Letter: What a rosy picture Jon Tandy paints of the economy and crime figures under Labour. (Read the letter here.)
I presume that Jon thinks that the fact that over a thousand police officers and PCSOs have said on Facebook that the streets of this country are not safe to patrol alone, supports his opinion.
About two or three years ago some anti-social drunken youths were aiming a laser gun at bowlers on Castlefields bowling green from “The Pleasure”.
A member of the club rang the police but gave up after 25 minutes without a reply.
Some days later the Star printed a request from the police for witnesses to youths using a laser gun in New Park Road.
I suggest to Jon that crime figures are down because people think it is a waste of time trying to report it.
Name and address supplied
25 Comments
I totally agree with this, we have problems in Herongate Shrewsbury currently and the police do not bother at all trying to do something about the anti social behaviour and under age drinking.
The policing pledge advert on TV is a farce….neigbourhood policing?????
one question, Where is it in Shrewsbury??
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Well said, I’ve tried to get a reaction to anti social behaviour from the police in the past with absolutely no help forthcoming. It is complete waste of time and breath to bother complaining, nothing is ever done in my area.
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omg
what chance do we stand when we venture outside our houses?
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Only a few years ago an article on the front page of this newspaper suggested to “bring in the troops to combat crime.” Many people agreed whereas the authorities of course were adamant that they were dealing with the problem. They even went so far as to deny that the problem was as bad as was claimed. This newspaper then did an 8 page special photographing and reporting from several of the major towns around the shropshire area. The result of excellent reporting was to leave many with egg on their faces as the reality of street violence and drunkeness was exposed. The more that is reported, the more that is exposed, is the only way to show to police management that the problem exists and for something to be done about it. It is rather like drug crime. If no one is arrested for drugs in a town then as far as the police are concerned there is no drug problem in that town. Therefore no resources will be allocated to that town top deal with the allegedly non existant drug problem.
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the streets weren’t safe for the public when Commander Dizrai of the Met was around!
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Well, what can I say? If you want to see the police or a PCSO in Shrewsbury I suggest you keep your eyes focused on the Star and Chronicle, you’ll see them in their droves being paraded out whilst they plant daffodils or arrange football matches.They have become more interested in creating their own brand of celebrities than being a functional fighting force against crime and poor behaviour.Unfortunately the promotion system these days seems set on how many times you get your name in the papers not how many thieves you’ve collared.
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I have to say that every time I have called the police to incidents they have responded (although not frequently luckily. The local community support officer in Harlescott is excellent and my son knows him by name from his visits to local schools. He called on us last year after an incident in our vicinity and was extremely courteous and professional.
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Don’t make the mistake of laying blame at the door of the police. They’re not super heroes. Would any sensible person want to tackle a gang of yobs whilst alone and isolated? Get real. They’re completely under resourced and bogged down in political correctness and legalese which keeps the back pockets of the lawyerly profession full of luvverly lucre. The rest of us who suffer anti social behaviour and low level crime can go swing. The old style policing has long gone together with swift common sense resolution of local woes. The blame belongs to government for that. They’ve engineered the clever sleight of hand which assures us that crime is down. Like heck it is! With drugs abuse and unemployment spiralling this would represent a most remarkable reversal of historic trends. I suspect the statistics simply reflect changes in reporting procedures by the police and the lethargy of a cynical public which wonders if there is any longer any point in ringing the police for all but the most serious crimes.
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I can tell you now that in the last two weeks in Herongate alone, I have seen blokes go out to the youths with bats or metal poles in their hands. So are we starting to see people police it themselves?
Its only a matter of time here before someone gets hurt seriously. We have no faith in the local police here at all, and what makes me angry is that all over herongate are Neighbourhood watch signs…..well if thats supposed to be a group that reports things that i’m the pope!
I might start renting my front garden out to local youths with this advert: come and hang around here and drink, take drugs and upset the residents… why? because the police won’t bother you.
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An interesting point made by MF, in Shrewsbury they do seem to go overboard in saying how brilliant they all are but I’ve noticed over time that when the likes of the radio station asks a specific question there is nobody available to comment,I recall one instance some months ago when a press release was read out over the air to do with the return of a lost watch,the self praise was almost gut-wrenching,if they want us to have faith in the force can I suggest that they provide a more balanced service to the media (which is generally the only contact we have with them),they want us to believe that everywhere is a land of milk and honey,I don’t mind but it isn’t the truth, so where does that lie with a requirement for honesty amongst the profession?
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I work for a housing association… when trying to encourage tenants to report crimes to the police the most common response is “why bother, they wont do anything”. Im not saying the police do not respond… but I do say that because of public perception, crimes are NOT being reported to police and therefore the figures publish are NOT accurate.
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IF the streets are not safe for the Police I am afraid it is their own fault for letting the situation develope.
The streets used to be safe not so long ago but that was when people had respect for the Police.
I had a problem that I reported to the Police before I left those shores and was told by the officer ”It is not our Chief Constables policy to inforce that law”.
I don’t ever remember anyone giving a ”Chief Constable” that choice.
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if you want the police to respond to anti social behaviour then just call them up and tell them that you are (or you partner is) on the way out with a sharp stick to accost the youths in question. the police will be there in double quick time to apprehend you. then you just need to fend them off and get them to deal with the troublemakers themselves (not sure how through because the police are much more likely to find it easier to h arras you than engage with some aggressive youths.
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This is a subject i have written about on a few occasions to the shropshire star.I question labours whole policeing policy. They have with the support of people like councillor tandy put pcso’s which is policeing on the cheap on to the streets of great britain.
