Where have all the police gone?

[Kinkladze 1]

Almost every shitbag you see on the streets has a wrap sheet as long as your arm. If they got put in prison for the crimes they’ve already been found guilty of, for the length of time that the statute book says you should get, they’d still be inside and unable to create more victims. Especially when they receive consecutive sentencing instead of concurrent which is utterly laughable. Ie. They get sentenced for 5yrs for gbh and 5yrs for conspiracy to supply drugs to run concurrently (so they get effectively 5 for what should be 10 and serve 50% of the 5. Joke.

You could operate with about 1000 cops in GMP Instead of 8000 if all the shit was inside for what they’ve done in the past but have been let out early.

Take Kevin Mannion or Daniel Scollins for example. Both in the MEN within the last week. Mannion for stabbing a girl to death at a flat in town, Scollins for a raft of burglaries for cars. Up to 7 breaks in a single night. Pair of absolute fucking rodents who’ve been at it and getting caught for 20 plus years.

They’ve been caught by the so called inept police multiple times. The cops aren’t shit at catching shitbags. The courts are shit at sentencing them correctly and the government does everything it can to let them out early because it costs so much to keep them in.

There’s your facts before you start badmouthing the cops whilst never walking a mile in their shoes.

No wonder the cops are demoralised. How do you think you’d feel if you caught a shitbag doing a burglary that he should get 14yrs for according to the statute book, but they end up getting 2months and do 1 month inside. Catching them is bordering on pointless these days because they get given fuck all punishment.

 

[FantasyIreland]

Bogged down by red tape,bureocracy,and paper work,while dealing with an ever increasing amount of fucktards who cant live to a standard expected in a civilised society.

Add the fact they are recruiting poorly,while many excellent/experienced coppers are leaving the job to find one that pays better and looks after their welfare better,or maybe just one that doesnt impact on their mental health 7 days a week.....and you can see why its all a bit of mess.

You'd have to fucking doolally to choose the Police 'Service' as a career now.

 

[Mr Kobayashi]

And yet when my sister was (wrongly, I might add) suspected of blackmailing someone, literally about 8 or 9 of them turned up at her house in the morning in 3 or 4 cars. For a single woman living on her own in a posh suburb.

1 would have done.

Blackmail is usually committed by organised criminals. Maybe some skiving or they thought they had found Ms. Big.

Former colleague of mine who was in relationship with an ex copper told us the story of how he kept getting tailed by police because his number plate was confused for one of a well known drug dealer just because it had a possible abbreviation of his name.

There are probably plenty of daft hunches that lead to fishing expeditions.

 

[Semper aggressus]

I reckon it‘ll be like so many other things, too much bureaucracy, box ticking, etc, ‘rights’ bollocks for scrotes who don’t deserve them and not enough money from the government.

 

[blueinsa]

And what are they doing exactly?

My Mrs told me this morning about horrific situation in Chorley (I think) where kids are routinely being several beaten up - like jumping up and down on heads and kids potentially losing eyes or getting brain damage - and the police being "too busy" to do anything about it.

I know police numbers are down, but I wondered by how much, so I did a bit of Googling. Turns out there were roughly 120,000 police officers in England and Wales in the 1970's and although that number rose in between and has fallen back, there are today about 120,000 officers.

But back in the 70's we saw bobbies on the beat, routinely. Burglaries were followed up on, always. Fingerprints taken etc. Patrol cars visibly patrolling often. Local police stations existed, and were not closed due to "cuts". And they had no technology back then to help them either.

And yet nowadays, the police have all sorts of tech to help them fight crime. And they have the same numbers of police as before. So it made me think, what are they all actually doing? Is there lack of action to combat the sort of criminality described above actually more political by them, sending out a message saying "we need more resources", rather than an actual lack of resources, perhaps? The police say they are overstretched and can't cope. Overstretched on what?

I’d guess they are doing paperwork and looking after the mentally Ill because that’s another essential service we have ran down.

 

[Chippy_boy]

Bogged down by red tape,bureocracy,and paper work,while dealing with an ever increasing amount of fucktards who cant live to a standard expected in a civilised society.

