Thank you William Wordsworth.

Dannyh in naivety shocker.

Its been a long time since the police were protecting property and people, more like handing out the necessary crime incident numbers for compensation and insurance claims - Solving crimes has largely been outsourced to specialist support and unless its an 'easy solve' the police in my experience aren't interested in the crime and more about 'improving the client experience' and a load of other 'Business guff'.

Chances are reporting a crime these days won't even result in a police officer doing anything other than serving as a glorified administrator.

Successive governments have utterly f**ked the police as being anything more than an expensive beaurcracy and system of maintaining social order.

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
[Link]

I think there is definitely a case to be made for having a police force that more or less is representative of the population, as an ideal.

People just don't want to be police officers anymore for the same reason people don't want to go into teaching. The rewards are s**t, the hours long and the pay middling a best and you'll increasingly become an administrator and crowd controller rather than law enforcement officer. Pension - shat on, retirement age shat on, overtime shat on, salary non-competitive, plus you also have to pay for your own training and do a spell as a free PCO.

Used to be that like the Armed Services, it was a decent career for a school leaver, plenty of opportunity and training, with good prospects in terms of retirement, pension etc.

It doesn't appeal to people who are white anymore, given the assorted 'negative' experiences of ethnic minorities, esp kids parents, with the police, they're even less likely to consider signing up.

Things are so bad that Police officers leave to join the IPCC.

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
[Link]

Personally, I have no respect for any Police Officer who is not white, male, with a moustache and is slightly psychopathic.

They fall into two categories - the beat Bobby who has remained on the beat because he has duffed up a few rapists or nonces and taken justice into his own hands or the detective who frequently walks into a shop, turns the open sign to closed, duffs up the shop owner and helps himself to the takings in the till.

Women police officers are to be confined to the station, where they do the admin, make tea and are subjected to sexual harassment.

This is the way Policing should manned. Teresa May's plans are a politically correct attempt at social engineering for the sake of it.

"That was fun and to round off the day, I am off to steal a charity collection box and then desecrate a place of worship.” - Smokey, The Selhurst Arms, 26/02/02

The Sounda da Police

I fecking hate Sting.

It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark... and we're wearing sunglasses.

Or Haringey council as a whole. Bernie Grant was imo one of the most influential people in the country during his tenure as the council leader, and is responsible for a lot of this politically correct bollox we have to put up with now.