The Polis. A great bunch of lads?

[hk blues]

13 hours ago, Cosmic Joe said:

Oops, Tayside, aye.

You should apply to the Polis with your observation skills!

[Scary Bear]

I know one ex-policewoman and one serving policeman. Both are fairly sound and neither has, to my knowledge, raped anyone.

Current serving one tells me tales of auld boys who got caught wanking in their cars during lockdown. Seemed to be very popular back then. Also tales of what the young team are up to and how there’s virtually no polis available to attend calls.

[Central Belt Caley]

Most of them I’ve ever dealt with have been sound tbf. A few mates have had run ins with them but they’ve been idiots in the first place so expected. 
 

Neighbour on one side is an ex-polis and neighbour on the other side is a current polis, some sort of detective I think. Both sound and very quiet.
 

Can see how the job could/will change folk though. There’s a statistic that the average person sees something like 3-4 traumatic events in the course of their life, a copper who does a full 30 years service will experience on average 400-600 traumatic events. That would wear anyone down 

[hk blues]

41 minutes ago, Central Belt Caley said:

Can see how the job could/will change folk though. There’s a statistic that the average person sees something like 3-4 traumatic events in the course of their life, a copper who does a full 30 years service will experience on average 400-600 traumatic events. That would wear anyone down 

For sure but that's why they should be sure they are recruiting folk who are likely to be up to it.

[topcat(The most tip top)]

I went to a graduate recruitment fare in the late '90s and got talking to the people on the Police Fast Track stall

They noticed that I wore glasses asked my prescription and informed me that if I applied in Scotland I wouldn't get in but they had a map showing how recruitment got less and less fussy the closer to London you got

Every time the Met are involved in a scandal I remember that map

[scottsdad]

2 minutes ago, topcat(The most tip top) said:

I went to a graduate recruitment fare in the late '90s and got talking to the people on the Police Fast Track stall

They noticed that I wore glasses asked my prescription and informed me that if I applied in Scotland I wouldn't get in but they had a map showing how recruitment got less and less fussy the closer to London you got

Every time the Met are involved in a scandal I remember that map

Used to be the same here before Police Scotland. if you couldn't get into Central, Lothian & Borders, Fife, Grampian, etc., guaranteed that Strathclyde would take you.

[TxRover]

The inherent problem with policing is that it is dealing with human nature. When a group of humans is placed under stress, they tend to look to each other for support and protection. The police, no matter how idealistic or “morally straight”, are placed in an environment where bribes, opportunities and threats are a near everyday occurrence. In the past, the one bad apple “theory” was prevalent, however modern technology has allowed the catching of many more police officers and associated personnel in various crimes. This has made it clear that there is a “thin blue line” mentality, a culture of we don’t snitch on our own, that needs to be dealt with. There is a side effect to the constant exposure to this toxic coverup culture that ends up dragging others in misbehavior of varying sorts. 

The problem we are seeing is a combination of weakened recruiting standards (as policing needs have increased), a simple numbers game, and changes in our expectations of what is acceptable police behavior. At one point, very few people would have had an issue with a cop or two kicking the s**t out of a troublemaker or undesirable…which wasn’t right, but which helps shape institutional behavior. Team that with needing more police, and you have a job that, while appealing to a slightly smaller base, needs to hire more of them. To use the old line, if you hire one bad apple out of one hundred, you still have around 350 bad ones on the Met, out of about 35,000…improve to one in one thousand, it’s still 35.

This is where VT’s point is critical, there has to be a change to active institutional rejection of any such behavior, and officers need to ensure they report, and see corrected, behavior as early as possible. While female police officers, as a whole, seem less likely to be offenders, by that same token they haven’t been especially prevalent in speaking out against the institutional issues.

[topcat(The most tip top)]

1 hour ago, scottsdad said:

Used to be the same here before Police Scotland. if you couldn't get into Central, Lothian & Borders, Fife, Grampian, etc., guaranteed that Strathclyde would take you.

The requirements for getting in to the Highlands was crazy. Hamish Macbeth should really have been a superhero movie

 

[ICTChris]

4 hours ago, Central Belt Caley said:

Most of them I’ve ever dealt with have been sound tbf. A few mates have had run ins with them but they’ve been idiots in the first place so expected. 
 

Neighbour on one side is an ex-polis and neighbour on the other side is a current polis, some sort of detective I think. Both sound and very quiet.
 

Can see how the job could/will change folk though. There’s a statistic that the average person sees something like 3-4 traumatic events in the course of their life, a copper who does a full 30 years service will experience on average 400-600 traumatic events. That would wear anyone down 

I think this is a good point - as well as traumatic events you have to deal with a sub section of the general public who most people avoid or never encounter.  I have a relative who is in the police and when they drive around Inverness they know where the spots for drug dealers are, where people go for heroin, where they go to sell stolen goods.  Most people go through their entire lives without dealing with people like this, it's a bit of an eye opener.  Having that every day must wear you down as well.