Add the fact they are recruiting poorly,while many excellent/experienced coppers are leaving the job to find one that pays better and looks after their welfare better,or maybe just one that doesnt impact on their mental health 7 days a week.....and you can see why its all a bit of mess.

You'd have to fucking doolally to choose the Police 'Service' as a career now.

For how long have successive governments been talking about getting rid of red tape, bureaucracy and paperwork though mate? If they still are bogged down with this (and honestly I have no idea if they are or if that's just an easy excuse / urban myth) then that in itself is a disgrace.

 

[Blue Mist]

In the 70's we didn't have mobile phones. In the 70's a no mark, washed up footballer could not have posted a tweet and so be in contempt of court.
Gary Fuckin' Neville now has to be investigated. The cops will have to officially apply (and no doubt pay) the phone company for written proof of the tweet he is alleged to have sent. The cops will then have to interview him and prepare a report for the judge.
And people wonder why there are no cops on the street.

 

[Chippy_boy]

In the 70's we didn't have mobile phones. In the 70's a no mark, washed up footballer could not have posted a tweet and so be in contempt of court.
Gary Fuckin' Neville now has to be investigated. The cops will have to officially apply (and no doubt pay) the phone company for written proof of the tweet he is alleged to have sent. The cops will then have to interview him and prepare a report for the judge.
And people wonder why there are no cops on the street.

Or they could say "fuck that", we're off to try to catch some burglar or other wrong un. Just a thought.

Instead, they are "too busy" to chase up cases of kids being assaulted in Chorley. The world has gone mad.

 

[bert38]

Ignoring the usual rubbish, lets look at what has actually happened.

I try to ignore these type of conversations nowadays because its not particularly good for me and those who already have their 'views' won't change them.

Nonetheless, I served for 25 years, 17 of which was as a response Inspector and then custody Inspector. I worked with some of the bravest, hardest working people you could ever meet. A tiny minority were poor-and the majority of those weeded out quickly.

I also saw things you dont forget and met some of the most violent people you could imagine.

Policing though is in crisis.

When I joined in 95 my force was bouyant-we had strong, experienced response teams, teams of detectives who were skilled and experienced and a command team that did their thing. It was a tough job to get into to; pay and conditions were decent and the pension very worthwhile.

Late 90s saw huge investment, the development of Neighbourhood policing and the advent of 'intelligence led policing'. Computers replaced typewriters which increased efficiency but slowly reduced time on the streets in order to complete paperwork. Admin/Civilian staff proliferated around this time too. In general morale was high. However, with the computers came an obsession with stats, targets and performance indicators-command officers/home office who were blissfully ignorant of performance now had the tools to monitor and often micro manage. But overall things were still good and the job worked.

From 2010 onwards the the policing landscape changed. Cuts were savage, year on year. Pay was frozen for a decade (real terms 20% cut over that period). Pension contributions increased by almost 20% and the actual pension for many was crippled; so much so that many questioned whether it was worth 30 years of grief to get to that point. Simply put you could now earn more from flipping burgers without the agro. In addition 'A19' meant that officers with 30 years+ service were all pensioned off-all that experience binned.

Neighbourhood policing disappeared-so too did vital links to the community, intellience led policing no longer functioning. Hundreds of police stations and contact points sold off. Officers withdrawn to cities, towns and hubs.

Cuts have consequence. Recruitment suffered-instead of people older with life experience, it became kids who would accept 19k a year and crap terms. Vetting was cut. Training cut back. More and more online-officers tied to computers.

Meanwhile a half of all courts have closed. Huge cuts to cps. It can take years to get to court.

