Pedantic
Well-Known Member
Oh come on patches, keep up
Can they do this?
- Thread starter measles
- Start date
Patches
Well-Known Member
Too many mince pies if you ask me!
I keep meaning to ask you if you went on that Christmas Ride in the end? If you did, did you and your ned enjoy it?
I keep meaning to ask you if you went on that Christmas Ride in the end? If you did, did you and your ned enjoy it?
eventersrus
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
Too many mince pies if you ask me!
Too many chips on shoulder more like
Too many mince pies if you ask me!
Too many chips on shoulder more like
the watcher
Well-Known Member
'funny the first time I was stopped to weigh my van was by a police woman ON HER OWN'
I've tried and tried, and I really can't see the significance of this, if she was authorised to weigh and examine vehicles why shouldn't she be alone. Or don't you think girlies understand static and dynamic weighbridges, or axle weights.
Excess weight isn't a matter of opinion requiring some kind of corroboration, it is a matter of fact.
I've tried and tried, and I really can't see the significance of this, if she was authorised to weigh and examine vehicles why shouldn't she be alone. Or don't you think girlies understand static and dynamic weighbridges, or axle weights.
Excess weight isn't a matter of opinion requiring some kind of corroboration, it is a matter of fact.
Patches
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
Too many mince pies if you ask me!
Too many chips on shoulder more like
[/ QUOTE ]
No idea why the crazy face, I can categorically state that I have absolutely no chips on my shoulder whatsoever.
Of course, you may have meant your reply for Pedantic, but I assume it was for me seeing as you quoted my reply.
Too many mince pies if you ask me!
Too many chips on shoulder more like
[/ QUOTE ]
No idea why the crazy face, I can categorically state that I have absolutely no chips on my shoulder whatsoever.
Of course, you may have meant your reply for Pedantic, but I assume it was for me seeing as you quoted my reply.
eventersrus
Well-Known Member
sorry patches it was meant for pedantic
Patches
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
sorry patches it was meant for pedantic
[/ QUOTE ]
That was the most logical explanation (sorry pedantic) but I was a tad thrown because you'd quoted me in your reply.
As pedantic says, I really do need to keep up. I shall lay off the mince pies and the "dancake" rum truffles!
sorry patches it was meant for pedantic
[/ QUOTE ]
That was the most logical explanation (sorry pedantic) but I was a tad thrown because you'd quoted me in your reply.
As pedantic says, I really do need to keep up. I shall lay off the mince pies and the "dancake" rum truffles!
Pedantic
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
'funny the first time I was stopped to weigh my van was by a police woman ON HER OWN'
I've tried and tried, and I really can't see the significance of this, if she was authorised to weigh and examine vehicles why shouldn't she be alone. Or don't you think girlies understand static and dynamic weighbridges, or axle weights.
Excess weight isn't a matter of opinion requiring some kind of corroboration, it is a matter of fact.
[/ QUOTE ]
Groaaaaaaaaaannnnnnn, Well you obviously need to try harder, nothing to do with weights ect, it's to do with policeman being in pairs, mind you women allways seem to go to the loo in pairs, please try and follow the discussion as I cant be arsed to explain everything.
quote The_Watcher "Why did you have 2 police men at 11pm? because at night it is safer to work in pairs"
'funny the first time I was stopped to weigh my van was by a police woman ON HER OWN'
I've tried and tried, and I really can't see the significance of this, if she was authorised to weigh and examine vehicles why shouldn't she be alone. Or don't you think girlies understand static and dynamic weighbridges, or axle weights.
Excess weight isn't a matter of opinion requiring some kind of corroboration, it is a matter of fact.
[/ QUOTE ]
Groaaaaaaaaaannnnnnn, Well you obviously need to try harder, nothing to do with weights ect, it's to do with policeman being in pairs, mind you women allways seem to go to the loo in pairs, please try and follow the discussion as I cant be arsed to explain everything.
quote The_Watcher "Why did you have 2 police men at 11pm? because at night it is safer to work in pairs"
JanetGeorge
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
Being on our private land in the dead of the night is a civil matter, not a criminal one.
