Saturday night at a holiday home thingy, there is a house backing onto the site letting off fireworks and some of the larger fireworks are going off 8 feet off so I stand on the wall ask the guy if he could re-angle the fireworks (note I did not ask him to stop), he told me unpolitely where to go…
So I call the police get through to some women
me i explain the above
women “anyone hurt”
me “no”
women “any damage to property”
me “not yet but there will be as they are getting lower”
women “we will not get involved as firing from their own backgarden”
me “there are kids here running around with fireworks going off 8 feet off the floor are you telling me you will not do anything until someone actually gets hurt”
women “we will not get involved”
could a copper (preferrably) answer as to why this was clearly a danger to public saftey and the police refused to do anything apparently 15-16 people had complained about this as nearly everyone had kids around…
Health and Safety…write to your council and ask them to send the offending fireworkers a health and safety inspector…or just sit and enjoy the free firework display…
I would if it was not for the fact I could have been seriously injured, honestly one of the fireworks went along the floor and went off outside the holiday home where I had a 5 yr old and a 6 week old…
Unfortunately it seems that the only way to get plod to attend is too do this. The other way is to say that someone has got a gun, but different plod turn up with a whole different agender. Deffo notnot not the thing to do!
You can fire a projectile weapon and risk life and they don’t bat an eyelid but if you run thru the underground with a rucksack, you get shot dead… mmmm beggers belief
The problem, as you described it, is that no offences have taken place.
The operator that you spoke to should have probably explained this to you better but when something like this is happening then it is entirely a civil dispute between two parties and nowt to do with the Police.
The Police don’t make the laws !!
As you have not said that anyone was deliberately aimed at, no one was hit and it was all taking place in private property then Police won’t classify it as something to attend. I know you mentioned several ‘what if’s’ but no one did get hit in the end did they … I’m sure if they did you would have added it and told us about it in your post.
Now if the fireworks were getting fired onto a road (specific offence), if they were aiming them at you, or of course, if someone had been hit then Police would/should attend.
I would have responded earlier but having worked 20 hours out of the last 28 hours, LB wasn’t first on my list of things to do.
The way the Police should be is that if a member of the public calls Police and wants to see an Officer there (no matter what the reason) then an Officer should attend - within an hour if non urgent (like your example) or within a matter of minutes if to deal with a victim of crime or to prevent a crime … that is not the way it is run I’m afraid and there simply isn’t enough Officers to deal with the major stuff that is happening never mind getting to the minor stuff (though what is minor to me will not feel that way to the person calling - felt that should be added).
I think you’ll find that would cause a whole world of crap and without stating the obvious you would have someone like me travelling across London at break neck speeds risking my life to attend something that has been made up …
Never mind that another Firearms call (that is real) comes out and we are unable to respond as we are dealing with the hoax.
A firework is not a weapon.
As for the rest of your post, really not worth replying to it as you clearly haven’t the foggiest what you’re talking about if you are attempting to compare the JCdM tragedy and some kids letting off fireworks.
What “subsequent investigation”? If you cant get a copper there, then how wil there be any investigation?
How many times do you think that I have been told by my Plod mates “if you want a response” and thats any response, say its racial?
The fact is, my wife has been threatened by the neighbour, and my best m8 was grappling with 2 blokes just inside his front door. You you obviously dont know the full SP in these 2 cases, but in my mates case (the more urgent one), 999 was called early evening, 2 plod turned up gone 1am!
I passed 3 Plod cars enroute to my mates house (2mls?). 2 appeared to be trundling along in no particular hurry. The 3rd was 400ydrs away from my mates dealing with a youth on a scooter… Plod are not at fault, its the system…
Many thanks for your reply had a feeling I would hear from you, I get where your comming from and to be fair you have explained it alot better than the women on the phone…
Basically I was calling as a father of 2 so I’m sure you can understand where my frustration was comming from. I respect the fact that you may have bigger better things.
I just feel a little let down my the forces not just because of this but every time I have called the police I have always ended up worse of than the problem I’m calling for…
For example some one stole from my house they caught the guy with the goods at his house and what happened, not court apperance was just given a warning…
Don’t get me wrong I’m not digging at you or any bobby just the system i think is wrong and seems to work on the offenders side.
I disagree… fireworks are explosives. They are used for enjoyment and entertainment but they are still potential weapons. As are cars when driven dangerously. A car that has killed someone in an accident (sorry hot fuzz - incident) then it’s called a ‘weapon’. Every year hundreds of people are badly burnt, some are killed because of accidents. I have campaigned to have the bloody things banned! They should only be sold/used by those with special licenses ffs. It would reduce the amount of police presence required around Guy Fawkes night (hell 2months either side of 5 Nov) and New Years. If I had some arogant a’hole pointing a firework at my house (bet the guy was drinking too) and would not even hear mention of a reasonable request to observe safety - ie keep it away from my house please, then that should be deemed as a breach of peace. But what would I know? I’m just a civvy paying my council tax. Who has two friends working for the Met.As for the tragedy - yes it was. The tradegy being the covert ops who couldn’t find the arse with both hands and passed on duff info to the squad who ended that guys life. However, the way the inquest has been reported, the guy was under surveillance as he was living in a suspect property. I felt bad for the police officers who broke down in court. They were, afterall following orders. Damned shame those giving them didn’t have a ‘foggiest’. Hey, I’m sure you are a great police officer and I’m not dissing you. But don’t tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about. That information is in the public domain, has been extensively covered by the press and there was an underground full of witness reports too. Not to mention that all Forces (including Armed) were notified of that incident. FOI is a good thing.That said, I wouldn’t encourage anyone to log a false report of racism or firearms… but those comments reflect on the bad image the Police has and the red tape buracratic b/s that it’s tied up in. I know that if I speed I can trust the police to be there like a shot and take money off me. When I really need them to come to my house when my ex is outside threatening to kill me… they never showed up. You are a police officer to make a difference right? Bet you find you can’t make as much of a difference as you hoped cos of the bs… that’s why so many are leaving the forces.
sigh* maybe a bad comparrison to use… comparrisons - none. Highlighting the areas of incidents that do or do not get attended to.
The operator didn’t deal with the call in the approapiate manner. I don’t think it can be called a civil offence though. Granted a private party on private property may make it well, private but if they had music blaring out after 11pm, the police would attend if a complaint was made. Being careless with fireworks is dangerous and if one had hit the house and caused a fire, then we would all be saying ‘what an idiot’ etc. If you lost all your property and life in that fire, would it still be a civil matter? British Law is ridiculous - I don’t envy the Police for having to walk away from some incidents… I bet they don’t half swear at not being able to do anything. It’s not the individual officers fault, it’s the system. The wrong things are focused on. Now that’s my opinon. I’m not slagging off the whole force or the police officers on here, I’m sure you do a stella job.
If you cant get a copper there, then how wil there be any investigation?
Plod are not at fault, its the system…