As a UK police officer do...?
Feel the public trusts you? Do you feel you are doing a good job personally? Do you feel the police force in the UK is doing a good job in general? Lastly, do you stereotype or discriminate against anyone personally ie chavs?
Comments
I know that the vast majority of people do (search for opinion polls) and the polls are largely taken nowadays from people who have had recent contact with the police. In the days when they were just done on the streets then the majority of responses were very supportive. That's because the vast majority of people have nothing to do with the police and so were happy.
When the police started polling people who had recently been 'customers' then the result dropped but still stands at over 80% of people satisfied in most areas.
The problem is it's a subjective thing so one person who is very happy with the police generally will vote down if he has recently received a speeding ticket or his attacker didn't get a long enough sentence in court.
People generally blame the police for all the woes of the criminal justice system.
It's also difficult to judge if you've been dealt with well by the police because if you're a victim of something then it can become the most important thing in YOUR life at the time. Therefore no objectivity is applied.
Sure, there are some bad apples in the police and some officers are lazy but generally, they do a good job (prisons are always full) but are not good at reporting their own good news stories and are generally easy targets for people who just want to slag them off or moan (because they have no proper lives) because they know they can get away with it.
The constant police bashers can give out a disproportionate image of what 'most' people think because ordinary people do not normally 'rant' about how good their experience with the police was.
It's only the sad (and mostly the mad) that continually whine because, knowing that the police have no recourse, it makes them feel powerful and big. Most of them were school bullies.
I tend to find that the law abiding public generally trust the Police. Its generally the criminals who don't and always think we are out to get them. Which of course we are!
I personally think I am doing a good job and always try my hardest to make sure I provide a good service. I do occasionally get things wrong, I'm only human after all but when I do I always try to put things right.
I personally try not to stereotype anyone and certainly don't discriminate. A criminal is a criminal regardless of who they are and where they come from.
As for the Police doing a good job in general, we do our best with the resources we have and with what we are allowed to do. We are bound by the government rules and regulations, all the red tape and a distinct lack of resources. Funding has been cut this year where I work but they expect more out of the people on the front line.
Add to that the 'fluffy' nature of the modern Police force, in that we seem to have to always go for the soft option with regard to dealing criminals and its hard to do what really needs to be done to those who try to undermine the society that we live in today.
I like most of my colleagues would enjoy the job a lot more if we were allowed to do what we joined to do. Lock up criminals, in a 'proper' prison, instead of pandering to their needs all the time.
If it's my personal opinion you want...
I feel that the majority of the public do trust me. I am certain that I'm doing a good job and the vast majority of other police officers are also. In general the police in England and Wales are on the right track and absolutely have the public's welfare at heart.
Lastly, you have to assume that stereotyping is a perfectly natural thing and is impossible to not have an opinion of someone you see and haven't yet got to know. Having said that, the important thing is not to treat people unfairly based on a natural prejudice and to treat each and every person on their own merit.
I for one treat all with the respect that they deserve regardless of where they're from or what they wear etc. And I do not know of any police officer who are different. If you live in the UK you are lucky. As you live in one of the safest countries in the world and have one of the most professional police services in the world.
As a member of the public i trust the police to do their jobs, It is the law courts that are letting the police down big time.
No. The reason that they do not normally carry guns is that the establishment believed that as the police were from the lower levels of society, they were not fit to carry guns. (Rather as ex-slaves in the USA could not own guns). The situation in the UK has not changed.
Sometimes I despair of the amount of rotten apples within the Police Force. There are many decent, honest Officers but they are rapidly becoming the minority.