So the brief version of the story is that Greater Manchester Police arrested 700 violent criminals as part of a 2 week operation to take violent criminals off the streets. In the version of the story that I heard on the radio, the police were saying this number of arrests means they have now caught 49% of the violent criminals that were at large.
So, GMP are getting a big pat on the back for, admittedly, a phenomenal number of arrests in a short space of time. However, am I the only person asking "why were there 1400 at large anyway and if you knew who they were, why was there so little previous effort to arrest them?".
What happened, did a couple of senior officers get talking over donuts and coffee one morning and say "I know what we could do today, forget the littering fines and snowball fights, lets see if we can arrest some real criminals"? I also find it rather worrying there were so many outstanding arrests (and still are). Those arrested included rapists and someone wanted for attempted murder.
The way I see it, why are they getting a pat on the back for doing what they are supposed to do, a long time overdue?! OK that's my little rant over.
PS: I can't find a link to this story, I heard it on the radio while driving yesterday. I can find several similar stories though as it appears GMP only do any work when there's a "crackdown" of some sort going on.
All I can think is...
a) Manchester is a large place with a lot of people (2nd or 3rd largest city I believe), so 1400 people at large isn't really that many
b) Criminals are notorious for avoiding and hiding from the police, and in some social groups they are being hid by friends and relatives or such friends/relatives are obstructive to police investigations.
c) The police are no doubt very active having to deal with incidents happening in the present moment (999 calls and the like) rather than spending in increasing amount of time tracking down people who they've had no luck with. The police on the beat need to work in the present and leave the tracking down to intelligence officers.
d) Gathering intelligence about persons whereabouts and then swooping down on them, especially where there are groups of wanted people would provide a better arrest rate than trying to get them one by one, which would only serve to warn the others and give them the opportunity to "disappear".
Unfortunately, the media are great at hyping up stories relating to the politicians and the police etc. That's not to say that they don't do things wrongly or they shouldn't be critisized in some cases, but I would be happy that they've made such a good effort and succeeded so well. I know what you're saying about them dealing with littering and stuff like that, but communities actually appreciate officers doing the small things and see that as a good preventative measure, so the small offences shouldn't be dismissed as unimportant. The thing that media often forgets, whether it's the police or with any other organisation, is that they don't truly understand the way such organisations have to operate internally, so it's easy to critisize something that isn't understood properly.
All Love and Reiki Hugs
Although I see your point about the day to day response to crime but out of everywhere I've lived, I found GMP were completely useless at any kind of decent response. I was assaulted at work in a business we used to own by a guy with a history of violent crime and psychiatric problems. Based on past experience of their 999 call out speed (about 3-5 days to arrive, and I'm not kidding), I decided to follow him. The police said it would take 45 minutes to get someone there as they were "busy". 5 minutes down the road in Piccadilly Gardens, hey presto, 24 police officers standing around doing nothing as the expected football supporters hadn't arrived yet.
No, I don't know their internal systems nowadays. I know how other police forces worked years ago as I had friends who were officers. If the systems of today are failing, which they are, then they should be changing them.
With regard to the media, they were the ones patting the police on the back and it was a senior officer being interviewed who gave out the figures. It's me who's questioning this, not the media.
The crime in Manchester, and the ineptitude of GMP to be effective in dealing with it, is the reason I don't live there any more.
I also see your point.
Let's not forget that there are over 40 police forces in the country and you can't judge one based on the others as they all work differently to cater for their own locality.
😉
All Love and Reiki Hugs
During that operation there were several walkthrough metal detectors in the city centre - how many 'violent criminals' were people carrying items judged to be 'offensive weapons'? I don't think carrying a knife or whatever is a good thing, but it is very different to being a violent criminal. Pure media manipulation IMO.
I'd like to add that both times I have had dealings with GMP (once when I was helping a drunken young teenager who had passed out on the street during the day, and once when I was reporting an assualt on a homeless man) the police were extremely rude to me and were actually pretty nasty.
I'd like to add that both times I have had dealings with GMP (once when I was helping a drunken young teenager who had passed out on the street during the day, and once when I was reporting an assualt on a homeless man) the police were extremely rude to me and were actually pretty nasty.
Did you note their collar numbers and report them? As with any organisations there are people put in positions of trust, but there will always be some of those who turn out to be 'wrong-uns'. However those people will only be sorted out when someone actually points it out to those who can do something about it.
On the other side of the coin, there are employees who, in the line of their work, have strict guidelines and rules to follow, otherwise they could jeapordise their organisation often in legal ways, and some people can misinterpret their actions as them being offish or not interested. Depends on the job and the situation.
Did you note their collar numbers and report them? As with any organisations there are people put in positions of trust, but there will always be some of those who turn out to be 'wrong-uns'. However those people will only be sorted out when someone actually points it out to those who can do something about it.
On the other side of the coin, there are employees who, in the line of their work, have strict guidelines and rules to follow, otherwise they could jeapordise their organisation often in legal ways, and some people can misinterpret their actions as them being offish or not interested. Depends on the job and the situation.
I would like to think that taking a PC's number and reporting them for being rude would have some effect but to be honest I really don't think it would. This is a cynical point of view I grant you 🙂 - but I think it is pretty realistic, considering the number of more serious complaints that are made against the police, and how overworked and under resourced the police force is. Also as this happened in my local area I would be very wary of being labelled a troublmaker and being hassled in the future.
Being a member of the police grants a huge amount of power over others, and also inolves spending a lot of time dealing with the more unpleasant people in society and the problems resulting from their behaviour. I can see why this leads to police officers becoming aggressive towards and suspicious of the general public - but it doesn't make being on the recieving end any easier. In my experience this is a institutional problem rather than the actions of a few 'wrong-uns'. Although I have seen some evidence of the 'friendly face' of the police force, this has been at community meetings and so on rather than on the street.
hey presto, 24 police officers standing around doing nothing as the expected football supporters hadn't arrived yet.
re the above point - those 24 police officers would have been paid for by the relevent football club at that time so apart from a large scale riot or similar which didnt involve football fans they would not be able to respond to any current assignment
also, sometimes criminals are at large because they have been released on bail by the courts - not a police decision and often unpopular with the police who have bust a gut and completed a load of paperwork to get the criminal in front of a judge/magistrate.
Well in that case Hemelgirl, I'll be sure to rob a bank while GMP are on the football club payroll. At the end of the day, they are police officers, council tax and business rates pay their wages - do I get a discount when there's a football match on? Er, no.
Not quite bannick, additional officers will be brought onto shift to deal with 'events' such as football matches etc. The number of officers on the streets for normal purposes is unlikely to be different to normal shifts, so you can't assume there are less officers just because of such events.
All Love and Reiki Hugs
sorry, no internet for the last couple of days, cable was knocked out by contractors while digging a hole, Police are looking into it!!
as Energylz says - these officers are additional officers who are usually on a rest day who are brought on and at the expense of the football club or relevent event. This is not the reason that there are not enough officers on duty to do police work. It is usually paperwork that keeps officers off the street.