Of course the streets would not be safe for a pcso on their own to patrol this is why they do not patrol after 10pm, however their very basic role within the police service should actually bar them from patrolling when their is a high risk of crime taking place such as kicking out times (pubs,clubs).
It is also in some cities not safe for a police officer to be solo but the smaller towns are another issue.The main issue is labour have harmed the police service with the introduction of pcso ie money wasted instead of being spent in a more positive way, we are for sure not getting value for money.
Also pointed out were the countless press grabbing stunts used by the police and pcso such as planting trees and other similar silly tat we have to remember a fully trained police officer is taken away from his paid role to deal with this guf.
Saying all that the police officers in general provide and give an excellent service just please get rid of the pcso and employ more fully trained proffesionalpolice officers and give the general tax payer value for money.
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Well the situation will not gte any better, The Police , like everyone else, are having to cut costs big time. There are also a lot of officers due to retire in next 2 years after mass recruitment after dreadful pay and conditions in the 1970’s. Don’t hold your breath on these being replaced. The CSO and Specials will be more the norm i’m afraid. Then you can moan. Would you want a novice tradesman ( unskilled and powerless) to turn up to fix your electrics or do you want the real deal?. Don’t underesitmate the impact of all this in next few years .
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Conscription for convicted thugs and a few tours of Afghanistan might be preferable to sending the cream of our youth as we do now. As for the Police, we have to ask ourselves what value they add in their present large numbers? It seems to be a lazy, self-serving organisation as epitomised by the fictional but life like bobbies who frequesnted the pub, scrounging from the landlord in “Early Doors”. A terrible slur on conscientious coppers but it’s a nice secure job where some, maybe too many individuals seem capable of shirking with minimal accountability. We the public want to support them but the bobbies have to earn that support!
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Facebook is a national social network site. I don’t think we should base what is a general trend in some areas of the country in Shropshire necessarily. Of course there are crimes/anti-social behaviour here but I think when you compare it to elsewhere we are very fortunate. I think the police are doing a good job overall and when I have seen police in Whitchurch they often patrol on their own so they presumably feel its safe enough to do so? They do a difficult job with very little appreciation; governed more and more by ‘human rights’.
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This is why I love watching Life on Mars – don’t agree with police brutality but at least the criminals were scared of coppers in the 70’s and thought twice about their actions and the consequences – bring back coppers like Gene Hunt!
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Considering that there are about 130,000 police officers and 16,000 CSOs, the 1,000 people who have put their names to the Facebook group means that less than 0.7% which is not really a fair representation. I’d bet in the last census a more of the officers put themselves down as Jedi Warrior.
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The Police in this area (Telford) are a waste of time. They are more concerned about driving about in their nice new cars and ignoring crime instead. I’ve lost count of the amount of moving traffic offences I’ve seen performed by coppers and as for illegal parking… don’t get me started on that!
If you try to raise attention to crime you are treated like a crim yourself. I once attempted to give an officer a list of car registrations that were all untaxed and being driven about-the answer was ” go to your local station and make a written statement”
What use is that? Why not simply check those numbers against the DVLA records and if indeed they were evading the payments to fine or prosecute them. Again, too much hassle. I do not think it has anything to do with the ruling government, more to do with the general lack of care and attention or corrupt natures that so many of the force seems to have now.
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Don’t blame it all on the police. Policing begins at home where you lead by example, unfortunately as each generation superseeds the next, respect for the law and other people diminishes.
I blame the politically correct do-gooders and liberals for this mess. If discipline and punishment was installed from an early age at school and at home, without the fear of recrimination by the pc brigade, then policing would be easier. Maybe the next Government should seriously think about reintroducing non-combative National Service.
Prevention is better than cure and respect is earnt through mutual appreciation.
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Well said, Woody. Citizenship and acceptance of personal responsibility should be a part of the national curriculum. The police are under resourced and utterly stifled by pc nonsense – as someone said earlier, things are likely to get worse. Blame the government and not just the present one, but the previous tory administration who could have employed thousands of experienced ex servicemen and women as coppers at the end of the Cold War, but very few were acceptable because they were considered too rough and non PC. Hello?? That’s the sort of policing the vast silent majority would love to see.
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i am amazed by the frequent mugshots of wrongdoers
pictured on cctv as plain as the print on the page—imploring you and i to look out for them
what happened to the eagle-eyed bobby of yesteryear?
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Edwin Turner – are you suggesting that they don’t do what they can to find the ‘wrong-doers’ – if the police didn’t do the mugshot option you’d probably ask why not? They can’t win. Incidentally, criminals move with the times also – in those ‘good old days when police could take them around the corner and beat them senseless’ mobile phones hadn’t been invented and cars were few and far between. Get real!
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This post is related to the “soft prison” debate, the page closed before I had time to reply to Mr. Bemused, item 12. Do you ever read the posts or do you just spout your wisdom randomly?. In my post, item 11, I clearly stated that I had indeed been in prison, I never named them as I thought it was not that important, but, to satisfy you Bemused I am quite willing to so. I have been in Shrewsbury, Walton, Winson Green, Wormwood Scrubs and Gartree. Without exception they were all what we “cons” called cushy. E.G. in Shrewsbury the food was of a very high standard all the time and each Sunday at lunch we had a choice of 3 meats for main course. No doubt there are a lot of people in the town who would love to be able to have that choice, but how many actually do. Is this fair is this punishment?. NO, NO, NO. Apart from the food, all the “nicks” were soft, breakfast in Gartree was served from 7am -8am hotel style. No hurry, take your time lads. I don’t know which prisons Bemused has been in, certainly none of those I was in. I hope this satisfies your curiosity.
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