Police should stop giving up on crimes that are difficult to solve and instead allow victims to decide whether an offence is investigated, Britain’s most senior officer has said.And no sooner had those words left his PR department, when…
Bernard Hogan-Howe, the new Metropolitan Police Commissioner, signalled that in too many cases officers were “screening out” offences and calling a halt to inquiries.
When Sean Stanley caught thieves in the act of stripping parts from his two vans it seemed a simple case for the police.How civic minded! How brave! How big society! How…
The farmer and his father even pursued the culprits back to their travellers’ camp to make sure officers could recover the stolen property.
…pointless:
Five police turned up in marked cars, only to then cite health and safety as a reason for not entering the site.Ahahahahahahahaha!
‘They were scared, they wouldn’t go in. We could see the [thieves’] van, so me and my dad said we would go and get it and we were told we would be arrested. It’s ridiculous.’No, it’s not. They’re afraid of the
And why should they be? You’re stupid enough to pay their wages and put up with this, after all.
Maybe Gadget’s right, when he constantly claims – when challenged – that the public ‘get the policing they deserve’?
Don’t we deserve this, for meekly submitting to demands for ever more money to support these people in the lives to which they have become accustomed?*
Mr Stanley has lodged an official complaint with Northamptonshire force about how his case was handled. The value of the theft is estimated to be around £1,500.It’ll be brushed under the carpet. It always is.
Residents at the Ecton Lane travellers’ site, an official camp with 35 pitches to the north of Northampton, yesterday laughed off suggestions they posed a threat to police.That’s a telling use of the word ‘other’, isn’t it?
One man, who refused to give his name, said: ‘Us dangerous? I’ll let you use your common sense about whether that’s true.
‘People are always blaming us for things. Aren’t there any other criminals in Northampton?’
A police spokesman said: ‘Three police officers did enter the site at Ecton Lane and located the suspect vehicle but an assessment was made not to recover the vehicle in the early hours of the morning.No-one will be sacked over this. And no media figures will hurl this discrepancy between rhetoric and action back into Bernie Two-Dads’ face at his next media occasion.
‘Checks have been made on the vehicle. A complaint has been made by the victim about the decision not to recover the vehicle.’
And we’ll all go on paying for a service that doesn’t serve us, from a force that only uses force when it’s safe - and politically correct - for them to do so…
* Do I mean travellers or police? Even I’m not sure any more…
Whatever happened to enforcing the law without fear or favour?
ReplyDelete:-(
Gosh. You sense Hogwart will be a fertile source with his immediate claim on Plod Gaffe of the Week.
ReplyDeleteNompings! I was going to write something pithy but the word verification said it all. If it ain't a word it ought to be.
ReplyDeleteThere's an established principle in law that the police forces pay for the damage caused by riots. I've not looked but I assume the Victorians in their wisdom were thinking along the lines of 'well if the police can't or are unwilling to quell public disorder then they should pay for the carnage'. Leaving aside the fact the police are squealing about this after the last round of rioting, I think its a damn good idea.
ReplyDeleteSo the question is; why not extend this principle to any crime that the police deem unworthy of investigation... and especially so when you have a victim/witness pointing directly at the accused?
What you have here is an official site provided and paid for by the local council tax payer ,that has as with many of these sites become in "most" circumstances a no go zone regards to crime ,even publicly on police crime programs (pure PR for the main) they can be seen pursuing cars etc to traveller sites ,see vehicle ,declare impossible to find driver ,drive out again !!!
ReplyDeleteI don't mind fair criticism but you mention the new Metropolitan commissioner (LONDON) and then blame him for lack of action by police in Northamptonshire!
ReplyDeleteCome on Julia,MTG doesn't need any more reasons to be a Monday morning quarterback.
Jaded
(Sorry for repeating myself as my computer is playing up)
ReplyDeleteI don't mind fair criticism Julia but you link a story of the new Met Commissioner (i.e London) with police alleged incompetence in Northampton.
MTG doesn't need any encouragement to be a Monday morning quarterback.
Jaded
"Whatever happened to enforcing the law without fear or favour?"
ReplyDelete'Diversity' happened...
"So the question is; why not extend this principle to any crime that the police deem unworthy of investigation... and especially so when you have a victim/witness pointing directly at the accused?"
I like that idea!
"I don't mind fair criticism Julia but you link a story of the new Met Commissioner (i.e London) with police alleged incompetence in Northampton."
Because it contrasts beautifully the insane witterings of the top brass and real life, where what really happens is what those senior officers have been training the police to do for years.
Like yesterday's bible cafe, it's an indication of how horribly broken the police force is, and how the new Commish everyone's hailing hasn't the faintest hope of changing it by soundbite.
I'm a serving police officer in a rural force. We had about 15 cravans from the travelling community park up on council land a few months ago.
ReplyDeleteI took a phone call from a newly elected councillor..."what are you going to do about it?"
I told them i would have to wait for the council to obtain and serve the 7 day order on them.
"Is that all. People around here are worried they may commit crime?"
If only it happened now i could have pointed to the farce that is Dale Farm.
Sadly, the officers were probably right not to go on site. Same reason as to why i don't arrest 30 people fighting outside a nightclub when there are just 2 of us. It's a numbers game.
Give me the backing in law, give me a gun and i would go happily into these sites to get stolen property back.
"So the question is; why not extend this principle to any crime that the police deem unworthy of investigation... and especially so when you have a victim/witness pointing directly at the accused?"
ReplyDeleteFair enough, let it cut both ways.
We have been having a bending of thefts from cars because people have been daft enough to leave them insecure. Let the police chgarge people for the time they spend investigating their negligence.
Just had a load of witnesses all turn round and say they are not going to the trial of offenders they made statements against. Spent absolute ages on the file. Another one of those cases where they want the police to arrest and charge but not give up their time to go to court.
And the saturday morning call.." i was in a nightclub last night and put my purse down on the table and someone has stolen it"
It may come as a surprise to those that think we loive in a police state, but i do not have the names and addresses of the 500 people who went to that nighclub and unlike CSI, the CCTV shows a load of shadows and flashing lights. Your purse is not visible and neither is the offender.
Do you wish me, one of only 2 police officers on duty that saturday morning, to disappear from sight whilst i begin a 6 month investigation to conclude that we don't know who stole it.
We do give out crime prevention advice, like don't leave your valuables unattended.....can we make a charge on people who ignore that advice?
"Give me the backing in law, give me a gun and i would go happily into these sites to get stolen property back."
ReplyDeleteI'd love to give that to you. Give me a political party to vote for to do that, and I will!
"...thefts from cars because people have been daft enough to leave them insecure. Let the police chgarge people for the time they spend investigating their negligence."
I'd have thought - unless those items later turned up in someone else's possession - no investigation of that sort of thing WAS done?