What are your personal experiences of the police?

[Small Man Big Horse]

Given that there's much discussion about the police in the riot threads at the moment (and I know, just typing that out is horribly bleak), I was wondering what folks personal experiences of the police were like. I've been really lucky in that I've never had anything nasty happen to me, so have never been involved in a negative situation with them, though I have known several policemen.

The first was my Mum's lodger, he was a nice enough bloke, friendly and amiable in general, but unfortunately an alcoholic. Of the full on variety, I'd often, say, take the cereal out of the cupboard only to find a half empty bottle of scotch behind it, and these were dotted all over the house. The force did their best to help him out (though demoting him to being a traffic cop seemed an odd decision given his problem) but in the end kicked him due to his drinking. He moved out then, and I heard his life has all but fallen apart since, rather sadly.

The second was my neighbour in the house I currently live in, who seemed to be a genuinely good person, but also quite lonely despite being married. He'd often hear me coming home and invite me in to have a drink with him, and would rarely take no for an answer. He too had a drinking problem, as well as a gambling problem, and would often tell me all his woes. And he didn't seem to like his wife much, either, though he did confess once that she was at least "good pussy". Yeah. I know. To be honest, I think most of his problems dated back to when he lived in Iraq though and was in the security services, he once told me he'd been made to do "Terrible, terrible things" but wouldn't go in to further detail when pressed.

The third is a guy I've known since school, and he's a twat to be honest. He originally went in to the fire service but was "asked to leave" after he managed to flip over a fire engine when driving too fast one night. Somehow he got in to the police, but now he just brags about the fact that the ladies "love a man in uniform" and how he loves working Friday and Saturday night as he gets to legally kick some arse. A lot of it is bullshit in my opinion, especially given that he works in a quiet Surrey town, but whenever I bump in to him whilst visiting my parent I'm subjected to such nonsense.

Still, one out of three isn't too bad I guess, and at least the first two were decent enough people, despite their issues...

[hpmons]

All police people I've encounter have been very nice indeed.  Lovely in fact.

[I accept the terms of the]

In my experience the ones on the street are as dumb as shit.

When I was a teenager (I'm talking 15 years old here) my stepfather used to start fights with me, and then call the police (because he could; it was mental torture for me which pleased him and unfortunately my mother was usually complicit because she was scared of being old and alone). My point isn't that my parents were cunts, but that I got arrested ten times[nb]And the outcome was "not guilty, no sentence" every time. Eventually he was given a stern talking to and told to stop being a hateful old tit.[/nb] and have experienced lots of police.

They didn't know how to charge, for one thing. Aggravated assault was always corrected to common assault[nb]When I say corrected I mean brought in line with the complaint made.[/nb], battery or affray by somebody in the station who had a clue, or the charges were dropped completely. The 20-something officers would taunt me and purposely be rough with me, and were verbally abusive true school-bully style in the car, feeling confident that a grown-up's accusations must be true and that the nerdy, slightly-built kid in the back of his car is a villain that must be put to rights.

This actual excerpt from my police record that I have in front of me (for immigration purposes; thanks for permanently screwing up my life you petty twat) pretty much sums it up. The spelling and grammar are bad enough, but the personal judgement really just takes the cake.

"HIT IN THE ARMS BECUASE HE DID NOT LIKE THE LENGTH OF HIS NEW TRUSERS. THIS IS A RESULT OF MENTAL ILLNESS HE THINKS HE HAS NOT GOT BUT HAS!"

I wish I was making this up.

[rudi]

I fully support the oplice as an organisation, but virtually every one I've met in the flash (and by crikey that's a fair amount) has been a sarcastic supercillious arse with a chip on their shoulder. Shame really.

[The Tourist]

We were broken into once when I was a kid (on Christmas Eve, no less, which was fairly traumatic), and the police were fine with us, if not particularly effective.

One of our neighbours is a copper (quite a high-up one too, I'm led to believe) and generally sorts out any shit going down outside, which is quite handy. Once a lad chased his son home, after some sort of road rage thing, and Supercop ran outside barefoot, wrestled the lad to the ground, and gave him a bollocking. Said lad then apologised profusely. That was pretty cool, I suppose.

