Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

To be honest i dont think it will ever stop the knife crime or less they give out tough sentences.

fish99

I think one of the biggest problems we have, and one all officers would love to see sorted, would be the amount of paperwork that we have to do. Most of the forms we complete are duplication, and this is mainly down to a network of computer systems which dont talk to each other. A simple shoplifter can take 2 officers (2 as our lads are normally double crewed) over 8 hours to deal with. So if you arrested somone at the beginning of your shift, that means thats you off the streets for the rest of the day.

I for one think that we should be conducting more stop and search and have more officers walking the streets 24hours a day. These officers need to be specifically targeting trouble groups and disrupting their illegal activities. If the groups feel that they can be stopped and searched at any time then maybe they will think " sod that I wont take that knife out as I could get nicked ".

We do run operations such as Operation Blunt which basically floods a Borough for a month with officers from our support services (ie TSG, Dog Section, Plain Clothes,CO19 ), and these officers do the very thing above. And with this there is a noticable drop in knife and violent crime... The problem is this is normally only for a month or so, as these officers are not borough based and have to move on to another borough. As soon as they go, and the locals know as they are not being stopped as much, the trouble begins again. The response teams,(the boys and girls running to 999 calls), dont have the resources or the time to work proactively as they are being chased to take the next 999 call.

The bottom line is, we need officers on the streets interacting with these people carrying knives and dealing with them appropriately. We need the courts to get on board and sentence the perpatraitors so there is a deterent from carrying a knife, and an even bigger deterent for using one.

I think you made a very good point about the guy at the top makes the rules, etc. I strongly believe that there should be more involvement and advice sought from the feet on the street... and by that I mean Constable up to Inspectors. As soon as you go above these ranks you become Politicians, and my personal feeling is you lose touch with Policing. I do feel sorry for the borough commanders, Supernintendos etc as they are getting pulled over the coals by the goverment and are being held accountable for everything that happens.

FastFordChris

What metpol has just said seems to me that the police themselves feel like their hands are very much tied to get on with the job they want to do.

How do you and your work colleagues feel about psco's being the govenments answer to being more visable on the street?
I understand you may feel you can't post what they really feel but maybe just a brief outline?

fish99

Well Ill keep it short as im about to go to work,but personally I dont think they are the answer.

My issue is, they take more officers off the street, this is my opinion ( Not the Police or goverments ). Basically how I see it is like this. You have the PCSO walking around stopping people and for some reason detaining them.. There powers are rather limited, so they need to get a Police officers assistance. This means pulling an officer off another task, ie answering 999 calls and then dealing with whatever they have come accross. Obviously, if they have come across a good job then fair play to them and we will deal happily. The problem is a lot of the stuff is very trivial and their powers are far too limited to deal with even this. I think, that officers would prefer to see more uniformed officers on the street instead of PCSO's. Dont get me wrong, some of the PCSO we have are really good, they are keen as mustard and not shy to get stuck in and help out.. A lot of them are people waiting to start Police training as officers. I think they should be used more as a support and not as a crime deterent..ie standing on crime scenes, cordons, enquiries / statement taking.

sambo170588

tbh the sollution is to get all these fukin 50 cent wannabe rude bois and slap em in the ring with me so i can teach them how to fight without weapons

Neil@FastFord

Personally, plenty of people used to be tooled up when i was younger. Very young in fact.


Banning knives will do fuck all. I remember the changes with handguns, yet they are still readily available! And available now only to the people they didn't want to get them!!

Education and punishment may drive the stats down a little. You will never rid the streets of weapons though, it's just the way some people are wired up.

2224v

I ALWAYS carry a knife...and most of the time two even...

I'll never threaten anyone with them and I never show them off but in a worst case scenario I WILL use them without thinking twice about it.

