PowerSwitch

Was listening to Radio 4 this morning in the car. Within 20 minutes of each other I hear two stories.

The first was about how the National Trust would be liable if cyclists put up jumps on their land and managed to kill themselves whilst using the jumps.

The first story was the most worrying but linked with the cycling story it shows how our legal system has gone wrong. A church somewhere in England has had its lead roof pinched 10 times recently. So one day the delighted locals found the lead thieves in the act. The police turned up quick smart and caught them red-handed. And then promptly let them go again because they couldn't prosecute them as they could just claim they climbed up to look at the view.

We've seen a big increase in metal theft over the last few years and it will only get worse as more and more mass-use metals become scarce. This only probably has the ability to break our society - copper wire theft alone could seriously disrupt our day to day life if it became more wide-spread.

I'm sure we don't need any more laws but it would be useful if the current ones were actually enforced.

There's a church near me that had lead stolen recently. The bloke across the road heard noises in the early hours, got up and went to investigate. On seeing three men loading lead into their van he wisely dismissed the notion of tackling them single handed (he's a pensioner) and hid in the shrubbery from where he could note a good description of the men, their van and the registration number. He phoned the police. The van drove off.

In the late morning the police phoned to arrange taking a statement. They had taken NO action at the time. In the following couple of weeks two other churches in the neighbourhood had their lead roofs stripped.

Sometimes one wonders why we have a police force.

biffvernon wrote:<snip> Sometimes one wonders why we have a police force.

I don't know about the UK, but over here the police is focusing their attention on ordinary people on their way to work or shopping, and one or two high-status robberies. There seem to be remnants of the police force actually investigating some murders also, but that's about it.

Guess it's a natural development of some kind - how would YOU prioritize if you was a police officer? Given a choice you would bust either:

a) Three hardened eastern European criminals with unknown connections to organized crime?

or

b) A middle aged woman on her way to work driving 8 mph over the speed limit?

Hint: You have wife and kids and want to get home in one piece.

I work in a police control room, and last night all night the patrols went from 1 domestic or assault to another. It was mad busy, they didn't stop til almost 6am. The general public are just crazy.

I can't answer for the police force in question, but in the case above where the lead was stolen, if our control room received a call from a witness passing all those details after the perpetrators had left, we would put the vehicle out for observations, then visit the witness at a reasonable time & follow up enquiries during the day. If the witness had called as it was happening as a crime in progress it would get a code 1 response (blues & twos, etc). This, however, would be as long as there were no ongoing domestics or assaults, etc as these involve public safety.

Eternal Sunshine wrote:I work in a police control room,

You have my sympathies.

That must promote a very.. um.. jaundiced view of human nature, constantly being exposed to the worst that Hom Sap has to offer. I don't think I could do it. I'd find it too depressing, especially as my normal inclination is mildly depressive to start with.

Yes... an "Eternally Sunny" outlook would be necessary to cope with that job.

I was with the family this morning at Stawberry Fair. We were just leaving through dense crowds of hippies when my eye was caught by a stand promoting Transition Town Cambridge. This surprised me a bit because I had been thinking of setting it up myself...

Anyway, after a three minute conversation I noticed my family was down by one four year old, and after a short brat-hunt it was clear she was not in the vacinity. We reported the incident and made our way to the lost kid's tent where the police contact located our child half a mile away within five minutes. We were reunited as soon as we could force ourselves through the crowds.

Brat was happily sitting on a park bench chatting to the kind lady who rang 999. She wasn't remotely worried...

So I am well disposed to the police today.

Been there!! Bloody spooky how fast a 4-yr-old can shift, isn't it??

Eternal Sunshine wrote:I work in a police control room, and last night all night the patrols went from 1 domestic or assault to another. It was mad busy, they didn't stop til almost 6am. The general public are just crazy.

I used to work for Preston CPS WCU dealing with the DV cases and assaults - expect I have spoken to you on the 'phone . Found it all very challenging due to the nature of the business and particularly as a Londoner in a small northern town culture. Have to say I found Preston a horrible place to be- had to move twice due to getting windows put through, graffiti on the door of my house and being mugged after dusk, for no more reason than wearing a suit and for calling the police when my housemate's vehicle was broken into by the local youf. Also experienced real hostility and continual reminders that I was a 'foreigner' from many quarters (as well as the famous Lancastrian warmth from others).

I fear for such places in terms of there having two main ethnicities- perhaps more so in places like Blackburn and Burnley where there is palpable and vocal hostility between Whites and Asians. Here in Brizzle and where I grew up in London there are lots of different races and cultures which keeps it a bit less monochrome and adverse. I will always remember the banter amongst colleagues about loving dogs 'except the ones owned by pakis' and such like- glad to say none of that was accepted in my next office in cosmopolitan Leeds. Having said that, there was still much more of a sense of community in Preston than anywhere I have experienced down south, and certainly a lot more arable land as long as the Ribble keeps within its banks.

