The programme. While I’m on their side in general, they’re really not doing themselves proud. They’re complaining that people are swearing at them but their as bad mouthed and aggressive as the people they’re locking up. They complain they get no respect anymore, and I agree, but it’s partially because at least the ones I’m seeing here don’t deserve any. To have a moral high ground and authority/respect you have to act in a way that deserves it, not drag people about like cattle, wait for them to swear and then unleash a torrent of abuse back at them.

Sad state of affairs.

to control a load of pissheads in wakefield on a friday and saturday night, the most effective way is to drag em about like cattle……

ask barnsleymitch…….he will testify….. 😉

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iISyPz5XRyI[/video]

It does look like they escalate, rather than defuse situations.

“no-one’s got any respect for the police any more” – oh, I wonder why??

I can’t quite get my head around why the authorities thought that this programme was ever going to show the Police Forces in a positive way. How are they doing anything other than reinforcing the views in certain members of the public that the Police are the enemy?

Can’t watch this again.

Rachel

as someone who has been on the wrong side of the police in the past, i think they do a very good job with the diminishing power that they have.

to control a load of pissheads in wakefield on a friday and saturday night, the most effective way is to drag em about like cattle……

I admit I’ve no experience on the other side, but as a drunk person in a town once or twice I can guarantee you that if I got dragged about like cattle by the police I’d do everything I could to be difficult, whereas if asked nicely I’d move on, maybe after a few seconds because it would take me time to react. Though I realise I’m not exactly the sort of person they’re showing on there. I just think they’re not helping themselves at all showing such things. I’ve seen a few friends dragged off by totally over-reactive police making more of it than there was a need for, and this programme just reinforces the view.

Remember, you;re not seeing policing as it happens, you’re seeing policing that makes for “good tv”, i.e. the stuff that people will talk about

YAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRKSHIRE

Coffeeking “To have a moral high ground and authority/respect you have to act in a way that deserves it, not drag people about like cattle, wait for them to swear and then unleash a torrent of abuse back at them”

This programme showed one of the worst aspects of policing, and possibly the reason why many officers aspire to get off 24/7 policing and into CID or desk jobs. I’m interested in coffeeking’s opinion of how those officers attain a moral high ground when faced with a drunken aggressive individual who will have no qualms about assaulting that officer as he is not doing as he is instructed. I’d like to see such people with that opinion walk the streets from 6pm until 4am and face drunken random and unpredicatable violence and not act in that manner when you have to deal with them. They may be police officers but they are only human as well, they didn’t sign up to be punchbags for drunks. Admittedly having cameras around them would also attract the real idiots and nutters unfortunately. The moral of the program is simply, when told to be quiet and walk away by a police officer, do it. Don’t complain on the behalf of people you do not know because it looks a bit rough for your own comfortable world. These people do not live by your own values, so do not use your values to judge what happens to them.

Hmmmm, is it me or does there seem to be a good match between the plebs in the police, policing the plebs in the street?

Where do I find the type of officers I need to deal with? 😉

Hmmmm, is it me or does there seem to be a good match between the plebs in the police, policing the plebs in the street?

Your not wrong there. I had one at my house due to some criminal damage and he was really stupid as if the whole recruitment process had past him by.

if anything I think the program highlights just how difficult some aspects of modern policing can be. kids have no respect, even most adults think police officers don’t have authority over them when they do wrong, and when the said police officer tries to enforce his authourity, given to him by the law, they get even more abuse hurled at them and then get threatened with prosecution!

Give them a break. They do an excellent job for not a great deal of recompense considering other civil servant’s pay scales!

+1
I thought it portrayed the police force in a positive way.

i think there are some good and bad outcomes of the programme,

good things are that people are suposed to be seeing that they are real people who have a laugh and a joke at work and can take some aspects of the job like death or serious injury home with and it can affect them, it also shows that in weeks before that there a lot of people who waste the police officers time and potentialy prevent them from doing other work

But the good think are think that i think people with any sort of sense already know and can work out for themselves, the bad things show that the police seem to do what they want, if someone upsets the police officer personaly they seem to flip and go very very overboard on detaining them, for example the bloke that had blode coming from his nose, i saw the clip a couple time and there is no way that he spat blood at the officer, clearly the officer was just annoyed at the bloke and wanted to arrest him for something more that drunken disorderly. people like him give officers a bad name IMO

I think it showed the police in a good light, and just as regular individuals like the rest of us, they deserve respect as human beings as well as for the authority of the uniform.

