How to chivvy up the police?
- Thread starter Sara_H
- Start date
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Profpointy
Legendary Member
perhaps you could write to your MP. An MP wanting to make a bit of a name for themselves lap it up - and it's their job to do so too
Have you complained direct to the police? I don't mean asking for an update I mean an official complaint?
It will take too long before an MPs letter arrives by which time CCTV might be lost and your witnesses lose interest.
Another option is to email your police commissioner but I'd go down the official complaint route first.
Before you ring them have all your info at hand so you don't forget as people get a bit excited when complaining, ie, exactly what happened, any injuries, damage and cost of any repairs to your bike and clothing.
Why haven't they obtained a statement from you or provided any crime numbers ( I'm assuming they haven't ).
Don't expect it to be resolved on this call as it's very unlikely that they person you speak to will have any knowledge of the incident and will need time to look into it and keep calm.
It will take too long before an MPs letter arrives by which time CCTV might be lost and your witnesses lose interest.
Another option is to email your police commissioner but I'd go down the official complaint route first.
Before you ring them have all your info at hand so you don't forget as people get a bit excited when complaining, ie, exactly what happened, any injuries, damage and cost of any repairs to your bike and clothing.
Why haven't they obtained a statement from you or provided any crime numbers ( I'm assuming they haven't ).
Don't expect it to be resolved on this call as it's very unlikely that they person you speak to will have any knowledge of the incident and will need time to look into it and keep calm.
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OP
OP
Sara_H
Guru
No I haven't. I'm only just starting to think about it now. I had a phone call last night from the officer dealing with it which was basically telling me that they aren't doing anything directly now.
They're waiting for his reg to ping up on the ANPR or for his passport to trigger something at an airport. No active investigation.
Archie_tect
De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
- Location
- Northumberland
Have you got the witnesses names and addresses, and can you go back to the scene, to see if there are any CCTV cameras in the area Sara.
If you can, report the positions to the Police Station that you reported the hit and run to, then demand that they get the footage before it's wiped clean.... it may be over-recorded every week so they may only have today and tomorrow!
If you can, report the positions to the Police Station that you reported the hit and run to, then demand that they get the footage before it's wiped clean.... it may be over-recorded every week so they may only have today and tomorrow!
glasgowcyclist
Charming but somewhat feckless
- Location
- Scotland
I know you wanted to limit how much you revealed about this attack but from the sounds of things the police aren't terribly concerned so I'd be looking to get this covered by road.cc with enough detail to prompt any further witnesses to come forward. I'd also be broadcasting the vehicle description and reg number to have as many folk keeping their eyes peeled for it as possible.
Have you approached any of the businesses with cctv in the area, or the council, to request fottage from the time of the attack?
GC
Have you approached any of the businesses with cctv in the area, or the council, to request fottage from the time of the attack?
GC
w00hoo_kent
One of the 64K
- Location
- Maidstone or Greenwich
My feeling would be to phone back and ask what they are doing about the witness statements and CCTV, as that can be done while they are waiting to find him and is time sensitive. If they say 'nothing yet' then I'd look for a reason from them and once you have one, thank them for their help and tell them it'll all be going in the complaint you are about to write. See if that changes their attitude.
OP
OP
Sara_H
Guru
Witnesses didn't stay at the scene, the initial incident that I managed to escape from happened outside school gates, so many witnesses. We went back to the scene after I'd been discharged from hospital and have provided the police with the addresses of where we saw CCTV cameras, but police haven't followed this up.
We pre-warned head teacher at the school that police may be coming to look for witnesses, but they didn't and of course, school has now broken up for the summer holidays.
Archie_tect
De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
- Location
- Northumberland
If you can get 2 independent witnesses that would do.... have you got time to find out who has the CCTV footage- you'll probably need to pay them for copies if they are willing to release it.
CopperCyclist
Veteran
I'll try to take your points of complaint one at a time, with brutal honesty. Please please don't think anything of the below is intended to be negative towards you - you've had a horrific experience and you deserve the best service possible, and justice.
1. Police not attending the scene at the time.
Unfortunately this is common at the moment. The police numbers have been beyond decimated. Our shift is running at less than half the numbers it used to. Daily we hear calls where we can't deploy units. Your incident would have likely not been graded as needing an immediate response due to the fact that the offender had gone. It probably would have been graded as requiring a response time above which you got, but failed response times are common nowadays.
Solution? Write to your MP and tell them to lobby for more police.
2. Police not having any intention of attending you.
They should have. Indeed, they should have called to apologize for missing a response time and let you know when they could get to you. If they weren't even going to visit, the solution has to be to make a complaint to your local station to the inspector.
