Attitude of the POPO!

**Ixion** · 12th May 2010, 10:47

Originally Posted by rastuscat

Ah, THAT old chestnut. "People are losing respect for Police because Police do traffic enforcement."

Let's see. Arthuer Alan Thomas. David Bain. Scott Watson. Louise Nicholas. Two men spending 9 months in prison on a false arson conviction. David Dougherty. Iraena Asher. Email porn. Etc, etc.

And you're telling me it's the traffic cops who are bringing the Police down?

Yeah right.

But is it not possible (indeed likely) that people are morer willing to condemn the police as a whole for the derelictions of the non-traffic department, because they are riled by encounters with the traffic cops? If Joe Q Public, that deep and incisive thinker, got a speeding ticket yeaterday, and today reads of some scandal in the force, his reaction to the scandal is conditioned by the resentment of the speeding ticket.

When I was young, before the merger, I doubt that the recent scandals would have gained so much traction. The police , for almost everyone, were a distant and Olympian body, very highly respected. People would have been very reluctant to criticise them, let alone condemn. The traffic cops , on the other hand (the worst ones were not MoT actually), were universally hated. We would have believed anything bad of them (Though actually I quite respected the local bikie cop, he was a good cunt) .

I was told when a lad "If ever you are in trouble , find a policeman". I can't imagine many parents giving children that advice nowadays.

The reality is that traffic enforcement is always going to be unpopular. And having a separate force meant that the unpopularity would not "leak over" to the general duties police.

**Ronin** · 12th May 2010, 10:50

Originally Posted by Ixion

I was told when a lad "If ever you are in trouble , find a policeman". I can't imagine many parents giving children that advice nowadays.

Why ever not?

**miloking** · 12th May 2010, 15:37

Originally Posted by Ronin

Why ever not?

Because they would rape them with the whiskey bottle(remember that one? What a f'd up case that was...)
....no realy because they would turn up 3 days later and said there is nothing they can do about it as its not a police responsibility. (last time my house got burgled and my car broken into)

**Ronin** · 12th May 2010, 16:14

Originally Posted by miloking

Because they would rape them with the whiskey bottle(remember that one? What a f'd up case that was...)
....no realy because they would turn up 3 days later and said there is nothing they can do about it as its not a police responsibility. (last time my house got burgled and my car broken into)

You really in quite a sad deluded world if you honestly think that a kid in trouble would be ignored by the Police. Remind me again why you moved here?

**SPman** · 12th May 2010, 17:54

Originally Posted by Ixion

The reality is that traffic enforcement is always going to be unpopular. And having a separate force meant that the unpopularity would not "leak over" to the general duties police.

I blame Muldoon!
For everything!

**miloking** · 12th May 2010, 18:50

Originally Posted by Ronin

You really in quite a sad deluded world if you honestly think that a kid in trouble would be ignored by the Police. Remind me again why you moved here?

All jokes aside, are you seriously telling me that you've never heard of someone who had house or car broken into and was told by police over the phone that they "dont have time" to attend to this the same day?! And if nobody was injured there is not point of them turning up...
Well i did (actualy saw the burglar running out of our house) and i've had few friends with similar experience...so dont tell me i live in deluded world because that actualy happened!
But maybe its because i was over 18 right???
Whatever you say, police are useless, never helped me with anything and i dont expect anything from them ever (but to cause me trouble).

I moved here because i thought that the exact same bullshit that happens in Europe doesnt happen here...i was WRONG.

**Kickaha** · 12th May 2010, 19:41

Originally Posted by miloking

I moved here because i thought that the exact same bullshit that happens in Europe doesnt happen here...i was WRONG.

looks like a wasted trip, you may as well fuck off back home then

**Ronin** · 12th May 2010, 20:14

Originally Posted by miloking

All jokes aside, are you seriously telling me that you've never heard of someone who had house or car broken into and was told by police over the phone that they "dont have time" to attend to this the same day?! And if nobody was injured there is not point of them turning up...
Well i did (actualy saw the burglar running out of our house) and i've had few friends with similar experience...so dont tell me i live in deluded world because that actualy happened!
But maybe its because i was over 18 right???
Whatever you say, police are useless, never helped me with anything and i dont expect anything from them ever (but to cause me trouble).

I moved here because i thought that the exact same bullshit that happens in Europe doesnt happen here...i was WRONG.

We were talking about kids and I cannot imagine my 11 year old being told to fuck off by a cop, even an asshole one.

