well i can't deny i have a very jaundiced view of our vaunted constabulary.

without going into details, they framed me. not just some beat copper i'd had a run in with, but a Detective Chief Inspector, head of our local CID. personal grudge. and all his guys backed him up. so you see why I don't think they can be trusted. if you're a good boy and kowtow and kiss their asses, they're fine with you. show some independence of mind and they're on you like a ton of bricks. I've had the living daylights beaten out of me in police stations in the past - simply for speaking my mind. they're violent and corrupt people. how can i not view them the way i do? as criminals in uniform. they've never helped me, never. all the tax I've paid over the years and they've never been there for me when i need them and treated me with contempt and set out to harm me when I've crossed swords with them.

I ought to point out that i didn't used to think this way. i used to be like you, Chips, a long time ago.

of course I'm not daft enough to opposed to the principle of an established police force? that would be stupid. but they need to be more strictly controlled than they are, and we def need a genuinely independent body to investigate complaints, not the self-serving Police Complaints Authority who are useless at best and criminal conspirators at worst, with the undeclared but all too obvious agenda of exonerating the erstwhile objects of their *investigations* Without going into details, the PCA threatened my wife if i didn't withdraw a complaint i'd made. what the hell was i supposed to do then. quid custodet custodes..

so they don't get away with murder? what about the guy, ex-para, who died on the floor of a police station with coppers stood around him laughing? and he was innocent. he'd been glassed in the face and the coppers nicked him, because he was black, and let him die. they were all *investigated* and got clean away with it. what about that scumbag detective from the Huntley case who was caught with kiddie porn, thanks to the FBI and not the British police? got away with it on a totally transparent alibi from another copper. They can do what they like, and if its your word against theirs, you ain't got a chance. i know. they hardly ever get the punishment they deserve and the courts bend over backwards to be lenient with them. in a local case recently a totally bent copper got nothing more than an admonishment from the Court, the judge reckoned he'd been punished enough by being dismissed from the Police. disgraceful, the guy had fiddled nearly 100K and sent at least 6 people to jail on totally fabricated evidence.

i have a couple of relatives in the Police in Lancashire and they're not relatives I'm proud of or get on with. both of them are a pair of right @ssholes and are rotten to the core. of course not all coppers are like that, especially when they've first joined; but they become like it, or learn to turn a blind eye to the misdemeanours of others. A couple i used to go diving with were both coppers once; they left because they couldn't stand the corruption and graft they witnessed. they both said to me that there's no place for an honest copper in the modern Police force.

and the cops love the new surveillance and database technologies. love it to bits. and they'll just take more and more and more until we have no freedoms left. you mark my words.

Edited by - Tawakalna on 10/16/2004 3:41:57 PM

Well, it total change to that, they can and DO get punished more severley than normal folks. They are made examples of. Some judges should be removed from service because they are incomptenat - however, straight from an officers mouth...

My uni flatmate IS a beat copper. He likes his beer, and went to a beer festival. He is the most polite, honest and genuine person i know - no-one can say anything bad.

There were four of them who went - one his friend, and two others from their section house. One of them he doesn't like - simply put, he's normal.

So - he got tanked up off duty, and got into a fight with members of the public. Remember - off duty, no uniform no nothing.

They tried to stop him, and they did. They also shopped him as well. He is facing a jail sentance for ABH i think it was. The other person involved is NOT facing a jail sentance for the same offense. Hardly lienient is it?

Sensationalist reporting paints an unfair and completely false portrayal. Maybe if the papers printed EVERY case/arrest/incident that was dealt with throughout the UK every single day - then maybe, just maybe people would change their minds slightly. The few lone incidents are the ones that make the headlines, and the ones that stick in the minds. Bet when you heard about the child porn officer it was 'expletive police' instead of blaming HIM, everyone focussed on his job instead. Sick people are sick people, and can get in any job. The lad who died had aesthma attack - and they thought he was faking it. They left him there, believing he would stop. They didn't watch him die intentionally whatsoever, but they should have done more -its true. Scratch that - they should have done SOMETHING! BUT - I would not be suprised if he wasn't 100% innocent in that glassing case either...the news wouldn't have made such an impact if he had been in the heat of a bar brawl. The papers may have said that, but I just doubt it alot. I know for a fact that nearly everyone who is arrested tries to claim that they are unable to breathe etc etc - but if they relinquish a grip, the thug swings for the officers or tries to make a run for it/fights harder.

I can believe many change over the years - simply put - its not the police force that does it - its dealing with the public that does it. Dealing with gangs of drunken violent yobs who pour out at closing time to start a mini riot in the street. The constant abuse, negative press, lack of support from the public, constant battle against bogus claims, constant criticisim without praise, dealing with the dregs of society and remaining polite and level headed whilst being threatened, attacked, injured, insulted and more.

No wonder some officers lose some 'people' skills..........because being polite seems to get you no-where with this society - who's morales are so non existant that they believe they have a right to profit from others mistakes (work reference here - cannot believe the scum some people are!).

Edited by - Chips on 10/16/2004 3:42:22 PM

The original source for the topic, has a poll for the chip. Here are the results as of this posting.
Edit - Sunday 9:20am

VOTE RESULTS
Would you want a chip in your arm?
Yes
21.08%
For medical records only
14.78%

No way
64.14%
18084 Votes Cast
Results are indicative and may not reflect public opinion

Edited by - Finalday on 10/17/2004 6:21:18 AM

speaks for itself if you ask me. which you didnt but I'm saying it anyway.




Edited by - Tawakalna on 10/16/2004 4:11:56 PM

I wouldn't be suprised to see a majority 'no' vote whatsoever.

p.s - i missed the oscar wilde film with stephen fry on BBC2 during all this - really wanted to see it................mainly to actually find out more about Oscar Wilde without dying of boredom reading a book thats far to indepth!

*edit* Wouldn't? Wouldn't?!? I am not suprised is what i meant....sheesh.

Edited by - Chips on 10/16/2004 5:36:00 PM

Taw, I see your point that it danger our privacy but I doubt that it would turn into everyone fearing the government - we have too many right and UN laws to allow us to be persecuted by the government. I doubt that it'll every turn into something like City 17 on Half Life 2.

BTW, isn't this thread turning into politics

I smile when I don't know whats going on...

Chips - I'd rebut your earlier remarks, however you have posted so much additional material since last night that you've blurred the original argument beyond all recognition! *Walks off kicking can and mumbling to self*

leave him be, Esq. everyone's entitled to their opinion and Chips is sound as a pound. he just hasn't experienced the nastier side of life like i have.

Fair enough. Hmm, maybe I can teach him to be paranoid like us...

When i saw the voting it was 64%-yes and 21%-no
but when i voted "no" it grow back to no-64% and yes-21%


hahahahahaha
I am so unforgivable =-D