“Where do you think all the police are in the city when you call for them?? Not standing around waiting for your call that is for sure. Calls to police are graded Immediate, Prompt and routine. Immediate are things like Burglary where offender is still on the scene, violent domestics, and othaer incidents where a person's life or safety is at immediate risk. There is a "pot" of officers that are ready to deal with these. Once these officers time are taken up and more immediates come in, they are given to the next available unit coming free from the first lot. Now for the Prompts - calls to the police where we are required to get to the caller within the hour or it can be late that day, depending on if the caller is available to be seen, AND if no more immediates come in the meantime. Routines are dealt with by a different "pot" of officers, mostly the neighbourhood guys and girls and the investigation teams. However, when needed they too will be called. Not good when they are in the middle of taking your neighbourhood meeting about your parking issues that you have planned for months to get everyone there.
NOW before May last year Plymouth police covered Plymouth jobs. Now they are expected to cover all the way up to Tavistock and over the bridge to the other side of Saltash and Torpoint.
D&C get over 1000 calls a day. They have (at the moment) 3500 officers TOTAL, take away (say) 500 for CID - its a lot more but lets just stick to easy math. that leaves 3000 - there are five shifts in the cycle which means 600 officer on duty on any shift for the whole of the force = three shifts a day (early , Late and nights) (haven't included days out for training, courses, annual leave , sickness - so lets not throw that in for now). so 600 officers on a 9-10 hour shift with a staggered change over gives us for this example 1,800 officers a day to deal with the 1000 calls, which aren't all cleared up everyday and we start all over again, NO we usually carry over quite a few where further enquiries have to be carried out ... and yes its the front line Bobbie that do that as well. now go back to the average shift shortage due to mandatory training, annual leave etc - can only have 2 per section off at any one time - see where I am going with this??
Right back to the beginning. Yes we have 3500 officers in D&C but they are not all front line. And the 700 officers that have just been told they are being compulsory retired out??? well just imagine that's about the same as One whole Night shift across the force not turning up for duty and leaving you all to your own devices for ten hours ......... not a good thought is it?
We all go to work to do the best we can. We never turn in with the thought "sod it, I'm not answering my radio today". We are told where to go and what is happening and we go, at a moments notice. And yes we may pass you in our cars with blue lights on going to an IMMEDIATE because A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC NEEDS OUR HELP!!!. Your call HAS been dealt with by very efficient call takers and a DIFFERENT unit is being tasked to see to you and you will be told when to expect them. If they are running late because of an IMMEDIATE another call will be made to you to tell you. We haven't just driven past you for the hell of it!
I pay my council tax ,the same as all you that work, I have also taken a 2 year Pay freeze, the same as many of you that work and my pension contributions will be going up to 14.5%. NONE OF YOU have to experience that one but us. I have children to support. I hear you say if you don't like it then leave, BUT I LOVE MY JOB. I HAVE NEVER HAD SO MANY PEOPLE THANK ME FOR MY HELP. People that are genuinely pleased to see us turn up and help. it IS a fantastic job with a great team to work with. DONT KNOCK US TILL YOU SEE and UNDERSTAND WHAT WE DO.
Come and walk a day in my ( really comfortable, cos i have been wearing them for the past 9 years) shoes .............”

“Come on Herald do some investigative journalism for us. What percentage of the force are front line bobbies? Anybody who has read PC Copperfield will not believe "there are no more efficiency savings to be made"”

“Perhaps we should put the Cornwall and Devon police force out to tender and go for the lowest bid.”

“When the police stop arresting the victims for trying to protect themselves and their property and stop mollycodling the perpatrators, then I may pay towards it. My son had a burglary over th Christmas period. He looked for his property and who stole it, found both, informed you and it took 3 weeks for you guys to come and get the CCTV evidence. Then another week for him to view it with the officer and identify the guy's on the tape stealing his property. They still haven't been to court and he still hasn't got his property. You also told him he needed the reciept for his propety to prove it was his. He bought it 5 years ago, the receipt is long gone. It wasn't until my son suggested you take his fingerprints that the officer backed down. someone protects themselves from 2 burglars who are beating him in his own home, and because they run out of the door closely followed by victim the victim is in the wrong because he has stepped over the threshold. Get a life. My son lives in the same block as his perpatrators, and even the same flat as one of them, they call this acceptable. It is a joke”