[/ QUOTE ]
Not if they're armed, it's not! Armed trespass - even with an unloaded airgun, is a criminal offence which carries a maximum sentence of 3 months and/or a £5000 fine. Penalties go up for loaded weapons - or 'proper' guns (shotguns or rifles).
And if they're shooting on your land they could also be charged with aggravated trespass to boot. If they are shooting on your land, ring the police and demand they attend.
Being on our private land in the dead of the night is a civil matter, not a criminal one.
[/ QUOTE ]
Not if they're armed, it's not! Armed trespass - even with an unloaded airgun, is a criminal offence which carries a maximum sentence of 3 months and/or a £5000 fine. Penalties go up for loaded weapons - or 'proper' guns (shotguns or rifles).
And if they're shooting on your land they could also be charged with aggravated trespass to boot. If they are shooting on your land, ring the police and demand they attend.
the watcher
Well-Known Member
JanetGeorge - you can demand all you like but the only response to a known armed threat is an armed response, they will not send unarmed officers, so there will be a delay, by which time the 'poachers' have gone. That is the way of the world.
Pedantic
Well-Known Member
Better just let them get away with it then in which case may as well repeal the law which covers it if anyone can be bothered, ho hum back to eating dougnuts drinking coffee and the real threat of overloaded Transit vans untaxed vehicles and TV licenses, anyway stuff people who own large areas of land they probably dont pay taxes and probably support this real danger to society of fox hunting we need to keep the manpower for such important matters as that don't we.
the watcher
Well-Known Member
Have you got a bit too deep into a bottle of Merlot today?
alleycat
Well-Known Member
Followed this great post with interest.
So, Watcher, you are basically saying that if as Janet George says, you have someone armed on your land and you feel you need support from the police- forget it. Its too dangerous for them so they won't bother?
Even though, as Janet George points out, these people are legally committing a criminal offence?
Yet the police travel round in pairs at night to check out tax discs? (This has happened to me, too; they were looking for my old car which the DVLC had inadvertently not tagged as scrapped- and they must have made a 30 mile round trip at eleven at night in order to check it out).
So, Watcher, you are basically saying that if as Janet George says, you have someone armed on your land and you feel you need support from the police- forget it. Its too dangerous for them so they won't bother?
Even though, as Janet George points out, these people are legally committing a criminal offence?
Yet the police travel round in pairs at night to check out tax discs? (This has happened to me, too; they were looking for my old car which the DVLC had inadvertently not tagged as scrapped- and they must have made a 30 mile round trip at eleven at night in order to check it out).
Pedantic
Well-Known Member
Waiting with baited breath for the reply to this
chestnut cob
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
Better just let them get away with it then in which case may as well repeal the law which covers it if anyone can be bothered, ho hum back to eating dougnuts drinking coffee and the real threat of overloaded Transit vans untaxed vehicles and TV licenses, anyway stuff people who own large areas of land they probably dont pay taxes and probably support this real danger to society of fox hunting we need to keep the manpower for such important matters as that don't we.
[/ QUOTE ]
I have friends in the Police....I've quizzed them about this business of sitting round trying to catch people without car insurance. They say that more often than not, when they pick up someone in an untaxed vehicle without insurance etc, they also find weapons, drugs or similar in the car boot....so it's not just about sitting around eating doughnuts.
Better just let them get away with it then in which case may as well repeal the law which covers it if anyone can be bothered, ho hum back to eating dougnuts drinking coffee and the real threat of overloaded Transit vans untaxed vehicles and TV licenses, anyway stuff people who own large areas of land they probably dont pay taxes and probably support this real danger to society of fox hunting we need to keep the manpower for such important matters as that don't we.
[/ QUOTE ]
I have friends in the Police....I've quizzed them about this business of sitting round trying to catch people without car insurance. They say that more often than not, when they pick up someone in an untaxed vehicle without insurance etc, they also find weapons, drugs or similar in the car boot....so it's not just about sitting around eating doughnuts.
chestnut cob
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
Thanks, everyone. Some good news - the farmer was called and he was furious at the people he had given permission to shoot as it had been on the condition that they give us prior warning so we could ensure the horses were in. He says they'll no longer have permission to shoot there, so hopefully the problem won't rise again. We appreciate his attitude very much.
