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Letter: Let down by police
Thursday 17th September 2009, 8:41AM BST.
Letter: I wish to express my disappointment and disgust at the service I have received from the police recently. I have suffered three thefts in one month, losing a large number of tools and my touring caravan.
Two sheds were broken into and the garage door was opened with a crowbar, with the theft of about £1,500 worth of tools. My total loss is over £6,000.
On two of the occasions, the police visited and took details, but no house-to-house enquiries were made and the community liaison officer was not advised. On the third occasion, I was told to touch nothing and forensic investigators would be sent round the next day.
After waiting a day-and-a-half, I telephoned for an explanation and was told the forensic teams do not attend for sheds and garages.
Both attending officers went on holiday after the thefts and no action was taken.
One officer remarked that there had been a spate of such burglaries. Is it surprising? No-one ever tries to catch the culprits.
These people are laughing at their victims and the police.
Meanwhile, I am afraid to leave home in case these crooks come back to start on the house.
Name and address supplied
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I have just suffered an incident at my house where i had to phone 999 due to a teenager at my front door holding a knife in a threatening behaviour asking for my eldest son , my 10 year old son answered the door and saw the knife in the lads hand which really scared him, when i got to the door the knife wasn’t on view, . A knife matching the one seen earlier was found outside my property, as the lad had dropped it leaving the premises. I took the knife to the police station, and the only response i got was shall we throw it in the bin or are you going to take it home, seeing theres no blood on it, the lads name description and address was given to the police and they took NO action. It seems to me that our local police force isn’t up to the job, for when you need them they are never avialable or to busy on other incidents….
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I know exactly how you feel! My car was Vandalised, it was parked at a friends in space that no one used and a few cars that were left in that space had been vandalised too! A police officer didnt even visit me! I had a crime number and that was it! I was made to feel I was bothering the police but to this day no one came to see me and it cost me £300 to get my car fixed! But I must say they are extremely busy on a Sunday Morning getting there breakfast at Haughmond Hill Butty Van in Shrewsbury!!!!
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I sympathise… I’ve also experienced the same lack of interest from the police. I had a car stolen from outside my flat several years ago… when I reported it stolen, they told me that it had been involved in a chase and had crashed with the occupants running away. This had happened the night before I reported it! When I asked why no-one had been in touch, they told me they didn’t know whether the registered owner (ie, me) was the driver… even more reason for coming to see me you’d have thought!
When I emptied the car out (it was a write-off) there were several items not belonging to me (presumably belonging to the thieves, such as a half empty bottle of whiskey!)which I reported to them… again, no interest at all. The truth is, if you live on a housing estate, or in a block of flats, you’ll get no help whatsoever from the police. Different story if you happen to live in a nice area I’m sure.
I’ve also had incidents where myself and friends were being attacked by a bunch of drunken idiots one night and the police simply drove past without stopping to see what was going on.
There might be decent, hardworking, considerate coppers out there, but they’re few and far between. As an organistation, they’d far rather go after the easy targets (motorists) than actually try and pursue actual crimes. I bet they pull out all the stops when one of their friends or family find themselves the victims of crime. I have absolutely zero respect for the police. I have multiple examples, both firsthand and from friends/family of police not doing their jobs or going the other way, and over-zealously hassling people for such heinous crimes as taking photgraphs on a highstreet.
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I’m not surprised. The race hate crime unit is a joke too. Despite a brick being thrown threw my window by a known racist who is already banned from the football ground and a whole housing estate for racism and violence, no action was taken (even though at least one person witnessed and identified the person).
Despite 6 people witnesssing the same person being racially abusive to a member of my family on a seperate evening, it was not recorded as a hate crime.
To top it all off, despite me calling 999 one evening a few years ago to report a racially motivated attack on my home by several youths, the police did not arrive until the next day.The officer I spoke to apologised and said he would see that there was an enquiry as to why nobody came. I later found out, unofficially, that the telephone operator, decided on hearing that ist was a racially motivated attack, chose not to tell any officer of our predicament.When I tried to have this looked into I was told there was NO trace of my 999 call. So why did an officer come to apologise???
