Police Numbers - Smyth earns his Keep

Shrug. I think I made my case quite clearly, while many of the counter camp can do nothing but sling insults. I gave examples, the counter camp sling more insults. The counter camp claim I must be some kind of criminal element, I state my background to refute that…. counter camp slings insults. If that’s the best you can do, then my argument is won. People who think insults are an argument simply show that they haven’t got a case.

Coincidence? A two page spread in the same paper extolling the virtues of Neighbourhood Watch and Safety Houses.

“We can keep the Police numbers down if you clowns would just pull your weight”

Anyone who makes mention they are a taxpayer therefore demand certain respect from govt employees has lost before they even start.

Hi I’m a taxpayer – slave take my report, be polite and shine my boots chop chop what ho old chap.

It’s slow news days in the Crimes with things like this article http://www.canberra.yourguide.com.au/news/local/general/a-thief-confesses-youre-looking-for-a-house-thats-nice-and-tidy-looks-like-its-got-money/1236560.html that promt this sort of post.

Confessions of a burgler – is it telling us anything we don’t know. The only time he wasn’t breaking into houses was when he was in gaol.

As for Ant – you come across as a pompous arse.

All govt depts – learned at TCH -triage their jobs. Police go to important (?) stuff. But if you want them to come to a break in or such, just call and tell them you have a baseball bat and are “going to take the law into your own hands” … they definitely do not like anyone doing their job. Not that they would take to anyone with a baseball bat…

+1 andy pandy

Pandy!!!!!! Public Education? Are you employed? Can you look at yourself in the mirror? Are you fit to lick Ant’s boot laces?

Glad to hear someone positive about the ACT Police on TRA. A nice Fu*king change.

It is morons like Ant who whinge and whine becuase they didn’t get the service level they expected / demanded from the Police – you caqn just envision what a tool he would be towards the Police and their obvious reaction to his snobbery.

I have to say I have a great deal of respect for ACT police(and all other australian police forces I have had dealings with) Allthough canberra born and bred I have spent 5 years living the washington DC (a city with far more significant crime problem than canberra, and can be a genuinely dangerous place) and due to where I worked had numerous dealings with various police forces, I would have far more faith in our cops than any of theirs when it comes to professionalism and just general good policing.

When I was 20 I had a car fire (due to a mechanic fitting the wrong size fuel line) upon calling 000 an AFP cop was there in less than 30 sec. ( I was not in any danger but could easily have been) the fireys arrived within 1.5 minutes. After everything was sorted out I was given a lift to work in the police car, top marks to the emergency services.

I have on occasion witnessed some cops being rude/short but there is not a profession i have dealt with that does not contain at least some rude p*%$#s. And quite often this might be down working in a high stress environment, even my good self has been responsible for the odd bit of rudeness.However I have definately witnessed a hell of a lot more floggs be rude to cops just for the sake of it .

I have received 2 speeding fines from ACTs constablary, both deserved (both under 15km over but speeding none the less) and I if I have done something wrong I am adult enough to cop the consequences. These were given to me in a professional manner, no complaints here.

I have on numerous occasions witnessed with my own eyes and ears people make up complete BS about there treatment by police, and while not all police are perfect, they are working in a profession that is doing more good for society than 99% of us.

Finally I have learnt even with my meagre PUBLIC education (it is a miracle I have avoided a life of crime), that people with unrealistic expectations will rarely be happy.

Ant, TheCMan has some very wise words of wisdom for you. You should take heed but I suspect the old adage applies to you “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”

Also, anyone who feels the need to justify themselves with “I’m a Canberra local, I’m private school educated, I’m old, I’m not the kind of person who has much dealings with police, and I’m sorry to say that every dealing I’ve had with police in this town has been very disappointing, if not surprisingly unpleasant. ” sounds like a right pratt who would annoy down to earth people no end. Who gives a toss if you are private school educated? Please explain what difference this makes. Who gves a shit if you are old! FFS – get a life, stop bothering the police with trivial shit and go and live in NSW.

Oh yes, I nearly forgot, give us more Police damn it…

ant said :

…. and once again, I give actual examples, while the “how dare you knock the police” crew (Spideydog and DJ) make vague opinionated statements attacking without countering. I’ve given examples of poor police performance… where’s your actual examples to counter that? Calling me names doesn’t quite cut it. Saying “the courts are full of people they’ve caught” is promising, but doesn’t deliver.

You may not like what I’m saying, but throwing mud and insults when someone’s come up with examples is weak. Being able to shout louder doesn’t win you an argument.

