Originally Posted by clicker
16B,
Speaking as a civvie police controller, i.e. one that tells policemen were to go and gets away with it, I'm sorry your local force has not seen fit to prioritise its crime. The mob I work for requires burglaries to be attended with 2 hours of the call, a target that we generally make.
The problem comes down to government bean counters. While reported crime has increased in the 19 years I’ve done this job, the said bean counters have not increased the number of policemen by the same percentage, our total of police officers has only increased by about 500-700 in that time.
We no longer have speed management teams in every traffic area, although we have a camera team who do go out and about to locations more often made known in advance. If any plonker then wants to break the speed limit and get caught, fine by me for not planning in advance!
http://www.sussexsafetycameras.gov.uk/mobile.htm for anyone interested
Due to other changes, more often or not, dictated to by government, where in 1987 I would be controlling 4 or 5 cars in a medium sized town in our area, I would now probably have 1 or 2 now.
This is not a fob off, but hope it explains some of the problems we have.
Cheers clicker
Thanks Clicker, nice and rational. Others would do well to copy.
I used to live in Sussex, and had a run-in with a Special (and he was truly special!). He tried to pull my wife over in his own personal car on the back roads of Billingshurst, driving like a fool. Eventually, and arming myself with a crooklock, we pulled over ready to do battle. At no point had he (or could he) identify himself as a policeman. Once I saw him in uniform, I asked him for his warrant card, which he didn't have. He claimed we were drunk (we weren't) and he wanted us to follow him to a police station! This was in the days when everyone was being told not to stop on unlit roads, etc. Er, if we were drunk, how could we have followed him? I asked him where his breathalyser was (he didn't have one), and told him that if I chose to cave his stupid head in, he could do nothing about it. He had no radio, no phone and no backup, and had not been near a police driving course. My wife phoned Sussex police and complained whilst he was trying (and failing) to assert his authority. The Duty Sgt asked to speak to him, he was told to apologise there and then, and we followed it up with letters. He was removed from special policing, we received a bunch of flowers, and the offer of compensation which we turned down. We were happy that this tool was off the road.
Then again, when my father-in-law was burgled they sent a special who was the nicest bloke you could ever hope to meet, and stayed with the task in hand for longer than expected, and even carried out a follow up with the local "bobby" security team.
Good and bad in all.