Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.......NO!!!! You what?

Whilst on a recent night shift, I had the unenviable task of taking a report for our most prolific MISPER [Missing Person]. I’ve spoken previously about these kids waltzing in and out of care homes without a care in the world at the cost of money to the tax payer. However, on this occasion it was just a catalyst for my thoughts. 

This MISPER lives in a flat in a luxury block of apartments under the proviso that they are “semi dependant”. This means that a carer lives with them 24/7 and does everything for them, and in return they are supposed to learn the skills required to live life on their own. However, this little cherub just sees it as another person to attend to their every whim. 

This luxury block of apartments has now seen anti-social behaviour rise. The communal area is in a poor state of repair and groups of kids wonder and linger about outside. Their once delightful residence is slowly decaying and being sold off to the quickest bidder as everyone scrambles to try and move out whilst they can. This is largely in part to the MISPER who has directly and indirectly made this place a living hell for other residents. The cost to house the child is the rent, of approximately £1000 per month, plus living costs, plus 24/7 hour a day staff. Not bad. 

On this particular night, our lovely MISPER decided she wanted to take in some night air, and as most people do, she decided to “go out for a walk” at half past one in the morning. The carer reports the matter to the Police, as is her job, and I attend to obtain the report, and then copy said report onto an electronic database. Forty minutes consumed already. 

After several address checks, taking up a further forty-five minutes of time, I receive a message that the MISPER has returned home and gone to bed, and we are required to go and see them “safe and well”. So, off I trundle to pass on my regards. On arrival I am let into their little bachelor pad and walk into their bedroom where the carer states they are in bed and refusing to wait up for the Police. On doing so, I see an empty bed and further inspection reveals an empty flat. They’re gone. Clearly having decided that further brisk walking is the order of the day. 

During the course of the report and further “sighting” report I had to take from the carer, I found out that our MISPER had received their weekly “independence money” of £50. This to allow them to buy their toiletries and any snacks or treats they may want. I must admit, it seems quietly miserly to give a 16 year old a mere £50 a week, when the rest of childhood Britain is revelling in bucket loads of ‘wonga’ [tongue firmly in cheek].

 They had only but received this delightful ‘booty’ the afternoon previous and therefore had decided that the night time economy would be the best way to relieve themselves of their hard earned cash. Asked does that mean our MISPER will go without treats for a FULL 7 DAYS as a result, the carer informs me that – thankfully – “they will probably get a bit more in a couple of days to see them through” Thank goodness for that. 

And therein began my over thoughtful theories......

Do we say “NO” enough in society these days? Admittedly, this is a scenario that would only apply to a small percentage of people, but it got me thinking about this whole “yob culture” and the birth of the term “anti-social behaviour”. Our kids of today not getting the discipline and guidance that they need? Instead thriving in a world where everyone says “yes” just to try and keep the peace and therefore reaffirming the process that if you want something, you ask and get it. If not just cry like a bastard until you do!!!

Society at present seems to run along the lines of.....If there’s a problem, we throw money at it. If there’s blame, there’s a claim. If there’s something wrong, it’s someone else’s fault. There appears to be very little responsibility taken, yet in return an expectancy that they will be listened to at all costs and if they are not, they demand to be until they are. To hear the words “NO” appears alien and people seem to think that going further up the chain of command will alter this fact. 

That makes our job as Police more difficult than ever. One of the first phrases I ever got told in the Police was “you are paid to deliver bad news”. We are paid to say “NO” even if that person does not agree. The thing is very few people these days seem to be prepared to ever hear that word because the rest of society gives them what they want. A great big “YES!”

Its just a case of helping each other...

In these times of cut backs and streamlining of systems and processes there is one thing that consistently wastes the time of Police, and costs the tax payer in terms of money and Police time lost. The response of partner agencies to helping Police. 

People might assume that when the Police turn up and take a person to Hospital, whether it’s due to injury or due to a possible mental health problem, that the person is seen promptly to allow that person to not only get the help they need – but also to allow the Officers to commence their duty and move onto the next incident. However, this couldn’t be further from the reality. Certainly in my experience and the current showing in Metro these days.

I’ll use my most recent experience as example of how this system is causing a further spanner to be placed in a cog that is already struggling to cope. 

A male was brought into Metro Hospital from another Force who share our hospital cross border. I’ll call this chap “Mark” for the purposes of a story. Mark had slashed his own wrists whilst in his own house, but even though the cuts looked nasty, they were more superficial than dangerous and his life was not at risk. Mark had a history of mental health problems and had been under psychiatric care for a number of years. On admittance to hospital, the Doctors were aware of this and regarded him as a high risk to himself and others. He was having thoughts and voices telling him to injure himself before he injured others and was descriptive in his language of how this was to be carried out.

