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What's wrong with people's attitude to the police?

Comments

1. At 09:00 AM on 17 Mar 2008, Alan Cole wrote:

   The paramilitary dress of the police makes them less recognizable to most of our population.
   Despite the advent of technology i.e. speed cameras,DNA etc. The police continue to make mistakes which we the tax payer pay for.
   They are generally uncaring about the crime which blight our lives instead - and yet are hopeflessly out of their depth when dealing with organized crime.
   Officers are less and less a key part of community i.e. Community Officers and Traffic Officers on the motorway.
   With this extra help to free up police officers where is the extra effort in fighting crime?

2. At 09:44 AM on 17 Mar 2008, Mal Ayre wrote:

   I'm deputy head of a primary school. A few years ago I was called out by the police in the small hours of the morning cos our school had been broken into. I was asked to hurry as officres were at the scene waiting. I got there as soon as I could. We noted the stolen electrical goods, then secured thr site. Later in the day, after taliking to witnesses, I gave the police the names of the intruders, and how to get in touch with witnesses. Next day I called in at the station. Nobody had any idea what I was talking about. The goods were never found, no one was arrestsed, but the police did fine me for doing 38 mph on my way to the school! I appealed, wrote a letter explaining the circumstances, and my fine was increased. Aren't our police wonderful

3. At 02:38 PM on 17 Mar 2008, Truth wrote:

   I think this is the best way to sum up the police:
   UK POLICE ENTRANCE EXAM:
   1. You see a chav kick an old lady to death for 50p. Do you:
   a.Arrest him
   b.Have a chat about skateboarding
   (b.CORRECT!)

   2.A woman calls saying a knife wielding serial rapist broke into her house, but her husband knocked him out with a vase. Do you:
   a.Arrest the rapist and praise the husband
   b.Arrest the husband, make the rapist a cup of tea and make sure the judge sends the husband away for 5-10 minimum.
   (b.CORRECT!)

   3. Which is "excessive force" for you as a police officer?
   a.Innocent student walking home is jumped by 10 knife carrying thugs but uses martial arts knocking one out and causing the others to flee.

   b.A group of men chase an innocent man onto a tube train in front of witnesses and shoot him in the head 9 times.
   (a.CORRECT!!,)

4. At 07:14 PM on 17 Mar 2008, Tom Campbell wrote:

   The police force is in my opinion a corrupt force. It is there to uphold the status quo that is middle-class and rich british citizens. It is the whole society that is at fault and the police are just the thugs used and abused to maintain such an inequitous society. One person gets murdered another gets 24 million--that sums it up for me. The police are absolutely useless at preventing crime committed on ordinary people. They only clean up the mess afterwards. If you are poor you just live your life waiting to be a victim of crime and abused by the middle class system. In my opinion the radio 5 presenting personnel are part of the inequity. They are very hypocritical in my opinion. They make me sick to be honest.

5. At 09:11 PM on 17 Mar 2008, mgaka wrote:

   As a lot of people have already said, the Police are seen mainly as a revenue gathering service. Drive dowm any motorway and you will see their cars and vans collecting number plates and cross checking to see if we've paid our dues. In the meanwhile they consistenly fail to catch robbers and burglars who they consider petty but for most of us are why we constantly check we have locked our cars, locked our houses, invest in security devices etc.
   In Torquay we currently have someone driving around trying to pick up a child outside schools, this has been going on for weeks and yet they are still regularly collecting their number plates and checking tyres etc.

   Torguay every weekend is a noisy , nasty place, the streets are thugs and drunks playgrounds. I can usually see several police stand up the road from my flat and yet 100 yards away we have drunks urinating against my door, the police do not like to leave the bright lights of the main strip and yet you still expect us to respect them ?

6. At 12:19 AM on 18 Mar 2008, Matt Bingham wrote:

   The Police are great!

   I got burgled before Christmas and the police took a day to come round. This was despite my Girlfriend telling them she was alone (she was at the time). When an officer appeared he told me how great they were and how they would solve the case because they had a track record.

   A month later I got a response from an officer telling me they were still on the case.

   Three months on there is nothing. There was no investigation despite there being two eye witnesses and five thousand pounds worth of equipment has vanished.

   The police are pointless.