Having said that: I do not condone kids walking around with knives and I strongly feel that anybody that uses a knife to threaten or stab another person without the circumstances justifying it, should be dealt with.

dojj

iTrader: (3)

in lock stock there is a line that goes a little something like this:
"it's mr breaker, today, my name is mr breaker"
too many "likle ute's" want to be mr breaker, so how do you stop that? gangsta rap isn't what the politicians make it out to be so just listening to the words and then saying "ohh, terrible, ban them" is a waste of time, you have to work out what they mean first of all

have you listened to nwa's fuck the police lately? or what about 50 cents film "get rich or die trying"? do you even know what it means or have you been brainwashed into one way of thinking?

i agree to a point, there is always someone who's going to get the blame for soemthng, but it's going to cost them their job, money, etc, but you need responsibility or else who can yuo go to to get things fixed?

blanket ban on knives, 30 years if you get caught carrying one, life imprisonment without parole for anyone carrying a gun, imitation or otherwise
that would do it

not enough means testing, some peole are just poor but everyone NEEDS to have a 50 inch plasma and a ps3 to hook up to it in their council house don' they
5 year limits on benifits with 6 month reviews, free childcare for parents who work, no free anything for peole who are on the dole other than food vouchers, bus passes and accomodation payments

not too sure what to make on this one, not particualry proud to live here anymore as it's a bit of a shithole

dojj

iTrader: (3)

you are part of the problem then

2224v

Why would I be part of a problem?

2224v

You're missing the point and you're not presenting me with a real life situation so I can't answer your question.
However you seem to have formed an opinion on the matter already so you might as well fill this one in yourself.

dojj

iTrader: (3)

why are you carrying a knife?
because you want to protect yourself against someone else who may pull a knife on you
but if no one carried a knife then you wouldn't need to carry one
so it's a never ending circle

as soon as people realise that carrying a knife for whatever reason is going to get them banged up for a long long time people will stop and knife crime will drasticly fall

2224v

What makes you think I carry a knife to protect mysel from others carrying a knife?

dojj

iTrader: (3)

so what sane, logical reason do you have to justify carrying a knife out in public, and i quote:

"I'll never threaten anyone with them and I never show them off but in a worst case scenario I WILL use them without thinking twice about it."

timrud

The answer is simple in my eyes.

If you get caught with an unlicenced firearm, it is a mandatory 5 year sentence.

Do the same for knives but make it 3 years.

Also three strikes rule, making it a life sentence.

Regarding Policing, I sympathise with the working officers views. Better computer systems (how many years has NSPIS took to roll out ) are a fantastic idea. But they cost loads, and always go way over budget with deadlines.

Give PCSO's more powers. Or get them doing statement taking from peoples houses for non-urgent jobs. Its a waste them being on the streets when they can't really do anything.

I could write all day about how the entire Policing system could be improved!!

2224v

Dojj, if you would read the part wich you have quoted you'd find the answer.

Lee Reynolds

Simple, same with stealing etc, you get caught once you lose a finger, second time you lose a hand!

dojj

iTrader: (3)

maybe i'm just being a bit thick here, but what part of that quote is anything other than carrying it to shank other people if and when you feel threatened?

you play the timid character, someone goes a little to far, you stab them, cut them, slice the up and then walk away?

that's how i read it

Ginge !

have you ever seen the statisitc of people who get shot with there OWN guns or stabbbed with there own knife

think about it like this, you threaten someone with your knife you KNOW what your thinking which is usually " im gonan scare the shite out of this cunt, someone threatens you with a knifethen you THINK the worst and hes gonna try and kill you, you aint gonna think hes trying to scare you

now in a life and death situation you WILL be very defensive,,, the person who KNOWS what hes thinking aint gonna think your gonna try to survive and get the knife out of your hands,,, thats how you end up stabbed

i work with a bloke who done the exact same thing, he was threatened by a 2 youths in hes shop on hes own and one had a knife,,, she stabbed the bloke 5 times with a screwdriver he just found to hand in fear to protect himself,,,,, also he ended up with comunity service and a record for doing it too which takes the piss but the reason for it was once is classed as a defensive move,,, 5 times is 4 extra stabs in a frenzied attack at punishing the kid oh and hes mate ran off and has never been caught to this day !!!

carrying a knife is more of a risk for yourself,, i know the person who pulls a knife on me better hope i never get it as i have no cares about diging someone to save my life

Psycho Warren

iTrader: (5)

The problem is the politicians pander to organisations such a "mothers against guns!" and ban everything not realising that its the illegal guns that are the problem. 99.99% of legally owned firearms are perfectly safely owned in our society.

