General Chat

Rarely see any Police on foot, only hear them flying overhead in their helicopter. louise

Hi Bryan, I don't really know, although when I had to have an ambulance at midnight December 2003 it took about 10/15 minutes from memory. It then had to take me to Colchester 20 miles away though. As we have a hospital no more than a mile away it really defies logic.

not that I've noticed. Infact police in general, armed or otherwise are a rare sight! Normanton in West Yorks

Not in Ferndown, Bryan, no. In Sandleheath we didn't either. :) Joy

i stay 5 houses down from police station, and since moving there my house insurance is cheaper than ever. not had a spot of trouble. (touching wood)

Judy we don't have guns here like in the States. Occasionally there is an armed robbery but not on the same scale as America. Sheila

What's a Policeman? Rose on the Island We tend to be a self policing community

no bryan very rare you see a policeman full stopxxxxx(:(:

I often see sleeping policemen, occasionally see mobile policemen but can't remember the last time I saw a walking policeman.

Our police are armed in Australia. I live in a rural area so don't see many, but I am sure you will see them in the cities.

This may sound like a silly question but are your criminals weaponless? I don't understand how an officer can respond to a scene, where anything can/and often does happen, and not be armed to proctect.....Officers in the States are armed with the usual array of protection, (ie, training, mace, nightstick, cuffs, etc) but each officer carries a hand gun - both on and off duty - and when on patrol in marked cars they also have mounted rifles in the front seats. If one of your officers runs into trouble he would have to call and then wait for armed backup? (Glad you posted this thead, Bryan.....one of those questions one always wanted to ask but.....) Judy

No armed police, in fact very few police, but then again, we dont really need them that much here!! Mazzie x

All our Police forses are armed it scared the life out of me when I first moved here LOL, a lot of our police are Irish who came over here on an exchange and never went home. Debs.

well,ime working tomorrow,so ime off to bed...thank you everyone,who has replied to this thread......it might make a good thread tomorrow "what do you think of our police" nite nite ....bryan.

diane,that is awful.....can i please change the subject,for a moment,and ask you what the response time,of your ambulances are. bryan.

Our police station closes overnight and then it's 20 miles to the nearest "open" one. We have a port on our doorstep too. We also have no hospital or doctor cover at night. So from 6pm friday until 8.30am monday we are expected to travel 20 miles to the nearest hospital or healthcall doctor. Please tell me what we pay our taxes for. We don't get a reduction for these non services We get a lot of petty vandalism, the church up the end of the village is being targeted at the moment it's always something. We also supposedly have a moblie office come round every 2nd tuesday of the month. Haven't seen it yet!

agree with you peter,in london the mobile fire arms officers,come under SO13. but we started having officers carrying,semi-automatics,at airports,buck house,houses of p,downing str,etc...now we have them walking along oxford str,regents str,bond str, etc. are we following on from the states...is this bush/blair policy. bryan.

regarding armed police every police force has its armed squad albeit in vans,cars,etc I should know as I was one.

i think my worst experience,was in miami,as soon as you walked toward a police officer,you could see their hand hovering over their holster,must be a stressful job. bryan.

Not sure I am too keen on armed police - remember that bloke who was shot by a policeman because they thought he had a gun and it turned out to be a table leg? I had a big shock when we went to Mallorca two years ago and in reaction I suppose to the Sept. 11th terrorists there were a lot of armed guards around. It made me feel distinctly uneasy. As for our town, I used to see a policeman cycling up our road occasionally and he also went round the rec. grounds during school holidays just to keep an eye. Haven't seen one walking, though they drive in and out of our local station a lot. we had a policeman come to the school recently to talk to the children and round his waist he had one of those stick/baton things - I think they're called vipers, plus handcuffs, radio and goodness knows what else. With all that weighing him down he'd have no chance chasing a young tearaway! nell