“The courts are full of people they’ve caught is promising, but doesn’t deliver”………………..OMG nothing is good enough for you, is it?

If I remember correctly, you are the one that got aggressive and started calling names FIRST when someone stated a differing opinion to you, so don’t go throwing that arguement at me “Pot this is Kettle”

How many times do I have to tell you…. “I am not, and HAVE NOT countered your “examples” deliberately, because I can’t verify if they are actually true or in the correct context that you have presented. (I am not saying they are untrue also) I am not going to discuss something I was not involved in and therfore cannot verify it’s validity. In the same context, I wouldn’t state all he good things Police have done, for the same reason, noone here knows if I am telling the truth, the whole truth or in the right context, I’m an anonymous internet user in a blogger for heaven sake, besdes if I was to put down all the good things that police have done, I would be here all day 😉

Policing is not perfect and I never said it was, My only arguement with you was, It’s not as bad as you make it out to be. I think I’ve made it fairly plain and simple.

And yes as stated above, if these examples of yours did occurr, I hope you reported them, they can’t fix something, they dont know had occurred.

Anyways, I think we have had both our sides well and trully explored and I for one will let this one go to the keeper….(sigh of relief from crowd..he he)

Thanks for the discussion kind sir.

Ag,

I agree we need more Police and am not happy to settle for the bare minimum. What I am saying is, in my opinion, with the resourse and Police numbers they have, ACT Police do a good job. Its the ACT Council that need to increase the numbers. So Police response times and visibility is a resourse issue that needs to be addressed. The way the individual Police go about their jobs is something that I am happy with.

I think a lot of people underestimate just how many serious incidents occur in Canberra at the same time. Whilst there may be several burglaries waiting for police to attend, there may be assaults, domestic disturbances, drunks harrassing people at shopping centres, car prangs and any other numbers of incidents that would require a higher priority response, including shoplifters (if the offenders are caught by shop staff).

Burglaries aren’t urgent unless the offenders are still there. Makes sense? As for noise complaints/parties..I imagine they are attended to if time and resources permit.

Ant,
Your examples of experiences with police are shockers (if they haven’t been exaggerated etc) and would warrant a complaint I would’ve thought. How are you going to make them accountable otherwise?

DJ and Smack (sounds like a techno band)make decent arguments but are missing the point – why can’t we demand enough police to attend when we call?

Are we happy for “minor” burglaries to take hours to properly report, are we happy for parties at 3am not being attended to….

Can policing be better in Canberra? Of course it can.

So lets put the pressure on our toy government to give us what we want! Rather than them decide what is good for us – ie the bare minimum.

…. and once again, I give actual examples, while the “how dare you knock the police” crew (Spideydog and DJ) make vague opinionated statements attacking without countering. I’ve given examples of poor police performance… where’s your actual examples to counter that? Calling me names doesn’t quite cut it. Saying “the courts are full of people they’ve caught” is promising, but doesn’t deliver.

You may not like what I’m saying, but throwing mud and insults when someone’s come up with examples is weak. Being able to shout louder doesn’t win you an argument.

Yes, our unit in Jindy was burgled (by the owner’s friend) and the local (on loan from elsewhere) NSW cops came very smartly, took all the evidence and stuff, but then appeared to lose interest in actually pursuing the case (again, all that “circumstantial evidence” baloney). They were pretty friendly though.

I also had dealings with the NSW police when they took statements from everyone who’d been staying in our lodge at thredbo before it came down the hill, very smart young detectives from Queanbeyan who didn’t miss *anything*.

And out my way, on a rainy night, the people down the hill’s burgular alarm went off, and someone must have rung the cops because after about half an hour of it starting up, they appeared. They then drove up to my house and sang up from their car to enquire how long the alarm had been going. I wasn’t sure. “would you reckon more than 30 minutes?” asked the cop hopefully. I agreed it would have been more than 30 minutes. Cop was happy with that and went off to issue the household with a nuisence alarm notice. Which was actually good (as well as rather funny) as it gave him a bit of revenge for a call-out on a wet night, and ensured that teh neighbours got their alarm fixed (so no more distuptions to the neighbourhood).

I was pretty impressed with the Qbn cops nabbing that offensive young prat in the school zone this morning, too. Red P plate, and lettering on his (lowered) ute saying “Too Lo for a Fat Ho”.

No cops are perfect, but I’m frankly flabbergasted by the ACT police. My examples I gave weren’t of trivial instances, I think anyone would regard them as pretty substandard behaviour by police.

