You're nicked has a splendid post on the abuse of the 999 service here. The taped calls are all too familiar to me, having spent 6 years in our Control Room, and I can speak from experience when I say there was many a time I wondered (and worried) about the gene pool! The call regarding the hedgehog is a classic!Can I ask that if you want to call the Police this festive season, think first and then decide;
- Is it an emergency? Is someone's health, life or property at immediate risk?
- Is it worth calling the Police about at this time of year? e.g if you've had a bauble nicked off your fir tree in the garden overnight, what do you expect the Polis to do? (Yes we did get that one recently).
- What can you do YOURSELF to remedy the situation?
- Is it the Police that you need to solve your problem?
- If you go to bed and sleep off the drink will that stop the problem?
I can understand your frustration when someone calls you out over an argument with their spouses.etc.
ReplyDeleteBut when you ask:
"what can you do yourself to remedy the situation?"
Well,how I understand the law, if you do YOU are then in trouble!
Annette,
ReplyDeleteI take your point about vigilantism, but the comment was aimed more at those who call the Polis about trivial non-police related matters they CAN remedy or those where public spiritedness is still desired or acceptable. I would not encourage mops to tread where there is any real likelihood of personal danger or counter complaint, but the public do have greater powers to detain and make civil arrests than they often realise, as long as reasonable force only is used to accomplish this and up here in Scotland mops cannot make an arrest for a breach of the peace, but they can for virtually anything else. It is really a case of social responsibility against perceived risk to health and possible injury given that the Polis are better EQUIPPED to make arrests of potentially or actually violent individuals. I know that there are those that say it is inadvisable to 'lay hands' on kids for instance, but if the use of force is reasonable and you have corroboration, why shouldn't you hold on to them till Mr Plod comes along, given that he can get there in a reasonable time frame! You might also think of calling their parents (given they are available/interested enough!)to come and discuss the matter with you - it used to be dealt with that way!
In other words, do you walk by and ignore and let us, as a society lose the plot collectively or do you do what we have traditionally done and react proactively to those
who aim to spoil the world we live in.
It is an increasingly difficult choice, but are we going to let the ne'er do wells have the upper hand?
As to arguments with spouses, other than the usual tete a tetes one expects between 'normal' couples, I don't have too much of a problem attending domestics, given that all genuine research and experience shows that these sort of incidents are occasioned by 1) The drunk inadequates who 'phone the polis at the drop of a hat and they are easily recognised and suitably chastised and 2) Those who are genuinely petrified and have at last plucked up the courage to tell someone about the matter. Their call will be dealt with appropriately given we realise there will have been some considerable 'history' of domestic abuse before the 'victim' can manage to call the Polis.
Noddy