7. At 12:46 AM on 18 Mar 2008, Mike Hingley wrote:

   I think the problem that people have is that :

   She was missing for 24 days, and was only something like a mile or so from her home - that for the best part of a month , despite door to door searches, and the obvious family link, the police couldn't muster enough resource to search his flat? Wasn't this abductors name mentioned to police last week? it took them a week to travel mile or so?

   At least they got a good result - Shannon found alive - but I don't think it would be unreasonable to have expected them to have searched likely hiding places - and the house/flat of her relative could be seen as a likely place.

   In all respects this has been a blinder for the police - they at least can learn the lessons from this incident but at least not from a position where there was a fatality.

8. At 01:42 AM on 18 Mar 2008, Mike L wrote:

   Dear Victoria, (who ever you are)
   In answer to your, very naive, uninformed, middle class question...There is, absolutely, nothing wrong with 'people's' (who are these individuals you seem to know so well, can you supply their names and addresses please) attitude to the police. You should ask yourself, not me, what is wrong with the attitude with the police's attitude to the people. They are a disgrace to this country.

9. At 02:44 AM on 18 Mar 2008, ian wrote:

   I am sure I am not the only one to see the majority as untrustworthy chancers.
   Our perception of the police as caring, reliable and always there when we need them has gone forever, they are now virtually mistrusted by all.
   Frequently reported stories of officers getting away with false arrests, corruption, theft and lying have taken their toll. Is there any wonder we have no respect and treat them with contempt
   Nah ….. wouldn’t trust one as far as I could blow him/her
   

10. At 02:45 AM on 18 Mar 2008, Ian Shaw wrote:

    As a community volunteer I see both sides on a regular basis.

    A Police Force which the criminals do not fear, a legal system that does not support the Police and a society where the criminal is PROUD of his crimes and boasts of them openly knowing chances of arrest are so low and even when caught the system cannot put them anywhere, but into a defective house arrest system.

    As a FREQUENT victim of crime I found myself with more support from my Landlord's Legal team and the community than from the forces of law and disorder as my windows were regularly smashed for years and I was terrorised by three brothers I had the names and address of and I was told by an officer I had to investigate the crime myself to PROTECT the reputation of the Police - until I was threatened at gun point by one of their friends at which point I got to meet a whole bunch of Police Officers and even got a call from CID!

    Oddly things are now VERY quiet and I feel safer walking in daylight even though I have to pass their home to get to the shop.

    Maybe one day I'll not be afraid to go out after dark...

    PCSO's are a sticking plaster on a severed limb, though those I have met have been dedicated people they are crippled by a lack of authority and powers which the teen terrorists know all about and exactly how far they can go.

    What we need is a return to the street Bobby, the end of the Politically Correct Brigade protecting criminals and putting their needs above those of their many victims who rarely see justice done - and the re-education of teen criminals who actually get arrested to give them a real chance in the workplace instead of preying on the rest of society to feed their drug habits.

    Either that or build a dozen more prisons...

11. At 03:15 AM on 18 Mar 2008, Colin from Penn wrote:

    The question should have been "has respect for the police been eroded, and if so why?"

    It may well have eroded amongst some people, and, if it has, programmes like yours, which start with the erosion for all of society as a statement of fact, has contributed and continue to contribute to it.

    It is regrettable that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ has lost its traditional reputation for fairness and balance, and now chases fame and ratings by spinning issues and setting its own agendas.

12. At 04:33 AM on 18 Mar 2008, stefan wrote:

    When - around the time Thatcher realised she could use the Police as her own private army. When - when the Police realised it was easy to persecute the victims of crime who fought back and won, rather than teh scrots who now grow up knowing how to rort the system
    When - when the pc brigrade won and removed the ability for people to use common sense
    When - when targets were introduced
    When - when people like Gene Hunt were drummed out of the force, he might not be real but there were many like him, they knew who the real criminals were
    When - well finally when the Pollies and the Police realised that by being in cahoots they can bluster all they want but actually do nothing

13. At 04:53 AM on 18 Mar 2008, Chris Ray wrote:

    Perhaps it's caused by bad spelling/lack of care by people who write blogs?