[/ QUOTE ]
Glad to hear the problem has been resolved Measles
Thanks, everyone. Some good news - the farmer was called and he was furious at the people he had given permission to shoot as it had been on the condition that they give us prior warning so we could ensure the horses were in. He says they'll no longer have permission to shoot there, so hopefully the problem won't rise again. We appreciate his attitude very much.
[/ QUOTE ]
Glad to hear the problem has been resolved Measles
the watcher
Well-Known Member
OK this clearly requires a long reply and I am now sitting comfortably and have plenty of time!
Everything the Police (or for that matter any other publicly funded body) do has to measured in the effectiveness, cost efficiency and value of it, as well as whether it meets or addresses current government targets.
Some matters can be dealt with cheaply and easily, if a car is on a targeted patrol in an area that has been identified as requiring attention by intelligence led policing (ie high crime area, intelligence suggesting that anti social behaviour is happening there or some other trigger factor) and happen across a car that is parked with no tax, it is two minutes out of their patrol time to deal with it. Cars without tax are often uninsured or have no MOT so tax offences are worth enquiring into. Sometimes examination of a tax disc reveals cars on false identities or stolen discs or other information. If a car has been scrapped and then returned into use, it potentially could be used in crime.
So let's move on to the bigger issue of armed crime in rural areas. Some things we know for sure about this specific case, we don't know who is responsible, we have no information as to the identity of the people or the vehicles they are using and I doubt there is a fixed timetable. How much risk to the public do these people represent? None, if they maintain their present behaviour and they remain undisturbed.
So the Police need to respond to an unknown offender/offenders at short notice in the dark, in unknown countryside - and they only thing we know for sure is that they have guns.
You would be surprised how many times unarmed Police officers throw themselves into the path of suspects carrying guns and knives, it happens somewhere every day, and it is done because those officers believe that they are preventing harm to somebody else and the need is urgent.
However in this case the need is not urgent, there is no risk to anybody as the information stands so absolutely no justification in sending unarmed officers to respond to a known armed threat. so armed response officers will be called. They might be on the other side of the county, they might be at another job. Deployment of resources will wait until they have been called and are on the way, at that stage other officers might support them.
The Police receive many emergency calls, some times, when people think they are not being taken seriously enough they then say that there is a gun involved, imagining that this information will provoke an immediate response, in fact it slows everything down. The Police are not gung ho, they are well trained professionals - that is why the British Police have such a good reputation spanning over decades of dealing with gun crime.
Back to our rural poachers. It is now some 30 minutes after the call to the Police and just maybe the armed car is arriving. It is just possible I suppose that the offenders will still be there. They might catch them there or they might have to follow them across country before arresting them. The suspects might open fire, this could happen in a public place. I can remember one gunfight that took place on the M1 many years ago between armed offenders and a Police vehicle - I don't imagine anybody who was anywhere near it has ever forgotten it.
When planning for this kind of event all these possibilities have to be taken into account. It isn't just about safety for the Police officers, who are entitled to this consideration, but also the safety of the public. An offender with a gun who is in danger of being caught and potentially imprisoned is a very dangerous and desperate person.
In an earlier post I suggested that of course huge resources could be deployed to lie in wait for these people, which would be much safer for everybody as they could be contained. However the cost of mounting such an operation cannot be justified - the cost being both financial and in reducing response to other potential crimes where life is actually at risk.
In Patches position I would invite a local officer to the farm in daylight to identify the field where this is actually happening so that maps of roads and access points can be drawn up, and if they have a local Police helicopter aerial photographs of the area would be helpful in the event of these people returning. i might also put up signs on gates advising that trespassing is prohibited and that the Police will be called and hope that these steps are enough to either prevent it, or assist the Police if they do have to respond.
I am open to all suggestions though, especially sensible ones, as there may be a way of dealing with this that I and many others have not considered.