What this should mean is that the police should recruit people who are likely to be able to do the job, physically and mentally, and that the leaders in the police need to ensure that the organisation roots out poor behaviour, corruption and people who are unsuitable.  Not sure either of these things are happening from what I can see.

I can't stop thinking about the police officer who had to investigate Wayne Couzens indecent exposure, went to the McDs where he was flashing the staff but because she was on holiday the next day she didn't check the CCTV and left the details in her jacket pocket.  Then when she got pulled up she resigned and started and OnlyFans where she poses naked in a police uniform.  

[Boo Khaki]

15 minutes ago, ICTChris said:

she poses naked in a police uniform.  

Pardon?

[Sergeant Wilson]

39 minutes ago, Boo Khaki said:

Pardon?

Just the hat...and sometimes the truncheon.

[Cosmic Joe]

1 hour ago, ICTChris said:

I think this is a good point - as well as traumatic events you have to deal with a sub section of the general public who most people avoid or never encounter.  I have a relative who is in the police and when they drive around Inverness they know where the spots for drug dealers are, where people go for heroin, where they go to sell stolen goods.  Most people go through their entire lives without dealing with people like this, it's a bit of an eye opener.  Having that every day must wear you down as well.

What this should mean is that the police should recruit people who are likely to be able to do the job, physically and mentally, and that the leaders in the police need to ensure that the organisation roots out poor behaviour, corruption and people who are unsuitable.  Not sure either of these things are happening from what I can see.

I can't stop thinking about the police officer who had to investigate Wayne Couzens indecent exposure, went to the McDs where he was flashing the staff but because she was on holiday the next day she didn't check the CCTV and left the details in her jacket pocket.  Then when she got pulled up she resigned and started and OnlyFans where she poses naked in a police uniform.  

That's all well and good. But how does that drive you into becoming a racist, homophobic, misogynistic pig? 

[tamthebam]

8 hours ago, scottsdad said:

Used to be the same here before Police Scotland. if you couldn't get into Central, Lothian & Borders, Fife, Grampian, etc., guaranteed that Strathclyde would take you.

Rumour was if you had to leave Strathclyde Police for being a c*nt they put you in the Fife Polis 

Edited May 31, 2023 by tamthebam

[beefybake]

12 hours ago, ICTChris said:

During the Wayne Couzens trial it came out that he showed up to the leaving do of one of his colleagues accompanied by a prostitute (the other policemen brought their wives/girlfriends).  He also had a prostitute show up at his station saying he owed her money - he went to a cash machine and gave her some money.

None of his colleagues ever reported concerns about him due to this.  Even if hiring a prostitute isn't technically illegal then it is definitely something that a police officer shouldn't be doing.  If anyone had done that in any of the jobs I've had in my life then they'd have been sacked or faced a serious disciplinary.

You'd hope that this sort of thing would be a big part of the Mets follow up but I wouldn't hold out much hope.

The new guy at the MET is not up to the job.  

Nothing will change there until the modern day version of Robert Mark is brought in to go through the organisation like a flamethrower.

[Cosmic Joe]

12 hours ago, hk blues said:

You should apply to the Polis with your observation skills!

I'm also narrowing it down to Tayport. 

[alta-pete]

7 hours ago, Cosmic Joe said:

I'm also narrowing it down to Tayport. 

Wrong side of the river Sherlock . The clue is in the thread…

[btb]

Not really much to add to the debate except to say I bumped into a coupla ex-schoolmates in my mid-20s and asked what they were doing and my flabber was gasted when they told me they were in the polis cos Ida put money on both being inside - never had any problems with them personally but they were wild and as I say was surprised where they ended up working.

[AUcal]

1 hour ago, btb said:

Not really much to add to the debate except to say I bumped into a coupla ex-schoolmates in my mid-20s and asked what they were doing and my flabber was gasted when they told me they were in the polis cos Ida put money on both being inside - never had any problems with them personally but they were wild and as I say was surprised where they ended up working.

Aye I recently found out that a couple of folk I went to school with are officers of "Ayrshire's Finest" (the polis, no some sort of lodge).

They were fucking mental in school. Proper wronguns.

I can see why that job does attract some nutters and all of the recent findings from reviews and investigations don't really surprise me unfortunately.

Edited June 1, 2023 by AuAl

[Florentine_Pogen]

18 hours ago, topcat(The most tip top) said:

The requirements for getting in to the Highlands was crazy. Hamish Macbeth should really have been a superhero movie

 

Hamish MacMarvel.

[Ross.]

17 hours ago, ICTChris said:

I can't stop thinking about the police officer who had to investigate Wayne Couzens indecent exposure, resigned and started and OnlyFans where she poses naked in a police uniform.  

Were the pictures that good?

The few polis I know personally are good c***s. The few I have dealt in various other circumstances were a mixed bag.

Root and branch reform is a huge job, and given what the job entails I’m not convinced it would be fully successful. Even the ones with the best of intentions will end up being worn down and cracking with what they have to do.