Dunblane was a knee jerk reaction. the handguns wernt the problem, but the procedures for obtaining and keeping an FAC.

Knives cant practically be banned as we need them in day to day life.

Banning knives wouldnt win any votes either, where as theres always plenty of ignorant morons who will be won over when yet more gun restrictions are put on the legal firearm owners.

as metpol says, ditch the bollocks paper work and get the bobbies on the street so they can stop and search as many as they can and have bigger sentances for carrying an offensive weapon.

Theres no need for such redicuous paperwork in a "modern" police force. The technology to link computer databases has existed for years if they could be bothered to spend on sorting it. Sure there is a need for records but it should be one universal computerised expanding form for it. The law needs updating to allow such forms of electronic evidence without tons of back up paperwork.

Oh and im sure lots of kids will moan about "rights" and "harassment" by cops but as far as im concerned they can go fuck themselves. after all theyve bought it on themselves by carrying weapons, committing crimes etc and now they bitch when the police interfere with thier freedom

dojj

iTrader: (3)

why can't the pcso's stay in the stations sorting paperwork out and the bobbies roam the streets keeping them safe?

someone gets nicked and a motor dumps them at the station for other pcso's to deal with

or is that too easy and someone would feel th eneed to complain about having 4 hours in a comfy office filling in forms rather thaan walking the streets in the cold and rain?

2224v

Both Dojj and Ginge are missing the point (no surprises there)...

arch

In fairness mate, so am I.

timrud

Me too.

Ginge !

what you carry a knife to never show anyone,,, then whats the point carrying it ????

is it incase someone pulls a knife on you and THEN your gonna pull it ?

IMO you would be alot better off learning how to take a knife from someones hand/twist there wrist to get it at there throat as its suprisingly easy though admittedly in a controled enviroment it seems easy

stabbing someone aint as easy as it sounds mate, most people aint got it in them as we are taught to have remorse/understand its wrong all our lives to make a desision that you would stab someone,,,, though a snap desision to survive is different as its adrenaline fueled


im far from missing the point,, its YOU who is missing the point and one day you will get called up on your desision,,, and either stab someone and get gone for carrying one which also makes in premeditated,,,, you cant carry a offensive weapon for self defence in this country,,,, even worse when you use it to defend yourself !!!

OR you will end up like 50% of the idiots who carry knifes and get stabbed with there own knife/get stabbed by someone who was never gonna stab you in the first place

btw i have been stabbed twice in my time, its alot more psycological that it seems it will be when it actually happens

RS_JAY

Hit the nail on the head! The punishments just arent harsh enough.

dojj

iTrader: (3)

so you carry a knife, or 2 in some instances "just in case"?

cars have airbags, and side impact bars and safety for those "just in case" moments, and while i can imagine you carrying a phone with just enough credit on it to make a call, i can understand you carrying some spare change in case you need to buy something, i can even imagine carrying a spare set of keys "just in case", i can't understand why you would carry a knife

what you are saying makes no sense

you might as well cary a petrol can around with you "just in case someone needs it while you are out and about doing your shopping for the week"

a guy at work got stabbed only the other week, i've been stabbed once, car jacked twice with a knife to my throat, you migth even see the scars where i was cut on my neck, but i don't cary a big fuck off machette in the car "just in case"

not to say that i haven't exited the car with the intention of doing some damage while making it obvious that whatver was in my hand at the time was intended to make a dent in someones face, i even put up a post about it about 6 weeks ago if you car to find it and have a read

but none of this is predetermind, which is why you'd get done for murder rather than manslaughter if you stabbed someone and went before the judge

so yes, in my mind, you are part of the problem, and i come from a part of the world where i've had mates get torched in their cars, several have been shot dead, one's been run through with a sword and several were nearly blown up by a bomb amongst other nasty things

but why would i carry a knife? i might as well be carrying an uzi for the £250 they are knocked out for, at least i know that whoever i shot would stay shot from a long way away rather than the likelyhood of getting a knife turned on me and ending up just another statistic