Ant,

Have you ever had dealings with Police in other states? By the sounds of it no you haven’t, otherwise your opinion of ACT Police maybe slightly different. The QLD Police that attended my house, for what I considered a fairly major incident and they had to use my phone to ring through the report and get me an incident number. In NSW I had a burglary and the Police would not even attend.

In comparison I had a burglary in the ACT, which I considered very minor (only a camera taken) and the ACT Police attended, took some photos and a report. Sure in took them about 4 hours to come, but there wasn’t any rush as the burglar had already left. I also had a family member die at the hospital and the Police were really helpful and understanding.

So in comparison, my experiences with ACT Police have been good and better than Police in other states. It’s for this reason I have defended them on this site and will keep doing so.

Yeah sure I would have liked them to come within minutes of me reporting the burglary, but in the grand scheme of things in did not require urgent attendance. Whilst a burglary, fireworks or a noisy party might be the end of my world at the time, I can appreciate that it might not be the most important incident going on in Canberra at the time. We also have to be realistic, some incidents are sufficient to report over the phone and we don’t need a Police car to come just to make us feel good.

No system is perfect but in my opinion ours is better than some.

Some very good points DJ, especially crime statistics, very true.

There is no way to please everybody and I agree with Spideydog regarding the comments made by ant.

You all want results don’t you? You pay taxes and fines and you want to see the outcome. Unfortunately a lot of Policing can’t be measured by accountants looking into small business or large corporations. Crime Statistics don’t take into account incidents that don’t occur because of the work Police carry out. An example of this is Police carrying out RBT at the exit of Pits carpark in the City. Some losers will drive regardless but if a 50/50 driver sees this and changes their mind thus the offence doesn’t occur (depending on the quality of the person he/she has piched up). The same goes for some assaults, thefts and other offences.

Is there a low % of Police per population? Show me a place with sufficient numbers? Ask anybody from interstate or even overseas and there is always a shortage. It is always a knee jerk reaction from the media and individuals who know no better who look for the scapegoat.

Nobody is always happy with Police 100% of the time and those who join do so knowing this. To have a group of individuals who do not represent the greater population putting in their 2c worth is fine but don’t think others opinions are worth less than yours. In my opinion you are wrong and there is nothing the Police or comminuty could do or say – you are whingers without a cause or clue. Ask the AFP media team about the letters of thanks or congratulations received daily from the community to ordinary Police in the ACT.

Crime in the ACT is where it is at because the Courts do not do the job you want them to do. Can anybody say they agree with the decisions made in the Magistrates or Supreme Courts that have made the media lately? If an offender is behind bars it is unlikely they will be up to no good in your backyard….

ant said :

i’m quite amazed that one can give frank, plain examples of poor police service, and still people try to put spin on them, put some kind of “you must be to blame” imputation on them. I’m a Canberra local, I’m private school educated, I’m old, I’m not the kind of person who has much dealings with police, and I’m sorry to say that every dealing I’ve had with police in this town has been very disappointing, if not surprisingly unpleasant. I’ve outlined a few of them. What is so hard to comprehend? Do you feel that maybe I invited their indifference or offensive response?

When I’ve dealt with them, it has been as a law-abiding member of the community. a taxpayer. Not as a law-breaker, suspect, criminal or whatever. I mistakenly expected them to behave like police, not truculent and unmotivated clerks/security guards.

If an ordinary member of the community has had these experiences, face up guys, so have many others. What you’re doing isn’t stopping criminals, and ordinary people in society have no confidence in you. your response to my comments just reinforces the impression.

ant,

You are entitled to your opinion, but so is everyone else….

If policing in the ACT was a bad as you say it is, there would be a whole lot more commotion going on than 2 blokes on an internet blog saying just how bad it is. If the police are that bad and are not doing thier jobs, ie “Isn’t stopping criminals” then why are the courts full of hearings…. The crims don’t hand themselves in do they. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, go to the courts and see just how much of that “Police work” is there and then come back here and say police in the ACT are “Truculent and unmotivated clerks/security guards”

Whats so hard to comprehend you say? I could ask the same question of you… I’ve made my opinion pretty clear, but agan for you… In your own words, you have stated hat you have had “much dealings with police” With such an substantial amount of “dealings” with police and “NEVER” once had a good dealing, the math is going against you – this has caused me to form the opinion that you are a hard man to please in any form.

I’m sorry m8, but your responses have well and trully reinforced my impression of you (who said I was a police member anyways?)

A couple of guys on an internet blog is by no means the “entire voice of the ACT community”. I have no quarms in saying that the majority of the ACT community’s opinion would be in stark contrast to yours…Private education or not…. and yes, I’m public school educated and proud.