3. Attending registered keepers address 34 hours after event.
You will doubtless be shocked, but this is actually a good response time in the current climate. If what you said happened to me and I reported it, I wouldn't have been surprised if the investigating officer had simply sent a formal notice requiring the drivers details to the registered address, which gives them 28 days to reply.
4. Police making no effort to obtain CCTV or witnesses.
Are you sure? Is there some CCTV footage that you know exists, that you know they haven't obtained? Are there witnesses that you know they haven't spoken to? If the answer to those is "yes" I would suggest ringing your investigating officer and asking the direct question of when they will do it. If you don't know for sure, can you clarify how they haven't done the above?
5. Not listed as wanted on Interpol.
I have been an officer for over ten years, and I wouldn't have a clue how to check that! PNC is a different matter, that's easy to check and easy for him to be placed as wanted on it. Is he wanted for your offence or something else?
6. No local appeals for witnesses
I'm presuming you mean newspaper appeals, or those 'There was a collision here' boards. This normally isn't done unless it's serious injury or death. However your local paper may like to run your side of the story which could have the same effect?
To answer you in summary, there are some things you describe that I wouldn't be happy with, and I would complain (police not intending to follow it up), there are some parts that I would question (CCTV and witness issue) and some parts that I personally would be happy with (the 34 hour visit to registered keeper).
The problem with every investigation is that you need to understand that the officer investigating your case probably has another 15 cases of an equivalent level running at the same time. On top of this they likely get given daily tasks by supervision and their radio. The problems are caused by simply not having enough officers to deal with the workload, which can only be corrected by the government. However, the complaints land wholly at the feet of the police, increasing bad feeling from the public and making it even easier for the government to cut numbers further!
1. Police not attending the scene at the time.
Unfortunately this is common at the moment. The police numbers have been beyond decimated. Our shift is running at less than half the numbers it used to. Daily we hear calls where we can't deploy units. Your incident would have likely not been graded as needing an immediate response due to the fact that the offender had gone. It probably would have been graded as requiring a response time above which you got, but failed response times are common nowadays.
Solution? Write to your MP and tell them to lobby for more police.
2. Police not having any intention of attending you.
They should have. Indeed, they should have called to apologize for missing a response time and let you know when they could get to you. If they weren't even going to visit, the solution has to be to make a complaint to your local station to the inspector.
3. Attending registered keepers address 34 hours after event.
You will doubtless be shocked, but this is actually a good response time in the current climate. If what you said happened to me and I reported it, I wouldn't have been surprised if the investigating officer had simply sent a formal notice requiring the drivers details to the registered address, which gives them 28 days to reply.
4. Police making no effort to obtain CCTV or witnesses.
Are you sure? Is there some CCTV footage that you know exists, that you know they haven't obtained? Are there witnesses that you know they haven't spoken to? If the answer to those is "yes" I would suggest ringing your investigating officer and asking the direct question of when they will do it. If you don't know for sure, can you clarify how they haven't done the above?
5. Not listed as wanted on Interpol.
I have been an officer for over ten years, and I wouldn't have a clue how to check that! PNC is a different matter, that's easy to check and easy for him to be placed as wanted on it. Is he wanted for your offence or something else?
6. No local appeals for witnesses
I'm presuming you mean newspaper appeals, or those 'There was a collision here' boards. This normally isn't done unless it's serious injury or death. However your local paper may like to run your side of the story which could have the same effect?
To answer you in summary, there are some things you describe that I wouldn't be happy with, and I would complain (police not intending to follow it up), there are some parts that I would question (CCTV and witness issue) and some parts that I personally would be happy with (the 34 hour visit to registered keeper).
The problem with every investigation is that you need to understand that the officer investigating your case probably has another 15 cases of an equivalent level running at the same time. On top of this they likely get given daily tasks by supervision and their radio. The problems are caused by simply not having enough officers to deal with the workload, which can only be corrected by the government. However, the complaints land wholly at the feet of the police, increasing bad feeling from the public and making it even easier for the government to cut numbers further!
Cycleops
Legendary Member
- Location
- Accra, Ghana
How badly injured were you?
cd365
Guru
- Location
- Coventry, uk
Go to your local paper, they love public interest stories like that. I hope you are OK after your ordeal.
Archie_tect
De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
- Location
- Northumberland
I did wonder the other day why 7 [seven] marked police cars, each with 2 officers, attended a simple collision between 2 cars on the A1 Western Bypass the other day- and last week-end two cars broke down due to overheating going to the Northumberland coast and 5 [five] large BMW police cars, again with 2 officers in each, pushed their way through up through the standing queue of the rural A1 to direct the traffic which before they arrived was waiting to filter past them in order.
It would be reasonable to think that some responses don't always seem proportionate.
It would be reasonable to think that some responses don't always seem proportionate.