I'm not denying the police didn't have time to look at your burglary, under funded, under staffed with zero chance of catching the perps. I can even understand why it fucks you off and sympathise with you.

**R-Soul** · 13th May 2010, 12:47

Originally Posted by miloking

All jokes aside, are you seriously telling me that you've never heard of someone who had house or car broken into and was told by police over the phone that they "dont have time" to attend to this the same day?! And if nobody was injured there is not point of them turning up...
Well i did (actualy saw the burglar running out of our house) and i've had few friends with similar experience...so dont tell me i live in deluded world because that actualy happened!
But maybe its because i was over 18 right???
Whatever you say, police are useless, never helped me with anything and i dont expect anything from them ever (but to cause me trouble).

I moved here because i thought that the exact same bullshit that happens in Europe doesnt happen here...i was WRONG.

Where I am from, the cops ask if you want them to come around at all, or if you just want a case number for insurance purposes. I was genuinely asked this after being burgled. Nobody even expects them to investigate it at all.

And to be fair, the 200 other murder cases on their pile should probably take priority...

**rastuscat** · 13th May 2010, 13:27

Hmmm. Just a few thoughts.

Cops love catching criminals. I'm not talking about the traffic people, that's another issue. Generally, cops are in the job to catch criminals. Lots, if asked why they joined, will say it was to catch crooks.

Jobs that police have to attend with very little chance of catching the criminal are treated as an administrative thing. To the attending cop the job is basically only worth recording for stats and insurance purposes. That's not to demean the effect on the victim, but it can cause the cops to have little interest in your job, as there is little chance of catching the bad guy.

It just might be the only time you ask the police for help, but if the cop who attends (or not) has spent the last 3 years dealing with jobs where he fills out 6 pages of report that don't get the crook in jail, maybe you'll understand his reluctance to fill out just one more 6 page report.

Again, this is not to demean the effect on the victim, who likely feels revictimised, as the police don't catch their offender, find their TV, recover their car.

It's not easy being a cop.

**Ixion** · 13th May 2010, 13:38

Hmm. A few thoughts in return.

A dispassionate observer from Andromeda might ask; if the 6 page reports don't catch crooks, is there any point in filling them in ?

And if the job is worth recording only for insurance and statistical purposes , perhaps the insurance companies should be tasked with collecting such information as is useful to anyone (which may be none ?). Which would at least free up cops' time . Whether that would result in more crooks being locked up, or merely in more donuts being eaten, I do not know.

Perhaps , if burglary, car conversion etc have fallen so far off the police radar (the simple ones, anyway), maybe it is time to reconsider them completely, and hand some of that over to private security forces. Reduced taxes, and you use the tax saving to pay the security company. I don't like that idea myself, but I can see logic in it (and some very major dangers, too).

**rastuscat** · 13th May 2010, 13:50

Ix, have PM'd you.

**imdying** · 13th May 2010, 14:03

Originally Posted by miloking

All jokes aside, are you seriously telling me that you've never heard of someone who had house or car broken into and was told by police over the phone that they "dont have time" to attend to this the same day?! And if nobody was injured there is not point of them turning up...
Well i did (actualy saw the burglar running out of our house) and i've had few friends with similar experience...so dont tell me i live in deluded world because that actualy happened!
But maybe its because i was over 18 right.........

Blah blah blah, you can't change the argument with a strawman just because you're losing

**R-Soul** · 13th May 2010, 14:09

Originally Posted by Ixion

Hmm. A few thoughts in return.

A dispassionate observer from Andromeda might ask; if the 6 page reports don't catch crooks, is there any point in filling them in ?

And if the job is worth recording only for insurance and statistical purposes , perhaps the insurance companies should be tasked with collecting such information as is useful to anyone (which may be none ?). Which would at least free up cops' time . Whether that would result in more crooks being locked up, or merely in more donuts being eaten, I do not know.

Perhaps , if burglary, car conversion etc have fallen so far off the police radar (the simple ones, anyway), maybe it is time to reconsider them completely, and hand some of that over to private security forces. Reduced taxes, and you use the tax saving to pay the security company. I don't like that idea myself, but I can see logic in it (and some very major dangers, too).

In SA the police innefectiveness is now so bad that private persons have resorted to private security for ALL security. Laughably (or sadly) even the police have been known to hire private security firms to guard their police stations....

But no reduced taxes though...

Interestingly enough, the government gets VAT (SA's answer to GST) on all goods replaced by insurance companies. They make a klilling out of crime. That explains the lack of political willpower to tackle the ridiculous situation...