This is mirrored up and down the UK by all police forces.
In the typical day, I will attend:
– People calling the police because they are suffering from mental ill health or are suicidal
– People calling the ambulance services because they are suffering from mental ill health or are suicidal, but there isnt an amublance to send
– Social workers who have concerns for a person, but its 5pm and they’re on their way home
– School teachers having concerns for a student who’s turned up in dirty clothes/without lunch, but the social worker has told them to call us
– People having some sort of frankly childish dispute about parking/noise/who’s turn it is to choose what to watch on the TV
– People who are suffering a medical ermergency behind a locked door that they cant get to
The police service seems to be the one orangization that doesnt say no when somebody calls. Social services have a very narrow range of things they will help with. The ambulance service will only deploy to things that are sufficiently serious. The fire service will only tip out to fires, and a handful of other specific things.
Police on the other hand, are a catch all service. If something doesnt fall into the remit of another organisation, the police seem to pick it up. Nobody joins the police to teach people to parent their kids, or to tell somebody that by them ignoring all the advice of their doctor, their mental health will, in fact, get worse. But this is a massive part of being a modern day cop, and it takes away from our ability to actually investigate crime.
I would say this is also a reflection of the diminishing community ties that have been disintegrating for decades now. People don’t take responsibility for their communities, if someone is suffering it’s just outsourced to the state to take care of, which clearly doesn’t work.
I worked as a LEO for decades and I can tell you that 75% of the calls for assistance were for non-crime related calls for help or assistance.
Drew my gun less than 5 times over the course of my career. Found out early that listening, observing, and providing the help requested (yeah, sometimes that call was a call to be detained, as it were) but then you get that person off to the social services units in gov as briskly as you can.
Seriously, no one I’ve ever known personally has not had a crisis of some sort in their life and coming in with guns blazing or a shite attitude does nothing to make the job easier and does nothing to help solve any goddamn issue.
3 comments
This is mirrored up and down the UK by all police forces.
In the typical day, I will attend:
– People calling the police because they are suffering from mental ill health or are suicidal
– People calling the ambulance services because they are suffering from mental ill health or are suicidal, but there isnt an amublance to send
– Social workers who have concerns for a person, but its 5pm and they’re on their way home
– School teachers having concerns for a student who’s turned up in dirty clothes/without lunch, but the social worker has told them to call us
– People having some sort of frankly childish dispute about parking/noise/who’s turn it is to choose what to watch on the TV
– People who are suffering a medical ermergency behind a locked door that they cant get to
The police service seems to be the one orangization that doesnt say no when somebody calls. Social services have a very narrow range of things they will help with. The ambulance service will only deploy to things that are sufficiently serious. The fire service will only tip out to fires, and a handful of other specific things.
Police on the other hand, are a catch all service. If something doesnt fall into the remit of another organisation, the police seem to pick it up. Nobody joins the police to teach people to parent their kids, or to tell somebody that by them ignoring all the advice of their doctor, their mental health will, in fact, get worse. But this is a massive part of being a modern day cop, and it takes away from our ability to actually investigate crime.
I would say this is also a reflection of the diminishing community ties that have been disintegrating for decades now. People don’t take responsibility for their communities, if someone is suffering it’s just outsourced to the state to take care of, which clearly doesn’t work.
I worked as a LEO for decades and I can tell you that 75% of the calls for assistance were for non-crime related calls for help or assistance.
Drew my gun less than 5 times over the course of my career. Found out early that listening, observing, and providing the help requested (yeah, sometimes that call was a call to be detained, as it were) but then you get that person off to the social services units in gov as briskly as you can.
Seriously, no one I’ve ever known personally has not had a crisis of some sort in their life and coming in with guns blazing or a shite attitude does nothing to make the job easier and does nothing to help solve any goddamn issue.