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Tell me about your experiences of police force
Vic Barlow29/11/2006
I READ with interest the response from Superintendent Richard Strachan following my comments on Cheshire Police.
I have the utmost respect for Superintendent Strachan, as do the officers who serve under him, but my criticism is not about personality, but performance.
Of course, it's unreasonable to expect an instant police response to every incident and yes, the public do know about the shortage of officers, rising number of phone calls, balancing of priorities etc, but public dissatisfaction has never been with individual officers but with quality of service.
Distraught victims may understand when Cheshire Police refuse to attend incidents, explaining that officers have more pressing priorities, but I question those priorities when the response to an armed robbery is the deployment of unmanned patrol cars.
When jewellery stores have been raided two, three and four times without any arrests despite eye-witness accounts and CCTV, residents have a right to question police strategy.
When relatives and friends arrive before police officers to release traumatised shop assistants from the clutches of a gunman less than a mile from Macclesfield police station, people do ask what qualifies as an emergency within Cheshire Police?
Superintendent Strachan is correct when he claims senior officers are prepared to hold up their hands and admit they 'got it wrong' but too often that appears to be their only strategy.
Jewellery thieves are now so confident they deem it unnecessary to wait for the cover of darkness, preferring to attack during peak shopping hours. Their confidence is not ill-founded; it's based on experience.
We're not talking about bicycle thieves; these are serious armed raiders that should (in theory) be at the very top of that priority list Cheshire Police are so fond of quoting. If the constabulary cannot respond adequately to crimes of such magnitude, what faith does the public have in their handling of lesser incidents?
Of course, the three-year suspension of four expensive officers without any charges does nothing for police credibility or their sense of urgency. It is stories such as these, together with the ludicrous suggestion that traumatised retailers should use tape measures to assess the height of their attackers, that paints such a negative picture.
The absence of police follow through causes many readers to write to the Express. Distraught victims left high and dry without any information, public-spirited witnesses waiting months to give their statements, frightened retailers infuriated by the lack of police protection.
Superintendent Strachan insists however, that the vast majority of residents are 'happy with the way incidents are dealt with'. So, I could be wrong, there may be thousands of Express readers delighted with the service provided by Cheshire Police. Assuming you are not a criminal, I'd like to hear of YOUR experience.
Write or email your stories and I'll take a look at them.
- THE views on this page are those of Vic Barlow and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Express.
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8/12/2006 at 16:50
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My mother was mugged and threatened in Handforth Dean last night by 2 men. Her attackers blocked her car into a parking spot, got into her car and stole her bag.
On calling the police she was given a crime number and told to be more aware of her environment.
Even though this was captured on CCTV and the registration of the vehicle given - there seems no intention to follow up.
Thankfully see was not physically harmed but as a woman on her own I would have expected the police to do something. It looks like we are not even worth a 'Victims of Crime' leaflet these days.
10/02/2007 at 07:18