Exactly my experience, sepi. I just regard them as an irrelevance now. They issue numbers for insurance claims. If we ever encounter robbers again, well, they’ll be dealt with. We learn by experience.

Yep.

I never used to be anti-police. Actually I never had much to do with them, and assumed they were the people to call when you observed a crime or suffered one.

But after trying to call a few times and being fobbed off or not even getting through to anyone I really started to lose faith in the ACT police system.

i’m quite amazed that one can give frank, plain examples of poor police service, and still people try to put spin on them, put some kind of “you must be to blame” imputation on them. I’m a Canberra local, I’m private school educated, I’m old, I’m not the kind of person who has much dealings with police, and I’m sorry to say that every dealing I’ve had with police in this town has been very disappointing, if not surprisingly unpleasant. I’ve outlined a few of them. What is so hard to comprehend? Do you feel that maybe I invited their indifference or offensive response?

When I’ve dealt with them, it has been as a law-abiding member of the community. a taxpayer. Not as a law-breaker, suspect, criminal or whatever. I mistakenly expected them to behave like police, not truculent and unmotivated clerks/security guards.

If an ordinary member of the community has had these experiences, face up guys, so have many others. What you’re doing isn’t stopping criminals, and ordinary people in society have no confidence in you. your response to my comments just reinforces the impression.

Well I have personally taken many a phone call of broken windows, damage done to property and of car’s broken into with items stolen.

I can assure you it all gets written up properly with stolen items all logged into the central database should they show up later. So I don’t know if your dealings were with Police from a bygone era or if you have been given the run-around but trust me, it all gets logged.

There is very little point going to most minor crime scenes as not a lot can be done without any decent evidence. Plus it takes Police away from more serious crimes which as you would appreciate, have to get higher priority.

They also told us to make friends with out neighbours, to prevent crime – great idea on a fairly isolated battleaxe block backing some reserve.

sepi,

That has not been my experience and I know that reports of that nature are taken all the time.

If that has happened to you and in that context, then I am sorry that has been your experience.

They won’t even take reports of a smashed window or a wrecked letterbox over the phone.

I was told “we could write it up, but we won’t do anything with the report, so it’s just a waste of time so we won’t”

No sepi, I’m not stunned. You are one of two people that say they have had nothing but bad experiences with police (oh except your one good one).

Seriously though, what “lower level crime” do you say should be attended and what circumstances? If you mean cases of , well lets see…ie vandalised letter box – where there is no suspects, no witnesses, no evidence or no avenues of enquiry? What benefit is there in sending a two person patrol to that incident when the same thing can be achieved by simply making a report over the phone. By sending a patrol there, you are a taking it away from atteding more serious crime, takiing a patrol of the road to prevent crime, (ie, patrolling).

“It makes the member of the public feel good that police attended personally to take the report”…. yes it does. But police still have to attend the more serious matters, crime in progress etc. So to boost numbers only to have those greater numbers used to attend “lower level crime” with no avenue of enquiry, is a waste of tax payer money (in my opinion)

Yes, I’m all for more police out on the beat, but use those extra patrols correctly

Just my opinion.

I’ve had one good experience with Canberra police and about 10 bad ones.

You state what should happen, and seem stunned that we have had expereinces where that didn’t happen.

I believe Canberra police should attend to lower level crime more often, more seriously and more promptly. And if that means we need more police, lets get them.

ant said :

Spideydog, you are obviously not very intelligent. I gave factual, personal accounts of a normal, middle-aged person’s experience with the police, and you ignored everything I said, stated that I was a liar, and asked for “positive experiences”.

Plainly, your reading skills are poor, as I stated I’d had NO positive experiences with police here. Every time I’ve needed their help, I’ve got none.

I have many other examples too, of their poor attitude, lack of interest in ordinary policing, lack of effectiveness when they did attempt some policing (staking out a commercial premises to catch robbers which had returned every night, and having to be told that their reflective car panels could be seen from the main road), rudeness at roadside RBTs, etc etc.

It is obvious you have some axe to grind, and are not going to listen to anything that doesn’t fit in with that.

Well didnt you get very nasty, very easily. Lord forbid someone having a different opinion to you, or not come to your way of thinking ??? Is this what the Police are doing wrong, ant ? So anyone with a different opinion to you, are “Unintelligent and can’t read”?

If I remember correctly, it was Proud who made the comment of “please provide an example of a good expereince.” But Yes, I did agree with his post. My interpretation of Prouds post, was he was not having a go at your “examples” of bad experiences. He was stating that he found it hard to believe that you have not had “one” good experience and I agreed with that. (correct me if I’m wrong Proud) So NO, I didn’t igonore your post and yes I did see that you stated NO good experiences, so I think you may need to settle down a little before putting on the cranky pants. I didn’t agree or rebuke your “bad examples” because I wasn’t there.

