I have found these views very interesting. I have worked within the UK police force for 21yrs now and boy have i seen some changes. I cannot comment on police forces out of the UK but Unfortunately the UK police forces around the country are stretched to beyond limits and there is no way now that the police can offer a good , fair service to the public anymore (MY opinion only) which they are employed to do.
What some people forget or is totally unaware of is that the police have laws and legislations written for them by the government and then the police have to uphold those written laws, if they could write their own laws there would be many many changes in order for the police to carry out their role of preservation and protection more efficently, many of these laws that are still valid today were written 300 yrs ago and they are not adequate to deal with the worlds changes but these are the laws that are written and so these are the laws that the police still have to go by.
Police officers are human and there is so much sympathy for the genuine cases but are sometimes unable to help due to the inadequaces in the law, over the past 10 yrs i have seen many officers leave the force where as when i joined you stayed in the force until you retired but with the dispondancy,stress and sheer frustration they are leaving to seek other employment.
Until you have worked within this enviroment, which i see some members have done no one and i mean no one has any idea just how difficult this job is simply because there is no power to deal with certain cirumstances .
I could write a epic here but will refrain from doing so, i could give examples that could reduce you to tears on how some people are not helped as we would like, this has to be one of the most,stressful, dangerous and sometimes unrewarding jobs there is now.
One more thing is that people say that police are more worried about catching speeders than criminals but the most common cause of death in the UK is with a vehicle and speed does kill, a motor vehicle has to be one of the most dangerous weapons in the wrong hands.
There are specialist units that ONLY deal with traffic offences and ones that deal with burglaries et etc so when you see an officer dealing with a speeder and not dealing with "real" crime then he /she is carrying out his/her role within the force this is their job within their force leaving other officers to deal with other crimes but if only you i could show you the devistation that leaves famillies torn apart by people behind the wheel who have been drinking,speeding or just sheer stupidism then you would hopefully understand.some of the time the job is rewarding but now its more common to see the worst in people and how bad human behaviour has been allowed to develop and there is very little that can be done to change it.

sorry folks i got onto my soap box again



Kind Regards
Jackie

xx

ps.....i am also one who is dispondant although my post appears to be sticking up for the police im just trying to make some people understand that its not always the fault of the officer on the street who the public come into contact who's at fault.xxx

In Holland they say that the police is your best friend. Well, I rather do not want to have that kind of friends most of the times...

Well, I can only repeat what I said on a separate post about the UK Police. I have known many socially and WITHOUT exception they have been extremely racist, frequently drink and drive, and exceed speed limits.

Nothing more to say on this matter

i rest my case , i am so sorry to hear that.
xx