Biased Old Bill

[dextrous]

So I see that the police have managed to capture the diamond robbers of a week or so ago. Possibly because they made an effort.

However, when you or I have a break in, or a theft of some description, then how many times have we been fobbed off on the phone and just given a crime reference number for our insurers?

Money corrupts, eh?

 

[wotan]

There are crimes, and petty crimes, unfortunately the distinction has to be drawn somewhere.

Wotan

 

[dextrous]

There are crimes, and petty crimes, unfortunately the distinction has to be drawn somewhere.

Wotan

By whom? That is the question.
They stole 40M diamonds from a fatcat jewellers in a highly affluent area in London (I concede that guns were invlved which upped the status of the crime). Thus the police threw a large team at it and got a result.

Whereas we will be luck if we get someone to pop round in a few hours to say nothing will be done, 'cos there's no point.

As a teacher, one thing I learnt early on (through watching other colleagues struggle with troublesome children) is that if you pick up on all the little things, then big things rarely blow up. Plus, making the effort over the little things gave the message that you "cared" and as such respect for the "authoritative figure" developed because it had been earned.

Thus, I believe, the police are making a rod or it's own back by failing to investigate enough of the "petty crimes".

 

[wotan]

You can hardly expect the police to use the same resources, to investigate the robbery of say, an electric drill, stolen from the garden shed, as they would for a major crime.
Who would pay for it, central government? or add it to the police charges for local community tax.
As galling as it is, (and I do appreciate your argument) they have to be realistic.
With regards to petty crime, if the courts were to give real fines, and make the offenders pay costs for items stolen, then maybe, petty crime might reduce, at present anyone caught is given a slap on the wrist a few hours of community service work, and are told not to do it again.

Wotan

 

[Johnmelad502]

There are crimes, and petty crimes, unfortunately the distinction has to be drawn somewhere.
Wotan

The trouble is, the distinction is often drawn based on value.

£million to a bank is actually small change. £1000 to some could be their entire life savings. To the police one is petty the other is serious.

 

[xerxes]

I've a number of times had reason to feel very annoyed with the police because of their inaction, not to speak of their apparent lack of competence and intelligence. Living in a rural area one feels very unprotected against criminal activity, and the same time constantly anxious about hidden camera vans.

However, you have to consider their comparative lack of resources, and the distortion of their aims by politicians and senior officers who have imposed a target-driven mentality on them. I found this article by Philip Johnson interesting; it made me a little more sympathetic to the police, some of whom are very hard pressed and doing a good job.

 

[Steve]

The area my shop is in, Mexborough, south yorkshire, has its own police station. It has one officer on duty about 20 hours a week, the rest of the staff are admin.

The problem is, the area is run down and unemployment and drug use are both high, remarkably above average, and so is general crime, most of it petty, such as shoplifting and theft. A couple of weeks ago someone was killed on the main shopping street, which is about 500yds from my shop.

The police came in the very next day for a couple of hours of CCTV footage, because we have an outside camera which covers anyone walking past the shop.

Now some busybody has set up a petition, and left sheets in every local business, including our shop, to try to get more police coverage in this area. Currently officers have to travel from a station about 5 miles away. That station is in a rough area too, but there is no reason not to have officers based at Mexborough.

And I'm sure all the people who signed the petitions across Mexborough would gladly pay an extra 50p/£1 council tax to put a couple of police in Mexborough (a while ago this was the amount the local paper calculated it would cost to have an extra officer in each local neighbourhood or something).

 

[kevindgas]

well if they spent less on Tea, Biscuits and overtime they would be able to have more on the beat!
our local gestapo have spent a fortune on Tea breaks ! mind you they might as well be on a break for the use they are!

 

[toptec]

The main reason for the reduction in Detectives nationally is that the budgets for the CID departments are controlled by the Divisional Commanders who are from the Uniform branch. They would rather spend the budgets on PCSO's (Community Officers), Specials and running youth camps for offenders.

During a large drug conspiracy trial a couple of years ago the Judge ordered confiscation of assets amounting to £110,000 to be used for the purposes of drug investigation.

The local drugs unit wanted to spend the money on some covert surveillance equipment.

The local Uniformed commander ssuccesfullyargued that the prisoner cages in vans, which needed replacing, fell into this category as drug offenders are carried in them and was granted the whole amount by the Chief Constable!

 

[kevplumb]

what a load of carp

the prob is plod going for what they think is easy arrests to get the figures up

ie public order

plod reckons you swore ohh section 5

or drunk and disorderly another laugh

they charge you cos they think you will plead guilty and it bumps the figs up

answer this then

charge 1 assault

charge 2 breach of the peace

charge 3 assault occasioning actual bodily harm

charge 4 drunk and disorderly

result not guilty on all

why cos plod couldnt get their story straight as they tried to fit me up

ie if you dont see it invent it and they couldnt even get that right

go preach to the converted

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

I recently witnessed two officers charge a HGV driver for leaving his cab and the engine running.
The driver had stopped outside his drop off point and a car was in the way, so he asked for someone to find the owner so it could be moved and got nicked.
This street is well known for taxi drug drop offs, They seem to get left alone

 

[kevplumb]

wonder why

 

[xerxes]

... he asked for someone to find the owner so it could be moved and got nicked.

If that's the case, it's a sad example of a misuse of police powers. A friendly warning would have been far better, followed by some help removing the obstruction.

The consequence could be a wound-up truck driver who has an accident later in the day because he's anxious about being fined, or even losing his job.

 

[kjacko]

The plod do themselves no favours at every turn.
However, in the case of the diamonds, of course its more of a priority for the police than a drill from a shed. A lot of the money (in diamonds) could be used to fund criminal activity, thats whay they come down hard on pirate dvd's etc.

I think the original question by dextrous is a no-brainer answer, but it certainly sparks debate regarding the inadequacies of the police force in general.