From your posts, it sounds as though you have had substantial amounts of dealings with police and obviously this would mean ALOT of different officers. One or two “bad eggs” I would believe, but in the amount and proportion your talking, I found a little hard to believe, that there is not even “one” good experience.

I am sorry that you’ve had “bad experiences” ant, and I hope that one day, you may actually have a good one, theres at least a couple hundred officers out there…at least one them should do thier job ok…. Do yourself a favour, I am sure that if you were to go to the Magistrates court on pretty much any given day or days, you will see that they are doing the work and a lot of it.

Lastly, what axe have I got to grind… this is the first I’ve heard, perhaps you could fill me in?

Ant: “I suspect that the older-fashioned ways of dealing with people who commit crimes was more effective.”

When you refer to these ‘older-fashioned ways’exactly what do you mean? Are you suggesting that a dose of summary assault before sending miscreants home to Mum and Dad or perhaps a good flogging with the old Yellow Pages in the cells may be the way to go. A word of advice – be careful listening to ‘retired ex-senior’ cops – everything was always done better, smarter, more effectively and more efficiently back in their day. There is nothing so ex as an ex cop! ACT crime rates are relatively low and the clear up rates and conviction rates compare very favourably to other Australian jurisdictions – despite a very average DPP and the well documented efforts of the ACT Supreme Court to socially engineer the law from the bench.

Honestly Ant, if you are that dissatisfied with the Policing services provided here how about stumping up some suggestions for improvements – you seem to be quite the expert on law enforcement. If all your experiences with Police in this town have been negative – and you have nominated a large number – perhaps it has more to do with you and your biases then it does with the Police. I suspect it would be very illuminating to hear from Police who have had dealings with you in regard to what your attitude has been like.

The Police, like any govt agency, make mistakes and individual members have varying levels of skill, committment, knowledge and experience – that’s life. There are well known options to report poor performance / dissatisfaction with service – if you are unhappy you should use them.

And as to you, Proud Local, do you actually, really, believe I made all that up? Please switch on your brain! Maybe you need to start listening, too, because despite your belief that you are doing a good job (and may well so be doing), these are real examples.

I had a retired ex-senior cop working for me soem years back, and it was evident that policing had changed in the ACT very greatly. I suspect that the older-fashioned ways of dealing with people who commit crimes was more effective. My grandfather, btw, was this man’s Master when he entered an apprenticeship after leaving school. I’m a third generation Canberran, I’m not making up stories about the police, and I’m very disappointed with the “service” ordinary folk get from them.

Spideydog, you are obviously not very intelligent. I gave factual, personal accounts of a normal, middle-aged person’s experience with the police, and you ignored everything I said, stated that I was a liar, and asked for “positive experiences”.

Plainly, your reading skills are poor, as I stated I’d had NO positive experiences with police here. Every time I’ve needed their help, I’ve got none.

I have many other examples too, of their poor attitude, lack of interest in ordinary policing, lack of effectiveness when they did attempt some policing (staking out a commercial premises to catch robbers which had returned every night, and having to be told that their reflective car panels could be seen from the main road), rudeness at roadside RBTs, etc etc.

It is obvious you have some axe to grind, and are not going to listen to anything that doesn’t fit in with that.

WOW….I am pleased I don’t hang around with ant…he attracts a lot of bad people.

Sorry for the double post 🙁

@123que

123qwe said :

I remember reading somewhere that the Chief Police Officer in the ACT wants to introduce an on-line system that will show what the cops are up to ‘real time’. Can anyone else recall something similar?

I think the cops here do a good job, but this type of transperancy; showing what they are up to, would be a good thing.

I agree, but I think this is a little flawed in the sence that, if where and what police are doing in real time is shown, the crims will also have access to that information…well do I need to go further. Maybe it was planned to be delayed by 24 hrs or something.

It would definitely be a good thing (if practicable) as it may provide proof to the public that police are out there doing the work, showing the constraints they work under and highlight why there is a priority system.

Anything that will help foster a positive image to the public without compromising on operational activities is a good thing.

