In defence of the Seears

Bigred,

Thanks for the response. I’m with VG on the “not interested”, I doubt that was the wording used. As for the “male person jump neighbor’s fence and enter house through vacant rear window”, was that the only question that was asked or was it one of a few to determine if there was someone breaking in and not a legitimate reason for the person going through the window.

Another point and take it how you want. As I understand, most of the people who answer the phone when you call Police aren’t Police officers.

The next bit is my opinion /observation and is not directed at anyone.

A few years ago whilst living in another state, I woke to find my letterbox smashed up and skid marks on the road and grass. I called the Police and they arrived about an hour later. They had a look at the letterbox, came inside, made small talk, took the report and gave me a Police number to quote for insurance. The Police were there for about 30 minutes. A further 2 hours after, the forensic police officer turned up took photos and skid mark impression, and had a chat with me. He was there for about 40 minutes. I felt like the Police had done something, all for my $120 letterbox.

Here in Canberra, I woke to find some minor damage to my house. I called Police and was asked a few minor questions such as, “Are the offenders there now”, “When did this happen”, “Do I know who did this”. It happened sometime over night and I had no idea who had done this. I asked when Police would be attending and I was told a report would be taken over the phone and I was given a Police number to quote for insurance.

Two similar situations with the same outcome, I got a Police number for insurance purposes. In both situations there was no real evidence, and short of time travel there was nothing that would lead Police to an offender. So did I really need Police attend to have a look at my letter box? Should I really expect Police to attend to my minor matter just so I feel better? Was a quick report over the phone a better way that didn’t tie up so much Police time?

I guess the point I’m trying to make is that most of us have very little to do with Police and when we do it’s something minor yet we all want a CSI investigation to occur. Maybe some of us need to be realistic about what Police (in any state) can / should do.

Also, unlike the Sears, the Police have rules and laws which they must obey. I’m sure there have been plenty of times where the Police have known who the offenders are but don’t have the evidence, so they can’t arrest them.

Red

I very much doubt the words used in your phone call re the crackers was ‘not interested’.

I gather they also didn’t appreciate being told how to do their job re the disabled parking, but I gather what would have actually been done prior to the booking would be to check if that vehicle had a valid disabled pass if it wasn’t displayed. If it did but wasn’t displayed it would be more than reasonable not to book it.

I’m not trying explain away a perception of poor service, but quite regularly there is far more behind the scenes than is apparent.

What happened after you were asked if you would like Police attendance. Did you say yes, and did they then turn up. Was it simply a silly question or was there some sort of result.

Lets not forget the ACT Government are the ones that pay for policing in the ACT. If people want to see more Police the ACT Govt will have to shell out more for them (and possibly spare us an arboretum or a trip or 2 to India for a CM and his friends). I would have hoped that law and order would be priority #1 for this govt. If you think it is there’s not much point directing your angst towards the copppers. They are doing what they can with what they have, and priorities Police have may not be the same as yours.

Direct it towards the ACT Govt who direct the activities and numbers of Police through the publicly available Purchase Agreement.

Personal not professional opinion as well (there’s a reason for that continual caveat)

Boxy: it’s illegal to ride monkey bikes on public land and even if it wasn’t it’d be stupid to ride any bike anywhere in shorts & thongs only. Stealing Seears’ sons bike was wrong in the first place but stealing it back is just as bad is worse. The report about the invasion said Seears son is 26 and deaf, it didn’t say he is a kid. So three grown men invade & threaten to kneecap a guy they think stole the bike as well as the poor mug who bought the illegal bike, possibly after seeing an ad for it. That’s not how Robin Hood worked, thats a standover, but you say thats OK. Whats your connection with this thing?

I couldn’t say that I’ve had too bad a run with the local plods. Half a dozen points of contact over say fifteen years since I came to Canberra with the majority of them good ones.

Memorable for the exemplary response of the AFP was the time my little (at the time) 18 month old boy went for a wander early one Sunday morning – the police, and I’m guessing this could have been at the end of a night shift, set up a search, had an officer dedicated to being with my very distressed partner and had the little guy back home within 45 minutes. Faultless.

Memorable for their indifference … the time I finally had the shits with our local junkie for passing out at the wheel of his shit-box Corona, after shooting up, in the entry to our car park at work (not the first time). The plods seemed casually indifferent to details like the guys name, description, vehicle and rego, dates that this behavior had previously been reported … eventually the prick moved on … and the response to the fact that a drugged up junkie was now loose on our roads “Yeah, well you get that … I would suggest that you keep off the roads for a while.”