As you can see, the boxes are all ticked here for someone who is in need of some serious care and should be treated accordingly. However, Mark was allowed to wait in the A&E waiting area, with other walk-in patients following his triage, and he stayed there for nearly 2 hours before being put into a cubicle in A&E and told he needed to see the mental health team as he required an assessment. 

3 hours later, Mark was sick of waiting and was beginning to get agitated and asked the staff for help. He was told that the Doctors were not on duty until 8am and so he had to wait over night until he could be checked over. Feeling let down, frustrated and probably bored, Mark walked out of A&E after telling the Nurse he was going home as he was sick of waiting. 

He walked outside and sat on a bench in the car park. The staff did not follow him, could not provide a direction of travel, and instead called 999 to report him as a missing person to the Police. I attend and find Mark sat on said bench, 20 yards from the doors to A&E. It’s obvious he has issues, but he is a well spoken and eloquent man and after 10 minutes chatting he says I am the only person who’s listened to him and spoken to him like he’s not a child and to that end, he would wait quietly inside for the Doctor. 

We walk inside and he proceeds to lie on his bed and drift off to sleep. I speak with the Doctor in charge of Mark who tells me that they are equally as frustrated, but the wait time is what it is as the specialist doesn’t work nights. He says, “You can’t leave him. He’ll cause problems and probably just walk out again, and then possibly hurt himself or someone else. You’ll have to 136 him” [detain him under the mental health act and take him to a place of safety to await assessment]. 

Now, I’m quite an amicable type of person and I like to work with people for a resolution – particularly with people in a professional capacity. However, I do not take kindly to being told how to do my job or what my powers are. Furthermore, this doctor was aware of threats, whether real or hypothetical, yet they were doing little more than stuff him behind a curtain and tell him to “sit tight”. 

The situation as it stood at the time was we had 8 Bobbies on duty. It was 2am on a Sunday morning. The city was bouncing with drunken people on payday weekend and the bars were full. I had been to 3 large scale fights already. I had arrested twice and the control room had numerous jobs waiting to be dished out that we just couldn’t service. Of my 7 remaining colleagues. 2 were in Hospital already “minding” an aggressive prisoner from custody who was later found to be feigning a condition to get out of a cell for a bit. 2 had been assaulted and were being treated by the force doctor in custody and the remaining 3 were engaged with arrests for a serious assault/affray. There was me on my own. 

Mark was asleep by now. He had displayed nothing to me to suggest he would pose a problem, let alone a threat. He was strange in manner yes, but other than that he knew he needed treatment and was just frustrated at the lack of help he was getting.  The doctor was advised appropriately that Mark would remain without his Police babysitter and there were two Officers in the observations ward next door if required.  I left. 

I got to the end of the road, less than half a mile away and I’m sent back to the Hospital. A blue light response was designated as a high risk patient had walked out. It was Mark. I arrive and find Mark sat having a smoke. I say, “What’s up Mark, I thought you were sleeping and staying put mate?”  “I was” said Mark, “but they woke me and then said I was able to come outside for a smoke if I wanted. I’m going back in when I’m done”.

By now, my blood is boiling. I go in and speak with the Doctor in private and ask him does he live nearby. He looks bemused and says “Yes, on Leafy Close” which is a lovely area of large detached houses not too far away. “Who’s going to deal with your family if they call to say they are being burgled?” The penny drops and the Doctor apologises. He is frustrated. I am frustrated. The system is not working, and we are enraging each other as a result. Professional courtesy is strained as a consequence and they are niggling at Police and we in return are being over stubborn and awkward with them. It’s not right!

The Doctor and I chat and both learn that we both want the same thing for Mark, who incidentally had since climbed back onto his bed and was drooling as he slept. Within 10 minutes the Doctor had called a specialist unit in another area of Metro. A bed was allocated for Mark in a secure unit and he was listed for immediate assessment – the Doctor had ‘put his foot down’ and insisted. He had resolved the problem and Mark was in the back of my car in no time, as I agreed to convey him to save further delay in waiting for an Ambulance. Job done. 

Now isn’t the end of that situation how you would expect it to work in the first instance? Professional courtesy and a prompt and effective response. All parties happy. The Hospital clear of a potentially difficult patient, The Police free to deal with other calls, and Mark [most importantly] on his way to getting the treatment he needs. 

I know the staff are not to blame here. Please don’t misinterpret this as a moan at the Doctors and Nurses who are under as much pressure [if not more] than the Police. But the system is unbelievable, and we as tax payers are footing for this. 

