Attitude Of Today’s Police

We get the policing that the government want us to have because they believe it will keep them in power or raise revenue NOT what we deserve at all, you sound like a Daily Telegraph reader or an establishmentarianist! There is nothing wrong with wanting your kids to respect the law and those that uphold it, it is just very difficult to try and justify most of what they do nowadays so one could argue about ones deludedness till the cows come home!

I don`t represent the forum, just a member of it, and don`t judge the forum on what I post, there is nothing to doubt about this place it is constructed brilliantly and contributed to brilliantly, I just let it down sometimes! One thing I have learned on here is that not everyone sees eye to eye on everything so I have learned to agree to disagree with people rather than fall out with them, none of us is perfect and no one is correct one hundred percent of the time especially me so you have your opinions and I`ll have mine! I do take a bit of getting used to I`ve been told!

That is very well put. It is true. I suppose it was the Polish thread that upset me and maybe I have been too critical of some people.

You are right there is definitely a nice feel to much of the forum. aussie is perhaps an exception rather than a rule.

Bear you are correct when you state that this type of thing would'nt happen in your Wife's country. As I have been to Poland many times with my girlfriend I have been told that a bribe will work or they kick the shit out of you. Hmmmmm with would you rather?

Doe not really seem like "respect" to me more like fear.

Dog shit on the footpath is disgusting and unhygienic but there are wardens who can issue fixed pens for that and the council should issue fixed pens for petty littering as they do parking fines, the old bill should be concentrating on proper crime NOT petty bollox, if we see the old bill doing society good and not just revenue raising and box ticking then we would appreciate and respect them again, up in Newcastle they have cctv with speakers built in and when the cctv operators see someone litter they bollock them over the cctv tannoy and humiliate them into picking up what they just dropped, I love that idea seen it on tv, laugh nearly p1ssed myself!

I would have expected that the roadside check was being carried out by VOSA officers Dave. It is unusual, although still possible, for Police Officers to take part in the physical checks at these roadside tests since the formation of VOSA. The normal role now is for Police Officers to be at the check to direct the vehicles into the testing area as they have the power or authority to stop vehicles and VOSA officers do not.

With regard to the mobile speed cameras, the Road Safety Partnership is run and manned by civilian staff, employed by the local authorities, and not the Police. I fully agree that quite often the placement of these vehicles make them no more than money making machines but you cannot direct your anger wholly at the Police anymore I’m afraid!

Whilst I am fully aware that there are good and bad in all occupations, I do find your generalisation of the Police rather blinkered Aussie. The Road Traffic side of Policing is the face of the Police that the majority of the public see and, unfortunately, if the wrong image is portrayed it is that which sticks in our minds. The sight of a Police Officer with fixed penalty book in hand, chewing gum and hatless was something that once was only seen in clips from the USA of Police Camera Action. However with increased media coverage and the popularity of crime programmes such as The Force, Police Stop and even the drama programmes such as the Bill, these images of the British Bobby are fast becoming the norm. I was stopped by just such an Officer a few months ago and it is an image that the vast majority of Police Officers detest. There are however many other departments within the Police Service!

The introduction of the Asp ( metal retractable truncheon), CS spray, Quick Cuffs, First Aide pouch resulted in utility belts having to be worn in order for them to be carried. Add to that the ‘requirement’ of stab proof vests to be worn is it any wonder that we end up with the Robo Cop image! Try wearing it all and then sitting down to drive let alone walk or run!

As I previously stated there are good and bad in all walks of life and it only takes one bad apple to tarnish the whole. Unfortunately one of the entrance requirements is not a degree in common sense. It is easy to forget that those joining the Police Force are still only teenagers and many are not worldly wise let alone ‘street wise’. Only with time and experience can the rooky become a competent Officer. Imagine if you would, trying to deal with a heated and violent domestic dispute where a young officer, possibly only nineteen himself, has to try and give advice to two warring parents on how to deal with their own teenager who has just come home drunk, or worse, after a night out on the town. It is not easy I can assure you.
Aussie, these same, to quote you, ‘Pigs’ and ‘Filth’ are the men and women who have to stand in front of a Mother and Father and tell them that their precious son or daughter has just been killed by some drunken lunatic driving into them.
These ‘Pigs’ are the same men and women who spend days searching for lost and vulnerable people in atrocious conditions. These are the same people that YOU would immediately turn to, if, God forbid, something happened to one of your family.

The Police service in Britain today is a far cry from the ‘good old days’ when a clip round the ear could be the end of a matter. The subtle poke in the chest from a truncheon conveniently hidden beneath a cape was excellent at bringing to a conclusion the foul mouthed antics of a drunken yob out on the town with a gallon inside him. And to those who say those tactics do not work today, I say you are correct! The reason being, that those who demand action to clean up the streets, are the first in line to make complaints about the Police for trying to do just that! Try going to France, Spain or Italy and speaking to the Police there with the same disrespect dished out to your local Officers and then you will see just how lucky you are in this Country!

Some very valid points which I have tried to highlight Paul, and yes; any intelligent discussion is impossible if attitudes and phrases such as Aussie's are mindlessly thrown about.

The biggest weakness in your argument though, is not of your making but that of the Conservative Party who habitually use the Police Force to instigate force to conduct Class Warfare: witness their mobilising of it as a "pseudo army" during the Miners' Disputes of twenty years ago and the disgraceful way they were used in the setting up of News International at Wapping during the same period.

Those jobs are the sort of thing a National Paramilitary Force should be dealing with, not "Bert" your local Bobby seconded to come up from Swindon for the day on plenty of overtime.

The violence, callousness and inhumanity deployed by the South Yorkshire Force during Orgieve has stayed inherant with them to this day. Witness their disgraceful behaviour during and after the Hillsbrough tragedy and compare their behaviour and demeanour at any football ground within their remit since then. Compare it with most other forces and you'll appreciate what I mean.

I've no complaint in getting as good as I give if I decide to take part in something that will put me in confrontation with the Police, but I DO object to them showing right wing political bias under the pretext of "simply carrying out orders" for a particularly nasty and exploitive political party.

Orgrieve and Hillsbrough are two high profile examples of why the Police have lost the respect and trust of the community in which they operate and are seen as representatives of "them" rather than "us".

I live in a rather intense inner city environment and I wouldn't say the police are particularly disliked or disrespected round here BUT they are mistrusted by many and purely because of that history of lining up against "the people" with who's "consent" they are supposed to be policing rather imposing a political will that very few around here would ever vote for anyway.