I guess you win some and you lose some…

I have had a few dealings with the cops, reporting a couple of dumped cars, one particularly violent neighbourhood domestic, and having to call for help from a phone booth when some idiot and his mates had decided to mount the kerb and trap me inside with their car.

In the latter incident, the police arrived within 1 minute, sirens blaring, ‘rescued’ me and escorted me home before dealing with the idiots who apparently were quite well known to them.

Unfortunately for me I lived alone at the time (female, early 20’s) and the police informed me that the idiots lived two doors away. Not only did the police check up on me with phone calls over the following weeks, but they made 4 or 5 visits to check that I was ok, and made their presence felt to my ‘lovely’ neighbours.

I could not fault their response, and I believe that they went well out of their way to try and keep me safe.

In the other matters, I have always received follow up phone calls etc, and have found those I have dealt with to be very courteous and professional.

Big

The one time I called the AFP in the last 5 years they were there within 2 minutes, and had 2 patrols checking out the scene. I was happy with their response…

Smack, unfortunately from personal experience. Afraid I don’t have recent interstate experience to draw comparison from. But, for a professionally employed, peaceful and law abiding person I should be the type who rarely has any experience of Canberra’s finest. Alas, it aint so!

I’ll share a few experiences to illustrate my views. First, witnessed a hit run incident in Dickson one Saturday night. Did the “make safe” thing for the victim and called for help. The victim recovered pretty quickly but the attending police weren’t interested in statements or even taking my ID just in case it became an issue later, ie victim attends hospital later.

Driving down Ginninderra Drive one Saturday, some fools were dropping fireworks from the overbridge. Scared the daylights out of me. Thought that some old dear would freak and end up against a tree or post if happened to her. Rang plod. Response: “not interested”.

Neighbour and self saw a male person jump neighbour’s fence and enter house through vacant rear window. Rang plod. Question: “would you like police attendance?”

During Summernats noticed police booking cars for parking across driveways in Dickson eateries area. Thought “goodonyas” and politely suggested they also book 4WD parked in disabled zone without disabled sticker. No answer given and no ticket on 4WD.

I have plenty more. And people wonder why I think the average Canberran is on their own as far as crime and public safety go. Ultimately, if people don’t have the confidence in their police/public safety they will behave differently in their community, which is why the Sears Bros did what the did (which I do not condone).

Sorry deadman, didn’t realise I needed to spell out my sarcasm. Have you ever thought that the reason the cops are so ‘prickly and stressed’ might have something to do with you?

Tool, you are just that. I’m not even going to begin on the corruption of the advances in our society that you are suggesting.
We need, apparently, more cops – more that can do their jobs properly, respecting the rights of every civilian whilst making sure lawbreakers are brought before the courts at the same time. And more to stop the current cops being so bloody stressed and prickly every time you have to deal with them.

I am sure if the cops used similar tactics to that of Mr Seears, many more crimes would be solved quite easily. I think Mr Seears is actually onto something; bring back Martial Law, I am sure many a police person would love to go out and give some locals a flogging whenever they suspected they knew something or had done something wrong.

And then imagine the complaints, I guarantee it wouldn’t be about crimes going unsolved!!

So that’s where they put the fat people vg ? (pun – their job is just as serious, if not more than poor little missing bbq boys issue).

Canberra does seem to be incrementally becoming one of the ‘big boys’ in the field of crime stats per capita, with more and more resourcing going into the high profile anti-drug, anti-terrorist etc roles and away from beat policemen.

I can’t begin to think of the last time I saw a cop walking – it’s not to say that they are no longer doing it, it’s more of a comment that it’s certainly not as regular as it used to be.

An example recently saw a kid get a lighed aerosol ‘flamethrower’ used on him by a gang of idiots, the resultant increase in police presence appeared to be a couple of vehicle patrols and a speedcamera on the main road.

If the kids saw coppers walking down back roads etc every now and again, I’m sure they’d think at least twice about getting into mischief, that can only be viewed as a positive thing couldn’t it ?

Personally, I agree that coppers are understaffed. I also think that they may be improperly resourced, and need to re-analyze their social presence. Coppers have a position in our society, and need to come back to the basics a little, in order to prevent some of the nastier things (drugs etc) happening in the first place.

That said, it’s not going to be an easy thing to do, ever.