In the community cuts to other services (NHS, social care) and the proliferation of drug use and mental health have meant that around half of all police time is taken up by mental health, missing persons, concerns for safety, 'baby sitting' vulnerable people at hospital, sitting with them in custody. In the last few years the law changed so that a police station (and therefore a cell) was no longer deemed a place of safety for a s136 mental health patient. Try to have that discussion with a local NHS bed manager at 4 in the morning when you have somebody who needs help and is locked in one of your cells? Do you simply release them? After all its illegal to keep them there but NHS are saying they have no beds in the entire country-yet that person has committed no crime...that was a weekly occurrence for me. And that would be one detainee among 50-80-the overwhelming majority with mental health issues, drug induced problems, self harm issues-so that those detainees would take officers from the streets to watch them in the cells-and many others sat outside hospitals with other people. Lines of police vehicles sat outside A&E's waiting to be seen.

As others have alluded to, new technology; 'internet crime', mobile phones etc have brought their own challenges in terms of the ability to deal with these 'crimes' and the amount of time it conusmes.

Now I haven't mentioned political parties* but its very convenient that the media is happy to portray the image of a handful of officers at pride events or similar-what is so wrong with that? What is so bad about promoting inclusion and diversity? Moreover, its a very convenient way of distracting the public from the real problems facing the service.

The job like many public services needs huge investment. You cannot expect to pay somebody 19k and attract quality, and then expect them to give 30+ years service, to work nights for decades, get assaulted regularly, spat at, treated like shit, threatened-lose almost every xmas/new year, most weekends...why would you?

But equally investment in the service-a return to high standards, recruitment-(I would estimate it would need 40,000 new police to recover from the cuts, resignations and retirement of the last decade), vetting, training-standards of appearance, uniform, discipline. A return to neighbourhood policing models. Investment in promotion and leadership.

None of this can happen though without huge investment in the NHS, social care, mental health, education, drug diversion etc etc. Because the officer you need to see isn't dealing with 'crime' they are dealing with all manner of things unrelated to that and nothing will change unless that changes.

*tories are c*nts.

 

[FantasyIreland]

For how long have successive governments been talking about getting rid of red tape, bureaucracy and paperwork though mate? If they still are bogged down with this (and honestly I have no idea if they are or if that's just an easy excuse / urban myth) then that in itself is a disgrace.

It wasnt a myth 20 years ago,it was a demoralsing and incredibly time consuming pisstake....some forms even being repeated.Hopefully it has improved....but,for various reason....with Cops now having to cover every millimetre of their backs,i very much doubt it has improved.

 

[Blue Mist]

Or they could say "fuck that", we're off to try to catch some burglar or other wrong un. Just a thought.

Instead, they are "too busy" to chase up cases of kids being assaulted in Chorley. The world has gone mad.

But they can't. Do you really think they can tell a judge to fuck off?
Contempt of court is a very serious crime. His tweet could be one of thevreasons Giggs got off.
The point is, in the 70's thick people did not have phones.

 

[FantasyIreland]

Ignoring the usual rubbish, lets look at what has actually happened.

I try to ignore these type of conversations nowadays because its not particularly good for me and those who already have their 'views' won't change them.

Nonetheless, I served for 25 years, 17 of which was as a response Inspector and then custody Inspector. I worked with some of the bravest, hardest working people you could ever meet. A tiny minority were poor-and the majority of those weeded out quickly.

I also saw things you dont forget and met some of the most violent people you could imagine.

Policing though is in crisis.

When I joined in 95 my force was bouyant-we had strong, experienced response teams, teams of detectives who were skilled and experienced and a command team that did their thing. It was a tough job to get into to; pay and conditions were decent and the pension very worthwhile.

Late 90s saw huge investment, the development of Neighbourhood policing and the advent of 'intelligence led policing'. Computers replaced typewriters which increased efficiency but slowly reduced time on the streets in order to complete paperwork. Admin/Civilian staff proliferated around this time too. In general morale was high. However, with the computers came an obsession with stats, targets and performance indicators-command officers/home office who were blissfully ignorant of performance now had the tools to monitor and often micro manage. But overall things were still good and the job worked.

From 2010 onwards the the policing landscape changed. Cuts were savage, year on year. Pay was frozen for a decade (real terms 20% cut over that period). Pension contributions increased by almost 20% and the actual pension for many was crippled; so much so that many questioned whether it was worth 30 years of grief to get to that point. Simply put you could now earn more from flipping burgers without the agro. In addition 'A19' meant that officers with 30 years+ service were all pensioned off-all that experience binned.