Felix the Cat,

*Too be honest, with a car break in, unless offenders are there (crime in pregress), a suspect is nominated or there is forensic evidence left behind (ie, blood from breaking the window etc), a patrol car is not sent and a report is taken over the phone. So on the face of your story above, i am unsure as to why a car was sent. I am not privy to that particular phone conversation so I can’t answer for sure. Another note, quite a few new officers are out at the moment and some may not know ALL minor procedures fully and senior members can’t monitor all calls received by junior members. They mean the best and have not meant any inconvenience. If something seems wrong, there is nothing wrong with you ringing that particular station and seeking clarification on that issue. I am sure that it is better to have an issue dealt with in a adult manner to eliviate any misconceptions a person may keep with them into the future (if there misconceptions)

*There is no way to evidentially link that “lurker” to your car break in a few weeks earlier, however in saying that, if a car is available (pending other priorities) one would be dispatched to check out the “suspicious behaviour” I find it surprising that they would say “call us when he does something”. Not entirely impossible but highly unlikely, in my opinion.

To add weight to Ant’s comments I have been involved in a couple of similar situations. Not meaning to ‘bash’ the Police, I understand they are overworked, underpaid and short staffed, just giving a couple of examples of my experiences.

*My car was broken into while it was parked outside the flat I lived in at Hawker and the stereo stolen. I rang the cops to report it, didn’t expect them to do anything about it, was just reporting it. I asked the cop on the phone should I just close the car up and go to work and maybe come down the station later and give a statement? No was the reply, leave everything how it is and we’ll send a car around. So I waited for over two hours, rang back after 1.5hrs and asked when I could expect the the cop to come around and was told tersely that there were other more important crimes happening and I would have to wait and they would be there when they get there. Eventually the cop turned up, went straight over to the car and started touching everything. I thought they were going to take fingerprints (why else would they tell me to leave it and not touch it). Not taking prints said the cop, took a quick statement as to what was taken and then left. Took 5 mins and I could of done that over the phone!

*A few weeks later I came home late (after midnight) one weeknight and saw someone lurking about in the shadows. I went upstairs and rang the cops and told them what I saw and explained my car was broken into not long ago and that the ‘lurker’ could possibly be the culprit. Cop told me to ring back “when they do something”!

Wide Boy Jake said :

Actually I like the police situation in Canberra the way it is. The cops here are kept in their proper place, as a result we have a level of freedom unheard of in other places. I remember when I went to Queanbeyan last year and tried to walk up the main street there were more cops than people! On foot, driving up and down – it was like a police state. If anything we should reduce the number of cops in Canberra further. I certainly won’t be voting for anybody pushing that old hag Laura Norder or any promise to increase police numbers and make them more intrusive.

I went to Queanbeyan once too!
I don’t think you can classify it as a “police state”. The truth is that if you’re doing the right thing you’re unlikely to ever have a problem with “police harassing you” it’s as simple as that. Plus I bet you’re the first one crying foul if someone mugged you in said street and there didn’t happen to be “more police than people” walking down the street.

sepi said :

Yep.

Noone in this thread has said police are corrupt or lazy.

ant has done a pretty good job of portraying as such, perhaps his examples of their unresponsiveness and driving around in bling guarding buildings were poorly worded and missed the part mentioning “due to low numbers”

Anyway, the story about police numbers are what we’ve known for many years. it gets brought up every 18 months or so before getting swept under the carpet by the useless government. I myself have rang police to have them show up hours later after the event when there’s not much to be done, I totally don’t blame the officers themselves.. a couple of times i’ve found out from the officers that they have come all the way from civic or belconnen to deal with the call in woden/tuggeranong, which highlights the issue with police numbers.

The government’s response to this will be providing money in the budget for 15 new officers over the next 2 years (on top of the i think it was 20 over 3 years in the last budget), and i’m sure the levels leaving the force would outnumber this. We all know we need at least another 80 to 100 to actually see some policing around the place, but then there’s stanhopeless…

Proud Local said :

Ant, I simply cannot believe what you say to be true. I have never seen any such behaviour or lack of interest from Police in the ways you describe. How about you give us some good examples of experience with ACT Policing, surely there must be some? I have received and seen given to others, profuse thanks from the public (including shop keepers) on a daily basis for all sorts of things.

Agreed.

Police numbers are much healthier then they were about 2 years ago.

There is a problem with not enough Police vehicles though. Apparently they cost money to buy and to run, hence more Police available then cars to put them in. Some have resorted to catching buses on popular routes to particular shopping areas and then walking the beat. Although at least this makes taking the bus a bit safer I suppose.

For every shoplifter Police detain it means 3 hours of processing and paperwork back at the station. Same with most minor crimes. Thats just the way it is, I wish it was not but hence why we can’t be out on the streets all shift every shift.