Everything the Police (or for that matter any other publicly funded body) do has to measured in the effectiveness, cost efficiency and value of it, as well as whether it meets or addresses current government targets.
Some matters can be dealt with cheaply and easily, if a car is on a targeted patrol in an area that has been identified as requiring attention by intelligence led policing (ie high crime area, intelligence suggesting that anti social behaviour is happening there or some other trigger factor) and happen across a car that is parked with no tax, it is two minutes out of their patrol time to deal with it. Cars without tax are often uninsured or have no MOT so tax offences are worth enquiring into. Sometimes examination of a tax disc reveals cars on false identities or stolen discs or other information. If a car has been scrapped and then returned into use, it potentially could be used in crime.
So let's move on to the bigger issue of armed crime in rural areas. Some things we know for sure about this specific case, we don't know who is responsible, we have no information as to the identity of the people or the vehicles they are using and I doubt there is a fixed timetable. How much risk to the public do these people represent? None, if they maintain their present behaviour and they remain undisturbed.
So the Police need to respond to an unknown offender/offenders at short notice in the dark, in unknown countryside - and they only thing we know for sure is that they have guns.
You would be surprised how many times unarmed Police officers throw themselves into the path of suspects carrying guns and knives, it happens somewhere every day, and it is done because those officers believe that they are preventing harm to somebody else and the need is urgent.
However in this case the need is not urgent, there is no risk to anybody as the information stands so absolutely no justification in sending unarmed officers to respond to a known armed threat. so armed response officers will be called. They might be on the other side of the county, they might be at another job. Deployment of resources will wait until they have been called and are on the way, at that stage other officers might support them.
The Police receive many emergency calls, some times, when people think they are not being taken seriously enough they then say that there is a gun involved, imagining that this information will provoke an immediate response, in fact it slows everything down. The Police are not gung ho, they are well trained professionals - that is why the British Police have such a good reputation spanning over decades of dealing with gun crime.
Back to our rural poachers. It is now some 30 minutes after the call to the Police and just maybe the armed car is arriving. It is just possible I suppose that the offenders will still be there. They might catch them there or they might have to follow them across country before arresting them. The suspects might open fire, this could happen in a public place. I can remember one gunfight that took place on the M1 many years ago between armed offenders and a Police vehicle - I don't imagine anybody who was anywhere near it has ever forgotten it.
When planning for this kind of event all these possibilities have to be taken into account. It isn't just about safety for the Police officers, who are entitled to this consideration, but also the safety of the public. An offender with a gun who is in danger of being caught and potentially imprisoned is a very dangerous and desperate person.
In an earlier post I suggested that of course huge resources could be deployed to lie in wait for these people, which would be much safer for everybody as they could be contained. However the cost of mounting such an operation cannot be justified - the cost being both financial and in reducing response to other potential crimes where life is actually at risk.
In Patches position I would invite a local officer to the farm in daylight to identify the field where this is actually happening so that maps of roads and access points can be drawn up, and if they have a local Police helicopter aerial photographs of the area would be helpful in the event of these people returning. i might also put up signs on gates advising that trespassing is prohibited and that the Police will be called and hope that these steps are enough to either prevent it, or assist the Police if they do have to respond.
I am open to all suggestions though, especially sensible ones, as there may be a way of dealing with this that I and many others have not considered.
Pedantic
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
Have you got a bit too deep into a bottle of Merlot today?
[/ QUOTE ]
Dont drink or smoke or take any other substances, dont drop litter or fly tip or shoot anything, all my vehicles are taxed mot'd and insured, unlike some gas fitters at great expense I am registered, I have worked my bollocks off for 36 years and still working to get what I have, so yes I have a chip on both shoulders when I see a cant be arsed attitude from public services and the continual easy meat target at the working tax payers expense, I wonder how many illegally parked caravans with fly tipped rubbish and untaxed vehicles the two policepersons passed to visit the last postings vehicle.
