Police response to missing child....

redrabbit29

moonrakerz wrote: »

I have posted a couple of times on this thread about present day police performance. My attitude towards the police changed markedly some years ago when my son was arrested for a minor (alleged !) offence.
The performance of the police was like the Bill. The arresting officer's statement could have been written by J K Rowling, three witnesses who put my son elsewhere were ignored in favour of one person, who also happened to have van full of stolen property !
I was blatantly lied to by the arresting officer, in front of 2 witnesses.
My son's explanation was not investigated at all.

The case was dropped eventually. When I saw a solicitor about making a formal complaint, I was warned off as "it could be counter productive" !
Pardon me if I consider the "appropriate action will be taken" message with more than a little pinch of salt !

To use an old expression: "if I saw a policeman on fire I wouldn't **ss on him" !!!

End of rant ! straying from the subject.

Plain ignorant and not suprising point of view to be honest. Most people have an anti-police attitude mainly to do with just one experience and of course a complete lack of understanding about the criminal justice system. However, I bet you'd still phone for help if you found a burglar in your house - even if you wouldn't "!!!! on them if they were on fire".

You say your son was arrested for a minor alledged offence? 99% of offenders/suspects are arrested on SUSPICION of an offence. The reason for the arrest is to interview the person. Arresting someone to find out what happened is the normal course of action - what else do you expect. As for it being a minor offence, may I ask what it was he was accused off?

At the end fo the day, your son was charged and appeared in court where the charge was dropped. As far as I can see the system worked. He was given a fair opportunity for his case to be heard and it was dropped for some reason - maybe lack of evidence, lack of public interest, or what ever else.

You sound like any other person in the country who whines about the police response.

suckmaster.burstingfoam

My mum rang the police once to report a drunk driver, on the day of an England world cup game. The person on the phone said 'Sorry, I don't think anyone will be able to help. Everyone's watching the match.'

redrabbit29

fwhorn wrote: »

I'll finish the post by saying what I said in my first post. I don't know how the officer spoke to the original poster, or what exactly was said, and their attitude. But recommending that it be reported via the non-emergency line or 999 is absolutely correct.

The officer it was reported to has an obligation to act on it, not fob the person off with phone in the crime. A child of 12 years of age was missing, this should set alarm bells ringing not the end of shift bells.

What if the person was reporting that someone was walking down the road with a gun, or someone was injured, or that some where was being robbed, or someone was being attacked and so on. Are you sure we have to ring it in.

Just imagine this.

"Officer can you help me, I have just been assaulted and my money and phone has been robbed"
"Ah yes sir, sorry but I cannot do anything but if you would like to ring up and report it"

I hope I or anyone else reading this thread never has to go through the fear of their child going missing.[/quote]

How many children do you think go missing per day? Maybe 20-30 in each county every single day?

I don't see how the officer "fobbed" them off? He advised they contact the main reporting number as the station was closed. Again, what do you want them to do? Get out of the station and start looking? As I explained in my other post, there is a good system in place for dealing with a missing person.

If you lost your bank card and went to the bank to tell them just as they were shutting, what would you expect. Do you think they'd open back up for an hour to help you look for it, or cancel your cards?

Stop being so ignorant and narrow minded. The reason officers do not deal with initial reports of crimes is because it is not effecient, especially with a missing person. Read my earlier post for reasons why it's most efficient when phoned in.

redrabbit29

suckmaster.burstingfoam wrote: »

My mum rang the police once to report a drunk driver, on the day of an England world cup game. The person on the phone said 'Sorry, I don't think anyone will be able to help. Everyone's watching the match.'

Yea, I'm sure it happened exactly like that.

suckmaster.burstingfoam

redrabbit29 wrote: »

Yea, I'm sure it happened exactly like that.

It did happen exactly like that. And I know, because I was there.