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I was attacked outside my house by 3 men in a van who took my bag and the key to my car which one of them used to drive it away! This happened in daylight and I called 999 immediately. A police officer came and said that they would carry out a search of the area. The officer then went on leave and I heard nothing until a PCSO was sent to do house to house around the neighbouring properties – 2 WEEKS AFTER THE EVENT! The car has never been seen again and no other enquiries have taken place – apparently ‘just one of those things’. Everyone I spoke with at West Mercia Police was very kind and sympathetic but I do not feel that this horrific incident (for me) was taken seriously enough
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I recall years ago, a theft from my work which was reported to the police immediately, It took hours for an officer to attend. He looked very harassed and as a fellow ex-serviceman, he confided in me that it was his 6th call that morning and he had 9 more to go to, just then, his radio called and he was handed another. The reason? He was the only copper actually on the street that morning from his station. How much worse is it now? AND, if you should actually get the level of service you hope for, there’s every chance that the CPC will stuff it up or the courts will let you down in any case. The police cannot cope, the rule of the jungle prevails in many instances and the politicians turn a blind eye.
I did hear a good tale however, about the guy who woke to observe 2 men breaking into his garden shed. He rang 999, but was told that the police couldn’t respond immediately due to a lack of resources. Flabbergasted and frustrated, he put the phone down, but then rang again a few moments later to report that there was no longer any urgency because he had just shot the two burglars. Within minutes, there were half a dozen police cars at the scene and the burglars were caught red handed. The senior officer said “We were told that you’d shot them.” He replied”I was told that you had no resources!”
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The Police aren’t interested in solving any real crimes! They are just out to get the motorists cash from greed cameras for there bubbly at the christmas party. For those of you who voted for Tony Blair remember these words “Tough on crime, Tough on the causes of crime”
ALL politicians are a load of talk and no action!
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Sorry boys and girls they can’t come to your house to deal with these cases until a senior officer does a RISK ASSESSMENT.
What an absolute joke our (sorry your) emergency services have become.
I am not joking about risk assessment.
Senior Officers are frightened of the rank and file officers these days.
Absolutely crazy.
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We suffered a full tank of heating oil was stolen from one of our properties . We reported the crime and were issued with a crime number i was asked how much oil was stolen and how much it cost i stated i thought it was about this much and cost this much the relpy we got over the phone was that sounds a lot my tank at home does not hold that much and i only paid this much per litre and i think it has gone down ??????????? what the hells that all about???????? I know the size of the tank and i know how much i paid have the reciept for the fuel etc and if he wants to see the tank come and measure it . The victim is questioned like the scum that stole it and the advise after all that BUY A bigger PADLOCK wow. The people in the countryside are let down by the police and it seems in the towns it is the same. Labour promised us more police out on the ground where are they????? plenty of cso but i pay for and want police proper ones not low paid security guards with as much power as joe public and know effective training to boot.
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Perhaps everyone on here criticising their Police should do something about it ? Have you complained to the local Chief Superintendent ? Even beter have you offered your services to join up and assist ?
The Police Service is completely and utterly bogged down with paperwork/ E Mails/budget cuts/targets/performance indicators/anto social behaviour/local Policing targets.
Its a bit of a mess, your service needs all the help they can get !!!
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Shropshire lad you say that the Police Service is completely bogged down with Paperwork, perhaps more time fighting proper crime then sitting on sunday mornings at Haughmond hill eating their Bacon Butties! Half the police force were their!!! I totally agree with the comments about driving offences to! THE WORLD HAS GONE MAD!
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The reality of this sistuation is that we are living in a country where public servants do everything but serve the public.
The police are indeed bogged down in paperwork and targets, the courts are full of do gooders who are targeted to avoid sending people to prison, social services spend their time patting the little dears on the head and coming up with new diseases/afflictions/excuses for the inexcusable behaviour.
We have no clear standards of behaviour or clear penalties for failing to behave.
We set ludricrous targets and write risk policies rather than dealing with problems.
Society is broken and the only way to fix it is to put real, sensible people in charge.
Anyone want to join with me in the commonsense party?
In the meantime, until commonsense prevails, if you are dissatified with the police i would advise the following:
1) Ring the police and tell them you wish to make a complaint
2) When they try to talk you out of it – make a complaint about that too
3) Put the complaint in writing to the Chief Constable, Paul West, at Hindlip Hall
4) Copy the complaint to the Home Secreatary
5) Copy the complaint to the Shropshire Star
6) Ask the Shropshire Star to set up a “Public Services Fail Again Page” so we can shame the incompetents into action.