The first vehicle I had stopped and tested unnessarily had only just been mot'd the week before, but oh no they wasted over 5 peoples time testing it, the look of dissapointement on the mans face when they couldn't find anything wrong was unforgettable and says it all, the second vehicle I had stopped I had to wait because the weigh bridge wasn't ready, of course when they finished I got a peice of paper to say it was fine, well hoopey doo, a 10 year old could have told you that just looking at it, I think maybe they go round in two's to make a whole brain.
Have you got a bit too deep into a bottle of Merlot today?
[/ QUOTE ]
Dont drink or smoke or take any other substances, dont drop litter or fly tip or shoot anything, all my vehicles are taxed mot'd and insured, unlike some gas fitters at great expense I am registered, I have worked my bollocks off for 36 years and still working to get what I have, so yes I have a chip on both shoulders when I see a cant be arsed attitude from public services and the continual easy meat target at the working tax payers expense, I wonder how many illegally parked caravans with fly tipped rubbish and untaxed vehicles the two policepersons passed to visit the last postings vehicle.
The first vehicle I had stopped and tested unnessarily had only just been mot'd the week before, but oh no they wasted over 5 peoples time testing it, the look of dissapointement on the mans face when they couldn't find anything wrong was unforgettable and says it all, the second vehicle I had stopped I had to wait because the weigh bridge wasn't ready, of course when they finished I got a peice of paper to say it was fine, well hoopey doo, a 10 year old could have told you that just looking at it, I think maybe they go round in two's to make a whole brain.
Tia
Well-Known Member
Well I like it better over here. All police vehicles are fitted with pump-action shotguns and all police carry handguns, hence immediately prepared for any situation which could arise and without all this to-ing and fro-ing.
alleycat
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
I have friends in the Police....I've quizzed them about this business of sitting round trying to catch people without car insurance. They say that more often than not, when they pick up someone in an untaxed vehicle without insurance etc, they also find weapons, drugs or similar in the car boot....so it's not just about sitting around eating doughnuts.
[/ QUOTE ]
Interesting... So given that I don't have a criminal record or any close connection that I know of to anyone who does, don't do or deal in illegal drugs, haven't got a gun or any other sort of weaponry and lived at that time at a new postal address with no past history- so no past history of wrongdoers- and the car had a legitimate history under my name with tax & insurance all in order at that address up until its scrapping, I wonder what they were hoping to find in MY boot at that time of night?
I'd have to be a pretty thick criminal, wouldn't I, to deliberately not tax or insure my vehicle before embarking on my new career of armed & drug -related crime.
I have friends in the Police....I've quizzed them about this business of sitting round trying to catch people without car insurance. They say that more often than not, when they pick up someone in an untaxed vehicle without insurance etc, they also find weapons, drugs or similar in the car boot....so it's not just about sitting around eating doughnuts.
[/ QUOTE ]
Interesting... So given that I don't have a criminal record or any close connection that I know of to anyone who does, don't do or deal in illegal drugs, haven't got a gun or any other sort of weaponry and lived at that time at a new postal address with no past history- so no past history of wrongdoers- and the car had a legitimate history under my name with tax & insurance all in order at that address up until its scrapping, I wonder what they were hoping to find in MY boot at that time of night?
I'd have to be a pretty thick criminal, wouldn't I, to deliberately not tax or insure my vehicle before embarking on my new career of armed & drug -related crime.
Tia
Well-Known Member
If you feel you are being unjustly dealt with by the police then they do have a comprehensive complaints procedure.
the watcher
Well-Known Member
Maybe all the brains are concentrated in one geographical area - I never pulled in a suspect overweight that came back under, and most were sufficiently over for prohibition and prosecution too. I was only ever once a bit foxed and had to take to the books to look it up, but that was a very technical faulty balancing valve on a double axle offence.
And yes, round here travellers get prosecuted too.
And yes, round here travellers get prosecuted too.
the watcher
Well-Known Member
You would need to be a thick criminal, but I'm sure that is of no interest to the people who no doubt drove your car away from the scrap yard and bilked petrol or went on a shoplifting spree or whatever. Checking with the registered owner of the car would be the first and most obvious line of enquiry - wouldn't it?
D
Donkeymad
Guest
What a lot of anti-police people we have here. The Police do not give a 'perfect' service - it's not possible, but step back and THINK before posting such stupid replies. Just think what would happen with NO Police Force.
