Dominic I don’t know where you get the energy from to write so many truisms. The police ‘service’ has been ruined much like the ‘probation’ service by enormously stupid politicians enacting stupid legislation. It’s difficult to point the finger at which party, Conservative or Labour has been the worst culprit. As you say, the future is bleak as we can’t go back to how it once was (much the pity). It’s probably why so many people are exercising themselves so much about getting rid of both of them from the political landscape.
Informative and entertaining. Thanks! Looking at this bit:
"From such humble data, they would build an intelligence picture of local criminality. Then, of course, there was information from informants - which all officers (both uniformed and detective) were expected to cultivate. By the late 1990s, this practice ceased, due to concerns around corruption"
Might it not also be attributable to the fact that by the late 1990s, increasing numbers of criminals were dusky incomers who seemed largely interchangeable and whose criminal history was unknown to anyone in the country?
Foreign National Offenders were / are an issue, but to be honest? Grassing is pretty universal if you know what you're doing. I've worked with people who could find an informant from virtually any race, creed or religion (the groups often considered the most impenetrable and clannish are often surprisingly malleable). The biggest issue with FNOs is ID, DNA / livescan / biometrics mitigates the problem but a lack of documentation is an issue.
Every word the truth there.
I had a brief stint looking after a District Intelligence Unit
Could have been an amazing tool to terrify the criminals and put away bad people.
Instead an office churning out graphs and tables to be discussed during a relentless meeting cycle.
Dominic I don’t know where you get the energy from to write so many truisms. The police ‘service’ has been ruined much like the ‘probation’ service by enormously stupid politicians enacting stupid legislation. It’s difficult to point the finger at which party, Conservative or Labour has been the worst culprit. As you say, the future is bleak as we can’t go back to how it once was (much the pity). It’s probably why so many people are exercising themselves so much about getting rid of both of them from the political landscape.
Informative and entertaining. Thanks! Looking at this bit:
"From such humble data, they would build an intelligence picture of local criminality. Then, of course, there was information from informants - which all officers (both uniformed and detective) were expected to cultivate. By the late 1990s, this practice ceased, due to concerns around corruption"
Might it not also be attributable to the fact that by the late 1990s, increasing numbers of criminals were dusky incomers who seemed largely interchangeable and whose criminal history was unknown to anyone in the country?
Foreign National Offenders were / are an issue, but to be honest? Grassing is pretty universal if you know what you're doing. I've worked with people who could find an informant from virtually any race, creed or religion (the groups often considered the most impenetrable and clannish are often surprisingly malleable). The biggest issue with FNOs is ID, DNA / livescan / biometrics mitigates the problem but a lack of documentation is an issue.
We had the best of it. Great days, proper leaders but then the new breed came in and the hostile takeover took place. Knuckles and Buckles.