At football matches it's a bit of a different atmosphere. Never been in trouble myself, but there's sometimes a bit of a "we're watching you, you potential hooligan bastards" vibe. I appreciate the police have a difficult job to do in those circumstances, but I could do without the video surveillance and corralling by horse just because I want to watch some sport.

[biggytitbo]

[confettiinmyhair]

Working with them has certainly made me respect them a lot more. Even the PCSO's, who I initially thought were completely useless.

'The Tourist' mentioned surveillance, but everyone shouldn't be concerned about that considering you are being watched on every city street by the councils CCTV control centres, and watched in every Retail Location by the store's camera operators. In fact most buildings are covered by CCTV. Big Brother has been watching you for decades.

[Famous Mortimer]

There's an old, old thread detailing my run-in with the police at an anti-BNP demo. I was arrested, and the statement given by the arresting officer was a tissue of lies. At this moment I relaxed, as I knew so many people were filming and taking photographs of the demo that at least one of them would have footage which would completely absolve me. I had a proper solicitor of a similar mind about the BNP rather than whatever duty solicitor they might have had (there's the best tip, potential demo-attendees). Anyway, I was questioned and "no comment"ed the entire interview (which is more difficult than it sounds), and about a month later got a letter saying they weren't going to take it any further due to lack of evidence.

I think they'd be a lot better regarded if they didn't act like bastards. I know, there's probably lots of lovely people work as police officers, but to lots and lots of people who've come into contact with them as anything other than victims of crime, they've blotted their copybook on thousands of occasions. I linked to the Guardian story about deaths in police custody in the other thread – deaths for which no police officer has ever been so much as disciplined about.

[Artemis]

I've only ever known a couple of coppers in my time, and both have seemed nice, although I only knew them outside of their profession and even then not that well. So I don't really know any police that well. Coupled with that, I've gone on several protest marches and mixed with people that have decided, mistakenly in my view, that the police are the enemy and should be challenged at any given opportunity. That has coloured my view of the police slightly since the way I've seen many of them react, and act, towards protesters has been pretty dismal.

Then earlier this year, a friend of mine thought she had been raped. We called the police, and were met with an entourage of about four uniformed officers and two or three detectives/support officers. My friend and I (as support) were then taken through the counselling and victim support procedure, and through all this interaction with the police, my opinion of them has changed immeasurably.

It was interesting noticing the differences between uniformed and plain clothes/higher-up officers. The police won't let you work for them unless you agree to do two years on the street with a uniform on, according to the ones I spoke with. That process seems to have a detrimental effect on them, and the uniforms I spoke with very casually referred to the people he has to deal with regularly as the "scum of the earth", which I felt was neither accurate nor appropriate to say. A similar attitude came from more or less every person in uniform I spoke with, one of them admitting that her love for policework had all but vanished as a result of her experiences in uniform. I got the impression that most police people enter with the best of intentions and motivations but that some of them are so affected by the job and the people they encounter that they either lose the will for the job or turn nasty.

The support people, and detectives, were absolutely wonderful. I can't fault them, from the empathy and compassion shown, to their professionalism and integrity. If there was a way into the police force without havign to go through that two year grind, as a result of my interaction with the support/detective end of things, I would seriously consider it.

One of the uniformed officers had been assigned to shadow the support staff and on the drive home from the testing clinic my friend and I visited, she and her colleague had a very open and frank talk about all of this, and I got the impression that there were a great many police who felt unable to help people and keep the peace in a way that contributes to society because they spend all their time running around after the same idiots intent on causing nuisance. I felt for her, to be honest. She said her time spent shadowing had inspired her in the same way she felt when she first wanted to join the force.

So that's been my sole experience really, for what it's worth.

[CaledonianGonzo]

My cousin's other-half is a copper and an amusingly principled left-wing one at that [nb]He threw his coffee mug at one of his colleagues who'd announced that they were going to vote BNP[/nb].  He's fantastically well-educated and a voracious reader of history books and political biographies so is rarely out of his depth no matter which way the conversation turns and enjoys nothing more than drinking real ale and spending the night debating current affairs.

In fact, we've been talking about collaborating on Viz-style comic strip called 'PC PC' - it'll write itself once he gets drunk and embarks on a lengthy defence of Marxism or the NHS or how the UKUncut protesters were demonstrating ineffectually.