Coffeeking, I suggest you carry on living in your bubble as it sounds like a nice place to be.
As a regular in Leeds I see the trash that is pissed up students, pissed up office workers on a Friday and pissed up stag hen do’s on Saturday.
The police are in an impossible situation as highlighted on the show, and the officers were very restrained, I think these idiots who dont do as the police ask should be treated far harsher than they do currently.

Didn’t see it but i can imagine. Being one of said police officers it does make me cringe when i see some of the behaviour of my colleagues on camera, but i think you must have had part of your brain removed in the first place to agree to be filmed working as a police officer. It does seem to attract the ones who like the sound of their own voice and to whom the uniform does seem to have gone to their head somewhat.
It is a shame because i did several jobs before joining the cops, and on the whole the people i work with now have more courage, dedication, empathy and common sense than anyone i worked with previously. I’ts just that when you deal with the worst possible sh*t that most people could imagine on a daily basis, you do get short tempered from time to time.

I think they’ve been carefully edited to make a point.

The traffic one was a good one, they spent the first half making them out to be clowning around eating KFC and Haribo while winding each other up and moaning about the public. But then they showed the fatal accidents they dealt with, and I think the point was that this is how they deal with it, they’re people, and at times they do a **** job.

In my experience there are some coppers who do escalate situations and like to abuse their power, and there are many who don’t. The problem is working out which is which.

In my experience there are pissed up dickheads who need a good kicking and dumping in a ditch. As used to be the case. I remember even when drunk and fighting in town, as soon as the police arrived you tried to stop and avoid a kicking from the police and you never answered them back.

I did not see the program but from the posts i assume it was about policing Wakefield on a night and dealing with the drunks.

I’m once spent a slack moment talking to a copper from Wakefield Woodsteet about this. He described how they would meet up in a local pub and organise a sweep stake based on how many arrests they would make, he described to me the tactics physical and verbal to ensure a drunk would kick off and justify an arrest.

Having been out on a night in Wakefield i can only assume that to win the sweep stake a copper would have to meet their allotted number (probably in the first two hours) then either hide for the rest of the night or start ignoring the mayhem around them.

i think they do a very good job with the diminishing power that they have.

By ‘diminishing power’, do you mean the way in which they increasingly have to be held accountable by the very laws they are employed to uphold?

as someone who did the job for 5 years, i’ll admit it was too tough for me. i’m happily taking more money home for an easier job now. if you want to whine about their behaviour i suggest you try the job yourself and gain some genuine insight as the what they do.

“diminishing power” I meant to pick that up! do you know what diminishing means? The police now have the power:-
to arrest for any offence not just arrestable offences,
to you search without cause (Subject to some preconditions,)
to stop you photographing them ,
they can’t demand your name but if you refuse to give it they will concoct a grounds to arrest you .
to on the spot issue exclusion orders compelling you to leave a certain area and not return for up to 24 hours .
to apply to have you turned out of your home.
to can obtain convictions based on hearsay ,anonymous witnes testimony and the mere fact that you have been naughty in the past,
to seize you assets and make you prove how you got them before they are returned..
if you are convicted to obtain bolt on asbos ,sex offender orders and serious crime prevention orders which can stop you doing all sorts of normal things.
The sanctions for officers abusing their powers or concealing their identities are rarely implemented. Police powers have never been greater or so widely misunderstood by the police themselves and the public.