It’s not a case of asking for preferential treatment by Hospitals to Police. It’s about priorities. If the system wants us to be body armoured babysitters, then fine. But if they want us to be out there catching burglars and thieves and being visible to reduce disorder and assaults then it needs to be a case of priority. In return the Hospital staff and Police wouldn’t end up resenting each other and preventing a smooth service from being delivered.

The good, the bad and the sorry.

People often say to me, “I couldn’t do your job”. When I ask why, they give a range of reasons for why they feel that way. Quite often it is because we have to deal with death or see gruesome injuries and situations. Other times it is because we see heart breaking situations such as dealing with child abuse and domestic violence or we have to pass on news that devastates people and changes lives.  But most often I get one response above anything else…..”I couldn’t deal with the idiots”. 

I think as Police Officers, we often feel that the general population don’t understand what we actually have to put up with – and to a certain extent, that is right. However, they know the basic difference of right and wrong, good and bad and normal people and complete and utter idiots. We all want the same things; we just come at it from different angles. We over complicate, and they see the simplicity. 

I believe that the general public just want us to keep those different types of people separate. They want us to keep the wrong away from their own lives, to keep the bad locked up and prevent them having to see and deal with the idiots all too often.  But somewhere in the last 20 years we have lost sight of this. 

For all the laws that this land has, for all the powers, procedures and policies and despite the fact we are still seen as probably the pinnacle of world policing with a criminal justice system [that for some reason] is envied the globe over, we just don’t seem to have things right. Any Officer who has some kind of dealing with or impact on the public can see it. It’s not some kind of unobtainable Holy Grail, or secret formula. It’s a simplistic set of principles that were introduced all those years back by Robert Peel and used for generations, but for some reason we have lost sight of in our battle to try and keep everyone happy. 

We are far too reactive rather than proactive. This isn’t the fault of individual officers; it’s simply that there aren’t the numbers and manpower to be more proactive. I think pretty much every Officer I have ever spoken to, joined this job to catch bad guys and lock them up. To catch a burglar in the act, to prevent a violent person from strolling around the streets with a weapon in wait for their next victim and to prevent drug dealers swamping our communities with drugs. However, the simple truth is our workloads are that big that if you couple the calls coming in that we have to deal with, on top of our allocated crimes that need investigating and you just do not have the hours in the shift to stop and search people and proactively to find those bad guys. It is true that you have taskforces that are more proactive and have time to complete more of this type of work – but in the bigger picture it is a small amount of Officers out of the total figure that are in this position. 

I find that I end up feeling guilty when I speak with these good members of our general public, as though I am personally responsible for why things are the way they are. They just want to be safe, to be kept away from “idiots” and to know that their Police are trying their hardest to bring this. For example, I was taking a Burglary report the other day from a man who lived alone in his mid 70’s. We got chatting and he said he couldn’t do my job because of the idiots. I tried to offer reassurance that these “idiots” were few and far between and that the chances of being subject to them again were very thin. He proceeded to recount endless stories of his friends who have also been subjected to burglaries, or assaults or anti social behaviour. He stopped me in my tracks and I ended up being quite stumped for a reply. He said “It's not your fault Officer, you try. But you’ve got no one helping you out”. I ended up saying “Sorry”. 

When I left I felt dejected. Totally low. I never joined the Police to feel like this, yet it is a common occurrence these days. 

I feel like I am letting people down. My colleagues feel like they are just “keeping a lid” on things and not really making any difference. Large portions of the public feel like we are trying but swimming against the current. Yet the only people who seem content are the ‘powers above’ and the bad guys and idiots. Maybe they’re not as far detached as people may think?

"I have the power....."

A phrase previously only heard from a freakishly strong, helmet haired, sword wielding, super hero known as "He-Man" - the mid 1980's fictional character from the Masters of the Universe story. However, I heard those magic words recently from a scrawny, pale skinned, dishevelled 13 year old kid whose only super power is "bionic annoyance". More a look of "He-Mans" arch nemesis "Skeletor" than the chest baring Adonis himself.

Rather than residing at "Castle Grayskull", this little cherub was a one of our children from The Metro’s child care homes - a position I would hate to have been in myself and one I completely empathise with. The vast majority of these Children go unnoticed by the Police, and are just trying to get on with life and deal with the bad break that it has dealt them. Most with stories that only regular kids could have nightmares about. I have plenty of time for these children and will happily give them as much of my time as they need. I think most people who read this would agree - they need nurturing and guiding to try and make up for the lack of family love and parental advice and wisdom. 