Ant, I simply cannot believe what you say to be true. I have never seen any such behaviour or lack of interest from Police in the ways you describe. How about you give us some good examples of experience with ACT Policing, surely there must be some? I have received and seen given to others, profuse thanks from the public (including shop keepers) on a daily basis for all sorts of things.

But obviously you know best.

A friend of mine used to work at Belconnen Police Station. At some stages there were about 6 police (three patrols) to cover all of Belconnen and Gungahlin on a Saturday night. The Police Minister at the time, Mr Hargreaves, refused to admit we had a police shortage.

I have been living away from the ACT for a year or so and see not much has changed.

It is not the fault of the police if they are massively understaffed. Most of them work their a@ses off.

If you aren’t happy with the level of policing, perhaps you should take it out on the pollies.

You are sooooo short sighted sepi, comments are not just related to the one thread and you have just contradicted your self wihin that post…

“

sepi said :

Yep.

Noone in this thread has said police are corrupt or lazy.

What we have said is that There Are Not Enough OF Them.

(Quote from ant: “Our police are rubbish. They just don’t work.” hmmm that sounds like a “not enough of them” comment)

So when you ring them, unless you are being murdered, they are not interested, and often rude about it. (hmmm that sounds like a “not enough of them” comment)

And police commenting on here have basically said that if we only knew of the hideous things going on in Canberra that police have to deal with, we wouldn’t expect them to deal with our noisy neighbours/smashed up windows/grafiti/burglaries/car accidents etc.

(I have not seen any comments saying from police members saying that they dont care about noisy neighbours/smashed up windows/grafiti/burglaries/car accidents etc and again this really doesn’t sound like a “not enough of them” comment)

When Canberra police have to close stations due to staff shortages, and tell a man stuck in an office which is being broken into that insurance will take care of the costs, you know there is a problem.

(from what I have seen, there has been one time that an office was “closed” and that was quite some time ago – couple of years. and WTF a person being told that insurance will look after it when offenders on his premises….. offenders on is given one of the highest priorities, I cannot imagine anyone ever saying that, unless I have missed something ???? Where did you hear this?)

Yep.

Noone in this thread has said police are corrupt or lazy.

What we have said is that There Are Not Enough OF Them.

So when you ring them, unless you are being murdered, they are not interested, and often rude about it.

And police commenting on here have basically said that if we only knew of the hideous things going on in Canberra that police have to deal with, we wouldn’t expect them to deal with our noisy neighbours/smashed up windows/grafiti/burglaries/car accidents etc.

When Canberra police have to close stations due to staff shortages, and tell a man stuck in an office which is being broken into that insurance will take care of the costs, you know there is a problem.

Quite simply, I don’t have any positive experiences with police to relate. I’m old, boring and law-abiding, and I find them completely irrelevant. Let’s see, a few experiences that spring to mind:

*delightful neighbours held a party, adn at one point around 11pm, poured oil on the road outside, and conducted burn-outs on it. Rang the police (this was on a sharp corner, btw, first car to hit that oil pool was going to end up in the hedge). Policeman who answered, after I’d outlined the problem, snarled “and what do you expect me to do about it?”.

*One morning just after we’d opened our Civic office for customers, a man in plain clothes stalked in, marched up to me, demanded “do you work here”? and when I said yes, he shoved this police-badge-thing literally 4 inches from my eyes, and demanded to know why I hadn’t reported someone vandalising the phone box outside, as it “must have just happened”. I was pretty stunned, and said that I entered through the back door and hadn’t noticed anyone vandalising a phone box. Then one of my staff said she’d arrived at 8am and had noticed the phone box had been vandalised. The bloke glared at her and marched out in silence.

*The time I noticed two guys checking every car in the Rex all-day carpark, looking for change, rang the cops, waited half an hour and they never showed up.

*The numerous times over the years I’ve been tailgated along Fairbairn in Campbell by police cars for the heinous crime of doing the speed limit.

*The time my wallett was stolen from my car parked inside the car shed at the back of our house, we found the guys walking around down teh back (seeing if my keys would open any sheds), their cars were concealed at our back gate with a kid evidently acting as lookout, we got descriptions of them, got their regos, but the cops refused to do anything, even go visit them, becuase the evidence was “circumstantial”. Our place ahs been turned over many times over the years, because these crims know, they’ll get away with it and not even get a “we’re watching you” visit from the police.

These are just the things that have sprung to mind right now. I’m sure people who join want to do the right thing, but plainly, the right thing is not being done on a regular basis.

The problem is Canberra policing is now being ruled by accountants and not the residents of Canberra.

If we, as the payers for the police service, want extra police we should get them.

