People who complain about the police

Silvershadow...My advice would be to document the incidents including times dates etc. After a few instances then ask for a meeting with an Inspector. There are a few bad apples in the service but don't lose sight of the fact that they are a minority. If this officer has an issue with your family based on a personal predujice then they will receive no support from their superiors.
Before you do any of that go to the citizens advice bureau and make sure of the legal requirements re tax/insurance etc. of the said bike as well as right of access across the footpath etc.
The police will not support unjust harrassment by officers.

Tell me this then. My son owns a motorbike which we take him to ride on private land. Our house is not attached to our garden and have to cross a small footpath to get on and of our garden and on to a small concrete section outside our back door. My son has now had 3 cautions for pushing his motorbike over this small path to get it on the garden to wash it down when we have been out, the police officer in question knows when we go out and when we come back and regularly waits for my son to do this and has warned him next time he will take the bike. Is this then not police harassment? He does not ride on public highways or cause a nuisance. I could understand if he was one of many that ride around the streets but we act responsibly and take him to a place he can ride safely.
I feel this is because his older brother who no longer lives with us was arrested numerous occassions for drunken disorder and the police officer is victimising my other son, he even went as far as saying he had a criminal record because he knew he would get his details of the data base, I then told him he was assuming my son had been in trouble with the police and he said he bet he had. Is this not unjust behaviour on the part of the officer involved and could I not complain about him (Without repercussion).

- Civilian :: I don't see any posting from any cops here, or elsewhere on the internet who say they are not happy. I don't know any cops who are not happy in the job. Yes we have daily gripes, the same as any employee does (Playboy photographer aside, of course). What I don't like is being tarred with one brush by people like "The Sage" who clearly has no conception of what it actually is police do, and is quite happy to listen to rhetoric spouted out by anti-police media and propaganda websites. Hopefully you will go away and read my post properly and see that I never said I am not happy to do my job - I think it's the best job in the world - then you can come back and make a proper eloquent reply to it. Regards, Jack.

If you're not happy to do the job that your being paid to do then stop moaning and find something else.

Thanks Freddie. I wait with baited breath a reply from The Sage or any of the other critics here, or anyone else who has taken the time to actually read my posts!

Jack Sparrow...Quality post that was! I've been trying to argue a similar point on another thread and in the early days of this one. People want a gold standard of service but don't want to have to contribute anything, financially or responsibly, toward getting it. Yet it is the police that are accused of double standards and then criticised. If people actually understood the jobs purposes and limitations then they would probably have a different view. Unfortunately they don't but the 'Pavement Solicitor' will always think they know best. Keep up the good work.

post 5/5 please read from post 1 below (had to split into 5 sections it was that long)

David Cameron, while by no means the finished article, hit the nail on the head - Social Responsibility is the way forward. If people take responsibility for themselves a lot of problems would go away in this country.

Part of that responsibility should be showing the respect for the law and for the police where due. Of course there are bad eggs and there are problems that are difficult for the police to sort out given the attitudes of the people they deal with (ASBO families from hell who dont listen etc) but it's not going to change unless society as a whole - every man woman and child shows respect for authority. I certainly do and I am sure you do as well Sage, despite what you say. Policing is a two way street. We can not do our job without backing from communities - it is just impossible. The more people support police the more effective we are. When society realises that then the scumbags and drug dealers will soon realise their behaviour can not continue.

Then we will restore the Great to Great Britain. I thank you for reading such a long post and look forward to your reply.

post 4

But when we turn up to someone like you who has such a low opinion of us, are we really going to seem anything other than uninterested? If we turn up to someone perhaps an assault victim who has never worked a day in their life, who is screaming "scummy b******s" (a popular phrase for cops north of the border) in our face and tells us we are not doing our job right, because he got drunk and into a fight with someone, are we going to have a bigoted viewpoint against him? Quite possibly, it's human nature. We all have prejudices - yours is clearly against police officers. I hate folk who *don't try*, and there are a hell of a lot of them. I do my best for them. Since Glasgow was awarded the 2014 Commonwealth games, every kid aged 16-18 I've stopped in the street bar none I have asked them if they knew what was happening and if they are going to get into training to compete for the games coming up. I have told them about the local sports clubs and where they can take it up. I try my best for them, although it probably goes in one ear and out the other.