However, there are a very small percentage of these children who consume an ever increasing amount of Police time. These are the kids banded as "too difficult to deal with" by other elements of society. Their own families have distanced themselves from them, and they have been moved from regular schools into special behaviour management units. On many levels, they are not too dissimilar from the children mentioned above - many have unbelievable histories of extreme neglect or abuse. But this smaller group have a more menacing edge, a greater lack of respect for anything and everything - including authority and laws. 

I have heard and appreciate the arguments that these children have not been taught the same morals that most others would have been; or that they lack the love and guidance of other children and therefore their path in life was almost always going to end up this way. My counter-argument to this is that the large majority of similar children do not follow this path, and the lack of willingness to accept the rules of society and life are much simpler to explain. They just don’t want to. It’s their rules or nothing. 

Police probably deal with about 10% of children in The Metro, but the ones mentioned above occupy about 80% of our time where dealing with children is concerned. The reason for this is because the vast majority of time dealing with children is taken by what the Police call “AFC’s” or “Absent from Care”. This is entirely different from missing people, but is treated exactly the same.

The children in care are given a set of rules – just as any child would be. They are given times of day that they are allowed to be outside with their friends, or free to do as they please. The vast majority of children in care will return without any problems, with just the occasional oversight on time. But this small minority will just do as what they want. 

If they are due to return home at 10pm, they will stay out until whenever they want – often not returning until the following day or days. They will not answer phones, or turn them off so they cannot be traced, and they will have a large network of friends [more like associates that they use for their own benefit] who they will call upon for a place to stay for a night. They will do this several times a week, or even every single night in some cases. Each time, the care home is duty bound to inform the Police to report them as “AFC”. 

Once this happens the ball then starts rolling and wheels are in motion. Police Officers are deployed to obtain a “missing person report”. This form is several pages long and consists of all manner of questions, the majority of which we will have asked the night previous when the child did the same thing. Their bedroom is checked to ensure all is OK and to look for any evidence that may assist us in finding them. We then return to the Police Station to put all the information from the form onto a computer database. This database is then used to find addresses they use, or associates and their addresses, phone numbers, places of interest and previous places they were found. These all have to be checked along with hospitals and custody suites to see if they have been arrested. The majority of addresses we check are unsuspecting families whose children have been “roped in” and “used” by the child in the past when they stayed at their address, or associated with their child. As you can imagine, a 2am knock on the door, or phone call, doesn’t go down too well – particularly if it’s the 5^th time that week. But they are treated as such as they have previously housed a missing person, whether it was unsuspectingly or not. 

Each report and subsequent search/address checks can take anything from 1 hour to several hours or indeed your full shift. In my particular command area of The Metro [which is only a percentage of my force], we average between 2-4 AFCs per night shift. That’s at least one Officer per child until the enquiries are completed. As you can appreciate, this can cut resources very thin indeed.

In ALL cases there are only three usual outcomes. 

1] Police find the child either at an address, or wondering about and they are returned to their care home, words of advice are given [usually it falls on deaf ears and we are met with scorn by the Child]. 

2] The child returns of their own accord several hours later or in the next day or days. The Police have to then attend the care home to make sure the child is OK, and to try and glean some information that may help us find them next time they go AWOL. On most occasions when asked, “where have you been?” we get the reply “OUT!” as they turn away from us and carry on. 

Or 3] and the most infuriating of all.............

The child gets bored, runs out of money or patience, or falls out with their friend [associate] and they find a phone box and call 999, or walk into a Police station. We are then duty bound to return them to their care home whilst trying to glean information again – which they are not willing to provide. The “Blue Light Taxi Service” is used as these kids travel tens of miles across the city to then call Police and get a free ride home. We can’t ignore them, I know we can’t, they can’t be left to walk/hang on the streets in this day and age can they? You begin to see how infuriating this is?

This is all to be dealt with along with all the usual crime and disorder across The Metro. Is it no wonder people get frustrated with our response time? I do not know the answer to this problem, should care home children be treated as a missing people report? Should Social Services be responsible, either fully or in part? Should financial penalties be made to the children in the form of reductions in their “pocket money” – which can be considerable in comparison to most children [However, we have been told this would breach their human rights]. It really is a problem, and one that not many people seem to be aware of. 

So as I spoke to the “Skeletor” looking kid after he had returned home the following morning after Police had been looking for him all night; he looked back at me with a wry smile and look of victory. I asked, “Where have you been tonight? And who have you been with?” He took a split second, licked his lips and said “I’m not saying.... I have the power” and walked off. The staff looked on defeated and disappointed. They too at the end of their tether with the system and reaction from the children. They apologise on his behalf and I explain that its not their fault as I repeat yet again that I couldn't do their job as they say they couldn't do mine.

I never felt this bad at the end credits of “He-man”.