14. At 05:36 AM on 18 Mar 2008, TERRY @ DERBY wrote:

    While the Police are handcuffed to such a great extent by Unneccessary 'Targets', and are therefore unable to combat the Crimes that afflict the Population most, The people will continue to have ever less respect for the Police - and this will only encourage more crime.
    The Police and the People HAVE to work together in trust. Without this, the Security of us all is jeopardised.
    Most Parents are not teaching their Children respect for Authority - ESPECIALLY for the Police. This has to change.

    Physical attacks on Public Servants such as Firemen, Ambulancemen, Doctors and Police etc are a symptom of the Public's anger against the Governement - these Public servants are Governments Reresentatives.

15. At 08:12 AM on 18 Mar 2008, Glenden wrote:

    We Know that most of this type of crime is commited by relatives or family friends yet it took the police 24 days to get around to going to the home of a friend/relative of the family.Are you going to tell us that this is good policing?

16. At 08:20 AM on 18 Mar 2008, wrote:

    I actually live in Dewsbury. My daughter attends the nursery next to the school that Shannon was last seen at prior to her disappearance. Our house is literally 5 minutes walk from there and was searched with our permission as part of the door to door enquiries, although this was over two weeks after her disappearance. The police were friendly, courteous and were clearly desperate for a breakthrough. I think that locally there is a general feeling that there is more to this case than meets the eye at the moment, and that there are a lot of people making claims of having tipped police off that may well be false and motivated by rewards that are available.

    It appears to me that the police that found Shannon carried out some good old-fashioned investigation, and should be commended.
    

17. At 08:20 AM on 18 Mar 2008, Steve Ashford wrote:

    I believe that the publics perception of the police has changed because f the weakening of sentencing by successive governments, it is the polices job to catch criminals not to sentence them, if sentencing for serious crime fitted the crime people would perceive the police in a different light, rather than purely seeing the police as a bunch of car riding, office bound motorist persecutors that they come over as now.

18. At 08:25 AM on 18 Mar 2008, Tim Wheatley wrote:

    I think you will find that "some" actually means "the media". The general public still has respect for what the police do but, let's face it, the media like to stir things up for their own ends, don't they. Statement, not question.

19. At 08:26 AM on 18 Mar 2008, Martin wrote:

    We have a police force that is hamstrung by politically correct do-gooding nonsense and a media that will take any chance it can to give someone a kicking. No wonder people have such a warped idea of the police.

    Limited resources = limited responses. It's a very simple equation. Police do not make the law they uphold it. It's hardly fair to blame them when a criminal gets let off again. Our government raise punitive measures for the smallest misdemeanours and yet reward extremely bad behaviour with trips away for young thugs. The police are the public face of the law; ergo they get the blame.

    Here's an idea, how abotu a media story showing how well they are actually doing? How about highlighting the people they arrest and imprison rather than their failings? How about the media taking on board some of its social responsibility and being even handed in reporting? Oh no hang on, that won't sell as many papers will it?

20. At 08:30 AM on 18 Mar 2008, George W wrote:

    The real question is not why are the police so ineffective against criminals but why are there so many criminals? Being a pensioner, I come from an age when conscience, respect and even the fear of God’s retribution stopped most people from engaging in criminal activities, the fear of the law itself hardly came into the equation. Nowadays people are too greedy to have a conscience, only pop stars and sportsmen are respected and God doesn’t seem to exist anymore. None of these values seem to be taught to children now, the ‘eye for an eye’ laws have been seen off by do-gooders and we can never bring back transportation to the colonies because everyone’s trying to get there under their own steam so it’s never going to get any better.

21. At 08:38 AM on 18 Mar 2008, Paul from Barking wrote:

    Speed cameras: Used to extort money from the public whilst squandering decades of respect for the police service.

    The Law is being abused by people who spout "don't do as I do, do as I say."

    This should tellit all: Med Hughes, chief Constable oy South Yorkshire Police, was caught speeding @ 90mph in North Wales in the summer of last year. He pled guilty to doing this in November and was banned for 42 days...

    Now either we have a crazed maniac *still* in charge of South Yorkshire Police, or he dasn't doing anything inherently dangerous (driving @ 90mph).

    He is certainly a HYPOCRITE who lacks the fibre to fall on his own sword - probably considering he needs a few more years for his pension. But in essence this subject generally has become one where the Police are used (just like the Gestapo in Nazi Germany, I might add) to extort cash out of and bully ordinary people going about their ordinary business hurting no-one.

