Are the police just a sad waste of time?

Question

They turn up 4 days after you report yobs smashing your windows?

Answer 1

Yes they are a very sad waist of time and taxpayers money. That is my answer to your question.

Answer 2

The problem is not with the police the main issue lies with the government. Currently there is a vast amount of red tape and paperwork. Which prevents operatrional police officers from doing the job they want to do. If you ask a police officer why they want to do that job they will most probably say its because they want to help people. Its not right that people have this kind of attitude against people who, as its been said before, put their lives on the line on a daily basis. The kind of things which police officers have to deal with on a daily basis are situations which members of the public will rarely experience.

The police save countless lives and protect innocent peoples lives. Think of a hypothetical situation. A member of your family is beaten into a coma. Without the police it would be left at that.

Another issue is the current situation with prison capacities.That deters the police from making arrests just to see the case get thrown away. If you hear about charges being dropped in the paper its more than likely due to a decision by the CPS rather than the police.

I also disagree with what someone said before. The police should not be ran like a business like it is at the moment with certain targets and disproportionate budgets, but like the police forces used to be ran, like a police force.

Answer 3

The Police is like any company... If your not happy with a TV you brought from Dixons you're gonna have a go at the sales rep that sold it to you... Same with the Police...

...What people forget is that, that sale rep works for someone and his/her hands are tied... Same, again, with the Police, we are at the mercy of the Homeoffice... But of course we're front and centre of the public eye, so why not blame us?

4 days after smashing your windows? Was anyone in? Were you hurt? I certainly hope not... But you have to remember that calls/jobs are proritised, and the list can get long... I can only hope that you understand this and know that our job is made so much harder by the 'yobs' due to the stupid pointless crimes they committ!

Answer 4

I think they probably need more police officers in most areas. If you stop and think about it our taxes pay for the police force. And nobody wants to pay more taxes. There is only so much to go around. Do you want to give up firemen in exchange?
There is too much violent crime in this country. And windows have to fall below someone who has been raped, or robbed. Every time I watch the news someone has been murdered or a body has been found. Domestic violence is still high, and there are still children being molested. Gangs are still wreaking havoc. If my child got shot in a drive by, I would hope not to hear that your broken windows came first. Not married, but if my hubby decided to beat the crap out of me, I would hope they would respond quickly. And when the convenience store clerk in my town was practically beheaded on the night shift, I would think that any reported broken windows had to wait. ( They got the guy the next morning)
I think we need to find a way to get larger police forces. What does anyone propose to get us more police officers so that there wasn't so much of a wait?

Answer 5

nope. but they can be annoyingly slow, or pretty unhelpful.
we've had golf balls thrown through our windows and although they came round, there wasn't much they could do.
one day a tree branch fell from our big tre into the road and a guy on a bike in the early hours of the morning was going to fast and swerved ontot the side of the road and collided into a sign post. then tried sueing.
that was such a long legal process even though he was clearly in the wrong for going at 50 down a 30 mph residential road.

Answer 6

It depends if you have enough cops to meet call demand. In reality people smashing your windows is going to fall to the bottom of the list of calls they need to respond to if they are understaffed.

I assume since you used the term Yobs you are in the UK, where the crime situation is out of control. If the British want to get their nation back in order, they need to get a lot of more cops and instill some discipline in their society as a whole.

Answer 7

The Police do a job made ten times more difficult by the government. Why is it our fault if we are stuck in the office filling out ten million different forms for one very simple arrest/ incident? Why is it our fault that there aren't enough officers on the streets?

I agree that the service currently given is not good enough. But if you think for one minute that we can't be bothered to turn up then think again. A lot of our time is spent playing the role of social services to delinquents that phone up for a hundred different stupid reasons. Blame them! No, of course not, its much easier to blame us!

Answer 8

Alas, this seems to be the impression, I got when I made a complaint of a serious assault.

With serious cases (and yours falls just below the mark) In England, you need to call Victim Support and get them to chase up the offence with the Police.

With things like broken windows, it can extentuate the grief and distress though, because of the perpetrators are caught, they will make counter accusations etc.

It always helps if the identity of the culprits can be ascertained.

Answer 9

Yes, the police are not an efficient and should be run like a business. You pay for their services, don't you deserve better service? However, it's been found in many cases, that it is not the responsibility of police to protect individuals. Check out this site: http://hematite.com/dragon/policeprot.html

``fundamental principle of American law that a government and its agents are under no general duty to provide public services, such as police protection, to any individual citizen.'' Warren v. District of Columbia, 444 A.2d 1 (D.C. Ct. of Ap., 1981).

Answer 10

while i agree with you 100% jill-they are a neccessity. the blame for the inability of the police arriving at incidents in a reasonable time falls at the door of the government not the police service-there simply is not the manpower or the funding to deal with matters promptly. which brings me to the argument i have beleived in for years-it is about time the government allowed homeowners and occupiers to defend their own homes as they see fit (short of actually killing someone)-if you were a burglar and this law was passed-would you be prepared to break into a house knowing the owner was given the right to give you a bloody good hiding-i think not.

Answer 11

Yes.

I received my first ticket ever for a slow rolling stop 6:30 a.m. Sunday at a 4 way stop where no one else was even up and around in my small town except a pre-designated set-up point for police around the corner.

The same time my house was broken into where I had considerable and irrecoverable loss to my property. Do you think there were any officers to stop the real crime?

The police complain where I live about their salaries. I am a Librarian with a Masters Degree and their salaries are higher than mine...no sympathy here.