How to chivvy up the police?

[Pale Rider]

Difficult to asses this without knowing the sequence of events, particularly how the incident started.

A random threat to kill a cyclist is unusual, so did the motorist suffer some perceived injustice, such as being cut up by Sara?

An official complaint will take up more resources and could divert attention from the matter in hand.

I would try to get hold of a shift inspector or an inspector at the nick and, without making an official complaint, try to impress on him/her the seriousness of the incident.

 

[Archie_tect]

It would be frustrating to discover after all this that the hit and run driver was driving a stolen car or had false number plates, or was unregistered with no licence, no insurance, MOT or VED.

But then people who are law-abiding would have stopped, it's those people who drive illegally, or who've been drinking, who get away with causing injury and damage by leaving the scene- sadly Sara may never get the result she wishes, no matter how vigilant the Police should have been by attending at the scene.

 

[SteCenturion]

I am sorry to read about your bad/sad incident, you must have been very fearful of this Phsyco.

I can't offer advice, just wish you well that it is concluded to your satisfaction & that the head case is caught & dealt with.

Best of British.

 

[Sara_H]

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!

Can I just ask, I appreciate what you're saying about response times after a standard RTC, but this man had threatened to kill me and pursued me through the streets. I was absolutely terrified for my life. Doesn't that warrant a more urgent response?

 

[Brandane]

My Police service ended 12 years ago, and things have got a lot worse since then in terms of man-power and therefore response times.

Further to what @CopperCyclist posted, unless things have changed in 12 years then you will find that once the dust has settled on the initial incident, the follow up enquiries fall to one individual allocated officer. He might be on rest days now, or night shift, etc.. To be honest, 4 days is a very short time in investigation terms, for all the reasons given by coppercyclist.

 

[Globalti]

I think we are all spoiled by TV Police dramas where the crime gets solved within one shift.

The post about Police waiting for ANPR or a passport hit is the most likely explanation; as others say, the Police can't go looking for people but there is so much ANPR and other technology that they know it's only a matter of time before the person pops up somewhere and the technology does its job. We use this to our advantage when reporting speeders and short-cutters in out access restricted street, which Lancashire Police encourage us to do.

 

[swee'pea99]

Find out when your local MP has their next surgery and turn up in person. Most cash/personnel-constrained public services these days will stonewall most citizens, but few are keen to get on the wrong side of an MP.

 

[Archie_tect]

...but few are keen to get on the wrong side of an MP.

...unless they are trying to ride a bike down Downing Street.

 

[CopperCyclist]

Can I just ask, I appreciate what you're saying about response times after a standard RTC, but this man had threatened to kill me and pursued me through the streets. I was absolutely terrified for my life. Doesn't that warrant a more urgent response?

In my force it would warrant you getting a response within the hour. The factor for getting a faster response (within fifteen minutes) needs the offender still on scene, or an immediate threat of some sort. I'm making a lot of presumptions based on my experience, but I suspect yours was graded to receive the response within the hour and was 'missed' through lack of units. That said - if that was the case you should have received the follow up call you never got, which is worth of being questioned with the local inspector.

Your experience warrants a police officer to be with you straight away* - but the state of things at the moment mean it is less and less likely :-/

*The 'within the hour' grading doesn't mean we take an hour. It means we go straight to the job when given it, but can't use blue lights and sirens, and the controllers need to be aware of the urgency to send a free unit as soon as they have one.

 

[classic33]

Go to your local paper, they love public interest stories like that. I hope you are OK after your ordeal.

Coming so soon after the TdF passed through as well.

Formal complaint has to be made to the Duty Inspector at the station. It doesn't have to be at the same station that the officers work from. It could be the one that's best for you to attend.

 

[classic33]

Find out when your local MP has their next surgery and turn up in person. Most cash/personnel-constrained public services these days will stonewall most citizens, but few are keen to get on the wrong side of an MP.

Not yours by any chance Sara?
Hallam
Rt Hon Mr Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat), Constituency Office, 85 Nethergreen Road, Sheffield S11 7EH
Telephone: 0114 2309002
Fax: 0114 2309614
nickclegg@sheffieldhallam.org.uk

Surgeries
They are held regularly at the Constituency Office and around the Constituency. To make an appointment please call 0114 2309002.

Full list available here https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/your-city-council/roles-who/mps.html

 

[Sara_H]

Thanks everyone, I spoke to my solicitor this afternoon, they're going to request the CCTV footage themselves and speak to the police about witnesses.
They've also suggested a local media appeal, but I'm not sure about that at present.
Cleggy's not my MP, I'll certainly be speaking to mine in due course.

 

[w00hoo_kent]

I'd make sure and talk to the police about the fact that you are willing to be a squeaky wheel to get this sorted and that you are not just going to go away. Any office that is flooded with work is going to prioritise the people it knows are going to keep on causing problems even if it's just to get rid of them and you may find things go easier that way than officially complaining. Although you have to be ready for them just calling your bluff.

 

[CopperCyclist]

I see from your other post that the driver was charged and remanded - what's the update?

 

[Sara_H]

TBH I'm not entirely sure of a lot of detail, just awaiting a plea hearing which won't be for several weeks and then a trial if he pleads not guilty.