    They have plenty of time to "supervise" people who generally are either abiding with the Law or the spirit of the Law; Chavs who don't give 2 monkies about whatever the Law says, still go about their errant behaviour with impunity.

    Well, as a man in his mid 40's and a house, etc, etc to lose if I were to get locked up for 3 months having partaken in PEACEFUL protest, I stand and watch with horror about needing ID cards and all the other crap (not long before tattoos back on the arms, eh?)... But just the same as I have no respect for the Gestapo in Germany and all their power p*ssed antics, likewise I view our Police with ever more distrust.

    No Law that can be passed can make me LIKE someone or some body (the'body' being the Police service). FWIW, I intend to do perhaps another 10 years here and leave the UK to go elsewhere

22. At 08:38 AM on 18 Mar 2008, Simon Cuthbert wrote:

    "repsect "? i fink it is cos we is lackin respec for a lot of fings innit?

    Q1. Who is Victoria Derbyshire?
    Q2. Why can't she spell?
    Q3. Does she get paid for this kind of drivel?

    Fanks for the blog Vikky - keep up the good work innit.
    

23. At 08:41 AM on 18 Mar 2008, John Jones wrote:

    Correct me if im wrong but its those that perpertrate the crime that are wrong, it is also the weak morals , greed and lack of courage of many of our citizens that have eroded society, all those that have posted on this blog.....did you get involved last time you saw an incident happening, do you look out for your neighbour, until people regain some moral fibre and get involved in society things will carry on the downward spiral.....easy to blame the police as its convienient, try looking inward....you all are members of this society, when did you last contribute to it.....

24. At 08:56 AM on 18 Mar 2008, Harry Hesketh wrote:

    There are always people who will find something wrong and unfortunately there will always be the press and media there to give it the 'oxygen of publicity'. The main reason why the police are criticised in some cases by some people is that some people haven't got a clue as to what they're talking about.
    The question by Victoria is a view that has been generated by the press. Most people DO respect the police.

25. At 08:59 AM on 18 Mar 2008, Patrick wrote:

    I went through the barriers at Charing cross station and was stopped and searched by 3 British Transport Police. One explained to me how they were demonstrating police anti-terrorist powers; 'Though we are not saying you're a terrorist' , the other half-heartedly searched my bag but not my body, and the third just stood and watched. After a less than thorough search they gave me my 'stop and search' carbon paper as a memento. The officer said that it was purely to demonstrate police powers, but if it was, then it was quite a pathetic way for 3 transport police to spend their working day. I am young and of mixed race- so I think that may be why they wanted to show me police powers- even though it is illegal to do so. I see more and more police officers, community support officers and transport police officers strolling around in areas where they are not really needed. The sense I get is one of a work ethic that is diminished by weak character, and what happens when you have weak characters in uniform with plenty of power? Inevitably police powers are abused and trust and integrity eroded.

26. At 09:09 AM on 18 Mar 2008, wrote:

    im glad shannon mathews is fownd

27. At 09:10 AM on 18 Mar 2008, Harry Hesketh wrote:

    There are always people who will find something wrong and unfortunately there will always be the press and media there to give it the 'oxygen of publicity'. The main reason why the police are criticised in some cases by some people is that some people haven't got a clue as to what they're talking about. (As proved by most of the comments here.)
    The question by Victoria is a view that has been generated by the press. Most people DO respect the police. Oh! and I ain't middle class nor a police officer.

28. At 09:24 AM on 18 Mar 2008, wrote:

    When you get robbed of £100 and the police tell you no crime has been committed and they cann't be bothered to come out. and you have to begin a judical review action against them under the human rights act (victims have human rights as well as criminals) for them to investigate and charge the person, it's little wonder that the real enemy of law and order in this country is not the criminal but the police and CPS who are more interested in not getting involved with minor crimes so the government can procalim that crime is going down when everyone knows that crime is out of control in this country.
    

