Police now or police 20 years ago, what would you prefer and why ?

Question

Police 20 years ago were respected and did their jobs for the people. Police now do the jobs for the wages and the esteem they get from being in power. In my opinion!!!!!

Answer 1

I agree. The police nowadayrs are more likely to create more problems in the way they speak to you, even if you're just asking them directions to they're telling you to move on. I've had police officers being sarcastic to me before I've even opened my mouth. Bring back old fashioned policing!

Answer 2

Dude, come and take a look at this site... http://www.coppersblog.blogspot.com/ You'll find that the majority of modern day Peeler's are as unhappy with the service you, the public, gets as they are. Since the Labour Party came to power ten years ago the amount of legislation that has been passed and now has to be enforced has increased exponentially. Furthermore, this is a government that loves statistics because numbers always tell the truth don't they?! This is a government that is obsessed with trying to prove that they are worthy to be in power. They want you, the public, to believe that you are getting value from your public services through your taxes. To help you believe the hype and that they were actually doing something about their election manifesto promises they introduced something called the National Crime Recording Standard.

Imagine a neighbourly dispute where there is a bit of argy bargy. Neither party wants to press charges. Twenty years ago a Police Officer would have given suitable advice to each party, ie: don't do it again. Nowadays the Officer is forced by the Chief Constables, Police Authority and Home Office to record the crime. He'll take a quick statement from both parties who agree to not pursue the matter further but for the Police it indicates that a crime has been detected and solved. Thus it looks like the Police are winning the war on crime. So you see twenty years ago the Police wouldn't be so concerned with such petty trivial matters but nowadays they have to investigate all complaints made to them equally. For a much better explanation to all this, have a read of this article written by a Copper who has broken ranks to tell it like it really is... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=410399&in_page_id=1770

Oh, and as for doing the job for esteem and pay. Your way off target there. As a graduate I could have earned far more in the private sector and in fact I had numerous opportunities to leave the job for twice the wage and half the stress. As for the esteem there is none when half the population criticise you for what you do and the other half criticise you for what you don't do. Coppers receive no respect for the job they do because so few people actually understand what it is like to be an Officer in the modern day and age. I could have enjoy a career in management if I wanted power but I did my time in the job because I wanted to benefit the society I had to live in. However, I left the Police feeling discourage, cynical and disillusioned with how far British society has descended under Blair's disasterious leadership. The British public need to learn a sense of civic responsibility, self-discipline and duty of care for society to improve again.

Answer 3

You are entitled to your opinion of today's Police, however, you shouldn't tar everyone with the same brush. That's like saying all skinheads are yobs and I wonder if your avatar matches your real appearance???
Personally I'd rather be in the Police today but with some of the rules that were around 20 years ago or more.
E.G The human rights act came in in 1998 and although a good idea, it's now twisted and abused by the criminals and 'do gooders' so no longer fully serves it's purpose. This is also true of the Police and criminal evidence act of 1984. Both cause the hands of the Police to be very often tied as to what they can do with some of the delightful people they have to deal with.

Answer 4

20 years ago the world and society as a whole were very different from what they are today. I believe that policing has changed in along with it. People seem to be more violent, less compassionate and way more openly aggressive than in the past. Police officers see mostly the dregs of society, have to deal with abuse, violence and/or death on almost a daily basis and get paid a pittance for such a vital and dangerous job. They put their lives at risk every shift and often sacrifice the quality of their personal relationships and lives for the safety of others. Despite all this, they hear nothing but criticism from the very people they make these sacrifices for. The bureaucracy and injustice in the judicial system has made policing even more of a strain. For example...after working on a case for months, finally an arrest is made the officer(s) now face a mountain of paperwork and to top it all off rarely does the convict serve a full sentence!! I have SO MUCH respect and gratitude for all the men and women (be it now or 20 years ago) who choose this line of work. If I have to put up with a crabby attitude from a cop when I'm pulled over, I just think about all the crap he/she has to see and deal with on a daily basis and get over it! In short, my answer is Police now AND 20 years ago.