Neighbourhood policing disappeared-so too did vital links to the community, intellience led policing no longer functioning. Hundreds of police stations and contact points sold off. Officers withdrawn to cities, towns and hubs.

Cuts have consequence. Recruitment suffered-instead of people older with life experience, it became kids who would accept 19k a year and crap terms. Vetting was cut. Training cut back. More and more online-officers tied to computers.

Meanwhile a half of all courts have closed. Huge cuts to cps. It tcan take years to get to court.

In the community cuts to other services (NHS, social care) and the proliferation of drug use and mental health have meant that around half of all police time is taken up by mental health, missing persons, concerns for safety, 'baby sitting' vulnerable people at hospital, sitting with them in custody. In the last few years the law changed so that a police station (and therefore a cell) was no longer deemed a place of safety for a s136 mental health patient. Try to have that discussion with a local NHS bed manager at 4 in the morning when you have somebody who needs help and is locked in one of your cells? Do you simply release them? After all its illegal to keep them there but NHS are saying they have no beds in the entire country-yet that person has committed no crime...that was a weekly occurrence for me. And that would be one detainee among 50-80-the overwhelming majority with mental health issues, drug induced problems, self harm issues-so that those detainees would take officers from the streets to watch them in the cells-and many others sat outside hospitals with other people. Lines of police vehicles sat outside A&E's waiting to be seen.

Now I haven't mentioned political parties* but its very convenient that the media is happy to portray the image of a handful of officers at pride events or similar-what is so wrong with that? What is so bad about promoting inclusion and diversity? Moreover, its a very convenient way of distracting the public from the real problems facing the service.

The job like many public services needs huge investment. You cannot expect to pay somebody 19k and attract quality, and then expect them to give 30+ years service, to work nights for decades, get assaulted regularly, spat at, treated like shit, threatened-lose almost every xmas/new year, most weekends...why would you?

But equally investment in the service-a return to high standards, recruitment, vetting, training-standards of appearance, uniform, discipline. A return to neighbourhood policing models. Investment in promotion and leadership.

None of this can happen though without huge investment in the NHS, social care, mental health, education, drug diversion etc etc. Because the officer you need to see isn't dealing with 'crime' they are dealing with all manner of things unrelated to that and nothing will change unless that changes.

*tories are c*nts.

Great post.....There is the reality.

I wish id found the Railway 30 years ago.

 

[Maintainin]

Ignoring the usual rubbish, lets look at what has actually happened.

I try to ignore these type of conversations nowadays because its not particularly good for me and those who already have their 'views' won't change them.

Nonetheless, I served for 25 years, 17 of which was as a response Inspector and then custody Inspector. I worked with some of the bravest, hardest working people you could ever meet. A tiny minority were poor-and the majority of those weeded out quickly.

I also saw things you dont forget and met some of the most violent people you could imagine.

Policing though is in crisis.

When I joined in 95 my force was bouyant-we had strong, experienced response teams, teams of detectives who were skilled and experienced and a command team that did their thing. It was a tough job to get into to; pay and conditions were decent and the pension very worthwhile.

Late 90s saw huge investment, the development of Neighbourhood policing and the advent of 'intelligence led policing'. Computers replaced typewriters which increased efficiency but slowly reduced time on the streets in order to complete paperwork. Admin/Civilian staff proliferated around this time too. In general morale was high. However, with the computers came an obsession with stats, targets and performance indicators-command officers/home office who were blissfully ignorant of performance now had the tools to monitor and often micro manage. But overall things were still good and the job worked.

From 2010 onwards the the policing landscape changed. Cuts were savage, year on year. Pay was frozen for a decade (real terms 20% cut over that period). Pension contributions increased by almost 20% and the actual pension for many was crippled; so much so that many questioned whether it was worth 30 years of grief to get to that point. Simply put you could now earn more from flipping burgers without the agro. In addition 'A19' meant that officers with 30 years+ service were all pensioned off-all that experience binned.