29. At 09:26 AM on 18 Mar 2008, Richard wrote:

    It's not just the Police, it's the Courts, Transport, NHS, etc
    And it's the media who must hold some blame. Reporting has become so confrontational that each event must have a culprit. Someone must be to blame and it always seems to be someone in the limelight now.
    They also have extremely short memories. Many of the ills we are now suffereing from were generated by the Thatcher government and we will feel the pain for decades to come.
    The police aren't perfect, but they found a child alive after over three weeks. They are to be congratulated

30. At 09:47 AM on 18 Mar 2008, Kath Potter wrote:

    Respect for the police has eroded because people today don't respect anything much.How many of us would do their job professionally while hearing all the abuse they regularly encounter.Don't regard officers as a breed apart they are just people like you and me who joined the force because they hoped they could make this country a better place

31. At 09:51 AM on 18 Mar 2008, wrote:

    When you get robbed of £100 and the police tell you no crime has been committed and they cann't be bothered to come out. and you have to begin a judical review action against them under the human rights act (victims have human rights as well as criminals) for them to investigate and charge the person, it's little wonder that the real enemy of law and order in this country is not the criminal but the police and CPS who are more interested in not getting involved with minor crimes so the government can proclaim that crime is going down when everyone knows that crime is out of control in this country.
    

32. At 09:59 AM on 18 Mar 2008, Dai wrote:

    What a bunch of sour people you are moaning about the Police. You fail to remember that they are governed by politicians obsessed with figures. Sir Ian Blair. Despised by the vast majority of the Police Service, his resignation endlessly called upon by many yet he refuses to go. Thanks to him and Ken Livingstone, we have Community Safety Officers. With their 6 weeks of training, power simply to detain rather than arrest someone, they are a waste of time and mean that much time is spent clearing up after them by actual Police officers. Alan Cole: They are far from being an 'extra help' to the Police. Please detail what extra help you refer to? Rather than 30,000 CSO's, why don't we employ 20,000 Police officers who do have power of arrest and won't need to clear up after the mistakes made by CSO's courtesy of their 6 weeks of training? Who out of you whimpering lot voted for Ken Livingstone. Who voted for Tony Blair who in turn saw the appointment of Ian Blair? Of course...but you sound like the liberal lot who typically shift the blame with no acceptance of any cause.

    I kind of wish that you naive lot will be victims of crime. Who will you immediately go running to? Oh I forgot,. You have no faith in them so it's probable you won't.

    If you want an accurate idea of what pressure the Police are under, the politics and figure obsession by Senior Officers, in turn pressurised by the Government which hinders them from doing their job and prevents them from Policing in the actual way that they and we would like them to, read 'Wasting Police Time' By David Copperfield ISBN 9780955285417 Maybe then, you will be in a position to accurately comment on a job that you don't do, have no experience of and have no profound understanding of.
    Mal Ayre: How would you respond if I suddenly blethered on about you performing poorly with no real idea as to what influences the job you do and the results you have to chase? That applies to all of you bleating on in such a negative way. There are so many awful deputy/headmasters in this country who churn out a foul breed of schoolchild yet I don't go assuming that all are bad at their job. I am not that naive unlike all of you. Get your fingers out, read that book and learn before you feel you can make an comment which comes partly close to being accurate.

33. At 10:00 AM on 18 Mar 2008, edward parks wrote:

    listen to local radio and see how responsive and accountable they are ; some people are persecuted for years without any help from the police. My neighbour retired as soon as he made inspector at 43 years of age, my other neighbour is an 87 years old ex superintendent - so, work for 25 years, well paid, then get super well paid with a gold plated pension for the next 50 years !! How can we possibly afford them ? Have you ever seen a miscarriage of justice re-trial, all the original detectives have to be called back from retirement in spain and they're all in their forties !! If we paid them a reasonable salary and pension for a proper length of service we could afford twice as many on our streets and we wouldn't have so many people living in fear ! - or replying to your blog.

34. At 10:26 AM on 18 Mar 2008, sdys15453 wrote:

    My family have always had the deepest respect for the police. However, over the past ten years, that has disappeared completely.

    In 1999, we woke to found a burglar downstairs while we had been sleeping upstairs. When the police caught him, they brought round the items that had been stolen for us to identify. There were stolen items from at least 12 houses, we were told. We ID'd ours, the police said they would be needed for evidence when the thief was sent to trial. The thief was never sent to trial, and we never got our items back after the police had taken them. It was like being burgled twice over.

