Police asking the public to "spy" on each other

[Fareast 10]

Just think how many people are happy with the ' spy-on-your-neighbour ' idea ! Millions of U.K. citizen 's, I feel sure, are happy to spy on, and report somebody......anybody ! The police are happy as they think it makes their job easier. A lot of the general public feel happy because it seems as if something is being done.

 

However.......in the old East Germany, after the collapse of the Communist regime, they found that about one third of all citizens had been sending info. to the secret police. There were huge archives where all this trivia had been stored [ " My neighbour, Frau Bumpf, said, yesterday, that her cousin could buy real bananas in West Berlin. " ]. No-one had the time or the inclination to even check most of it, but, the bureaucrats must have really loved all that paper, their lovely modern offices, fat state pensions.......etc....

 

This is the trend in the U.K. today. Instead of the police focusing on serious criminals [ admittedly, a difficult, nasty job ], they tend to use the ' blanket ' approach. Which method is better ? Well, with all the money we spend on fighting crime-----and, considering the pathetic results, I would guess that focusing on serious crime would be far better and more effective ?

[Mr Prime 10]

"Instead of the police focusing on serious criminals [ admittedly, a difficult, nasty job ], they tend to use the ' blanket ' approach."

 

Cliches. Does it not occur to people that the Police do both? The CID, Special Branch etc focus on the top layer of criminals and the mass rank and file focus on the ordinary criminals including motoring offences. While a copper is talking to you about speeding in what is a 1 ton killing machine the elite Police are focusing on the elite criminals. Simple as that. How do you think the train robbers, Krays, Richardsons, Security Express, Brinksmat, Millenium Dome diamonds and the Adams Family got put away?

[SUZIFACE 10]

WEll something needs to be done, the drivng on our roads is appaling men and women, not knowing width of car, cant keep vehicle at steady speed, too busy on their phones, or distracted with kids, I agree, I have often wished there was a number to report the idiots too, keep death off the road, bloody walk

[chem1st 10]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1313337/Mobility-mayhem-The-300-000-invalid-carriages-Britains-roads-pavements.html

 

What about the Mobo racers?

 

No license, no insurance, no tax, no eyesight check, no checks to make sure they are competent of controlling the vehicle, are they capable of lifting up off of a innocent child they mow down at 4mph?

 

They are a menace, make them illegal, and the public should report them. 999 101 122, it is a national, local and EU emergency!

[Fareast 10]

Well, Mr. Prime, I guess that not only one method is used ! That almost goes without saying. What I really meant, of course, is that the emphasis is wrong-----I suppose I ought to have spelled it out. No doubt today 's police DO catch dangerous criminals and no doubt, the old East German Stasi DID catch the occasional ' Imperialist War-Monger and Spy '.....but, if, billions are wasted on pointless policing and non-productive methods of policing, then it is still wasting money.

With the ' clear-up ' rate for serious crimes being so low, I would have thought that ANY extra cash or human resource would do something to help matters. It IS difficult to decide on exactly what the ' balance ' should be, but, when one reads day after day, the sort of time spent on trivialities [ motoring & otherwise ], I feel sure the police budget could be spent much more wisely-----a lot of the police themselves do, too, incidentally !

[Xt500 10]

what an idea?Ring the police with petty crap which then takes up the time of that officer.it then takes up further officers to record and distribute letters at a further cost.At the end of it you have nothing but one word against another and thats going nowhere who says you havnt made it up because you didnt like the fact they had a better car than you?

A high percentage of drivers and probably many of the posters on this thread dont know the highway code or many laws themselfs so how could they be the judge of whats right or wrong?They cant so go and sit back on your window sills and get on with your sad lifes!

[Mr Prime 10]

Well, Mr. Prime, I guess that not only one method is used ! That almost goes without saying. What I really meant, of course, is that the emphasis is wrong-----I suppose I ought to have spelled it out. No doubt today 's police DO catch dangerous criminals and no doubt, the old East German Stasi DID catch the occasional ' Imperialist War-Monger and Spy '.....but, if, billions are wasted on pointless policing and non-productive methods of policing, then it is still wasting money.

