Safe Speed Forums

This doesn't suprise me one bit from a Policeman. Seems to Joe Public that left wing ideals such as political correctness and re-habilitation are are more important than crime and punishment these days, I find this very sad and I'll bet its because people with differing views on the political spectrum are weeded out very early in the selection process.

As people have probably guessed, I lean in the direction of the top right corner, but I'm actually quite close to the centre, the fact that anyone is more than + or - 4 in any direction is a worry, extremism is alive and well I see.

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www.clubrwd.com - For all things rear wheel drive

For the judiciary perhaps, but I doubt it for the police - left wing, right wing, who cares if they're up to the job?

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Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler - Einstein

I disagree, the general political compass of the average PC in my opinion would tend towards centre right, and I think that will always be the case.

But as Gatso says, I really don't think it matters too much, as long as we can do the job we're paid to do.

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Fixed ideas are like cramp, for instance in the foot, yet the best remedy is to step on them.

Ian

Time to get your bags packed then!!!

<wanders off, hands stuffed in pockets, whistling Jerusalem>

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CSCP Latin for beginners...
Ticketo ergo sum : I scam therefore I am!

sorry, can't reply as I'm no longer here.

I sort of see, but an Officer is suppossed to remain impartial, and a heavily left-leaning officer is naturally going to be sympathetic to certain cases and not others, I should imagine there is a lot of common sense and judgement calls in everyday life as a Police Officer and political opinion is bound to influence some of these judgement calls.

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www.clubrwd.com - For all things rear wheel drive

Since when has PC been a strictly 'leftie' thing, as you put it? Aside from the fact that lefties are just as capable of making sweeping politically incorrect statements as any on the right, the whole point of socialism was that it called for greater social responsibility on the part of the government and the public, not less!



This has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with facts on the ground, along with suitable media stereotyping and fearmongering.

The simple fact is that prison only works for hopeless cases. Put a petty criminal into an adult prison and you'll get a hardened criminal come back out in an awful lot of cases. Surely it would be better to try to rehabilitate folk - especially for things such as minor drug offences - and create useful members of society, rather than create an ever larger class of career criminals, just for the sake of 'punishment'.



Trust me, the a large number of policemen I've experienced are dyed-in-the-wool authoritarian Tories, and are just as biased when it comes to dealing with cases where the public was not endangered, yet their prejudices got the better of them.

I stil haven't seen you justify your positions on crime and immigration, other than talking points cribbed straight from the Mail/Express/Telegraph/Sun/Star (delete as appropriate).

J.

I think you need the word "potentially" in there somewhere, and it's also worth noting that the same thing could potentially apply with a heavily right leaning officer. Remember Constable Savage? Do you think PC Savage would be a left leaning or right leaning copper? More seriously, let's not forget that not so long ago Driving A Nice Car While Being Black was an unofficial offence in places (might still be, but I'd like to think it's a thing of the past now)... now, again, right or left leaning? Or just plain b rd?

BTW I've met coppers and ex-coppers (I guess 6 or 8 in all) and they come from across the political spectrum. Maggie's biggest fans to slightly left of Mao Tse Tung. However, their political opinons don't define whether they were satisfactory coppers or not.

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Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler - Einstein

Nope, all opinions of the Police have come from instances of dealing with actual officers.

I've reported crimes and officers have managed to try and turn round things on me because they're lazy sods who can't be bothered to investigate a crime, or they're too politically correct and twist something I've said so that it may offend someone. Its absolutely diabolical way to treat a victim of crime.

Oh, and if anyone wondered, before any previous to any dealings I have had with the Police in the last 5 years, 3 times being a victim of crime, 3 or 4 "random" stops and 1 stop for speeding, each time dealing with many officers and civilian employees, I just presumed officers were right leaning public servants, I now know this not to be the case!

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www.clubrwd.com - For all things rear wheel drive

What kind of crime(s)?

Remember it's an unspoken thing that burglary is something that is ameliorated by insurance companies rather than the police these days... just another consequence of the great Thatcher Revolution.

Of course, if you can't afford insurance you're buggered, but if you're too poor to afford insurance then you're probably too poor to be allowed nice stuff, according to the creed of most of the self-described 'conservatives' I know.

It seems that you're trying to blame upon liberals and the left the criminal side of the acquisitiveness which is actually very much a consequence of the 'me, me, me' philosophy of the Thatcher years. Remember, proprty crime is less a consequence of the inherent 'badness' of the criminal as much as it is people denied the things they want because society cannot provide them with the upward mobility to acquire things honestly.

And in my experience, most of the Met I've come across tend to be of the 'moderate conservative' persuasion.

J.

Not sure about this comment Tc, you have to take personal responsibility for your actions and not blame society for all your ills.

They are taking personal responsibility: they haven't got something, so rather than sitting about complaining, they are getting out and doing something about it. It is the way that they are doing it that is the problem.