[ThickAndCreamy]

The majority of my experiences with the police are positive. From police catching me drinking at sixteen, clearly knowing to the fact me and my friends were underage, and just telling to us to 'be careful', to taking evidence from me for an assault case and then pressing charges.

The only main bad experience I've had were at the student protests last year, where they kettled us for hours, refusing us toilets, food, water etc. It was fucking cold.

[biggytitbo]

I got punched in the face a few years back and rung the police, only to be told they were very busy and couldn't come round until the middle of the week. When someone did finally turn up it was a 25 year old girl who didn't appear to have the first clue what she was ding, was rude and unhelpful and basically told me not to bother taking it any further. I know they have bigger fish to fry but it wasn't a very satisfactory process.

At least she wasn't a mason though.

[katzenjammer]

I think I've posted this before but anyway.... Around 15 years ago I was temping in a payroll department.  One of the senior payroll clerks was a special constable.  He was a particularly nasty piece of work.  He liked to throw his weight around (the tiny amount of power that he had), constantly picking on us temps who were at turns bored and annoyed by him.  He also made openly racist and particularly unpleasant homophobic remarks.  At lunchtimes he would sometimes check his colleagues' cars in the car park to see if their tax disks had expired.  He used to read weapons catalogues detailing the best way to disable people with truncheons and the like. 

One day when he wasn't at work we checked his browser history and found that he spent a large amount of his working day posting in a gay chatroom.  When he was back at work we created an alias for the chatroom and from the messages he was leaving it was pretty obvious he was in the closet but well up for a bit of cottaging.  A couple of months later he was sacked for gross misconduct, at which point he joined the police proper.

[turnstyle]

I'd like to hear from the chap who glassed someone at a wedding.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

I think they'd be a lot better regarded if they didn't act like bastards. I know, there's probably lots of lovely people work as police officers, but to lots and lots of people who've come into contact with them as anything other than victims of crime, they've blotted their copybook on thousands of occasions. I linked to the Guardian story about deaths in police custody in the other thread – deaths for which no police officer has ever been so much as disciplined about.

Aren't the police just as representative and reflective of the society as any other institution.  I think we get the police we deserve, and if the police are bastards, it's because the people they deal with (most of the time) are bastards.

It would be nice to think that murderers, rapists and robbers could be dealt with by the nice, upstanding British bobby; it's more likely that you need to be a cunt to catch a cunt.

[biggytitbo]

It would be nice to think that murderers, rapists and robbers could be dealt with by the nice, upstanding British bobby; it's more likely that you need to be a cunt to catch a cunt.

A maverick cunt who doesn't play by the rules?

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

Yep, one who will do whatever's necessary in the name of justice.  Including being an almighty uber-cunt.  And if those pen-pushers down at City Hall don't like it, they can just swivel!

[Viero_Berlotti]

I got mugged and beaten up about 10-15 years ago. After waiting over 24 hours for a Policeman to come round to my house and take a statement I was told there wasn't much they could do about it and I should maybe stop wearing glasses as they were probably making me a 'target'. I was absolutely gob smacked at this attitude and just asked him to leave my house.

[Groodle]

A couple times for pot possession after they noticed me smoking in public, I got a caution and nothing more came of it. They were quite pleasant and understanding and basically either told me to smoke at home or that it was unhealthy. A couple of drunken incidences too, one time they helpfully gave me a ride home after they found me slumped over at a public bench. A couple of times police were dicks, searching me and recording my details for simply hanging around the wrong people, not much else to complain about.

My brother, however, claims he once passed out drunk at a beach and police drove him around for a bit and took all his money before letting him out.

The most amusing encounter I've had was when an off-duty member of the federal police was confiscating people's beer at the beach despite being extremely drunk herself. When she asked me about my beer I told her truthfully that it was my birthday and she left me alone, merely advising me to be careful. Soon after that she lost her police ID and started questioning my brother and I, thinking we had somehow stolen it when I'd asked her to show it to me (her behaviour made me doubtful he was a police officer). She asked us to empty out our pockets, and when I asked if she had reasonable suspicion she said she didn't, but I  untimately complied simply to put her drunken mind at rest and she wandered off into the night.

[I accept the terms of the]

A couple times for pot possession after they noticed me smoking in public, I got a caution and nothing more came of it.

An official caution at the station or an informal one?