Answer 5

I was in the police for years and yes the modern policeman is different in his motivation and a lot do join the service for money and have a poor attitude to the public.About ten years ago the vast majority of police officers began counting the days when they retired.Twenty years ago if you had critiqued the police I would have leaped to their defence now after seeing the poor service I find the service in the UK difficult to defend.Few modern officers even know basic law and spend half their time in training listing to lectures on race relations and political correctness.I was constantly correcting crime reports where officers would put down the wrong offence because they are not trained properly when I was not apologising to the public or listening to young officers grumbling about Health and Safety over the radio.That's why I took my pension and emigrated.

Answer 6

I preferred the police of 20 years ago. In those days they earned respect and did the job because they really felt they could make a difference not like today when they mostly do it for the wages and the pension they can get at an early age.

Answer 7

Steven - police were more respected 20 years ago? Maybe, unless you were parents of black men who just happened to die in police custody - or the same group who would be stopped and searched every day in the usual parts of England (sus laws). My father was a policeman from 1952 until 1980, and told me the downslide began from the early seventies onwards, with both sides of the fence (cons and uniforms) getting worse, with corruption and unseen violence in police stations almost a natural thing as the football hooligans and 'mouthy coloureds' (his words, not mine) teased and tested. And eventually pushed the immature cops to return the serve - and throughout the 70's push they did. The respect went during the mid seventies, with the old school realising school kids saying 'Morning!' to the bobby on the corner would never return, and that was hardly anything to do with punk rockers or Leeds United fans - but the way some of the police were reacting to sociological change.

Answer 8

More law abiding but also more statistics obsessed and buried in paper work. In the past you were more likely to get a thump on the spot and avoid a criminal record.
One problem in answering this question is that people tend to look back on the time when they were young and imagine that they and their contemporaries were better behaved; as we get older we all tend to think that standards are slipping. This can start in the sixth form.
Statistical evidence to the contrary is too easily dismissed as the self serving work of politicians.
In my opinion I think it's unfair to say they do it for the money. The money for public servants is not good: nurses, firemen, teachers and the police are all underpaid with respect ot the importance, to society, of their work. I have always felt that part of the payment is an intangible thing: the privilege of serving other people and society and the meaning that this helps to give ones life.

Answer 9

I prefer 30 years ago. I walked a beat - I knew my neighbors and I knew the business men and women. I was respected in my community because I respected and knew my community. Everyone talks about this new age idea of Community Orientated policing. This is not NEW it was how it use to be. Saying that - today's COPP - is just news flash and filler. Police still drive around in a car with the windows up and the radio on. Rarely do they walk or visit shops to know owners by first name. In my day us old cops knew if we knew the community and the shop owners - we knew the bad guys - their M.O's and we knew where to go to find them. I do not fault to days policemen and women. They are forced to work in this fashion. the vehicle makes them mobile the Government puts less policemen on the street and they must cover more territory in a day. It is hard for them to learn their community. Many agencies have this idea to change an officer's beat every so many months. Then the officer must start over from scratch attempting to learn their new community. If you put a street officer on foot in one community for a long period of time he or she will either know everything and every person good or bad or will do nothing, but if he or she does their job the community would be much safer.

KCV already added the rest of the good things about today's men and women

Answer 10

Twenty years ago, they tended to shoot first and sort it out later. Now they have, and use, non-lethal weapons that were not available before now. Many a life has been saved this way. AN officer now has options other than shoot to kill in many situations. I would call that a great advance in police technology. Actually, very few cops remain cops if their record shows they are hung up on the power they wield over life and death. They are easily identified, and booted off the force as soon as it can be proven. Most peace officers are there for just that, to try and keep the peace, and stop a bad situation from escalating to violence. Their training is rigorous and intense. I would be proud too to have completed such training, much like military boot camp.

Answer 11

The Police 20 years ago were aloud to do their jobs...

Now the Police service are too bound up in political correctness-paper work- bureaucracy-social work-under manning-and under paid---

Put that with a prosecution service-court system- government- European union- and general population with the attitude of 'Who gives a flying fig': where an 'Asbo' is a medal, a knife is an everyday tool, and blood a trophy... and the police are fighting a loosing battle!!

If you feel they do it for the money!!! Why don't you be a good citizen, join the specials and do it for free... if you dare!?