Now, as we drag ourselves into the 21st century maybe - just maybe - society will learn INTERPERSONAL SKILLS - ie how to talk to each other in a civil manner, without swearing or abusing the other person. We might see people learning the culture of drinking alcohol responsibly. We might see people NOT wanting to fight anyone who looks at them the wrong way. We might learn that sending text messages threatening to kill your ex is complete neanderthal behaviour. We might have kids who grow up NOT wanting to smoke cannabis and drink before they hit their teenage years. We might have a media who promote normal sensible behaviour on their TV shows, not endless constant conflict like we see on Eastenders, Corrie, Hollyoaks etc

post 3

To be perfectly honest I can see your point of view because in the media age all you read about is the negative stuff. You are quick to lay blame at the police's door for problems that exist, but you give absolutely no praise for the millions of detected crimes every year that may well be for 'quality of life issues' and low level crime. I am quite self critical and of course there are times as a human being when I go home and think 'what could I have done differently' about situations and just like in any other job there is ALWAYS room for improvement and I strive for it. We as police officers can not be whatever your ideal is, and if we could it wouldn't be for 100% of the time.

post 2

You say you have no respect for police officers, yet you say that is not their fault per se. That is strange, as it is the legal and criminal justice system, and the endless change in the political dynamics of policing in the modern day (see "Police Reform" for details). The neverending battle officers fight against 'accountability' and 'transparency' takes up far too much time. If you have seen the chain email going about about a school fight in 1977 and 2007 and the difference in things that now 'must be done', you will have half an idea of what I mean by this. Simple incidents are made complex by the system. Because one or two victims of domestic abuse have ended up dead, we now have to treat every drunken bozo sending a text message with a sweary word in it to their partner/ex partner/girl they chatted up once in a pub like it could be a potential murder. Everything we deal with has to be taken to the n'th degree because of the culture of accountability, and fear of criticism on the part of the police.

The fear of criticism of how individual incidents are handled - which in the past would be at the officer's discretion - has led to discretion being removed. Cops are now essentially being forced into acting like robots, obeying procedures laid out rather than thinking for themselves about how to resolve matters. And so the criticism is now coming out as disrespect, as society itself has degenerated into one of complete disrespect.

Sage - split post due to length (post 1)

You claim that police are unwilling to sort out trivial matters. Here's a fact for you. It's because of trivial matters that the police are bogged down with there is a massive drain on resources, funding and focus to target the higher level crime that you mention. You basically are citing that all the police can do effectively is deal with drunken young men in the street. Well here are some more facts. Sometimes it can take 4 cops to separate a fight or arrest one person, especially if they are drunk or high on drugs or both. The resistance these folk can produce is pretty high. As a cop I've had to deal with it and I can quite sincerly say that on no occasions arresting anyone have I ever 'got my jollies'. Removing someone's liberty is a huge decision every time, bar none. The town centre drunks, men and women, pose a danger to everyone as they are likely to become involved in sporadic acts of fighting, vandalism or even intimidation. The bystanders disagreeing with it on almost every occasion have no business in protesting someone's innocence. They too are generally drunk and don't think of the bigger picture at the time - all they see is someone being arrested by a number of cops greater than the person being arrested, which is usually the case for officer safety and legal corroboration. You mention S5 POA like it's a bad thing. I don't know tremendously much about it as I ply my trade under a different legal system to England + Wales, but the point stands. I am sure if you were out for a meal and some lager lout was shouting obscenities at you or your wife/family/friends you would expect something to be done about it. Now put yourself in a cop's shoes and when you are taking insults and threats for doing your job, is it really overbearing to tell someone they are going to be locked up under S5 POA? Of course it is not

Sherbert, wow.

I interact with the police services on a regular basis, I’m a paramedic.

I have not seen an instance where a police officer has acted inappropriately or offensively. What I have seen is that as soon as an officer arrives at an incident people get their backs up and start shouting abuse or commenting audibly. I never could understand this as in some instances the officers have been at an incident for less than a minute.

I gather that some people may have had bad experiences in the past and hence this sort of behaviour, but then to justify that would be to justify professional profiling.

I can account for our local police though; they are great and demonstrate a professional and effective approach to policing. Well done.


And on my travels to other countries I have seen some police that will shock the pants off you.