Comments on: Police are Lazy – Official

By: pafnootty

pafnootty — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 13:28:46 +0000

I want to quote your post in my blog. It can?
And you et an account on Twitter?

By: The Blue Light Run

The Blue Light Run — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:52:21 +0000

I have forgotten how many ‘crimes’ I have attended where the victim has said to me ‘do I really have to give a statement, there’s no chance of catching anyone is there?’. No, but its policy….if the victim refuses to give a statement it is actually much more difficult to file the job as undetected. The ‘every victm shall be visited’ mantra turned into ‘every victim will be visited and talked into wasting half hour of their time’. Its frustrating, pointless and much more importantly takes us off the front line. Real victims often end up waiting in vain for officers to eventually turn up to take a real statement. These poor victims may be hurt, upset, angry etc. Officer Dibble turning up an hour later goes down like a lead balloon.
Without getting angry the whole system in my shire stinks. It’s gone from common sense policing ten years ago to the bureaucratic mess it is now. Unfortunately its here to stay and it will take a long time to turn it around.

By: Willing and Eager

Willing and Eager — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:01:36 +0000

Perfectly reasonable not to investigate every crime as BDZ says. I reported my bike being stolen from the back garden about a year ago. The lady on the end of the phone asked me if the neighbours saw or heard anything, if there was any CCTV etc and then apologised profusely when she said that the bike was unlikely to be recovered. I told her that was expected on account of there being no evidence. It did however give me a bit of confidence that at least our police are prioritising to some degree, and I know that if it ever does turn up (gave the frame serial no.), it’s recorded as being mine.
Carry on not investigating crimes with no leads.

By: copper bottom

copper bottom — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:39:25 +0000

ITS THE DOCTOR!!!….

although… Mr Grey (if he is a doctor then my cock is a carrot) …. he is more like the Master…

By: Baz

Baz — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:25:19 +0000

MTG,

what the f@ck are you going on about?

By: BDZ

BDZ — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:59:43 +0000

Fee – what’s the point in taking a statement for a crime that has no lines of enquiry?

Statements are taken where someone needs to officially document evidence that can be used in a court i.e. where there is a prosecution or where there is likely to be one. Taking statements takes a long time and where there are no lines of enquiry are utterly pointless and very time-consuming.

Regardless of whether it’s a murder or vandalised wing mirror or anything inbetween there are only 4 ways to solve a crime:

1) Witnesses
2) Forensic evidence
3) CCTV
4) A confession

If there are none of these 4 present, then a crime will never be solved regardless of how many officers come round to look or how many statements they take.

It’s gutting when you’re the victim and there are no lines of enquiry, but the police cannot create evidence where it does not exist. Simply giving a statement saying that “I am Suchabody and I own the car ABC 123 and someone has booted off the wing mirror causing £50 worth of damage” is by itself of no investigative value and won’t shed any light on who was responsible.

It makes perfect sense that the police do not attend every report of crime or take statements from everyone because not only would this take up even more resources which are not there but ultimately there is no point beyond the PR benefits. The Home Secretary’s suggestion that every report of crime gets a visit will be utterly unworkable, partly because people report so many trivial non-crimes (Tracy called me a slag on Facebook etc) that will require attendance but there are simply not the resources to do it and there never will be.

By: MTG

MTG — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:23:18 +0000

What gratuitous cruelty when news of a joint National mugging by criminals and police is callously presented in a grammatically incorrect headline, 200.

I think many of us have finished with tears; resolved to some continuance with the bonuses and just rewards for Police of the Gadget variety. The main difference may be open air venues for suitable presentations to be made on special platforms.

By: Tony F

Tony F — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:00:50 +0000

I have to agree with Fee. I have to say, I was a bit upset when £6,000 of plant was nicked, and absolutely nothing was done. Issuing a crime number does not count.

By: Crime Analyst (Steve - Ex West Mids)

Crime Analyst (Steve - Ex West Mids) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:53:48 +0000

The significance or otherwise of the content in this article seems to depend on the quality of the recording process and who is ultimately responsible for the decision at ground level.

Experienced front line officers would be eminently capable of applying common sense priorities and should be availed the discretion to make the right decision the majority of the time.

Until the trivial stuff is eliminated, and officers are allowed to prioritise activity in the best interests of the public and all the other nonsense obstructions to “doing the job” are removed, this will remain a thorny issue.

Rid the job of the endless form filling, box ticking bureaucracy, misguided performance targeting and politically correct motivated processes and coppers will be freed up to do the job they’d all rather be doing.

Leave the common sense copper to make decision. Common sense coppering should determine the seriousness of the incident, the likelihood of a resolution and the current level of prioritised response.

Not sure Alan Johnson sees it quite that way, with his “Every victim will be visited” mantra.

By: Fee

Fee — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:36:00 +0000

If you guys want to ignore reports of “Britney sent me an evil text, like, cos she said, like, she wuz gonna, like, totally stab me” then carry on, please. Maybe if you keep ignoring them, they’ll go away. Unlikely, I know, but hope springs eternal.

On the other hand, I’d be a bit perturbed if you were ignoring muggings and burglaries, for example. There may well be little to no chance of catching the offender, but I’d expect at least a visit to take a statement.