Hello everyone, not been on for a while, busy with work and car.
Personally I think we have neither the advantages a police state offers (less crime), or the advantages the police service of a true democracy should offer.
When we think of the Police I like to think of them out on the streets, stopping people and searching them. I'm happy to be searched (though I would question why and should be entitled to a truthful answer).
Reality is though, it seems that most decent people don't use the Police because they feel the Police will be busy attending 'serious' crime - In fact the Police will be dealing with minor disputes claimed by the 10% of our society that needs them to settle a score with each other, and don't have jobs or more pressing requirements.
One example of this is that I hesitated to call the Police when a group of lads were jumping on cars on our street. In the end I DID call 999.
The response time (at 1.30am) was 45mins. If they had arrived within 15 they would have cought the offenders red-handed. These were a group of drunk yobs, who were taking their time and basically meandering home. They weren't even thinking that they were committing a crime or could be arrested.
Anyway the van turned up eventually and I went outside. The first response of the female police officer was that no damage had been done. She promptly shone her torch on a car to demonstrate, and the beam fell on a pristine footprint of someone's boots.
No crime number was given because technically there was no victim - the car was not mine (they hadn't touched mine). this in turn means that they don't need to catch the offenders - If they had a crime number then they would need to find them to get a 'detection', i.e. a closed case.
But if they had turned up on time (I live in a small town and the roads were empty) they would have seen the print, and then turned the corner to be greeted by a group of 6 teenagers who were sat on the bridge near my house drinking bottles of lager. i'd imagine they'd have made an arrest.
(I didn't want to confront the lads because I couldn't see any advantages in doing it. they'd just make twice the effort next time).
So in short - no crime occurred (no number), which means that technically my street is the most peaceful street ever (on paper).
I went a bit off-topic there, but that's my Police story lol. I would much prefer them to be on the streets, taking names (even my name). Instead they'll be chasing up ghost cases, for instance text message threats, and spending hours filling in the paperwork.
Hrrrrumphhh. I'm actually considering joining. I could live with the bullshit as long as I didn't kid myself it'd mean anything to the average briton. You get a Public Service pension.
Edit: I'm not keyed up on the tricky subject of prejudice, but it's obvious in my town who the little shits are that need searching. For a start
they all deliberately dress like criminals to get respect or look 'hard' (i.e. chavs). To any trained eye i'm sure it's easy to see who's acting suspicious. If it happens to be a certain class, race , or religion then so be it. Totally undefendable in our society though - that would be a prejudiced method of policing. Despite the fact that in some cases it might actually reduce real crime (I'm not talking about Shannon ketting offensive texts off her ex-bf Darren).
Subject: For Uk residents. Where your taxes go. 
Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:53 pm