Neighbourhood policing disappeared-so too did vital links to the community, intellience led policing no longer functioning. Hundreds of police stations and contact points sold off. Officers withdrawn to cities, towns and hubs.

Cuts have consequence. Recruitment suffered-instead of people older with life experience, it became kids who would accept 19k a year and crap terms. Vetting was cut. Training cut back. More and more online-officers tied to computers.

Meanwhile a half of all courts have closed. Huge cuts to cps. It tcan take years to get to court.

In the community cuts to other services (NHS, social care) and the proliferation of drug use and mental health have meant that around half of all police time is taken up by mental health, missing persons, concerns for safety, 'baby sitting' vulnerable people at hospital, sitting with them in custody. In the last few years the law changed so that a police station (and therefore a cell) was no longer deemed a place of safety for a s136 mental health patient. Try to have that discussion with a local NHS bed manager at 4 in the morning when you have somebody who needs help and is locked in one of your cells? Do you simply release them? After all its illegal to keep them there but NHS are saying they have no beds in the entire country-yet that person has committed no crime...that was a weekly occurrence for me. And that would be one detainee among 50-80-the overwhelming majority with mental health issues, drug induced problems, self harm issues-so that those detainees would take officers from the streets to watch them in the cells-and many others sat outside hospitals with other people. Lines of police vehicles sat outside A&E's waiting to be seen.

Now I haven't mentioned political parties* but its very convenient that the media is happy to portray the image of a handful of officers at pride events or similar-what is so wrong with that? What is so bad about promoting inclusion and diversity? Moreover, its a very convenient way of distracting the public from the real problems facing the service.

The job like many public services needs huge investment. You cannot expect to pay somebody 19k and attract quality, and then expect them to give 30+ years service, to work nights for decades, get assaulted regularly, spat at, treated like shit, threatened-lose almost every xmas/new year, most weekends...why would you?

But equally investment in the service-a return to high standards, recruitment, vetting, training-standards of appearance, uniform, discipline. A return to neighbourhood policing models. Investment in promotion and leadership.

None of this can happen though without huge investment in the NHS, social care, mental health, education, drug diversion etc etc. Because the officer you need to see isn't dealing with 'crime' they are dealing with all manner of things unrelated to that and nothing will change unless that changes.

*tories are c*nts.

Why did you leave ?

Were you A19nd off or was the burger flip too much to resist ?

You can simply answer with 'other' if you want, i'm just being a nosey twat.

 

[Chippy_boy]

But they can't. Do you really think they can tell a judge to fuck off?
Contempt of court is a very serious crime. His tweet could be one of thevreasons Giggs got off.
The point is, in the 70's thick people did not have phones.

The police have it entirely in their power what they choose to investigate and what they do not. And the CPS has it in their power as to what they want to prosecute after the investigation. The judge has fuck all to do with any of that.

I do wonder if the police - for whatever reason - are focused on the wrong things. Or at least, their priorities are not aligned with what most of us - I think - would expect, i.e. trying to catch criminals doing things which matter to most people, like burglaries, assaults, car theft etc. You get your car nicked these days and they genuinely do absolutely NOTHING about it.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

Late 90s saw huge investment, the development of Neighbourhood policing and the advent of 'intelligence led policing'. Computers replaced typewriters which increased efficiency but slowly reduced time on the streets in order to complete paperwork. Admin/Civilian staff proliferated around this time too. In general morale was high. However, with the computers came an obsession with stats, targets and performance indicators-command officers/home office who were blissfully ignorant of performance now had the tools to monitor and often micro manage. But overall things were still good and the job worked.

Not just a problem with police. Most of the teachers' hugely increased workload was caused by this obsession with everything having to be measurable and provable. Teachers spending their time collecting data to show that they're doing their job, and head teachers using their data to show that they're doing theirs. And it's not just in the public sector either. This talk is 7 years old now, but everything still applies:



As he says, what gets measured gets done. It's much easier to prove that you've solved a crime than it is to show that a crime didn't happen because you were out on the street. And presumably, it's much easier to solve a Twitter-based crime with a full electronic record than it is to get someone's stolen phone back. I'd be interested to know how they measure police performance and whether it has an impact in how they decide what to give resources to.