The kids have a kind of uniform up there- black shell suit track bottoms, black trainers and black hoodies so they cannot be distinguished from one another. Very clever that, and something that I hope doesn't catch on everywhere. Also realised that not all kids dressed like that were necessarily delinquents, but wanted to infer that they were by association, which must be most disheartening and worrying for there parents. The new trend that I have noticed here is kids with two mobiles which infers that they sell drugs even if they do not. When I was 16/17 you could tell a dealer by the fact that they had one mobile, now everyone does so they have to go one step further. Funny old world.

In the US apparently a PAGER is the sure fire sign of a dealer ...

Vortex wrote:In the US apparently a PAGER is the sure fire sign of a dealer ...

No-one has mentioned the time needed for practising funny handshakes.

It would surely be 'prioritised' ahead of dealing with a pagger.

biffvernon wrote:There's a church near me that had lead stolen recently. The bloke across the road heard noises in the early hours, got up and went to investigate. On seeing three men loading lead into their van he wisely dismissed the notion of tackling them single handed (he's a pensioner) and hid in the shrubbery from where he could note a good description of the men, their van and the registration number. He phoned the police. The van drove off.

In the late morning the police phoned to arrange taking a statement. They had taken NO action at the time. In the following couple of weeks two other churches in the neighbourhood had their lead roofs stripped.

Sometimes one wonders why we have a police force.

Pinching scrap metal they would probably have been Pikeys who the police, in the Thames Valley at least, seem to think are above the law.

Eternal Sunshine wrote:
I work in a police control room,

You have my sympathies.

That must promote a very.. um.. jaundiced view of human nature, constantly being exposed to the worst that Hom Sap has to offer. I don't think I could do it. I'd find it too depressing, especially as my normal inclination is mildly depressive to start with.

Yes... an "Eternally Sunny" outlook would be necessary to cope with that job.

My wife watches Eastenders for pleasure (I think). That's got to be worse.

Speaking of metal theft, I was down the pub earlier on today (took the day off work to recuperate from an all-night party on Saturday but that's another story), and there was an oldish bloke in there going on about something, I earwigged the conversation.

Basically he was saying that not far from where I live, a number of iron drain covers have been removed, leaving open holes - obviously not by the council. It would appear that thieves are now stealing grids for their scrap metal value.

How long before our civilisation is denuded of the trappings which make it 'advanced' . . . like drain covers?

Andy Hunt wrote:Speaking of metal theft, I was down the pub earlier on today (took the day off work to recuperate from an all-night party on Saturday but that's another story), and there was an oldish bloke in there going on about something, I earwigged the conversation.

Basically he was saying that not far from where I live, a number of iron drain covers have been removed, leaving open holes - obviously not by the council. It would appear that thieves are now stealing grids for their scrap metal value.

How long before our civilisation is denuded of the trappings which make it 'advanced' . . . like drain covers?

Recovering down the pub...I like it!

It seems like one of those things that happen in life but I do think this has the potential to make the life we know really problematic. Another major annyoyance as we travel down the slope...trains cancelled, schools closed, road signs gone, grannies falling down the drain and then having their gold teeth pinched.

Just more signs of decay...

Andy Hunt wrote:Speaking of metal theft, I was down the pub earlier on today (took the day off work to recuperate from an all-night party on Saturday but that's another story), and there was an oldish bloke in there going on about something, I earwigged the conversation.

Basically he was saying that not far from where I live, a number of iron drain covers have been removed, leaving open holes - obviously not by the council. It would appear that thieves are now stealing grids for their scrap metal value.

How long before our civilisation is denuded of the trappings which make it 'advanced' . . . like drain covers?

This is a growing problem, until recently, of metals in widespread use, only copper, lead and brass were considered worth stealing.

The theft of lead from roofs and of copper cables has been a problem for a while.
The theft of iron and steel is a realtivly new problem, as well as drain covers, railway track has been stolen recently.
In North Somerset theft of aluminium traffic signs has become very popular. The thieves apparently have the support of the local community! This because the theft of sufficient 30MPH and 40MPH speed limit signs allows motorists to speed at 60 MPH on narrow lanes.
(the most common defence of a local if charged with speeding, "no signs" seen requiring a lower speed)

The idea that keeping to the speed limit might be safer or save fuel is never considered.

When I visited Liverpool a few years ago, they had to paint the road sign for "Penny Lane" on the wall to stop people nicking it.