Perhaps we should be looking at the judicial process which is holding everything up so much, and streamline that – less time in court = more beat time for example.

“I watched ‘Missing Persons’on tv last night – I was appalled by the amount of police resources used to locate people who went missing of their own accord and did not want to be located. Imagine if the same resources were put into solving crimes.”

How can I say this? For starters that show is about the NSW Police. We live in the ACT. And for seconders, I’m pretty sure that people don’t voluntarily transfer in to the Missing Persons Unit…..if you know what I mean

Seears – good blokes. Boxy – seems like a good bloke too? You a mate of Seears? Police don’t do this… Police don’t do that cry cry cry. How about you take some responsibility for securing your property. Put in an alarm. Record your serial numbers and even better take digital images of your property so it can be identified.

Police didn’t help me boo hoo. Cry me a river. Has anybody been helped by the Police? What you don’t see here is the good work Police do and then the Courts let them down.

This Seears fool can’t take the law into his own hands. What did he think would happen? I’m guessing that the true story about the bike will never be brought to light. Seears is hardly a robin hood type. More the tattooed gutless drug dealing whimp with a sticker on his back type with a healthy dose of small mans syndrome.

I’ve never argued that we don’t

So we need more police?

Batemans Bay Police get 3 jobs a day if they’re unlucky. Canberra Police are into the hundreds

I watched ‘Missing Persons’on tv last night – I was appalled by the amount of police resources used to locate people who went missing of their own accord and did not want to be located. Imagine if the same resources were put into solving crimes.

Policing in Canberra is terrible – I’ve had numerous items stolen – car, bike, BBQ – you report it and never hear from the police again. I even had witnesses to the thefts and could tell them who did it and they weren’t interested.

Pickle – same scenario in Canberra this year. Police would not attend, and would not even write it down. They advised to make better friends with the neighbours and watchout for each other…..

Compare Canberra to Batemans Bay late last year.
Attempted Burglary several broken Windows. Police attend, finger prints taken. Police assume that offender did not get inside. Owners attend find blood inside, police return take DNA and about 2 weeks later kids are arrested.
Would police attend in Canberra???

In a world without Crazy Chester and that other illiterate nutter, we need the likes of Boxy.

Sadly some of Boxy’s comments have fallen afoul of our moderation.

Likewise. I didn’t even know what a monkey bike was, though I do now 🙂 Shame on you, boxy for ruining my early morning after I read your comments.

I just love the fact that I’m getting randomly abused for making a cheap crack about monkey bikes…

Boxy may be a bit over the top, but he has a teeny bit of a point. Having been stolen from myself, I know it’s pretty useless to call the cops – whether it’s understaffing, incompetence, general apathy on the cops part or a mxture of the three, i don’t know. But something needs to improve in the AFP to prevent these types of vigilante acts happening again.
And hell, it is a little funny that the Seears were able to track down stolen property that the cops would have never been able to recover.

I did the survey too and gave poor feedback.
Mine is from being fobbed off when trying to ring the police. And the woman who answers the phone is rude as anything – obviously her job is to get rid of people.
Noise – ring EPA, police are too understaffed.
Broken Window – not worth writing up.
Trespassers in backyard – not worth writing up.
Number plate theft in action – couldn’t get thru.
Report hard drug sales via a business – they couldn’t hang up fast enough.
(these two were a while ago – the rest are the last few months).
these are all minor things (not life threatening). But it doesn’t give me any confidence that anything will be done about more serious issues.
I’d prefer a zero tolerance approach, and more police around.

Bigred,

Just wondering.

What dealings have you had with Police that you are so unsatisfied with?

Is it the individual Police or the organisation as a whole?

Is it personal dealings or a perception?

Do you think/know it is better in the other states?

So you know the results of the survey already?

Can I borrow your crystal ball?

What happens if 60-70% of people disagree with you?

I just participated in the Roy Morgan survey on Police Satisfaction. My contribution will assist in sending the results towards the “highly unsatisfied” end of the spectrum. As a community we need to stop denying the facts: we are very poorly served by the plods.

Dear Boxy

I have plenty of ticker. There are ways and means of recovering property. Aggravated burglary is not the way to do it. I know a lot more of the actual facts than yourself.

You may also care to correctly read the recent statistics regarding the approval ratings of ACT Policing.

I know exactly the sort of person you are. Big mouth, but all piss and wind. So just blow away and leave the discussions to the adults