A car belonging to one of the family had a window smashed around 3 weeks ago. Nothing was taken from the car, so it was either vandalism or a thief was disturbed.
This not being a 999 matter I emailed our "Safer Neighbourhoods Team" at the local nick. A week and no response later I emailed again asking for an acknowledgement. Another week later, still with no response I emailed the Met by filling in their online report form.
Still no response. I know they're busy but this is not acceptable. The records presumably show no car crime where I live.
What do I do next ?
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This is where our fantastic target culture in the UK destroys the ability of the police force to do a good job. They are all probably chasing conviction targets and they know that they won't get one from your incident.
This eventually forces people to distort the truth to get something done.
It's like the story of the bloke who see's someone breaking into his shed and doing a runner. He calls the police and they are too busy to repsond.
His wife then calls them and tells em her husband has gone out with his shotgun.
Then a helicopter and 3 cars arrive. When they ask him where his shotgun is he replies 'I thought you were too busy'. I know we have all heard it before but there is an element of truth that you have to do this.
I think you have to report it differently in future (not that I hope it happens again) or go and visit them and demand a response.
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The irritating thing is that I had no need to contact the police. I don't need a crime number as we just paid the £60 excess and got Autoglass (a very clean job, by the way) to come along and fix the mess.
I'm just doing my "good citizen" act and naively thinking that every bit of information they have may help someone one day and might just lead to the eventual collaring of some low life.
Oh yes, why didn't I phone? Well, the last time I tried to contact the police on a non 999 issue I was left in a telephone queue for 40 minutes. I said then that I'll never, ever phone them again in this kind of situation.
From now onwards I won't even bother to email them either. Guess what? Reported crime figures keep going down. You wonder why.
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last time i had this problem was at the main police station i insisted on being given a crime number even though i was going to repair the damage at my cost,it was some car windows broken,whether i was targeted or not i neither know nor care
the reason?
we have a local village police forum and i want to make sure that all crime figures are corrolated for my area so the local council /police cant call us a low crime area
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i particularly like the way the biggest police station in one of our biggest cities is now only open to the public for front desk access 9 to 5, waste of time trying to go and report anything in the evening, probably makes their stats look better for same reason as above
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I'll repeat the telling of an incident I saw...
Pulled up behind a parked Fiesta at about 3pm on an August Sat afternoon (near local church - wedding going on). Just in time to see four youths making off down a jitty with various items taken through broken passenger window. There was newsagents over the road and a group of teenage girls drinking pop and eating sweets. I had a word with them and managed to get the full names of two of the youths and the first names of the other two.
Phoned police on my mobile and was given a crime number, told to write it on piece of paper and leave in the Fiesta (which I did). Left all my details with the police.
Never got a call, despite being eyewitness and having full description of clothing etc.
On a previous occasion I saw joyriders racing around at about 1am. Police turned up at about 7am - got me out of bed to point out the wrecked Vauxhall that had been racing about until something like 3am.
I'm sorry, but I don't accept the 'targets' excuse. The police have a very good and effective union ('Police Federation') and bring this up at every opportunity. I lived next door to a policeman for 20 years, wife's cousin is a policeman and a mate of mine (former IT bod) joined the force 4 years ago as a 'mature' entrant - so I have gained a fair bit of inside info. My mate, in particular, is quite disparaging of a lot of his fellow officers and their lack of 'motivation'. We have second-rate policing in this country (heresy in BR I know, but its my opinion and I'm sticking to it). Nothing short of a root-and-branch shake up will make it work properly.
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re "heresy in BR I know, but its my opinion and I'm sticking to it"
yea i know
its a source of constant amazement the naive pro police stance enforced on this forum
while i wouldnt like it to become like some car sites full of 17 years old ranting about how they raced and lost the police, i think a bit of adult debate about ROAD policing does not harm
and the police I know are less pro police than the stance the mods enforce here
a bit of healthy cynicism and realism would do everyone some good
but hey its HJs site so its up to him really
but i put my 2p worth in for wot its worth
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Of course most people most of the time try not to diss anyone or sound too subversive. But my impression is that most people are not completely hypnotised by official plod propaganda here, and that includes to a decent extent those who identify themselves as police.
Some people are a bit too ready to punish and incarcerate though. This time, they don't really seem to include our police members.
However I don't want to idealise anyone. Mind how you go.... :o}
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its a source of constant amazement the naive pro police stance enforced on this forum
Dunno. There's a lot of criticism of the perceived structural failings in the force e.g. target driven, too much paperwork, too PC (no pun intended) etc.