The only way to stop it happening that would work is the classic "off with the arm" for theft, but the societies that practice this also stone to death for adultery, which would leave us a few politicians short. I am seeing the advantages already!

What a load of politically correct bollocks... "society cannot provide them with the upward mobility"?? How about "too lazy or stupid to get off their fat arses and actually work for something"..?

"Thou shalt not steal" has been a concept knocking about for more than a couple of thousand years! It even pr-dates Mrs Thatcher.

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"Politicians are the same the world over... We build bridges where there aren't any rivers." - Nikita Kruschev

It might help you to know, Daveyboy that, in the context of politics, the opposite of 'right' is 'left', not 'wrong' :wink:

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Fixed ideas are like cramp, for instance in the foot, yet the best remedy is to step on them.

Ian

I know, I can accept the views of left leaning people, but I cannot even begin to understand hard left stance of some people hence why I've been known to call it "right" and "wrong" I think its fair enough because far right is very frowned upon too.

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www.clubrwd.com - For all things rear wheel drive

daveyboy hi
like you my leanings are very much to the right some might say further than atilla.lol as for cyclists my journey through london is intresting to say the least... america great place, but for americans....i have delt with tfl for 3 years on a business level.. the highways agency.. trl..and so on.. i just laugh at the drivel.. but some good ideas and practices do come out..too
i strongly believe that the road planners movers and shakers are cyclists,with very thick glasses and have never driven at all.....but discussion on this site is great i have certainly learnt from ian.h and patch etc..and laughed with earnest marsh at jj/ callaghan.....great put downs from wildy, mad doc, paul etc just laugh at them mate look what happend to communism we will win in the end.......no cameras and sensible road policys& more traf pol....
goldy

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Audere Est Facere.....To Dare Is To Do

Pardon me, but that's just balderdash.
I grew up in poor neighbourhoods, and the thought of taking something which didn't belong to me never even entered my head, the same goes for everybody else I knew from those neighbourhoods.
I've had a reasonably successful life, out of my own efforts.

Cheers
Peter

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Only when ideology, prejudice and dogma are set aside does the truth emerge - Kepler

The distorted thinking that underlies this statement, a classic example of modernist liberal intelligentsia shite, is a prime example of why this country has become such a crap-hole for honest hardworking taxpayers.

There's no distorted thinking in there in my opinion, you may feel differently.

But the 'gimme-gimme-gimme-more-more-more' attitude that is at the root of those problems comes from the 'I've got mine, so f**k you' position that was at the heart of the Thatcher policies of the '80s - a very much Conservative movement.

I think that the whole 'we didn't think of taking what wasn't ours back in my day' is a complete nostalgic fabrication anyway. It may have been perceived as less widespread because the media wasn't this gigantic beast that needed to manufacture crime scares to drive profits back then.

It's all very well to say 'I've been successful, out of my own efforts' - but how much of your success was purely down to your own efforts? How much was luck? How much was being in the right place at the right time? After graduation, I was pretty much out of work for 2 years - because my chosen profession was hyped as a way of getting rich quick by the media, which in turn led to a boom and subsequent collapse. And because of the way the social safety net has been decimated in the last 26 years, and because I happened to be a single guy living on my own - I was effectively told 'you're on your own, mate'.

I could then ramble on about applying, and by extension getting rejected for between 5 and 8 jobs a day. I could talk about having to go back to bartending to pay my rent, which in turn meant that I missed potential interviews because of the hours involved to scrape together enough money to pay it on a bartender's wages.

In the end I got lucky and was finally in the right place at the right time - but that whole period cost me a lot, not least of which was a lot of my self-belief and self-respect which in retrospect wasn't actually my fault.

The right-wing media like to paint an image of 'scroungers' trying to get a 'free living' by playing our 'liberal system'. I'm sure such people exist, but they're far less numerous than the Sun, Star, Express and Mail claim. To deny this minority is to also deny those in real need of help, and I'd hope that our society is enlightened enough that we look after our disadvantaged, which include the working poor and the just plain unlucky - because no matter how hard you work, no matter how much money you make, a simple twist of fate can take it all away from you, putting you in the same boat as them.

This is no liberal intelligentsia shite, I lived it for 2 years, and I'd want to know that the folk surrounding me would be willing to help me out, as I'm more than happy to help them out should the tables be turned.

The point is that if you take the social safety net away as Thatcher did, and Major and Blair (to a lesser, but no less significant extent) perpetuated, people will do what it takes to get what they need, from scrumping apples to burgling the well off - 'twas always thus.

Look at what happened to Biloxi and New Orleans to see what happens if you take tax cuts too far.

Tc.

correction, people are doing what it takes to get what they WANT not what they need. All we really need is a roof over our heads and food to survive, everything else comes under 'want'. There is no need to resort to crime to survive in today's society.