Police couldn’t have been better
Friday 28th September 2007, 11:53AM BST.
I was unfortunate enough to be the victim of a burglary on September 12.
Now this is an unpleasant experience, of course, but the way that the police and my insurance company handled matters has restored my faith in both of these services.
All too often we see letters complaining about our police force, and I have to admit to having lost some respect for them myself over the years. In fact, when I rang them at about 7.30am on the morning of the burglary, I said to my daughter, “All we will get is a crime number, they won’t bother coming out”. How wrong I was.
About 45 minutes after I rang there was a knock at the door and a detective constable was standing there; a really, really nice guy who could not have been more pleasant or helpful.
Twenty minutes later another knock and the scenes of crime officers arrived to dust for fingerprints etc. Again they were extremely pleasant.
Among the items stolen was my daughter’s car (please take note: don’t leave your keys in the hall), which the police saw being driven later that night and arrested the driver. He of course denies having anything to do with the burglary, but then he would, wouldn’t he?
All told, a good result! Now to my household insurance company. They were absolutely brilliant! So, all told, a very unpleasant experience made bearable by the sheer professionalism of these two organisations.
Phil Christie, Stirchley
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A one-off, surely
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Phil,
You were indeed lucky. Until the PC bosses (I mean Politically Correct not Police Constable) took over the Police in the late 1980s, you got the response which was standard practice and for which officers would have been disciplined had they not complied with the principle of “speedy response” to calls of this nature. I attribute your circumstances to the fact that your car was stolen the night before and the offender was arrested and it was related to your report of burglary etc. Had that not been the case and you had just reported an ordinary (to the police) burglary, I am sure you would still be waiting. The Police have forgotten why they there.
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this is what you should expect from your police force its what we pay taxes for. thankyou to the police concerned thats what there paid for but we shouldnt be that surprised we wright to our local paper to thank them as we thought they would or couldnt be bothered to do anything , the dreaded cso are plentifull paper work is being reduced whats the betting something else will come why they cant do there job properly??
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Alan give credit where credit is due. Damned if you do and damned if you dont in this case.
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Morgan, You will gather, I am not very enthusiastic over the modern Police Force and I say this for about two thousand reasons. Credit – yes I will give them credit, they are good at investigating major crime, murders, rapes etc etc. How often is the ordinary citizen a victim of these though. Probably for major crime investigation, they lead the world. The average citizen is more concerned with theft, burglary, public nuisance, vandalism, minor and less serious assaults, hooliganism etc – with regard to these, our Police are an utter disgrace and I make no apologies for saying this or holding these views. They are, as far as I know, the only Police Force out of all the advanced liberal democratic countries – though some American forces may be similar, which fails to respond immediately to calls for assistance from the public. They are now the scruffiest, most undignified and outwardly unimpressive force in Europe, North America and Canada. Only they, would allow PCSOs to be imposed on them and I think the least said of these and the principles on which they are based the better. Our Police Force has lost it’s way and, with the current leadership, culture, philosophy and Government, it is not likely to find it again in a hurry. Sorry if any copper reads this but many I think feel the same as I do.
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bravo alan
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