    Later that year, I took the children and left the family home due to violence from my children. The ex didn't take that well. It took five years for the death threats to stop, and up to 40 abusive calls per hour. He stalked us everywhere we went. He damaged my property and my vehicle. He threatened to kidnap and kill the children. I must have rung the police over a hundred times over that five years. They did nothing. Eventually, I gave in ringing them. Nine years on, the ex is still stalking me, still sitting around outside my house for hours staring at it. The police won't move him on because he is parked legitimately on a public road according to them. I don't have relationships because he threatens he would report them as child molesters. He has reported me to social services and benefits agency/housing benefits with outlandish claims to the point where they just hang the phone up on him now, although I did have a point where every couple of months housing benefits would come out and investigate me yet again. At least now it is more like once every four or five months that he calls them. He has done everything he can to try and break me and he has never even been given a verbal warning by the police. They have never even been out to see him, and they tell me to get a solicitor and go through the family law courts - when I contact the family law courts, they tell me it is the police's job, and here the kids and I are, stuck in the middle. And still, every single day for the past nine years we have had to put up with this and the police have just given him free rein to continue. You can only imagine what I feel about this. We also live in a rough area to the extent where I bought a CCTV. I have numerous tapes of damage being caused to my property, my vehicle etc. The police don't even bother coming out to collect the tapes, yet when I take them in personally to the police station, they refuse to accept them because an officer has to come out and collect them. At the current moment in time, I have 19 tapes containing evidence to back up crime numbers I have been given over the past twelve months, and I am still waiting for someone to drive the five minutes from the police station to come and collect them.

    On top of that, in the summer, my 12 year old daughter and her friend were set on in the local public park by a group of around 10-12 boys between the ages of 11 and 16. They were attacked in clear view of other people who turned their backs, around 4 in the afternoon when the park was busy. We reported it to the police, told them that the boys had videoed the attack on their mobile phones, gave them the boys names and school details. We even photographed the girls' bruises and other injuries. My daughter spent two hours being interviewed, which was very upsetting for her. She was lucky it was only bruises, it could have been much worse - she could have been killed or raped. One boy got a caution because he already had numerous other offences to his name. None of the rest were even interviewed. The police said the attack had never been videoed and yet both of my children have had the video of the attack bluetoothed to their phones by other people in school! It was humiliating that my daughter was attacked, she has been more humiliated by the video of the attack being sent around her school, and worse still, that the video is not meant to exist according to the police, and that no one has ever been charged. My daughter now no longer leaves the house to go to the park, or to go shopping with her friends, she daren't leave the house because the gang have promised if they see her outside school again, they are going to make a worse mess of her than they did before.

    Any respect I used to have for the police in understandably long gone.

35. At 10:30 AM on 18 Mar 2008, Nazish wrote:

    This is completly true!!!
    I thought that people would be happy that they managed to find Shannon alive. Yet they are criticised for all the work that they have done. I think that we need to see what the dangers that police officers really go through just to keep us safe, then we would be grateful for our officers!

36. At 10:50 AM on 18 Mar 2008, Ian Portwine wrote:

    Repsect (sic) for 'the police' has not eroded over time. It was never there in the first place.
    You can only respect the actions of individuals - not institutions.
    All public services are used by governments to further their own ends. It was ever thus.Police services are merely tools. This does not neccessarily mean that individual officers are not worthy of respect.
    What has changed is that what the politicians want, and what they are using the police to achieve, now has little relationship to reality and none to what the ordinary citizen wants.
    What has eroded over time is practically all respect for and trust in politicians.

37. At 11:10 AM on 18 Mar 2008, Kellyanne wrote:

    Excuse me!!
    I am studyiong Public Services at college, and believe you me, the Police work soo damn hard and it's because of them that you and your friends/families are safe. So stop bitching about them and try to support them. What do you think life would be like if they weren't doing what they do? Do you honestly think that life would be any easier or better? If you think that you could do better, why don't you join the Police?!?!

38. At 11:26 AM on 18 Mar 2008, David Watson wrote:

    Number 21 - "Paul from Barking"

    
    Having read his comments should it not read "Paul IS Barking"

39. At 02:12 PM on 18 Mar 2008, Sriram Krishna wrote:

    You guys are complaining too much! Yes, the crimes are increasing and it always seems like the criminals are going scot free while the average Joe doesn't have any justice.

