Mulling over George Pope to Steve Asher 17 Dec 2002

SA> Of course, you could always try calling 000 (911 etc) and wait for
SA> a patrol car to not attend. :)

 GP> Here's an interesting tale that might be good for an idea, for
 GP> anybody here who might, in the future, have need for quickest
 GP> police response to a call: 

 GP> George Phillips of Meridian Mississippi was going up to bed when
 GP> his wife told him that he'd left the light on in the garden shed,
 GP> which she could see from the bedroom window. 

 GP> George opened the back door to go turn off the light but 
 GP> saw that there were people in the shed stealing things. 

 GP> He phoned the police, who asked "Is someone in your house?"  and he
 GP> said no. 

 GP> Then they said that all patrols were busy, and that he should 
 GP> simply lock his door and an officer would be along when 
 GP> available. 

(snip)

 GP> Within five minutes three police! cars, an Armed Response 
 GP> unit, and an ambulance showed up at the Phillips residence.  

 GP> Of course, the police caught the burglars red-handed. 

 GP> One of the policemen said to George: "I thought you said that 
 GP> you'd shot them!" 

 GP> George said, "I thought you said there was nobody available!"  

 GP> I don't understand why the cops are so slow to respond to actual
 GP> crimes! I even called the station once, when I had a business, to
 GP> report that one of their officers was having his face beaten into
 GP> the wall by some JD goof he had come out to arrest! :P

 GP> That cop must've been REALLY unpopular cuz I phoned in twice (the
 GP> beating had been going on for about 20 minutes by the second call!)
 GP> and 20 minutes after the second call they STILL hadn't responded,
 GP> and the cop was STILL getting his face hammered! :(

 GP> (so I called up the cabbie on that night, on the radio -- he
 GP> arrived in about 7 minutes(with fare in the back!) and hauled the
 GP> punk off, and bodily(without much in the line of "due care and
 GP> attention") muscled him into the back of the cop car, then the
 GP> cabbie slammed the door closed, then grabbed the keys from the
 GP> ignition, and went to see to the officer, who was dazed and
 GP> bleeding. . . 

 GP> (This was the O.P.P. (Ontario Provincial Police) in a
 GP> small-town(Nippigon) detachment(a training detachment, I think I'd
 GP> been told)

 GP> Yes, I heard, there had been their Xmas party going on at that
 GP> time, but I think an officer being beaten takes precedence! :P (or
 GP> SHOULD!!) :P 

 GP> That, of course, is an extreme example of cops not showing up to a
 GP> call, but even the regular ones (someone calling because someone is
 GP> currently breaking into their home, and they are a defenseless old
 GP> woman), and there's no response until well after the issue is
 GP> resolved!

A recent noteworthy case was of someone calling emergency number 
to report a dead body concealed in bushes outside a police station, 
several times. In frustration, the caller finally stuck a note on 
a police vehicle at another station with written details of where 
to find the body. Makes you feel real confident when calling the 
"terrorist hotline" to report some suspicious activity.

 GP> Is the whole thing that with the new quota standards for hiring
 GP> cops, we don't have any more of the REAL cops who are there to get
 GP> the job done, and we're stuck with a bunch of chickenspit WIMPS???
 GP> :(

I think they're too busy patrolling McDonald's outlets & getting
free burgers to bother with real crime. :)

 GP> Another example, known to me -- a lady friend of mine's ex-husband
 GP> put a home-made firebomb through the front door mailbox when she
 GP> was sleeping -- luckily it fizzled out without doing serious
 GP> damage!  She called the police... a guy shows up, looks at the
 GP> device and the char marks on the floor, takes a few notes, fills
 GP> out a card, which he hands to her, saying, "Here's the case# so you
 GP> can give it to your insurance company."

 GP> LUDICROUS!!

Here, they often don't show up; just give you the crime report number
over the phone!

 GP> Is that all the cops are now, are public-paid investigators for
 GP> rich, private insurance companies? :P

And guards for McDonalds outlets :)

 GP> I think the cop's job was to do all he could to determine who did
 GP> it, and then go forth to ensure it(or worse) doesn't happen again,
 GP> and the damb insurance company can well afford their own
 GP> investigators, if they need to question a claim (there was no claim
 GP> -- the damage was less than the deductible!) :P 

 GP> When did this happen?  (that the police stopped working for the
 GP> public/taxpayers, and started working for the private/rich, who
 GP> usually don't pay taxes, if they can help it!)? :(

Watch out, George - that's very close to a thought crime! :)

Cheers, Steve..

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