The police, like all the other public services, are targeted on their complaint numbers and we all know how they hate to miss their targets!!!
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My home was burgled while my husband and I were asleep a few years ago by my scumbag of a next door neighbour who was 14 years old.
A neighbour of mine who lived across from us witnessed him climbing in through the window and came over and got us out of bed and he was caught red handed in our home.
When the police finally turned up they stood in our home, and had the cheek to say to us are you going to follow the complaint through and go and stand in court and give evidence, otherwise it is a complete waste of my time filling out any paperwork.
I was gobsmacked I just thought omg you have just tried to talk us out of making a complaint to save you having to actually do your job. Gladly the justice system did work on this occasion and he was found guilty but all that happened was he was put on a supervision order.
What type of deterrent is that there needs to be harsh pushiments for crimes like this and if the government do not do something about it law abiding citizens are going to start taking the law into their own hands to feel that justice has been done.
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Answer to ‘Back to Reality’im with you 100% to join your ‘Commonsense Party’ LOL
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I had a theft, the police responded in 30min & SOCO’s had been to take prints in 2 hours, I even had a call the following week to ask if I received a good service…Faultless service more like!!
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Telblue,
easily pleased arn’t you?? did tthey solve the crime that is more important thank giving you a ring for a chit chat . Again this labout guv promised more police would be freed up if we took on cso it was a lie.
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I dont think its more officers they need to employ. Its more crime scene investigators. iF They actually fingerprinted at more crime scenes then maybe they might be able to link many of them together. And yes I know it doesnt work like in csi! but get a grip police force, stop saying “sorry madam” all the officers in your area are busy at the moment. Send out someone who can take a few basics fingerprints of the related area (garage door, knife left at scene, gate posts where gates hae been taken from) and do some PROPER INVESTIGATION work. Maybe all officers should be taught to fingerprint scenes, instead of just taking statements.
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No real answers here then, i would suggest anyone moaning about the Police ( human after all !) taking a break to eat ( whatever next) should get up at 5am this Sunday to patrol streets of Telford and pick up the pieces of the previous 24 hour drinking binges/violence/rapes/woundings. When you’ve done that then you can moan. Reality is that a large number of young Officers aged 20/30 are being given jobs to deal with that would have commanded 10 Officers and CID 20 years ago.
The Police Force, whoops, “Service” is run like a business now with all that goes with it.
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ooooooh eeeeeeee get up at 5am blimey thats early get a grip man.
Breaks that are staggered, not all at once and it causes less public discord. Cleaning up after yep thats about it as a crime has to take place first inorder for sections of the police force can do the job they are paid to do . The next part is to detect and solve a crime big problem here as it cant be done if know one attends and takes prints etc etc etc and they just issue a crime number no all crime should be treated the same come down on all crime hard whether it be stealing peoples belongings or murder just increase the staff and cut out the top brass and people being paid to shuffle paper.
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Back to reality, there is not one word of your comment that I could disagree with and I speak from a deep depth of related experience.
Years ago ( and things should be no different now given the increases in manpower that the Police have had) had the Police failed to respond to any call/complaint etc from the Public, the Officers immediately responsible and the supervising officer responsible for checking the logs would have been disciplined.
The policy of “graded calls” is just one of a number of policies (or lack of them) which have made the Police Force a joke.
These policies have been approved by the Home Office Inspectorate and by direct oversight, the Home Secretary’s themselves.
I wholly agree to the procedures you reccommend for making a complaint and this should be done exactly as you describe but this must be made a political issue as well.
If, for every complaint made about a Police failure to respond or carry out proper investigations were made to the local MP – of whatever party, then the message would soon get home.
Never have I known a time when the Police have lost so much public support and approval, I forecast it will not be long before they have totally alienated the public and become figures of hate and contempt.
COMPLAIN TO YOUR MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT AS WELL AS THE CHIEF CONSTABLE. THE POLICE DO NOT LIKE COMPLAINTS OR MPs.
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RE MW NO.11
SHROPSHIRE STAR HEADLINE:
“POLICE EAT FOOD SCANDAL.”
RE: JR NO.5
How dare the police have days off, cancel all leave and deal with your case…
RE: SHROPSHIRE LAD NO.10
You speak common sense….
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