Speaking up for our Police

Totally agree! Who would want to be a police officer these days. They do an amazing job having to deal with some of these total thugs!

Too many of these cold-blooded killings have happened in this country without questions first. Police need re-training in firearms. I know an armed response officer and he asks questions first and is far from " trigger happy ".
We're not the USA.

Well done your Grandson V3ra, no wonder you are proud of him, he's certainly a credit to you and your family ???.
Annie, my cousins husband was at Hendon in the late 1970's, (and I certainly agree with Police Colleges,) but they emigrated to Australia and he made his career in the Police Force in Melbourne.
I've never experienced anything but courtesy and helpfulness from any dealings with the Police, whether local or in a city,but then of course I am white, middle class (??) and very late middle age (not always!) so what would I know ?!

I can't imagine that anyone would want to be a firearms officer! any misjudgment you're on a murder charge,leave it a second too late and you're probably dead! Who on earth would want to tread that fine line?

V3ra
Well done to your Son for his persistence - wishing him well when he is a fully fledged Officer. We need people like him. ? whether they be men or women.
You must have a “calling” to do such a very difficult job. I’d be very proud of him too ?

Any misjudgment you're on a murder charge, leave it a second too late and you're probably dead

Ain't that the truth. Literally Russian roulette.

To address the OP of course the police do a great job on the whole but that doesn't mean that they are above criticism or do not need regulation. I've known quite a few policemen over the years, some very high up, some first response and some now in training. Possibly the one who was the strictest and most critical was the highest ranking, who recognised that policing exposed people to temptations and actions others never experienced, but that those who succombed to the temptations needed to be weeded out and discplined in order that the rest of the force was held in the highest respect. His principles always impressed me. If all officers were of his calibre it would be fine but unfortunately some aren't and they need to be dealt with, just as other people who fail in their profession are dealt with.

Thank you.Thank you Sparkling for this thread. High time we supported the police,the vast majority of whom are decent people doing the toughest of jobs.And Vera our SIL has had a very similar experience in perusing his dream to be a serving officer.He tried for several years to become a special and after rejections wrote to the Chief commissioner for his area and finally became one.Did 5 years unpaid ,out at all hours alongside his full time job and is now a qualified officer taking a big pay drop from his previous much safer job.We too are very proud of him.He genuinely wants to make a difference.
What has infuriated me recently is the way people film the met when politely asking people to disperse and move on during Covid and are downright disrespectful and post it on social media - thinking of that oh so clever woman in the park in London.Or filming them being attacked. SIL has it where he works.Ok it's not a secret he is a police officer,but he lives fairly local to the area he works . I do worry for our DD and his security at home tbh the way things are going.
And yes there are the odd rogue officers bringing the service into disrepute.But cheers to the good ones.I wonder what the families of the dead and injured officers must feel recently.That poor young widow whose husband was dragged behind that car last year has been on my mind.They never know what they are walking into.

With the way certain sections of the public are behaving towards the police they will eventually get a quasi-military style of policing like so many countries have.

They will then have something to moan about and will look back to the 'good old days of policing.'

When you are married to a police officer you can never be sure when he goes on duty if you will ever see him again.
That is the reality!!!
It's a double whammy when you're both police officers as we were.

No one's mentioned the 2 officers who were supposed to be guarding a crime scene (2 black women found stabbed in a park) whilst waiting for the SCOs to arrive. What did they do? photo the bodies and put them on line. They should have been sacked immediately but they've been suspended on bail.

So nice to read that the majority of people do support the police, apart from a couple that nothing would please. In every walk of life you get the odd bad apple and they are dealt with. This is one country where if you were in trouble you would call the police, I wish they knew how much they are appreciated, it must seem as if they are hitting a brick wall at the moment with some of the yobs out there.

No one's mentioned those 2 police officers Dinahmo??? There's a whole thread dedicated to that very subject!

I think that this thread may have been started as balance to thank all the decent, caring police officers in the country, Dinahmo.
It would be a pity to let this thread be taken over by the justifiable revulsion we all must feel about those two who are not fit to be police officers.

Does a country where police are armed have a lower crime rate than one that isn't ?

Chewbacca

No one's mentioned those 2 police officers Dinahmo??? There's a whole thread dedicated to that very subject!

You're right - I hadn't read that thread when i posted the above.

wicklowwinnie

With the way certain sections of the public are behaving towards the police they will eventually get a quasi-military style of policing like so many countries have.

They will then have something to moan about and will look back to the 'good old days of policing.'

When you are married to a police officer you can never be sure when he goes on duty if you will ever see him again.
That is the reality!!!
It's a double whammy when you're both police officers as we were.

That’s a really good point Wicklow mainly our police rely on compliance from the public, but it’s possible that will change if things carry on or get worse.As you say, then people really will have a lot to moan about.

We've had quasi-military style policing for years anyway when it suited the government.Watch any footage from the miner's strike to see how it's done. Or Google The Battle of Orgreave.

I agree with Lemongrove there are good and bad in all groups of workers. The Police have to tread a difficult line between pleasing their political masters and protecting the public. We have reason to be grateful to and proud of all the brave and caring police officers out there on the front line.

We've had quasi-military style policing for years anyway when it suited the government

Tin foil hat anyone?

Let's not forget Hillsborough where the police didn't have the highest standards and where it seemed the higher ranking the officer the more he was prepared to conceal the truth.

And for some the fight for truth and justice continues
otjc.org.uk/about/

Lesley Boton one of the Women against Pit closures needed more than a tin foil hat Chewbacca

Sorry that should be Bolton

We lost a friend, a police officer, who was badly beaten trying to protect someone else. He had a four year old son.

A young female police officer we knew was used like a battering ram while trying to arrest a burglar. He was a huge man and picked her up and banged her head into a wall several times before another officer arrived. She spent 3 months in hospital.

These men and women put their lives on the line trying to keep law and order.

I live just a couple of miles from where WPC Nicola Hughes and WPC Fiona Bone were shot dead by Dale Creggan. They had no inkling, when they attended an ordinary burglary call out, that he was armed with a gun and grenades. Just 2 police officers, doing their duty. Both dead.