With the ' clear-up ' rate for serious crimes being so low, I would have thought that ANY extra cash or human resource would do something to help matters. It IS difficult to decide on exactly what the ' balance ' should be, but, when one reads day after day, the sort of time spent on trivialities [ motoring & otherwise ], I feel sure the police budget could be spent much more wisely-----a lot of the police themselves do, too, incidentally !

 

A lot of this is based on value judgements as to what is serious crime. Most crime is probably committed on the roads because millions think that speeding and using mobiles is OK. They should be hounded and if it were up to me the penalties would be harsher.

 

Clear up rates on other crimes are no doubt low or lower due to the preparation and strong arming of organised criminals. Many of whom remain untouched because pathetics don't want to grass.

 

As for what is read, the police are a nice soft target for newspapers and anyone with a brain doesn't take seriously anything a tabloid says anyway.

Only criticism of police from proper newspapers is worth anything so that wipes away around 70% of it for a start.

[iansheff 86]

Well they will need all the help they can get when the jobs are cut.

[hard2miss 10]

Well they will need all the help they can get when the jobs are cut.

You know I think you have hit the nail on the head. With the cuts coming the first to go will be all those that have made a career out of sitting in a car and doing motorists. They are going to have to keep all the beat officers so they need the public to dob people in so that half the waiting around on there arses waiting for someone to drive past with a back light out isn't necessary.

 

With how things are going every officer in the force is going to have to go on riot training instead of the advanced driving courses.

[NorthernStar 11]

I think getting people to inform the police if they see someone doing something is stupid. Our neighbours will just complain about nothing like they already do.

 

Its amazing what a few emotively written words in the 'Daily Mail' can achieve though isn't it.

[bigwind 10]

nice to see so many people willing to dob some one in for something relatively trivial, i wonder if these same 'informants ' would be as quick to write in if their letters were not kept annonymous , and how many of them are just as guilty as those that they write to the police about ,

and why is it that with so many wanna be detectives theres so much crime that goe's unreported, like starving a child to death, beating up an elderly person etc etc etc all too often the police can't find witnesse's to incidents such as these but woe betide the motorist that perpertraits a misdemeanour behind the wheel of his motor and every busy body with in 5 miles of him wants to grass him up

 

as the good book says 'let he who is with out sin cast the first stone'

[catlover1 10]

I think it's in your interests to shop bad drivers or people driving in an odd way.

I've called 999 on several occasions to report drivers I thought were drunk at the wheel. I know at least one was stopped and arrested.

On one occasion I saw a bloke leaving Barnsley at about 6pm. His car was on the road to the M1 but weaving wildly. Of course I used my hands free kit but immediately called the boys in blue. The old Merc turned to the McD's at 36 but then headed towards Chapeltown and 36A. He was weaving from the shoulder to lane two almost causing several accidents so I used my van, hazzard warning lights and beacons to warn other traffic and help the police spot us, He ended up on the M1 as far as Meadowhall where the police finally stopped him.

It turns out the bloke was entering a diabetic coma so, if I hadn't called the police, better than average chance he would have been in serious trouble.[/quote

 

 

Good for you , the police can't be expected to be everywhere all of the time and us sensible motorists have to look out for each other in Sheffield . Just as an aside , did you know that Sheffield has recently moved up to 11th place in "set up" crash scenes , so the more drivers who "dob up" suspicious car accidents the better unless we all want to see our car insurance premiums increasing ! My recommendations would be : take lots of photos of any car crash , call the police and , if you are at all suspicious of the circumstances of your crash , inform the insurance Fraud Bureau about your accident . Just another thought .... if you are driving behind an "old banger" which may not have much to claim in a crash , keep your distance , brake to alert the driver behind , note whether brake lights are working and call the police to the scene if there is a crash and insist that they check the braking driver's brake lights at the scene to cover yourself - just think that if , say , a motor cyclist runs into the back of your car and is killed , the old banger in front will probably drive off into the sunset very quickly and you may be charged with manslaughter , thro' no fault of your own !!!