What type of Police service????

In response to Livvy's "what do the public want" question:

Well, what I want (as a member of the public) is:
1. The police to enforce the law, not create the law
2. The police to respond to a report of a crime within a reasonable length of time
3. The police to treat suspects with respect..especially of their human rights..and courtesy
4. For The police to understand that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, not vice versa.
5. The police to actually offer a service that entails catching criminals (real criminals..people who steal, injure or kill others, not those who provide a source of cheap income through punative fines).
6. The police to behave above board, transparently and honestly

1. What laws have the Police created ?
2. I agree, but a degree of realism is required here given the limited number of resources & the number of calls Police receive. They will have to be prioritised.
3. I agree, both victims & alleged offenders deserve to be treated with respect & dignity.
4. Police don't decide innocence or guilt though so they can't do that anyway. Courts decide it.
5. The vast majority of Police resources are of course targeted towards that. Very few are used for punative fines issue (as you put it) & of course Police get no money from the issue of them anyway.
6. I agree.
 


Edited by livvy

1. The Police only have power to seize under our countries laws (none made up by the Police, but by governemnt or common law). If they have acted outside this then you have recourse through the courts yourself.

2. It's not OK for someone to damage your van.
Unfortunately a hunch is not great evidence against someone.
Without a suspect being present at the time of your call for criminal damage to a motorvehicle, I can't see a unit being immeadiately deployed under the 999 system. In such circumstances it may actually get seen sooner going to the Police station rather than waiting for them to attend. If you do park illegally blocking access immeadiately outside a Police station that is a good way of getting Police attention I'd imagine, but perhaps not the type you want.

3. They do, as of course there are discipline regulations to deal with such things.


Edited by livvy

livvy wrote: 6. I believe that there is probably less corruption & greater transparency now than at any other time.

It's amazing.

If it wasn't such a clear night with a full moon, I'd never have seen that pig flying by my window in the dark.

spokey wrote: livvy wrote: 6. I believe that there is probably less corruption & greater transparency now than at any other time. It's amazing. If it wasn't such a clear night with a full moon, I'd never have seen that pig flying by my window in the dark.

oh look there's a huge flock of them ........

 

livvy wrote: 4. Their job is to investigate & if sufficient evidence to prefer a charge to do just that. The courts job is to decide if there is sufficient evidence to convict. Our system isn't actually about determining innocence or guilt, it's about can the state prove beyond all reasonable doubt that you committed the offence, which isn't actually the same thing. Innocence is never on trial.

I was referring to the manner in which the police deal with people in everyday life and situations. IME, police generally choose to take the "you're guilty, therefore you forfeit all your rights" rather than the "you might be innocent and have a valid point" line

The legal system is, generally, the failsafe that ensures the police can't just lock you up and throw away the key...Although, given the Mets' preference for 90day detention, that is still up for change!

5. Most burglaries happen during the daytime, not Friday nights. The highest numbers of Police on duty will also be during the day. The sort of Policing you are talking about sounds like Public order, not issuing punitive fines but preventing & detecting violence (assaults) & vandalism (susch as damage to vehicles). Infact the sort of things you said the Police should be doing & which you were yourself a victim of.

well I was referring, in this case, to not just me, but a spate of burglaries a while back in the area I live in. Yes, I was burgled...as was a friend of mine (on the same night) and several neighbours on successive nights (all in two streets)...The local area officer (a young, seemingly overworked and sole policeman) explained that, although he know beyond doubt who the protagonists were, the resources were not available to either catch them, deter them or to recover the goods..despite knowing the empty house they were using as a staging post.
The reason he gave (and the "scenes of crimes" officer confirmed) was that the town centre policing...all those big corporate companies needing their windows protecting...took precedence over the house-thieves...

Of course there is no "agenda" (right)..only I believe that the boss of a large computer company has a bit more "clout" with the chief inspector than I or my friend has....
Nowadays, though, I'm sure the police hardly need "prompting" to attend a pub where the drunks on the pavement can be "fined" (taxed) a nifty £80 on the spot!

6. I believe that there is probably less corruption & greater transparency now than at any other time.

On which planet?


Edited by Fushion Julz