Letter: Take your complaint to the police
Tuesday 24th November 2009, 7:13AM GMT.
Letter: If Mr Barnett (Star Letters, November 17) does not like the way his local police behave he should tell them, not write to the Star about it.
If the policeman was temporarily blocking his drive while he was dealing with an incident, then that is fair enough. Just be patient and allow the officer to do his job.
If he was blocking the drive because he was showing a lack of concern and arrogance towards the rules and regulations that govern us all, including police officers, whether they are on or off duty, then Mr Barnett should have spoken to the officer concerned and told him to move his car. Yes told, not asked, told.
It would appear that Mr Barnett feels intimidated by the police and has forgotten that they are public servants, paid by the public to serve the public.
Yes Mr Barnett you, like all of us, pay their wages. They are there to serve us, not the other way around. They are not there to throw their weight around and bully people.
If you felt that he was out of place lecturing you about something that you had not done then you should have pointed this out to him, and if he continued to pester you unnecessarily you should have asked him for his name and number and used them to make a complaint. As for him driving off without using his indicator, welcome to the real world.
Half the population never use, or do not know when to use their indicators, so why should you expect the police to be any different?
Alwyn Cox
Oswestry
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Alwyn Cox wrote “It would appear that Mr Barnett feels intimidated by the police and has forgotten that they are public servants”.
Er, half, right, methinks. Probably more accurate to write:
“It would appear that Mr Barnett feels intimidated by the police because they have forgotten that they are public servants”
There, that’s better.
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Situation, Friday in a large town not far from Shrewsbury, The local newspaper had headlines regarding lack of Police manpower which stopped them attending a relatively serious incident some days before. Fast forward to the next day (Saturday), this commenter, was returning to his car when he saw a Policewoman in full uniform, escorting a “charity pram push” though jam packed streets, parting the people to make way for the pram to make headway. The Policewoman was stopping pedestrians to induce them to contribute to the collecting buckets held by fancy dressed people with the pram. As they passed me with my car door half open, I said politely to the PW, “excuse me but do you think that this is a proper way for our Police Force to be employed on a busy Saturday afternoon”.
With a face contorted with utter rage, she replied, “who do you think you are talking to, how dare you question what I am doing, get in your car, move it immediately or I will book you for obstruction”. I was legally parked but I got in and moved off. Unfortunately for her my wife took her number.
Moral of this little tale, if you wish to make any observation/complaint about Police actions, do it in writing to the Chief Constable after you have taken the officers number. To engage the officer in talk of any nature is fraught with danger, not worth the hassle and one is likely to end up in serious trouble if not arrest. They will always have the last say on the streets, you can have yours in writing with the Chief Constable, far distant from an angry, arrogant, pompous and high and mighty Constable.
This occurred in Worcester, in the West Mercia area.
The Police have lost the plot and just in case anyone questions my credentials on this matter, I can write a book on similar confrontations, so please no accusations of one-off anecdotes, it comes second nature to them when they are not trained/supervised properly.
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Here, here Rodney (re#1)
I assume that Mr Cox has never made a complaint to the police. If so I’d love to hear how he got on.
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Re #2, an interesting anecdote, but you seem to have missed the ending. Did the Chief Constable write back appologising?
I would love to hear from anyone who has made a complaint and had it resolved satisfactorily by the police, but I doubt if the police have ever said sorry.
They recently learnt Polish and I wonder if they learnt the Polish for sorry?
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Lucy, an Inspector from the local station called on me with an apology of sorts, not for what the woman said but for assisting in a street collection which i knew to be strictly taboo. What was happening with the WPC was approved at Sergeant level unbeknown to the Station Commanders who were not best pleased from what I can gather. I was asked if I was prepared to accept that both the WPC and the Sergeant should be strongly “advised” and I accepted this albeit they both got off lightly but I had no wish for engaging in any formalised disciplinary proceedings.
I think it taught us both a lesson, I will never talk to any officer of the law on the streets unless I really have to or unless I am spoken to first.
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I see Stuart, an appology ‘of sorts’. So not an appology then.
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I did not report the P.C.because I did not consider the incident important enough ,I did however forward a copy of the E Mail I sent to the star to a member of my local policing team .I have no dought the person concerned had a little bit of ribbing and will think twice again before doing something similar .Everyone makes mistakes ,what would I have gained from making an official complaint ?.Very little .I do have a good relationship with my local police team ,Arleston may be an exception .
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D.L.Barnett said “..what would I have gained from making an official complaint ?”
Yes, I thinks that’s also the view point of everyone else.
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I have just read Mr Barnetts letter and he certainly has a point when questioning being questioned by the police about indicating when he assessed the situation first and saw there was no one to indicate to. Drivers who indicate as a habit are more of a risk as they are simply in automatic mode and usually have no awareness of what is around them. You only have to indicate to tell someone else where you are going.
There are some excellent cops in Salop. Thie was obviously a bad one. Simply no need, and as the letter writer states, it only makes you anti-police and less likely to come forward when they need the publics help.
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