Yes, I have felt let down by the Police before.
Just for interest
We had a 'youth' seen in our field shooting anywhere and everywhere with a shotgun, including past our cob. This was mid-afternoon. The guy renting the adjacent field arrived and calmly threatened him with his legally owned and responsibly used shotgun. Said youth not spotted again.
Yes, I have felt let down by the Police before.
Just for interest
We had a 'youth' seen in our field shooting anywhere and everywhere with a shotgun, including past our cob. This was mid-afternoon. The guy renting the adjacent field arrived and calmly threatened him with his legally owned and responsibly used shotgun. Said youth not spotted again.
chestnut cob
Well-Known Member
And also bear in mind that if they think they can get away with say, gun crime, drugs etc, they probably think they won't be caught with an untaxed car!
Pedantic
Well-Known Member
I'm not anti police at all, I think they have a very difficult job to do and I would be a moron to think they are "all" thick, but as I said I can only speak from my "personal" experience, "I" havent met a bright one "yet"
I think the two policemen who came to my house middle of the afternoon regarding a drunk 21 year old yob headbutting my 14 year old lads friend and then saying sorry mate thought you were someone else didn't really fill me with confidence, one was fatter than Tosh out of the Bill, his belly was in our front room while he was still in the hallway, I dont think he could run a bath never mind 40 yards, anyway the other policeman who was wearing a dark blue Turban said it would be better for us not to persue it as the drunk person was from a bad family and it may make more trouble for us, oh well it was all such a long time ago (1.5 hours) we had practiclly forgotten all about it and the bruise was nearly gone, lets have a coffee and dougnut and never mind.
I think the two policemen who came to my house middle of the afternoon regarding a drunk 21 year old yob headbutting my 14 year old lads friend and then saying sorry mate thought you were someone else didn't really fill me with confidence, one was fatter than Tosh out of the Bill, his belly was in our front room while he was still in the hallway, I dont think he could run a bath never mind 40 yards, anyway the other policeman who was wearing a dark blue Turban said it would be better for us not to persue it as the drunk person was from a bad family and it may make more trouble for us, oh well it was all such a long time ago (1.5 hours) we had practiclly forgotten all about it and the bruise was nearly gone, lets have a coffee and dougnut and never mind.
the watcher
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
We had a 'youth' seen in our field shooting anywhere and everywhere with a shotgun, including past our cob. This was mid-afternoon. The guy renting the adjacent field arrived and calmly threatened him with his legally owned and responsibly used shotgun. Said youth not spotted again.
[/ QUOTE ]
Lucky that one ended without incident - just think how messy it could have got if the youth had opened fire on the man with the gun....one of them would have been hurt for sure, and the guy who legitimately had the gun could be looking at the inside of a cell now
We had a 'youth' seen in our field shooting anywhere and everywhere with a shotgun, including past our cob. This was mid-afternoon. The guy renting the adjacent field arrived and calmly threatened him with his legally owned and responsibly used shotgun. Said youth not spotted again.
[/ QUOTE ]
Lucky that one ended without incident - just think how messy it could have got if the youth had opened fire on the man with the gun....one of them would have been hurt for sure, and the guy who legitimately had the gun could be looking at the inside of a cell now
alleycat
Well-Known Member
I would say I don't really have it in for the police and have sometimes been very grateful for their assistance; and I recognise the difficulties of catching poachers; so despite some very real problems of this kind at my own smallholding (including someone shooting across my field in the dark while I was IN it), I'm not really expecting an armed squad to turn out and deal with them; my land is only a few acres, and I found this problem just melted away during the time I was able to live there; the cure IMO is constant evidence of a human presence. All I need now in Planning Permission to make my presence there permanent.
However I was shaken by the oddly conflicting attitudes of the Police here in town on a few occasions recently.
On one occasion our flat was targeted by someone whom I thought at the time to be firing at the windows with an air rifle, though it turned out in the end to be a high power catapult: there were round pellet holes in the glass. I was actually in a panic- the targetting was deliberate and the windows hit were those of the occupied rooms whilst people were in them. I dialled 999 and dialled it again 20 minutes later when no- one had turned up- and was told off for doing so. The police came eventually and said they didn't regard it as a priority.