“The only time you see a copper is in a police car making a few quid for the coffers for traffic offences or on a saturday night in Union st for a couple of hours.
The rest of the time in town its boy scouts doing it for free dressed as coppers . And that is only the next stage up from cardboard cutouts that they introduced to scare villains and give the public a feeling of being protected but actualy a lot less protected.
And they wonder why villains can take the p.is.s. ? Paul Daniels would be proud of that magic trick. Anyone wondering why so much foriegn aid ( borrowed by the way ) money is mispent ? Apart from our own elderly and sick . Strewth .... lord give me strenght !!!!!!.
There again.... the police force was never invented to protect the poor ... it was put in place to protect and paid for by the rich to protect themselves. It went into a period where it was suddenly seemed ok for all.... but has now reverted back to its original conception. Anyone in any doubt just read the history of the police force.”

“..."there are no more efficiency savings to be made."


While I should ruddy-well hope not, it seems that there was still scope for them recently, in spite of us all finding it difficult to cover the expenses of the police over some years now.

So, my friend, look again and again - it seems there is always some scope for efficiency savings if reviewed by a party without self-interest.

The police have been their own worst enemies when it comes to whingeing about finance in the face of an obviously high level of dissatisfaction with actions/outcomes of crimes.”

“I usually manage to argue with the general theme of the posts on most of these articles but I'm struggling on this one. I find myself agreeing with most of you. I'm gutted!”

“So "the public must pick up the bill?" What for? A service that we do not receive? A former Chief Constable of the Devon & Cornwall Constabulary played this card "if you want officers on the street you must pay for them" was her line. She did get a substantial increase in the police precept and to give her, her due she did roll-out community policing throughout Devon and Cornwall. In Greenbank, our appointed Neighbourhood Beat Manager was visible and very active. He attended various community meetings in the area and really put a lot of effort in to the job, which was appreciated by many residents in the area. But, things change and he was moved to other duties. Since that time his replacement has gradually faded in to the background, has attended no meetings in the area for at least twelve months, until she has become totally invisible. I haven't seen her now since the end of 2010. Of course PCSO's were introduced several years ago and initially they were out on the streets and visible but, as with police officers they have also gradually faded in to the background and become all but invisible. So, NO, I don't think that we should pay more for a service which we do not receive. In fact, perhaps we should with hold the police precept all together until the police service get's it's act together and does provide the service that we expect to get. I feel that Devon & Cornwall Constabulary have lost all credibility and I have no confidence in them at all!!”

“Why should the public pick up the cost when the Devon and Cornwall Police did not do a proper job of it when they had the man power and the resources to do, I have had to call on the services of the Police on at least three occasion, once when my home was broken into while we were in bed, it took them three hours to turn up three hours, and the people wonder why these people get away with it, it's simple the Police can not be bothered, they do not mind flying around in their Helicopter in the early hours of the morning hovering over peoples homes waking them up, at all hours of the morning and chasing cars around the streets, but when it comes to the burglars they just can not be bothered, and on other occasion I called one time they did not bother to turn up they just give me a crime number over the Phone, and then another time they did not bother turning out at all, and this was when they had the man power and my council taxes went up to pay for it, quite frankly the service was not worth what I was paying then, and I am damn sure it is not worth it now, so if they expect me to pay any more for the Police service, They Can Whistle for it, they were not worth it then and I am sure as hell they are not worth it now”

“I will be standing as an independent candidate for Police Commissioner in this area. My ideas are to cut the red tape and get the Police back on the streets. However, like the NHS in the 90's, I will have an efficiency index year on year, where I would expect the team to be 3% more efficient annually as Police Force, which would be achieved by getting the Police back on the streets and tackling crime, thus reducing it.
Drugs would be a top priority. All I see in the courts are drug related crimes; burglaries, muggings etc. By making this area a priority and targeting suppliers and users, we would ease out the crime surrounding this area.
The Public need to feel safe, and currently I don't think they feel safe. Action is what is needed.”