Forum Topic

Say thank you to a police officer

In an age when good news was scarce I was so pleased to read about the decline in crime locally. People may express scepticism about statistics but then they obviously don't remember a time when 'boys on bikes' were a daily occurrence in local residential back streets and gangs of youths used to congregate on the High Road making it a very intimidating place. Shoplifting clearly did get a bit out of hand for a while but that has been dealt with. Mobile phone robberies from youngsters are still happening but even this problem doesn't appear to have been as bad as it used to be. The men and women who protect us locally have achieved this at a time when their resources are being reduced and crime generally is rising so if you see one of them you should say thank you.

Alison Howard ● 7d12 Comments

That film 'The Bank Job' was a true story and only part of what went on, but like everything a few bad ones make it terrible for everyone else.

Janice Evans ● 2d

More nonsense from Anna. The police back then were a law unto themselves. Worth reading more about this if you have forgotten, for example https://williamshaw.com/police-corruption/ 

John Hall ● 2d

Hear hear. There is a consistent drum beat on social media trying to present the UK and London in particular as some sort of crime-ridden hellhole. Much of this seems to come from overseas and you can reach your own conclusions as to why people want to propagate it. The narrative is that offending is out of control and that the police are either too inept or too hamstrung by political correctness to deal with it. The reality is that here in Chiswick crime levels are close to historic all-time lows and this has been achieved at a time of rising population, increased economic hardship and effective spending reductions on policing. The ingratitude for this success expressed by those who parrot false narratives about crime in London must be demoralising for the police so I would completely endorse Alison's suggestion of saying thank you when you meet anyone on the local force.

Mark Evans ● 2d

Well said Alison.

Andrew Jones ● 3d

When local officers recently tackled an unstable individual armed with a gun there were still those prepared to denigrate them. The trap they appear to have fallen into is to take the absolute worst as representing the generality. It is a trick that can be played with any organisation and often is in this day and age of click bait and sensationalism. People who fall for this sort of thing are often socially isolated and have little real life contact with the institutions they try to do down. There are more people that do have an insight into what really goes on through a family member or a friend and they will recognise that there are imperfections but that the good these institutions do is utterly essential. Perhaps we all need to be more aware that negative voices are more noisy and persistent and need to be countered with reality.

Alison Howard ● 3d

I was brought up to think of police as a positive thing, politeness to them was a taken for granted thing and you helped them with info if they asked you. That was a long time ago, sooooo much changed and not for the better.

Anna Kirkpatrick ● 6d

True, but they only comprise 1/9th of the TfL fleet.

Andrew Jones ● 6d

On Routemasters old and new the exit is away from the driver, so it is a bit difficult to thank them.

Richard Greenhough ● 6d

We also used to always say 'thank you' to bus drivers and people who held doors open for us but sadly 'please' and 'thank you' are often missing when they shouldn't be nowadays.

Philippa Bond ● 6d

I did meet a helpful community police officer in Chiswick in January; he went the extra mile for me and my friend.There is still some 'weeding out' to be done at the top level. We re not there yet.

Anna Kirkpatrick ● 7d

- sayes Andrew - who is Mr Negative himself on my posts !

Anna Kirkpatrick ● 7d

Thanks for the positive post ... and I hope this thread doesn't spiral into negativity.

Andrew Jones ● 7d