Just when we thought all was right with the world - A complete idiot break it again!

Ok, so usually the police get to sit back, try to do their job, avoid becoming bogged down in controversy and paperwork..
And by and large MOST of the police in the UK do... and we do our jobs very well as well.

And just when everything is looking alright with the world of policing and the public start to gain confidence in us actually getting things done again it all just turns completely to shit due to some complete ass in the MET.

Why is it that it always seems to be someone in the MET?

A PC driving a Response Vehicle who had just been trained to do so goes out and kills an innocent member of the public because he's driving like a complete lunatic!

Does the MET not check people out during the recruitment process to ascertain if they are suitable for the job they are doing? I thought this was why it took 9 - 12 months to get through the recruitment process!!! Do they not monitor new PC's or new Response Drivers? Does no one ever seem to have to be accountable in the MET until someone dies?

Sorry, I don't have the full story of this incident other than whats in the above linked article. I don't know the PC involved, or indeed anyone who works with him (unless one of my friends in the MET does know him, but I'm not aware of that), and I don't know the family of the lady who sadly had to die to bring this to the publics attention.. But what I do know is that one tosser doing something like this puts ALL OF US in a bad light and when I in the very rural Southernshire County manage to get asked if I'd killed any Grandmothers with my Response car I find it absolutely bloody astounding, shocking, and alarming.

FFS. How many people have to die because of someone who should NEVER have gotten through the recruitment process doing something absolutely bloody stupid.

/end rant for today.




PS. Sorry for the absence of posts recently. I've been a little busy at home..







BASED ON COMMENTS:

Ok, let me clarify.. I know that not every idiot police officer who does something wrong is from the MET. I know that my farce like every other one out there has it's fair share of them... But damn... it seems to be the MET at the top of the news polls every 3 or 4 weeks. It's a shame, but I know that's cos there are 35,000 officers, it's the biggest so it'll have the biggest proportion of screw ups... Its part of the territory for having the largest force in the country - or the equivalent of say 7 - 10 larger County forces all in one small space...

NO, I'm not bagging the MET itself or trying to generalise but is it possible that because they recruit so many people they aren't checking them all out properly, or perhaps not watching what they do properly??? I dunno, it might be that it's impossible to do that in such a large organisation so occasionally some unstable idiot slips through (point in case - that undercover reporter..)

I just felt that I had to vent because in my backwards neck of the woods I got asked by a MoP if I had killed any grannies lately whilst blue lighting to the nick to have a cup of tea.. and that annoyed me because as someone in the MET had done it every other Police Officer in the country got tarred with that big wide brush by the public...

I am also adult enough to realise that 99% of Police in the UK are all damned fine officers who go out every day and who do their level best to carry out the office of Constable putting their lives on the line in order to carry out their duties... but because I get generalised I thought I'd see how it worked the other way, and I get some great reactions by doing that..............

By the way, I do value the comments that are given back because it's nice to hear what others think.
No, I am not anti-MET.. I may just end up there some day soon.. and I know some very, very fine MET officers who love what they do and they do it very well... but that force just seem to be the ones in the media constantly.... when will WE the POLICE do something Positive in the media instead of letting the media slaughter us??? I think it's about time that we had some positive media coverage for once... the media coverage that shows us doing something GOOD, something BRILLIANT, saving lives, stopping criminals, putting bad people in prison, foiling big, nasty crimes... but no, that's just not going to happen is it? It's only when something exceptional happens that it hits the media.. and no one remembers the good things we do, only the bad.

You did WHAT?

Picture this:

You are an Area Car driver. You are a highly trained police driver. You are trained to carry out pursuits. You are also a very experienced officer..

So now that you have the idea of who you are... you now get the scene setting phase.

You are pulling on to a dual carriageway down the slip road when you spot a car going through in your direction at high speed, you catch the index plate as your headlights hit back of the vehicle. You start trying to catch up and pass the index that you got.

The vehicle is stolen.

The vehicle is a V8 BMW. Something capable of very high speeds and well, lets just say that your average police car is a gutless diesel and it's overloaded with traffic cones and signs! You keep your distance trying not to spook the driver of the stolen BMW up ahead.

You have been following it for some minutes now across several divisions of Southernshire. 

You have not activated your blue lights because you are trying to get other units to come on to the road ahead of your location. You know that if you activate blues then it's all over.

Here goes...

A traffic unit comes steaming up the road behind you..

it goes past you..

the blues have been on all this time..

the BMW ahead of you (remember it's a V8), can see all the blue lights on the traffic car now...

so puts his foot down.......

You stand down because you know there is NO WAY that you can keep up or catch the BMW now all due to incompetence..

Less than a minute later all you hear on the radio is "TOTAL LOSS, TOTAL LOSS"

Great move. Specially considering that the units trying to get ahead of this pursuit were still a minute away from the area they needed to be at.

I talked with the area car driver on the next shift I worked with him. Let's just say that he was very pissed off.