Police response to missing child....

melancholly

the only other suggestion i have is that the particular police officer was just not very good at handling a distressed mother - he may be excellent at solving crimes (we don't know) but not especially good at dealing with victims of crime. although i think a lack of sympathy in this situation is awful, and will have added huge amounts of uncessary stress to the mother, i don't think it's fair to extrapolate to generalisations about the state of the police currently!! i am also surprised that there wasn't a phone at the polcie station that links through to one that's open (and that is somethink that is really worth following up).

you can also play devil's advocate and ask whether a very upset mum may not have been in the right frame of mind to intrerpret what the policeman said (and he should have been more sensitive and i'm not defending him, but in her position, i'd be upset if he'd said anything other than i sending out 20 police cars to look for her!).

recently, i have had far more personal interactions with my local police than i would have liked! i've called 999 and had to be a witness in court, as well as being attacked in another incident when local officers on patrol turned up at just the right time. when i was sitting in the back of a patrol car semi-hysterical (well completely hysterical may be more appropriate!), one officer was fantastic at calming me down - another just looked awkward and didn't know how to deal with me! he ended up running after someone and arresting them - so was more critical to the situation as the one who finally got me to stop crying! it's very hard to judge someone's actions when you're in a high emotional state - and although more compassion from the officer in the OPs situation would have just made everything easier, that really doesn't say anything about their ability to do all other aspects of their job.

moonrakerz

redrabbit29 wrote: »

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.

"The only targets which are really looked at are "cleared crimes". That is incidents in which an offender has been found and charged with the offence."

This is a quote from an earlier post of yours !
You accuse me of being "plain ignorant" and "complete lack of understanding of the law" - if that is so, you are even more ignorant and even more lacking.

How can a crime be "cleared" when someone has only been charged ? A crime is only cleared when someone has been tried and convicted.
If you are a serving police officer which I suspect you may be, then I am appalled by your "understanding" of the Law and the way you respond to someone who may have the temerity to disagree with you.

You have made my point far more eloquently than I possibly could ! Thank you !

Poppy9

Am I the only person who is curious as to where the child disappeared to for 3 hours?

arnie&caseysma!

Poppy9 wrote: »

Am I the only person who is curious as to where the child disappeared to for 3 hours?

Having just read through all the thread I am curious aswell. I also hope she got severly reprimanded when she got home as surely at her age she call tell the time and use a telephone (a friends at least if she doesnt have a mobile herself which most 12 year olds seen to have these days).
A lot of emphasis being put on the Police here but the fact is if she had been home when she was meant to be then none of this would have come about on this ocasion.

oldbill1969

moonrakerz wrote: »

"The only targets which are really looked at are "cleared crimes". That is incidents in which an offender has been found and charged with the offence."

This is a quote from an earlier post of yours !
You accuse me of being "plain ignorant" and "complete lack of understanding of the law" - if that is so, you are even more ignorant and even more lacking.

How can a crime be "cleared" when someone has only been charged ? A crime is only cleared when someone has been tried and convicted.
If you are a serving police officer which I suspect you may be, then I am appalled by your "understanding" of the Law and the way you respond to someone who may have the temerity to disagree with you.

You have made my point far more eloquently than I possibly could ! Thank you !

For Police purposes the crime is cleared at the point of disposal, whether that is charge, warning, fixed penalty etc. After charge it is a CPS performance figure whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty in a Court of law. Hope this explains a bit better.

hollydays

Poppy9 wrote: »

We are alll assuming that it was a Police Officer who spoke to the OP. It could have been a PCSO as the uniform is virtually identical.

What difference would that make to the situation?

Poppy9

hollydays wrote: »

What difference would that make to the situation?

They have had less training, are not allowed to deal with certain things, are not likely to query whether the rules they have been told to abide by can be broken etc. OH works with PCSO and they can only deal with things upto a certain level then they pass it on to a Police Officer.

hollydays

Its unlikely a PCSO would be put in charge of a Police Station then?

Poppy9

hollydays wrote: »

Its unlikely a PCSO would be put in charge of a Police Station then?

The station my OH works in is just a base for officers. There could be just him there, there could be just a PCSO there or there could be no one there at all. It's not meant to be a "public" police station it's just a base in the community where officers are convientently based to respond to emergency calls. They store their kit there, do their paperwork and arrange appointments for people to come and make statements there. There is no manned desk so, in reply to your statement, yes a PCSO could be on his own in the station and technically in charge - but just of him/herself as it's not meant to be open to the public!

hollydays

And does that station have a phone outside for the public to use?