Poppy9

If it was totally out of character for her not to return home by 7pm then why not ring the police within the hour instead of 3 hours later? If OP's sister had established she wasn't with her friends by ringing around then I would have dialled 999 straight away. Yes it may have been a waste of police time but if I was that panicked I would ring.

My OH has worked in a few Police stations that are not open to members of the public. PCSO and Police officers use it as a base for paperwork. There is no front desk and sometimes there maybe no officers there. People do knock on the door and if possible they answer it, not sure if they can log incidents though or whether they have to be rung through.

Agree with another poster that he does have performance targets or he gets a bollocking. Not just arrests but issuing forms for stopping people or if they have things on display in their vehicles which make them vunerable to theft. The stations performance is judged on PIs not by how they are viewed by the community.

PBA

redrabbit29 wrote: »

If you lost your bank card and went to the bank to tell them just as they were shutting, what would you expect. Do you think they'd open back up for an hour to help you look for it, or cancel your cards?

As I work in a bank I was about to use a similar analogy, so glad someone has posted it for me. Police personel are people like anyone else, they have lives and homes and aren't on duty 24/7. There are plenty of payphones about, so if this was really an emergency OP wouldn't have had to wait 20 mins to walk home to report this missing person, just sounds like they're aggrieved that someone wouldn't take their time to do it for them.

Fleago

Hitch wrote: »

Are there not emergency phones on the wall outside the part time cop shops anymore?

The ones around us do.

fwhorn

Happychappy wrote: »

Life on mars was the series I was referring to, so what is the reason for an officer to ring in on a mobile phone and get involved when the mother, guardian, social worker can do the same with far more details then "er whats her date of birth" "er whats her eye colour" "er whats her ?"and having to relay it, knowing full well in the next hour the juvenile will appear from under a bush or similar, and if not the helicopter, dogs, underwater search team and thousands of officers trying to get off duty will be called back on to do a search and find the juvenile safe and well at Sharon and Tracey's.

Is this the Portugese attitude to searching for missing children? A child is missing the last thing a parent wants to hear at that time is, sorry cant help you but if you would like to pop home and ring up. Your assumption that a child will turn up is very dangerous, a child is deemed in danger until that child is found.

fwhorn

redrabbit29 wrote: »

The officer it was reported to has an obligation to act on it, not fob the person off with phone in the crime. A child of 12 years of age was missing, this should set alarm bells ringing not the end of shift bells.

What if the person was reporting that someone was walking down the road with a gun, or someone was injured, or that some where was being robbed, or someone was being attacked and so on. Are you sure we have to ring it in.

Just imagine this.

"Officer can you help me, I have just been assaulted and my money and phone has been robbed"
"Ah yes sir, sorry but I cannot do anything but if you would like to ring up and report it"

I hope I or anyone else reading this thread never has to go through the fear of their child going missing.

How many children do you think go missing per day? Maybe 20-30 in each county every single day?

I don't see how the officer "fobbed" them off? He advised they contact the main reporting number as the station was closed. Again, what do you want them to do? Get out of the station and start looking? As I explained in my other post, there is a good system in place for dealing with a missing person.

If you lost your bank card and went to the bank to tell them just as they were shutting, what would you expect. Do you think they'd open back up for an hour to help you look for it, or cancel your cards?

Stop being so ignorant and narrow minded. The reason officers do not deal with initial reports of crimes is because it is not effecient, especially with a missing person. Read my earlier post for reasons why it's most efficient when phoned in.[/quote]

LMAO, can tell you are not a copper. LMAO ignorant and narrow minded. I see you dont refer to any other of the scenarios that are quite common. The station was closed, but that dosnt mean he was off duty. If what you are saying was correct, then why have beat bobbies, or community police walking the street if you cant approach them? As for comparing a missing credit card to a missing child, seems a bit ignorant and narrow minded. The banks are a business and the police force isnt, just thought I would help you with that.

One final thing, I hope that you are never in that postion where your child is missing.