An official caution is actually a kind of conviction and requires that you admit guilt. You should never view it as being let off the hook, because it gives you a criminal record for drug offenses. If he cautioned you it means you can probably never legally go to the US, for example (even if you applied for a visitor visa you would probably be denied). And I mean ever; the rehabilitation act doesn't apply over there.

This isn't a power we should be granting to boneheads.[nb]They're not all boneheads of course. But some of them are, and they have this power.[/nb] All criminal convictions should go through the court system, I'm often amazed at how people aren't more outraged about this.

[Viero_Berlotti]

If he cautioned you it means you can probably never legally go to the US, for example (even if you applied for a visitor visa you would probably be denied). And I mean ever; the rehabilitation act doesn't apply over there.

A friend of mine got officially cautioned for possession last year, and this year he was able to get a visa and went  and got married in Vegas. So either cautions don't count, or they didn't check his record properly.

[I accept the terms of the]

It sounds like he had a K-1 visa ("fiancee visa") and was able to get a waiver of ineligibility, or was lucky enough for this to apply:

"A controlled substance violation according to the laws and regulations of any country (unless it relates to a single offense of simple possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana)".

I'm not sure how/if that applies to non-immigrant visa types to be honest. My point still stands about it being a dangerous power for police to have, I think.

[Pepotamo1985]

I should maybe stop wearing glasses as they were probably making me a 'target'.

If you insist on living in Cambodia...

When I was an emaciated young tearaway (all of three weeks ago - WAH WAH) I had an ingrained mental image of all police as morally bankrupt, evil, racist, insecure Nazi school bully victims who joined the force to exact their petty vengeance on civilization. Hence, it's been exceptionally pleasing to see my youthful prejudices evaporate in recent years with first-hand evidence of most police officers actually being really decent people. Not sure I'll bore you all with anecdotes of abject positivity (this is CaB after all), but there have been plenty of instances in the past few years when I've been struck by how human the cops are/are capable of being, and how most of them don't let the uniform go to their heads.

This said, I will always, always, always HATE the City of London Police in a totally unadulterated manner for a number of reasons. The City of London in general is a particularly mephitic rotten borough for obvious reasons, but I think it's also a pretty perfect microcosmic exhibition of what New Labour would've had the whole of Britain be like if they had their way. We're talking wall to wall CCTV (covering literally every inch of the place), MASSIVE police presence at every level (they outnumber the entire Metropolitan Police Force despite policing a single square mile of London), PCSOs stalking every hour of the day and night, police officers hiding behind corners in order to catch cyclists going through red lights, and most areas automatically covered by the Terrorism Act. If it were up to me, I'd never ever ever go there, but as I live about five minutes away and it's a convenient cut through to several places, it kinda has to be done on occasion. They don't like anyone who's not wearing a suit and/or under the age of 30 being there at any time, and they especially don't like ANYONE of any description being in the main financial stretches during the weekend.

Anyway, my only personal dealing with them ran thus;

I was cycling through Farringdon one Sunday, when I went through a yellow traffic light, and immediately heard sirens. I pulled over like a good citizen to let them pass, but the van pulled up beside me and four coppers jumped out and raced towards me bellowing "get off the bike". I didn't, and was pretty much tackled off it, and was then told I'd committed a traffic violation and was going to be searched. When I refused the search, they immediately changed tack and said they'd had reports of someone "exactly matching my description" trying to break into parking meters. They declined my request to hear this report over the radio (illegal - I'm fairly certain), asked what they were going to find in my shoulder bag and immediately started frisking me. They found my video camera (media studies was one of my courses at college, because I'm a cock) and started interrogating me aggressively about what was on it and saying they were going to look at the footage. I then spent the best part of an hour arguing over the legality of them looking through my footage, and the legality of the search - at one point an officer started surreptitiously (I.E. as incongruous as THAT wrist watch in Ben Hur) looking through my text messages (also illegal) and had to be asked FIVE times to stop. I eventually said "I understand that it's a dull Sunday, but can I go? I'm getting bored of this". SERIOUS. FUCKING. ERROR.

I was immediately slapped in a full nelson by a copper and then aggressively cuffed (I still had bruises on my wrists a month later), bundled into the back of the van and jeered at for the duration of the trip to the cop shop, THEN held in a cell for five hours, then released with NFA (but not before nearly getting arrested again for refusing to take a £30 public disorder fine - which was written out by the officer who'd done the cuffing, and had a massive grin on his face during).