    Take a step back and think - what influences our thoughts are the stories we read/hear everyday on the papers and telly. Surely, for every thug that is going scot free there must be ten others who are being punished? We dont know that because probably that is never reported - that doesn't make interesting 'news' does it?

    I suppose you can easily guess from my name where I'm from. Trust me, if you lived in my country for a while, you'll just worship British police like they are gods!

    Nobody's benefitting from all this except the likes of Vikki who have made careers out of thriving in such drivel. It is those we should have no 'repsect' for. Shame on the Beeb that this is on the front page!

40. At 02:18 PM on 18 Mar 2008, Sriram Krishna wrote:

    You guys are complaining too much! Yes, the crimes are increasing and it always seems like the criminals are going scot free while the average Joe doesn't have any justice.

    Take a step back and think - what influences our thoughts are the stories we read/hear everyday on the papers and telly. Surely, for every thug that is going scot free there must be ten others who are being punished? We dont know that because probably that is never reported - that doesn't make interesting 'news' does it?

    I suppose you can easily guess from my name where I'm from. Trust me, if you lived in my country for a while, you'll just worship British police like they are gods!

    Nobody's benefitting from all this except the likes of Vikki who have made careers out of thriving in such drivel. It is those we should have no 'repsect' for. Shame on the Beeb that this is on the front page!

41. At 02:56 PM on 18 Mar 2008, Helen wrote:

    "At least they got a good result - Shannon found alive - but I don't think it would be unreasonable to have expected them to have searched likely hiding places - and the house/flat of her relative could be seen as a likely place."

    A good result indeed: let's hope she will be able to put this horrible experience behind her ASAP. As for searching the man's flat; was he under any suspicion earlier in the 24 days? How much justification do the police have to provide before they can get a warrant? If they'd just barged in and found nothing, imagine the "no win, no fee" lawyers queueing to sue the daylights out of them on behalf of the resident!

42. At 03:06 PM on 18 Mar 2008, Helen wrote:

    "If you want an accurate idea of what pressure the Police are under, the politics..., read 'Wasting Police Time' By David Copperfield ISBN 9780955285417 ..."

    I have, and couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry: he joined to help in upholding the law, and ended up arbitrating between a 14 y.o. chav and her "ex" or endlessly filling in the same info. on seventeen different forms! No wonder he's emigrated.
    Personal - v. limited - experience of the police has been pretty good, although there are some bad apples in every barrel, of course.

43. At 09:15 PM on 18 Mar 2008, Dai wrote:

    What a bunch of sour people you are moaning about the Police. You fail to remember that they are governed by politicians obsessed with figures. Sir Ian Blair. Despised by the vast majority of the Police Service, his resignation endlessly called upon by many yet he refuses to go. Thanks to him and Ken Livingstone, we have Community Safety Officers. With their 6 weeks of training, power simply to detain rather than arrest someone, they are a waste of time and mean that much time is spent clearing up after them by actual Police officers. Alan Cole: They are far from being an 'extra help' to the Police. Please detail what extra help you refer to? Rather than 30,000 CSO's, why don't we employ 20,000 Police officers who do have power of arrest and won't need to clear up after the mistakes made by CSO's courtesy of their 6 weeks of training? Who out of you whimpering lot voted for Ken Livingstone. Who voted for Tony Blair who in turn saw the appointment of Ian Blair? Of course...but you sound like the liberal lot who typically shift the blame with no acceptance of any cause.
    I kind of wish that you naive lot will be victims of crime. Who will you immediately go running to? Oh I forgot,. You have no faith in them so it's probable you won't.
    If you want an accurate idea of what pressure the Police are under, the politics and figure obsession by Senior Officers, in turn pressurised by the Government which hinders them from doing their job and prevents them from Policing in the actual way that they and we would like them to, read 'Wasting Police Time' By David Copperfield ISBN 9780955285417 Maybe then, you will be in a position to accurately comment on a job that you don't do, have no experience of and have no profound understanding of.
    Mal Ayre: How would you respond if I suddenly blethered on about you performing poorly with no real idea as to what influences the job you do and the results you have to chase? That applies to all of you bleating on in such a negative way. There are so many awful deputy/headmasters in this country who churn out a foul breed of schoolchild yet I don't go assuming that all are bad at their job. I am not that naive unlike all of you. Get your fingers out, read that book and learn before you feel you can make an comment which comes partly close to being accurate.