Is the UK Police Force Undervalued and Overworked?

Question

I am interested in how you percieve the police, and whether you think they are effective.

Answer 1

Once again there are some great answers on here based on reasoning, logic and knowledge backed up by good references and source material...

The UK has lost all respect for authority and with it went praise and gratitude toward the police. It is fast becoming impossible for the police to effectively do their job because of bureaucratic meddling. It started when the police lost their power to choose who got charged and who just simply got a warning. That power now resides with the Crown Prosecution Service who are largely responsible for Police Officers spending so much time in the nick having to complete files for backroom lawyers who want every 't' crossed and every 'i' dotted before considering a decision on whether to charge or not. The majority of the public are unaware that if a complaint is made to the Police it is not down to them to make a decision on charging based on the evidence available. However, if a complaint isn't upheld and taken further it is the Police that face accusations of incompetence.

The situation has also deteriorated with the advent of Human Rights Legislation. Coppers have to be so careful to not upset someone's fragile sensibilities that they always have to second guess themselves in any situation. Fact is, the majority of crime in London is committed by young black males but the Police cannot profile against this group of people for fear of being labelled "institutionally racist". If you disrupt potential offenders before a crime is committed you are protecting others from becoming victims of crime. But this discretion has also been taken from the Police. Society shouldn't blame the Police for this but should instead ask why it is that so many young black men turn to crime.

The Police along with all other government organisations are now blamed for anti-social, petty crimes but where has the authority of the parent gone? Why do parents now think it up to the Police and the government to raise their children and instill in them the kind of values decent society expects of them? Long gone are the days when a Policeman could clip an oik around the earhole for loutish behaviour before carting him off home for Mom and Dad to deal with him. Now the little scrotes are allowed to run around and do as they please because for the Police to act effectively would result in accusations of Police brutality and an infringement on human rights.

That leads to a problem with sentencing. Law abiding society wants to see criminals locked up but post-modernist thinking has allowed the criminal to escape punishment because their exists an attitude among socialists that the criminal is a victim himself. Punishment, ie: the loss of freedom through custodial sentences, only works if there is an element of rehabilitation along with it. Unfortunately, Britain's prisons are like luxury hotels and are not a detterent to the career criminal. There has to be an element of punishment and rehab for offenders to consider turning away from a life of crime. Unfortunately, in the eyes of the media and the public the Police have somehow been held responsible for the lack of effective sentencing.

With post-modernist society the interests of the group collective has been replaced with the selfish needs of the individual first. When this is tied up in news reports from the all-knowing, all-seeing Media everyone becomes a critic of the Police because we have been led to believe that our government and its various departments are evil for they represent the group dynamic and not the interests of the individual. Look at the situation last week where PC Mulhall was using a Home Office approved technique to subdue a violent offender who was resisting custody. No-one outside the job would have cried foul if he had allowed Toni Crommer to rip his wedding tackle clean off. The country has lost its sense of civic responsibility. No-one takes responsibility for anything anymore as it is always some else's fault or else it is their inheirent right to behave in a certain manner. If Joe Public wants to go and get drunk every Friday night, puke on the pavement, piss in a shop doorway and fight with similar cretins, then that could be argued by some liberal existentialist thinker that it his right to freely express himself in such a way. People, especially the media, don't criticise that kind of behaviour but if the police have to use batons or Captor (CS) to subdue violent drunken offenders their is an outcry.

It doesn't help that the police through constant review from the IPCC, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and the Home Office have to treat every complaint seriously because budgeting is now based on performance targets and figures. The Police have become a political tool for a political party always seeking re-election. If one party can play on the fear of rampant crime and disorder then imagine how they can command votes at the ballot box if they can point to statistics that suggest crime isn't as bad under their administration than when the other party was last in power. Do you think Police Officers really want to be sitting in Chantelle's one-bedroom council flat trying to take a statement while she is watching Trisha because Tracy sent her a text message and called her a slag which some CPS idiot would argue is tantamount to harrassment.

I could go on but I am sure you don't want an essay answer. However, to all the tossers that complain about speed traps and traffic offences remember don't speed and don't run a car that is unroadworthy or not taxed and insured and you won't make it necessary for the Police to enforce those laws. The law is the law, whether you like it or not. If you don't break it you won't get punished. Its the job of the Police to enforce the law not to devise them or choose which to be adhered to and which to be ignored. If you don't like then leave and don't let the door slam you on the **** as you go!

Answer 2

It's all very depressing to see such negative comments from people who have actually no idea on what they're talking about. They have one perceived view and that's that without knowing the true facts.
The Police overall have never arrested so many people, you sceptics and knockers may have even heard about all the jails being full. Of course all these people just turned up an gave themselves in and the Police had absolutely nothing to do with it. Try being out there on a Friday night and you may think differently. The Police aren't perfect and make mistakes but then so do everyone it's as simple as that. There are good officers, bad officers, hard working officers etc etc. Just look in your own work place and you will see the same replicated. It's so easy to knock, but if it's that easy why don't you join (that's if you can get in, because most of you knockers wouldn't and you know it). You'll soon see the truth.

Answer 3

I think the UK police are overworked, and undervalued, but that's they way it should be. In this country we police by consent and to have that little bit of animosity between the public and the police makes them more effective. As far as you guys that are slagging off the coppers, you should only speak when you know what you're talking about. You haven't got a clue what goes on.

Answer 4

the authentic answer is the two - the police act as the two a central authority stress (to enforce the regulation, stand between those appearing dangerously and illegally and the regulation-abiding public) and as a provider (to help people and furnish the people a provider, no longer basically act as an authoritarian arm of the state). no count number if someone section has a police stress or a police provider is definitely only all the way down to PR, and which they think of will sound extra clever or make people extra comfortable.

Answer 5

As in any occupation there are those who are good at their job and those who are less so.
On the whole I admire the police for doing a difficult job as well as possible, although they are restricted by laws/rules etc as to how effective they can be. On the other hand if they did not have these laws and rules to guide them there would no doubt be those that abused their privileges.

Answer 6

The only people who dislike the police are the one's breaking the law and/or have something to hide.

For example people who drive too fast deserve a speeding ticket, and if they can't see that they are selfish. Speed kills and fines are a deterrent for a reason.

People who commit other crimes and don't like the police, well that is because they are commiting crimes. If they needed help i'm sure they would be quick to call the police.

I think they do a good job. Think of all the things they have to do. People should respect them more.

Answer 7

I think they've just plain lost any respect they had due to spending too many years buggering about dealing with speeding motorists, while ignoring other offences + spending too much time in patrol cars / vans, instead of patrolling on foot and keeping in touch with the public they're supposed be protecting.

On top of all that, they're also too bogged down with paperwork + Political Correctness.
http://www.politicallyincorrect.me.uk/police.htm

Answer 8

Our police would be able to get on with their job if there wasn't so much paper work for them to do. It's just another case of PC (no pun intended!) and the do-gooders having taken over in the name of "protecting" the innocent.

Answer 9

There is too much paperwork for the police and it needs to be simplified or back office staff to continue the paperwork for officers so they can be back on the street. An arrest takes seconds!! booking in custody takes hours including paper work!! sort it out british goverment!!!!!!!!!! we want to see them back on the streets!

Answer 10

they ar overpaid cream cake tasters they dont do a damn thing I reported a gun crime in progress a few months ago not one copper turned up even after the criminals had left