Police in Tesco's

beegee

In Belgium it is not uncommon to find armed police (they are armed anyway) having a drink in the bars.

davis

beegee wrote:

In Belgium it is not uncommon to find armed police (they are armed anyway) having a drink in the bars.

Yes, but they're in Belgium, for heavens'(*) sake. Belgium! You have to let them have something.

*: You count them. There are (is - hah!) more than one. Not less. Or fewer.

SimonAH

I was on a train in Switzerland once sitting opposite a sleeping soldier. After a little while the assault rifle slipped from his arms and started sliding around the floor of the Carriage.

Tempting it was, but customs are so picky these days.........

Kieran_Burns

SimonAH wrote:

I was on a train in Switzerland once sitting opposite a sleeping soldier. After a little while the assault rifle slipped from his arms and started sliding around the floor of the Carriage.

Tempting it was, but customs are so picky these days.........

Yeah, Yoda turning up with an assault rifle is bound to attract attention

EKE_38BPM

Kieran_Burns wrote:

SimonAH wrote:

I was on a train in Switzerland once sitting opposite a sleeping soldier. After a little while the assault rifle slipped from his arms and started sliding around the floor of the Carriage.

Tempting it was, but customs are so picky these days.........

Yeah, Yoda turning up with an assault rifle is bound to attract attention

[waves hand in front of your face]An assault rifle I have not got.[/waves hand in front of your face]

mr_poll

DonDaddyD wrote:

walkingbootweather wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

Didn't get the whole, baby point/debate though...

Just you wait until someone criticises your parenting skills…..

Even it its your parents, and even if they are right it will sting.

Yeah I'd lose my cool as well.

I already draw the line about parenting with my friends, family etc. I would also have probably left the child out of the story simply because my experience of this place is that there are a few who would jump at any opportunity to criticise. Wouldn't bother giving them the ammunition.

I am sorry i wasn't looking to criticise anyone's parenting skills nor looking for ammunition - i even said I wasn't perfect. My comments were aimed at supporting a policeman who was doing his job - he saw someone leave a child in a car for a minimum of 7 minutes and felt he needed to say something as in the eyes of the law this was wrong. How often do we hear of the public complaining the police did nothing or should of done more, one poster (a policeman) commented how when he was off duty he nipped to grab some food and a woman had a go at him. Nowadays our emergency services cannot do right for doing wrong.

walkingbootweather

mr_poll - I have no problem with you expressing an opinion, however in this case

mr_poll wrote:

My comments were aimed at supporting a policeman who was doing his job - he saw someone leave a child in a car for a minimum of 7 minutes and felt he needed to say something as in the eyes of the law this was wrong

I believe you are mistaken.

From the NSPCC website

NSPCC wrote:

The law does not set a minimum age at which children can be left alone. However, it is an offence to leave a child alone when doing so puts him or her at risk.

The tone is clearly that the parent is the best judge of what is appropriate.

In this case the officer applied his personal values (which appear to concur with your own) rather than actual law, or other valid opinions including those of the parent.

I agree that the roll of emergency services in general, and the Police in particular, is a difficult one, which is why they should avoid alienating law-abiding, responsible citizens.

In the words of the OP

mudcow007 wrote:

an they wonder why some people dont like em!

mr_poll

I stand corrected and apologise accordingly - I always thought the age was 11.

I agree that the parent should assess risk - I have left my 8 year old with my 14 year old on a number of occasions.

However I stick by my sentiment that the officer (I accept perhaps not in the eyes of the law) was doing what he thought was right. Had he wandered off I can imagine on a forum such as this on MumsNet or the Daily Moan having a thread - I watched a policeman walk off whilst a child was all alone in a car - what do we pay these people for?

Same with the riots - buildings burn as the police wont let the fire brigade in - had they and the fire brigade been let in and been injured or killed then it would be why hadn't the police secured the area.

sufferingpete

I'm not convinced that a private car park is treated as a public road.

Sheffield plod would not attend a couple of youths driving around a pub car park last year since it was not a public road.

Wallace1492

sufferingpete wrote:

I'm not convinced that a private car park is treated as a public road.

Sheffield plod would not attend a couple of youths driving around a pub car park last year since it was not a public road.

Was it a private car park? Are you sure it is completely private? Maybe the one in question is not private, but the pub in Sheffield is.

HebdenBiker

The debate on this thread has followed the pattern of every internet debate about the police.

There are some who think that the police should always be given the benefit of the doubt, and should be respected automatically by virtue of their uniform. There are others who think that the police are as fallible as the rest of us and sometimes abuse their position of authority.

The nature and role of the police is an emotive issue. People rarely change their minds about emotive issues.

walkingbootweather

HebdenBiker wrote:

People rarely change their minds about emotive issues.

.

Oh I don't know HB. I'm sure we all get influenced by what we read, hear and see on TV and for many people that is pretty much all you have to go on. Most of us would only have rare encounters with the Police but these are more likely to colour strong feelings The better they perform, the more favourable a citizen is likely to be disposed. Not saying that its easy, but the Police have the power to change people's minds if they choose to do so.