Zero Tolerance Policies

[malcyb]

This has got to be a winner for the Tories IF they do what Michael Howard is proposing, taking away the bureaucracy and political correctness from the police and adopting a zero tolerance policy. Isn't this exactly what people now want in this country?

[cwathen]

This has got to be a winner for the Tories IF they do what Michael Howard is proposing, taking away the bureaucracy and political correctness from the police and adopting a zero tolerance policy. Isn't this exactly what people now want in this country

What's needed is for the public confidence and respect that the police used to have to be restored.

Something about the perception of the police as being arrogant idiots which is rampant today needs to be done.

Aswell as giving the police greater powers, making sure they use them also needs to be done. How many people can relate these days to the feeling that if you report a crime to the police, rather than being primarily concerned with helping you, they are primarily concerned with finding a way to get out of helping you? If you call the police on a non-emergency call, why does it always take 3 hours for them to attend? Indeed, why so often do they not attend at all after promising they would at the time you made the complaint?

Aswell as dealing with criminal law, the huge issue of civil justice effectively not existing unless you have money behind you needs to be addressed. It surely cannot be right that the only way to reach civil justice is to take someone to court - the possibilities of giving the police some powers over civil justice needs to be investigated. For one thing it is so frustrating to go to the police with a valid criminal complaint only for them to argue (often along unbelievably thin lines) that you actually have a civil complaint and therefore they can't do anything. Taking that 'protection' away from the police is an important step towards restoring public confidence in them.

[cwathen]

The theives left their fingerprints from their grubby hands all over my paintwork - what better evidence could there be? I called the police "non-emergency" line. After 47 minutes 32 seconds of muzak and a recording of a desk sergeant saying I was in a queue and would be dealt with as soon as possible, I got through to someone. Obviously I caught them right in the middle of their favourite TV programme as they weren't listening to a word I said, and even though I said I had perfect fingerprints on my car, I was informed that there were insufficient resources to allow an cuntstable to come to my house and take a sample of the prints.

I've had a recent fingerprints on car incident too. One morning, the water board turned up wanting to fit a water meter exactly where my car was parked. I was out, as was everyone else in my building. We didn't know it was going to happen, so didn't know to leave the parking bays free that night. The water company were supposed to give us 7 days' written notice, but didn't.

When I return from the shop, I find that they've 'bumped' my car 3 feet to the left. I challenge the men, and assure them they haven't heard the last of this. Upon driving my car, I now have serious creaks coming from the back suspension that weren't there before, and decide to take this up with the police.

It's not a my-word-against-theirs situation, I've got the men on CCTV, I've got the van they came in in clear shot with it's registration number visible - and from the dust they kicked up from digging into the driveway, I've also got their fingerprints all over my car. Having taken my car to the garage, I got a professional mechanic to agree that the damage caused was 'persistant of violent shaking'. What more evidence could I have?

They desk sergeant was quite helpful and told me that with all of that, I had grounds to bring charges of criminal damage, either against the men, or against the water board. He informed me that an officer would attend as soon as possible, to view my car, view the work done, and view the CCTV tape with me.

Almost falling over with shock at possibly being confronted with a policeman who isn't an arrogant tosspot and beyond useless, I left, waiting for the officer to arrive.

6 hours later, no officer. I rang and was advised that they'd been very busy today with an emergency. Fair enough. 3 hours after that, a police officer from another station rang me, telling me that the case had been transferred to him.

Rather than view the evidence with me and fingerprint my car whilst the prints were still there, he told me that he'd make investigations on my behalf.

2 days later, nothing back, and I had no contact number. I then rang the original police station I made the complaint at to find what was happening. They didn't know why the complaint had been transferred, but said an officer would definately come that day.

He didn't come, and upon ringing them again, they now inform me that they're not entirely convinced that a criminal offence had been comitted (even though I had fairly damning evidence of it - evidence which the police refused to look at, after they had told me they would) but did agree to send an office out on Monday (which is now 4 days after they were going to send an officer out 'as soon as possible').

On Monday morning, I woke up to find a message on my answering machine advising me that the police now consider this to be a civil matter, would not be visiting me, would refuse to look at my evidence, and would not take this case any further - and remember that they still haven't looked at the CCTV footage I have, the signed testimonial from a garage, and of course, haven't fingerprinted my car.

That evening I was pulled over for doing 42 in a 40 limit.

In a bizarrely similar twist, 2 days later I was pulled over for doing 80 in a 70 limit, issued with a penalty charge notice, and suffered the 'sterotypical copper' arrogant PC plod type delivering one of his god like lectures. Upon proceeding up the dual carriageway I discovered it litted with other officers doing the same.

It would seem that if there isn't money to be made or a chance to display their ego, they won't come out for anything short of murder.

Useless bunch of t*wats, that's all they are.

[Neil Jones]

I'm not going into any great detail on this but in a nutshell it's related to Chris' post and the one he quoted:

My brother's car was this close this afternoon to being nicked. It was only the arrival of a security guard that distracted the beggers from whatever they were doing, supposedly hotwiring the car.

Anyway, my bro called PC Plod at about quarter to six tonight. From the heated rant I've heard coming up the stairs from my brother to my parents when he came home from work, I gather two police cars actually turned up for totally unrelated reasons but neither would have anything to do with the situation. I believe fingerprints are present on the car which of course led to the dilemma of what to do with the situation. Anyway, by 9:15 no PC Plod had arrived so my bro came home in the car.

I don't expect anything to happen, it'll just be swept under the carpet, the car won't be dusted, Plod won't have anything to do with it and, well, I'm not surprised really.

And this sort of thing comes in the week that you read that over 200 police stations across the country have closed under this government. It does not inspire faith, does it?

[Katherine]

Maybe the public should adopt a zero tolerance policy towards police incompetence....

[cwathen]

Maybe the public should adopt a zero tolerance policy towards police incompetence....

Now *that's* a good idea!