Hacker News Reader

Comment by Theodores | Hacker News Reader

Meanwhile, back in the real world, I spent an hour waiting to speak to someone in the police the other day only for the guy on the desk to say he needed another 30-45 minutes with the lady at the desk and there were no other staff. So, if you really do want to report a crime or some criminal behaviour that has got to the stage where a little bit of community work by the police would help, good luck to you. Maybe take an afternoon off work so you will have time for the bureaucracy.

We are a long way from 'you have twenty seconds to comply' policing.

View on HN

It seems to me that the danger is having no time for anything but 'you have twenty seconds to comply' policing.

Just look at the comments made by serving UK police officers in light of the recent high-profile attacks, particularly about the relative lack of intelligence now that there are so few officers assigned to basic community policing and everything has become about reaction rather than relationships.

Compare and contrast those views with the recent comments by Theresa May about how the problem wasn't really caused by a sharp reduction in the number of police officers but instead must be fixed by regulating everything and throwing human rights laws out the window if they happen to be inconvenient.

My experience was definitely of this, the problem that you cite.

But as you mention, police, despite all accusations to the contrary, are not stupid. They know what policing is and it is about communities and people rather than enforcing the edicts of a given political party. It is strange how police are always politically controlled, maybe in some do-gooding place like Norway they are allowed to be professional without interference.

Along with 'twenty seconds to comply...' there is this instant execution by police that happens. Nobody is shedding a tear for the three terrorists shot 8 minutes into their killing spree, however, would the police have been able to apprehend them if they only had their batons?!? This was the situation in the UK until recently, if you 'went postal' in some regional town it would take a while before officers with guns would arrive. You would have hours to escape bullets. But now? 8 minutes.

I also imagine a world where no terrorist gets tried in court. Death awaits them before they get that far and the quaint notion of justice before a jury goes by the by.

You’re not going to get an 8 minute response anywhere but in the major city centres, which have armed units on 24/7 standby.

I think those units have been around in London for decades at this point. Probably ever since the ring of steel was installed as a response to the IRA bombing campaigns of the 70s/80s.

Exactly. Borough market is right next to London Bridge station, Guy's Hospital and the Shard, all of which are obvious places to park rapid response units.

Similarly the area of Westminster around Parliament and the Palace will be completely covered 24/7, extending out towards the nearby embassies and Whitehall civil service buildings.

"But now? 8 minutes."

Bear in mind this was in Central London during a period of high alert.

"maybe in some do-gooding place like Norway they are allowed to be professional without interference"

Nope, far from it. Norway might be better than most places though.

if only there were something that you could legally take with you that would help...

When seconds count, police are minutes away.

I was recently the victim of a random assault. Police refused to come to the scene ("no patrols were available"). The nearest police station was closed ("it was too late"). The second nearest police station was all but abandoned, so I had to wait around for 45 minutes. When a policeman did show up to take my statement, he was uninterested and spent most of his time avoiding my gaze. After the statement was done, he told me not to bother pressing charges because no one had the time to look at the camera footage in the area.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com