And there is said to be a lot of central government interference in the form of micro-management, forcing the police to do as central government say. We've seen it in the schools, the hospitals and the police. I see micro-management in my current company and it is soul destroying and reduces productivity.
Most are okay apart from some nasty plain clothes I once 'met'. Having experienced some foreign police, I think we could do a lot worse.
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We have second-rate policing in this country (heresy in BR I know but its my opinion and I'm sticking to it). Nothing short of a root-and-branch shake up will make it work properly.
have you tried special branch?
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I think that this is like most of our Public Sector organisations, in that in this day and age they are fronted by politicians. As such, a political agenda takes priority over plain common sense which ruled a few years back.
I would love to be able to consider the Police as a career option (mature entry), given the variety of work and potential job satisfaction but given the curent climate, there is absolutely no chance that I would.
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There was a big headline in our local paper about how house burglaries and theft had dropped by 20% in our area. When our contents insurance came up for renewal with a 5% premium increase I pointed this out to them. Their response was that their claims dept was showing a 3% increase for our postcode. Who do you reckon is telling porkies??
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This attitude from the police is nothing new and cannot all be blamed on politicians. In the 1970s, when I was a student, I was mugged in a street in Coventry in broad daylight,near Pool Meadow, for those that know the place. I had my wallet stolen and suffered minor injuries. An eyewitness helped me and was able to describe the three attackers. The police were completely disinterested and did not bother to take any details, as they said the likelihood of catching the offenders was remote. I was basically told to put it down to experience. I was young and naive at the time so I accepted this brush off.
Just last week I was standing on the pavement in Mill Lane, Leicester, queuing for a cash machine. A car was pulled up nearby on the double yellow lines and 3-4 guys were standing with the doors open, chatting and listening to loud rap music. This is a narrow road and so, as you can imagine, they were causing a major obstruction, with traffic, including a bus, backing up in both directions, and having to alternately negotiate the obstruction. I noticed a police Focus crawling toward the parked car and chuckled to myself, expecting to witness some "fireworks". Imagine my disappointment when it gingerly manouevered around the obstruction and continued on its way. I suppose the offers left it alone in the interests of 'community relations'. Haha!
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Do the police read this site? Is it coincidence?
I've just had a knock on the door from the local neighbourhood imitation policeman. He said he'd been asked to pop by and apologise for the delay in responding. We chatted for a bit and he told me there was never any car crime in my area and this was the first they'd heard of for years if ever.
Well, well.
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I'm sorry but I don't accept the 'targets' excuse. The police have a very good and effective union ('Police Federation') and bring this up at every opportunity. >>
It's a matter of opinion as to how effective the Police Federation is. In some ways it's good because it gives you decent legal cover etc, but other than that it's a toothless tiger.
The target culture has totally destroyed old policing styles, to the enormous detriment of this country. I'm not saying everything was perfect in the old days, because it clearly wasn't..but.. it has got manifestly worse. Cops are no different to anyone else in society and will seek the easiest path... 'clear ups' are a modern scourge, the term for showing that a crime has been 'detected' and dealt with e.g. through a caution, FPN, charge etc. It means that junior cops concentrate on what their bosses want them to i.e. Home Office targets, instead of what they should be. It means vast amounts of 'day to day' stuff is utterly ignored. Middle managers are most frustrated, because you can see what's wrong, but have no autonomy to put it right and are chased for the same targets.
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I lived next door to a policeman for 20 years wife's cousin is a policeman and a mateof mine (former IT bod) joined the force 4 years ago as a 'mature' entrant - so I have gained a fair bit of inside info. My mate in particular is quite disparaging of a lot of his fellow officers and their lack of 'motivation'.
The room for 'lack of motivation' has mostly gone. I'm not saying all are perfect because they're not. Many departments and response teams are hectic, so someone not pulling their weight stands out a mile.
We have second-rate policing in this country (heresy in BR I know but its my opinion and I'm sticking to it).
I don't believe that. It could be improved a lot, but look around the world, what we've got here isn't all bad.
Nothing short of a root-and-branch shake up will make it work properly.
The systems already in place could work very well, if you left your first line managers to actually manage. Constant interference and insistence on ever changing targets de-motivates and takes you away from what you should be doing.
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And on that note - LOCKED.
(mainly due to lack of motoring content on the whole)
DD.
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