If I ring for assistance I expect the Mr Plod to turn up sharpish – not two hours later when the threat has disappeared with no hope of tracking him down. If we expect those hoons doing burnouts to be caught we expect to see police driving around looking for them. If we want kids to think twice about shoplifting we expect to see police at the shops.

Our expectations have not matched the level of service for a number of years – and this is down to the bean counters. I would much prefer to have to pay for more boot leather and car rubber as they “patrol” than to have them spending all shift stretched to the limit.

Policing is one of the most thankless, stressfull jobs you can find. Fools like some people (not getting personal) here get on every chance they get to bash “Policing” with crap statements of “they do nothing” “there all corrupt” blah blah and don’t offer anything substantial to back thier claim up except for “it happened to a friend of mine”. It’s thankless as it is, it is hard to do the duty and put up with all the crap for the community (that no one else wants to do) if it seems the community doesn’t appreciate it at all. But they do it….

Heres an idea…. apply and join the AFP and show em how it’s done.

If people have legitimate complaints, by all means air them. Policing is not perfect, but is always looking to improve things if needed. But crapping on the entire organisation is not fair, short sighted and selfish. It does nothing for the majority of members that work hard for you 24/7 and do put their lives on the line for all of us.

But wouldn’t it be nice to have plenty of police, rather than the rock bottom bare minimum?

Fact – Canberra has more concentrated population than any of the states. So it would be more relevant to look at city concentrations. Canberra also has a different socio-economic demographic than all of the states.

What I am getting at is Canberra cannot simply be compared with another state because it is very different

I remember reading somewhere that the Chief Police Officer in the ACT wants to introduce an on-line system that will show what the cops are up to ‘real time’. Can anyone else recall something similar?

I think the cops here do a good job, but this type of transperancy; showing what they are up to, would be a good thing.

Just how many crack heads are doing home invasions?

ant,

Fair call – I know plenty of people who bang on about the cops who haven’t had any experience with them.

As for my China comment I was refering to your Chinese flame attendant comment – if you like the way they operate then move to China, i’m sure the cops are very attentive there, especially when trying to access Riot-ACT in one of the most policed states in the world – freedom of speech in China is as common as……..sorry, gotta go, there are two Chinese guys knocking on my door!

Hamilton said

Hamilton said :

I always love the people who bang on about how they hate the police and how useless they are etc.

I’ve got $100 that says ant would be the first person to dial 000 if some enraged crack head was trying to kick his door in looking for his next fix!!

Maybe ant should move to China? BTW he does, he won’t be able to access this site anymore.

Most people who feel contempt for the police feel this way because they HAVE attempted to get their help in various situations, and have discovered that no help is forthcoming. Our contempt is based on experience.

Your China point is somewhat puzzling. What exactly did you think you were saying?

Actually I like the police situation in Canberra the way it is. The cops here are kept in their proper place, as a result we have a level of freedom unheard of in other places. I remember when I went to Queanbeyan last year and tried to walk up the main street there were more cops than people! On foot, driving up and down – it was like a police state. If anything we should reduce the number of cops in Canberra further. I certainly won’t be voting for anybody pushing that old hag Laura Norder or any promise to increase police numbers and make them more intrusive.

I always love the people who bang on about how they hate the police and how useless they are etc.

I’ve got $100 that says ant would be the first person to dial 000 if some enraged crack head was trying to kick his door in looking for his next fix!!

Maybe ant should move to China? BTW he does, he won’t be able to access this site anymore.

Something needs to be done.

If we can’t get more police, then we need to get more assistance to the ones that are there, so they can actually get out on the streets and do police work.

coulnd’t public servants fill out the paperwork?

Also useless tasks like handing out ‘car acccident police report numbers’. – I rang police to see if they can help about a car accident (not our fault, other party is dragging the chain on paying up). They told me that they only hand out a police report number. Beyond that we need to pay for a lawyer. – So what is the point of their police report number, if they aren’t the least bit interested inthe actual details of the accident, or any follow-up action.

@ant – You’ve got your head firmly planted in your butt. The AFP security guards don’t even come into those numbers. You need to get in on the next station open day to see what they really do, or are you one of those Centrelink funded taxpayers that pay all the salaries?

Our police are rubbish. They just don’t work. There’s more fake cops swanning around in AFP bling cars minding buildings than there are real policepersons. We should sub-contract those Flame Attendants, they’d get the job done. Whatever the police think their job is, it’s at odds with the opinion of the taxpayers.

I wouldn’t call canberra a concentrated population. No idea of the stats but i’d guess we have very low population density