America has the Cops to handle it, or they just call in the National Guard.
Over here the police are understaffed, overworked and overstretched and our communities are becoming less safe.
Cops are in crisis and so are forces
With six forces in special measures, a stark Channel 4 Dispatches episode reveals how the service is deteriorating and how officers are at breaking point.www.polfed.org
Have people not noticed that there are simply not enough police officers actually policing the streets?
Nothing has changed since 1992, when I joined. Probably goes back longer than that.
One of the big issues is that there are senior officers, after the next rank, who are Hell bent on reinventing the wheel. It’s a cyclical thing. Someone comes in, says everything is crap, conducts a review, changes things for change’s sake, gets promoted, buggers off and leaves carnage in their wake.
Those on the ground constantly shout “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, but the senior officers never listen to those who have to make their changes work. Why would they? They’ve got the degree in something totally unrelated to policing or public service, have done the minimum length of time possible getting their hands dirty, but they still know best.
So the frontline try their hardest to make it work, but can’t, so the next senior officer comes in, reinvents the wheel again, and invariably after fifteen years we all end up back just where we started.
Glad I’m out of it.