Crankboy; I think what Ton meant was that the Fuzz can’t give you a kicking in the back of a Black Mariah, then claim you ‘fell down the stairs’, like in the Good Old Days™. 😀

If you think the standard of policing is bad now, wait a few years until the cuts properly kick and watch the carnage then.
The public gets the policing it pays for and often, with the self righteous, liberal attitudes that profligate society, the one they deserve.
So far we’ve had students rioting over cuts. Teachers are contemplating striking in my area and I suspect social workers,NHS staff,fire figthers and other branches of the civil service will follow. Who will then pick up the slack and ensure we maintain acceptable levels of emergency services.The police and the military because they are unable to take industrial action.
Its worth bearing this in mind when we sit there from the comfort of our armchairs tut tutting about perceived violations of personal freedom.
The behaviour depicted on these programs show, as a society, how far our values of common decency have fallen. Would you visit another country behave in that manner and expect to be treated differently to that shown on the program?

The public gets the policing it pays for and often, with the self righteous, liberal attitudes that profligate society, the one they deserve.

This like the rest of your post is utter tripe.

The traffic cops (episode 2) were complete dickheads.

Exactly as Langylad said! Being a copper I watched some of it last night (and previous ones) and cringed at some of their behaviour. So he arrests the drunken lad for section 5 (being abusive basically) then swears himself, that’s shocking! Some bits are good as already said it does show that police officers are only human. I used to love vomit patrol (not been in uniform for 4 odd years now) but Mr MC is about to go back to uniform (on promotion) after 5 years out of uniform and he is dreading dealing with those idiots on a Fri/Sat night that have ample opportunity to walk away asy ou don’t really watn to fill the cells up with drunk and disorderlys when you know in 4-5 hours there will be serious GBH’s but hey if they won’t go there are onlyl so many changes they have.

Crankboy there is a bit more to some of those powers you’ve listed, not as straight forward as half of that (not sure what you do?).

Love my job though and wouldn’t change it for the world but those night patrols can be very testing on the patience. I can’ tell you how many times I’ve been asked for my phone number, standard reply is 999 why would it be any different 😉

I did a little work in the main cell block in Edinburgh

Over a weekend 30+ fighting mad drunks would be brought in. Every weekend

I never saw the police be anything but professional in dealing with them

I think the police should use cattle prod.
😆

TandemJeremy – Member
<snip>
I never saw the police be anything but professional in dealing with them

That’s cos they were all wearing helmets! 🙂

HTH

I like Chew’s idea 😉

I was nabbed for a bit of fisty-cuffs at a footie away match many years ago. A week later four giant plods hoisted me off my feet after going through the turnstile at the Blues ground. I can still remember this giant black leather gloved hand around my throat as it was made clear I was to be a good boy that day. 😕
It did the trick.
Also recall a mate getting smacked in the mouth by a CID plod for mouthing off.
Seeing the stick those officers on Coppers were putting up with would make me think twice about doing the job. And I cant believe that **** who smacked the women copper got off with a caution. FFS!

but i think you must have had part of your brain removed in the first place to agree to be filmed working as a police officer.

I would tend to agree with that as you at at the mercy of the editing which will obviously be geared towards maximum ‘entertainment value’. Same goes for the ambulance service.

My thoughts were that one of the coppers would definitely benefit from some conflict resolution training as his attitude appeared designed to extract as much aggression from his ‘victims’ as possible. I have only come across one in my area like that who was obviously itching for a fight.

Most of the ones I meet behave in a quite exemplary manner considering the provocation and abuse they take all the time and are much better at defusing situations than those shown in Wakefield……or was that just because of selective editing?

The depressing bit is always the end, as taki has pointed out, where some complete arseholes get away with barely a slap on the wrist.

I would tend to agree with that as you at at the mercy of the editing which will obviously be geared towards maximum ‘entertainment value’.

This was a much more realistic-feeling documentary than the usual Police, Aggro, Action sort of shows though.

There was one officer who was a bit of a knob, but most seemed quite normal and balanced – if a bit excited about being on the telly.

Love this series if only for the phrase “Chatham pocket” – as someone who visited the town a lot in the ’90s when my ex lived there it made me laugh lots.

as already said it does show that police officers are only human.

This bit bothers me.

Police Officers are, by the nature of their position in society (i.e. the means by which the state enforces its monopoly on violence) necessarily required to act and behave in ways that are above being “only human”.

If the individuals employed as police officers are not able to see that they must at all times rise above being “only human” then either the standards of recruitment are too low, or institutionally the police assumes that it is not required to behave to a standard that is more than “only human”.