 

[bert38]

Why did you leave ?

Were you A19nd off or was the burger flip too much to resist ?

You can simply answer with 'other' if you want, i'm just being a nosey twat.

No burger flipping for me.

Mine was very personal. I was promoted quickly to Insp rank through graft and sacrifice-then in 2006 an officer on my team was shot (she lived, but never worked again), a few days later another officer took their life at work and a few weeks afterwards somebody I attempted to discpline accused me of touching her..I was met with years of bullying and my career ruined. It was an awful time. I lost my career, relationship, friends..

In 2011 the force 're-organised' and I got moved to custody. I actually loved it in custody away from the bosses who had made the job a daily hell, but its a very harsh environment, 12 hour shifts with no daylight dealing with violence and people in complete crisis. But I knew I'd leave at the earliest point I could and claim a reduced pension-and under the old regs that was over 50 and 25 years service.

I am still v passionate about the job, mainly because I do know the reality-its far from perfect-but the image portrayed to the public is not something I recognise.

 

[Chippy_boy]

Ignoring the usual rubbish, lets look at what has actually happened.

I try to ignore these type of conversations nowadays because its not particularly good for me and those who already have their 'views' won't change them.

Nonetheless, I served for 25 years, 17 of which was as a response Inspector and then custody Inspector. I worked with some of the bravest, hardest working people you could ever meet. A tiny minority were poor-and the majority of those weeded out quickly.

I also saw things you dont forget and met some of the most violent people you could imagine.

Policing though is in crisis.

When I joined in 95 my force was bouyant-we had strong, experienced response teams, teams of detectives who were skilled and experienced and a command team that did their thing. It was a tough job to get into to; pay and conditions were decent and the pension very worthwhile.

Late 90s saw huge investment, the development of Neighbourhood policing and the advent of 'intelligence led policing'. Computers replaced typewriters which increased efficiency but slowly reduced time on the streets in order to complete paperwork. Admin/Civilian staff proliferated around this time too. In general morale was high. However, with the computers came an obsession with stats, targets and performance indicators-command officers/home office who were blissfully ignorant of performance now had the tools to monitor and often micro manage. But overall things were still good and the job worked.

From 2010 onwards the the policing landscape changed. Cuts were savage, year on year. Pay was frozen for a decade (real terms 20% cut over that period). Pension contributions increased by almost 20% and the actual pension for many was crippled; so much so that many questioned whether it was worth 30 years of grief to get to that point. Simply put you could now earn more from flipping burgers without the agro. In addition 'A19' meant that officers with 30 years+ service were all pensioned off-all that experience binned.

Neighbourhood policing disappeared-so too did vital links to the community, intellience led policing no longer functioning. Hundreds of police stations and contact points sold off. Officers withdrawn to cities, towns and hubs.

Cuts have consequence. Recruitment suffered-instead of people older with life experience, it became kids who would accept 19k a year and crap terms. Vetting was cut. Training cut back. More and more online-officers tied to computers.

Meanwhile a half of all courts have closed. Huge cuts to cps. It can take years to get to court.

In the community cuts to other services (NHS, social care) and the proliferation of drug use and mental health have meant that around half of all police time is taken up by mental health, missing persons, concerns for safety, 'baby sitting' vulnerable people at hospital, sitting with them in custody. In the last few years the law changed so that a police station (and therefore a cell) was no longer deemed a place of safety for a s136 mental health patient. Try to have that discussion with a local NHS bed manager at 4 in the morning when you have somebody who needs help and is locked in one of your cells? Do you simply release them? After all its illegal to keep them there but NHS are saying they have no beds in the entire country-yet that person has committed no crime...that was a weekly occurrence for me. And that would be one detainee among 50-80-the overwhelming majority with mental health issues, drug induced problems, self harm issues-so that those detainees would take officers from the streets to watch them in the cells-and many others sat outside hospitals with other people. Lines of police vehicles sat outside A&E's waiting to be seen.

