like to see their opinion if it was THEM that had to change to something similar in their job... I bet they would change their view.
 
Magic_x_uk said:
I find this odd.
I have family members who are police officers, they go to work in there uniform, just wear a coat or jacket over it.

when all said and done it is black shoes, black trousers and white shirt.

They have there handcuffs with them, pretty much everything except radio and CS sprays.

I fail to see how this can change anything. They are always on duty even when off duty if they see something they believe they should deal with there and then.
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wait you mean your family members weren't brutally murdered when they they stepped out the house in uniform?
 
Its a crap idea. Its like me having telephone conferences whilst driving my car to work. They have british transport police to patrol trains and buses; you can almost guarantee that the government would expect this uniformed commute to be provided free of charge too. Plus theyre not equipped with all their gear they leave at work as mentioned already.
 
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