I said-"My house is being shot at, in the middle of a town, and its not a priority?"
They said- "No, no-one was injured- to us its just a broken window"....
However, on another occasion my daughter was making her way home from an evening out, being under orders to get home by a set time. She, her friend and some other teenagers who just happened to be going the same way were stopped and the boys searched by police officers. The manner of the police, and particularly of one arrogant policewoman towards these kids has undone in one evening, I think, all the PR work of her colleagues in school visits and youth initiatives over the course of years. The girls were clearly not involved in anything untoward, and they asked to go home as their parents would be worried (and more to the point would ground them) but were made to wait needlessly until I, at home, was actually worried to the point of coming out to look for my daughter.
It appears someone had reported seeing a teenager with a gun. However, these police were not the armed corps Watcher describes and by the time they stopped these teenagers they knew there was nothing much to worry about and were apparently aware that a BB gun- a nasty toy- was all that was involved- but they made a big drama out of it for what purpose other than self-aggrandisment in front of a group of teenagers, I don't know.
The message I got was that police officers do go for the easy target- and not always because its quick or cost effective.
I felt the manner in which the young people were treated, without the customary politeness which the police show to an adult but with a sort of pigheaded (excuse the expression) deliberate rudeness, from the female officer, at least, was really damaging- and yes, Tia, I did make a complaint. And a fat lot of good it did.
However I was shaken by the oddly conflicting attitudes of the Police here in town on a few occasions recently.
On one occasion our flat was targeted by someone whom I thought at the time to be firing at the windows with an air rifle, though it turned out in the end to be a high power catapult: there were round pellet holes in the glass. I was actually in a panic- the targetting was deliberate and the windows hit were those of the occupied rooms whilst people were in them. I dialled 999 and dialled it again 20 minutes later when no- one had turned up- and was told off for doing so. The police came eventually and said they didn't regard it as a priority.
I said-"My house is being shot at, in the middle of a town, and its not a priority?"
They said- "No, no-one was injured- to us its just a broken window"....
However, on another occasion my daughter was making her way home from an evening out, being under orders to get home by a set time. She, her friend and some other teenagers who just happened to be going the same way were stopped and the boys searched by police officers. The manner of the police, and particularly of one arrogant policewoman towards these kids has undone in one evening, I think, all the PR work of her colleagues in school visits and youth initiatives over the course of years. The girls were clearly not involved in anything untoward, and they asked to go home as their parents would be worried (and more to the point would ground them) but were made to wait needlessly until I, at home, was actually worried to the point of coming out to look for my daughter.
It appears someone had reported seeing a teenager with a gun. However, these police were not the armed corps Watcher describes and by the time they stopped these teenagers they knew there was nothing much to worry about and were apparently aware that a BB gun- a nasty toy- was all that was involved- but they made a big drama out of it for what purpose other than self-aggrandisment in front of a group of teenagers, I don't know.
The message I got was that police officers do go for the easy target- and not always because its quick or cost effective.
I felt the manner in which the young people were treated, without the customary politeness which the police show to an adult but with a sort of pigheaded (excuse the expression) deliberate rudeness, from the female officer, at least, was really damaging- and yes, Tia, I did make a complaint. And a fat lot of good it did.
the watcher
Well-Known Member
Alleycat, everybody has a bad news story - I have seen some things over the years that just make me cringe, and have been the one that has had to go back afterwards and smooth things over.
It can only get worse, recently disappointing pay awards, ever more demanding shift rotas and de-skilling of new recruits means that those officers that are left are under ever increasing pressure
It can only get worse, recently disappointing pay awards, ever more demanding shift rotas and de-skilling of new recruits means that those officers that are left are under ever increasing pressure
Pedantic
Well-Known Member
I love your thing a the bottom of your postings The_Watcher, I see dumb people everywhere ect ect, it could almost have been written by me
, is it from the film depicted or is it yours ?