My family solicitor got hold of the custody report, which claimed I'd tried to cycle off and evade capture, been evasive about why I had the camera and sworn at them several times. CUNTS.

Anyway, I find stuff like this;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYIqGplXMFs

totally glorious.

[Groodle]

An official caution at the station or an informal one?

An official caution is actually a kind of conviction and requires that you admit guilt. You should never view it as being let off the hook, because it gives you a criminal record for drug offenses. If he cautioned you it means you can probably never legally go to the US, for example (even if you applied for a visitor visa you would probably be denied). And I mean ever; the rehabilitation act doesn't apply over there.

Once was an informal warning. The second time was an official caution (no trip to the station) that applies to persons in New South Wale found to be in possesion of less than 15 grams, you can read about it here.

As I'm planning a trip to the United States later in the year I certainly hope my criminal activities won't count against me!

[Artemis]

I find stuff like this;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYIqGplXMFs

totally glorious.

I did too when I first discovered videos of that nature (that wasn't a dig, by the way, I'm just saying) but then I watched more and more of them and grew increasingly annoyed by the people making them. I still love them when a police officer is creating trouble for no reason and is challenged on it, but the guys who just go up to any member of the police and start by asking "are we in common law jurisdiction?" then attempt to ridicule the police officer by acting like a smart arse and wasting their time can fuck off, frankly.

For example, I find this lovable lunatic quite endearing, and enjoy his videos, like this one (even though it doesn't end too well): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaGJE4g54Ig

But I don't have much time for cunts like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spfAV7YfCrA

[I accept the terms of the]

Once was an informal warning. The second time was an official caution (no trip to the station) that applies to persons in New South Wale found to be in possesion of less than 15 grams, you can read about it here.

As I'm planning a trip to the United States later in the year I certainly hope my criminal activities won't count against me!

You need a visa at least (to travel legally and without risk). Just having been arrested for a drug offense puts you in that position. Travelling without a visa you will be asked this question (before you even travel, on the ESTA application):

"Have you ever been arrested or convicted for an offense or crime involving moral turpitude or a violation related to a controlled substance;"

The truthful answer is yes, which disqualifies you for visa-less travel.

So you have to apply for a B-2 visa. If this isn't denied because they suspect you of immigrant intent (it almost always is) then it will be denied for your drug caution. You would then need to apply for a waiver of inadmissibility[nb]and these usually require hiring an immigration lawyer for £2000+ to be successful)[/nb] which will probably not be granted in time for your trip, if at all. (I think your chances are good, there's a clause about 30g possession). You might not even qualify to apply for it. The good news about B-2 visas is that they are usually valid for ten years.

If you lie on the form that asks you about the conviction you will probably get away with it. If they catch you, it's a ban, usually accompanied by the word "lifetime".

So shake that officer by the hand for not explaining the consequences of the caution to you as required by law. I'm really sorry to have to break this news to you, but this really is how fucked up it all is.

Oh, it's an Australian caution. The above still applies according to my quick research, because you still have to admit guilt in Aus to get one.

[Viero_Berlotti]

It sounds like he had a K2 visa ("fiancee visa") and was able to get a waiver of ineligibility, or was lucky enough for this to apply:

I think it was just a standard visa, because the person he married wasn't a US citizen which I believe the K2 applies for.

I'm seeing him this weekend actually so I'll ask him how he got away with it.

[I accept the terms of the]

Sounds like he got the only lenient interviewer in the London US Embassy! Good omens for Groodle though.

[Pepotamo1985]

I did too when I first discovered videos of that nature (that wasn't a dig, by the way, I'm just saying)

Hmmm...

but then I watched more and more of them and grew increasingly annoyed by the people making them.

Oh, without question! There are many which are totally out of order and consist of people actively trying to antagonise the police without justification or provocation in order to catch either the police looking stupid or getting aggressive on film - it's the videos of police acting unscrupulously/illegally or harassing innocent people and subsequently getting shown up that I enjoy.

[Frank Skinner]

Given that there's much discussion about the police in the riot threads at the moment (and I know, just typing that out is horribly bleak), I was wondering what folks personal experiences of the police were like.

This, then, was my first sexual experience - upside down with a woman forty years my senior, and me close to tears because my tea-towel had fallen off.