Have the police lost the city streets?

[bobthebandit]

With 3 more fatal stabbings in London in as many days have the police finally given up?. Gang culture is now endemic, but the police seem to do nothng.

[VHG]

Police used to patrol the streets to stop crime. Now they only seem to react AFTER the crime has taken place.

Not sure if this is becuase of less police, more crime, too much paperwork, or too easy just to sit in their warm car or police station waiting for a call.

I am sure we have all been upset by the cases on TV of harrasssment by youngsters to vulnerable people which had been reported to the police for months or years but not acted on by the police.

Only when somebody dies do the police seem to take an interest.

[askyourgran]

Its the same in West Yorkshire, the city centres are not places to go at the weekends, we could do with a dedicated yob force and to hell with the human rights of these animals. The thing that annoys me most are the people who assault the firemen when they are called out, some protection should be given to them.

[Canary42]

No - parents have lost their kids.

[ELVIS68]

No, the city streets have lost the police

Most police stations open 9 til 5 so if you call 999, chances are your local nick will be unmanned and they`ll send a patrol car from the nearest nick open, hence the 45 minute wait

[ummmm]

Bloody hell. What kind of places do you people live in?

[Sandy-Wroe]

It's not the police that have lost control of the streets, it's the politicians. Drunken yobs in the High St at the weekends, teenage yobs torturing innocent people in their own homes, all down to the lack of interest from the politicians.

[ummmm]

I haven't got a clue what you're on about...lol

There are plenty of police that patrol our streets.

[welshlibranr]

We rarely see any police here, we do see youngsters drinking alcohol on a Friday night, and causing problems quite often, and this is a small seaside town! I hate to imagine what is happening in the cities of our country! Why are these youngsters out till all hours? where are their parents to allow it? they are obviously not supervising their kids well enough!...............................

[ELVIS68]

At work the other week some pikeys were disturbed robbing the store room of copper wire, they threatened one of our blokes with a metal bar, the police were called and they turned up 50 minutes later, bearing in mind the local police station is less than half a mile away.

When asked what took them so long they said they were from Hertford police station which is 20 miles away

We got done again 6 days later and they nearly killed a security guard in the depot next door when he tried to shut the gates as they drove away and knocked him flying

Again there was a 45 minute wait for the police to turn up (Ambulance was there in 5 minutes), these people know there are no police in the area so it`s a head start for them

[ummmm]

Shocking ELVIS. I've phoned the police a few times and they've been there in minutes. Maybe it's the benefits of living in a small (ish) town.

[birdie1971]

The Police are overstretched, overburdened with paperwork and understaffed.

I know because I've seen it first hand.

I live in the Greater Manchester area and I served in GMP and I can honestly say that you need about three times the number of officers on patrol than there currently are. Parading on at the start of your shift, to police a northern conurbation with a population of approximately 100,000 people when there are only five Constables (including you), is a joke. And not a very funny one when you're at the sharp end (there would normally be ten Constables, two Sergeants and one Inspector per shift – but... court appointments, sickness, holidays, etc...)

In my experience, the number of Police Constables on duty at any one time is a disgrace. The reason the Police don't turn up when they should is not because they're lazy or incompetent – it's because there simply aren't enough of them.

[birdie1971]

Ummmm – Where do you live? What are the house prices like in your neighbourhood?

;-)

[vulcan]

Birdie is certainly right about excessive paperwork. A few months ago I found a watch. I took it to the local Police station where there were two Policemen sitting[why can't a civilian do this sort of work ?].The Policeman who dealt with me had to fill in three forms, that's ridiculous for one item of lost property.

[trt]

You seem to only see the police when a crime as been committed, then there are loads of them. I remember when that kid got kidnapped in Pakistan, there were 3 police guarding the front door of his parents for days, WHY 3?

[ummmm]

I live in Northampton. I don't know if our police get better funding but they are always out and about. Day and night.....and the ones I've dealt with have all been lovely.

[birdie1971]

ELVIS68 – I can well believe it.

I had a particular call to attend a violent domestic. The report from the comms room said that an ex-boyfriend was trying to force his way into his former girlfriend's property. The girlfriend had a young child and was frightened for her own safety and for that of her child.

Needless to say, my partner and I rushed round (from receiving the call I would estimate that we were there in less than 5 minutes) and found that everything was quiet. I knocked on the door. It was answered by a very angry looking young lady who demanded of me, “What time do you call this?”. I told her that we had just received a call and that we had got there as quickly as possible.

The problem was, the young lady had telephoned the police approximately two hours previously. For some inexplicable reason, our comms room had not prioritised the call and had sent it to the back of queue.

So when my partner and I turned up, we ended up looking like complete ****s.


Sometimes the 'Police' drop a big one. That being said, it's not always the fault of the person you see in the silly hat who 'eventually' turns up.

[Zeuhl]

Thanks Birdie

Great insight. I understand it's similar here on the south coast.

If there are only 5 coppers on duty and you make a 999 call - if there's already an incident of some kind underway you've had it! Don't hold your breath waiting for the cavalry to arrive.