As others have alluded to, new technology; 'internet crime', mobile phones etc have brought their own challenges in terms of the ability to deal with these 'crimes' and the amount of time it conusmes.

Now I haven't mentioned political parties* but its very convenient that the media is happy to portray the image of a handful of officers at pride events or similar-what is so wrong with that? What is so bad about promoting inclusion and diversity? Moreover, its a very convenient way of distracting the public from the real problems facing the service.

The job like many public services needs huge investment. You cannot expect to pay somebody 19k and attract quality, and then expect them to give 30+ years service, to work nights for decades, get assaulted regularly, spat at, treated like shit, threatened-lose almost every xmas/new year, most weekends...why would you?

But equally investment in the service-a return to high standards, recruitment-(I would estimate it would need 40,000 new police to recover from the cuts, resignations and retirement of the last decade), vetting, training-standards of appearance, uniform, discipline. A return to neighbourhood policing models. Investment in promotion and leadership.

None of this can happen though without huge investment in the NHS, social care, mental health, education, drug diversion etc etc. Because the officer you need to see isn't dealing with 'crime' they are dealing with all manner of things unrelated to that and nothing will change unless that changes.

*tories are c*nts.

Thanks for taking the time to post that mate. Very enlightening, if actually not really very surprising.

Incidentally though, you may know (I guess you will?) that police recruitment is actually rising and numbers have gone up over the past year by about 10,000 with another committed 10,000 to go. So half-way towards the government's 20k target.

But I am sure it's not all about numbers. For me, it's about focussing the police on the right things. My suspicion (although I really don't know) is that 160,000 is probably enough, if we can get rid of much of the red tape and stop wasting time on politically correct nonsense crimes (which yes in an ideal world we would chase, but it's not an ideal world and when stretched we must focus on what really matters.)

 

[FantasyIreland]

Why did you leave ?

Were you A19nd off or was the burger flip too much to resist ?

You can simply answer with 'other' if you want, i'm just being a nosey twat.

Just read what he,myslef and others are writing.....its not confusing why the job has no appeal anymore.

 

[Uncle Wally One Ball]

The governments have made so many new offences in the last 20 years. This means that a greater percentage of things reported to them are crimes, which need to be investigated statements taken and suspects arrested.

There has been a change in how the CPS make charging decisions in the last few years, and a huge reason behind police demand is CPS but they never get any blame. Long story short, case files need to be frontloaded for them to decide on a charge. This takes ages, and means that all the work is done regardless and may not even result in someone being charged at all. Its ludicrous.

The other main problem is mental health in the country. The police have become social workers and paramedics and are expected to go to calls where people are in crisis. There are other agencies that should do this, but the police are left the responsibility because they know they have to respond.

I overheard a joke being told the other day that is telling. How many social workers does it take to change a light bulb? None, wait until 4pm to phone it in and get the police to do it.

The other thing is A&E being so deeply in the shit. It means there are no ambulances as they are all stacked up outside hospitals. This inevitably means that when police go to assaults, road collisions etc they have to take the injured to hospital themselves. A&E staff wont accept handover quickly, tying the officers up further.

Another issue is the new digital world we live in. It has enabled more and new crime, and lots of it. You would be amazed at the vast numbers of people who report being called a **** on facebook to the police, and this is a crime so ties more officers up.

The other issue is the national shortage of detectives. The CPS changes and huge burden of getting cases to them for charging advice has led to this, it breaks people. This means more complex crimes are left to busy uniform response teams to deal with, taking them off the beat.

Another reason is the explosion in the last 10 years of victims reporting historic sexual offences. These reports also come from third parties, support workers, counselling services, trauma workers. The numbers are staggering.

Im sure nobody is interested in reading the real answers to the OP question though and it is far more acceptable to just say all police are cunts and for everyone to like the posts.

 

[kismet]

When Theresa May in 2016 said that crime had been beaten and cut 20,000 roles that was a grave mistake and the beginning of the end sadly