Saturday 14 November 2009

"I feel completely let down and humiliated by the public."

Turnabout's fair play, sweetie.

Seriously, this is what happens when the public, even the decent law-abiding people, start to believe that the police are either no longer on their side, or (worse) not worth bothering with because the hassle of 'getting involved' is not worth the trouble, and if there are consequences as a result of you coming forward from the scum in question, they will be useless at dealing with them.

Cases like the one referred to in the link below don't help, either.

Check the comments. They say the same thing.

H/T: anonymous commenter at Leg-Iron's, in this thread.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now she knows how the public feel while being completely let down by the Police. What goes around, comes around, sweetie. And just to refresh your memory dear Plod -
G20 policing/soldier who hands in 'found' gun guilty of possession - and all the times the Police are called out & don't even bother to turn up.

S. Weasel said...

What's that, officer? Well, yes, I DID leave the windows rolled down, but...hello? Hello?

Oldrightie said...

There is a lot of understandable ire against The Police but as in The NHS, The Forces and other services, there are rotten apples. I am, on this occasion, with "the rozzers".

MTG said...

There could be nothing more just than the words "Do unto others..." buzzing in police heads until meaningful contact is made with a few living brain cells.

Brian, follower of Deornoth said...

I had the pleasure of living in Exeter once (and it is a pleasant place to live), but I'd need a good deal of persuading to get involved with the police who I think are more than usually snotty (and how tall are you SIR?).

That was a fair while ago now, though.

James Higham said...

The police have been ruined as a protective force by the current government - they don't know if they're Arthur or Martha.

JO said...

I saw the police pestering a religious nut who was quoting the Bible on the High Street this morning. Now I fucking hate religious nuts, but I fucking love the right to freedom of speech and assembly. Why the fuck should this guy be pestered?

Pat said...

We are constantly enjoined to leave the police to deal with crime. Only this morning I heard Mr Ian Blair saying that no-one should hire private security for their districts, such matters should be left to the police.
The net result is that people do. The police themselves, as well as the politicians need to make up their minds- and leave them made up through the next thousand incidents.
If they want to totally in charge of dealing with crime then they need to protect their own cars.
If they want ( as I do ) the public to help with dealing with crime, then that has to include the public helping with all crime, not just that against the police. This implies that a burglar being beaten up results in no charge to the householder- you can't arrest people for excessive use of force and then expect them, untrained and unequipped, to deal with malefactors in a calm and disinterested manner.
Of course it would be nice if the police returned to the function they were initially set up to perform- assisting the public in the enforcement of law. I'm not holding my breath- it would mean the police leaving the easy targets they've conned the politicians into providing (think speed cameras- loads of convictions, little hassle) and dealing with unpleasant people who may be armed. Of course they'd find this a lot easier if they dropped their insistence that the world is much safer if only criminals are armed.

JuliaM said...

"Now she knows how the public feel while being completely let down by the Police."

Indeed.

"What's that, officer? Well, yes, I DID leave the windows rolled down, but...hello? Hello?"

Oh, precisely! You can just imagine the response had this been a car belonging to a member of the public, can't you?

"There is a lot of understandable ire against The Police..."

There is, and until the bad apples are tackled, and more importantly, the politicised nature of the modern police 'force' is reversed, expect more of this. Much more.

No, it's not right, and it's not healthy for society. But it's inevitable.

"The police have been ruined as a protective force by the current government..."

This government have accelerated the process to be sure. But the seeds of this were sown long before, and in the institutions from which the modern police officer is recruited.

"Why the fuck should this guy be pestered?"

He shouldn't, of course. But I wonder if the new religious bill had anything to do with it?

"Of course it would be nice if the police returned to the function they were initially set up to perform- assisting the public in the enforcement of law. I'm not holding my breath- it would mean the police leaving the easy targets they've conned the politicians into providing..."

I remain hopeful it can be done. But it's a lot of work, and would require leaders with courage and vision. Are there any?