Police/public relations.

Well, I had an interesting experience last night.

A neighbour who I only vaguely knew had an incident with her partner.

They both have alcohol problems and this type of incident was far from uncommon as far as I am aware.

My attention was brought to the situation when I heard a disturbance (Do you like the police speak there :) ) outside as the police took this ladies partner away.

We invited her into our home while the police finished up and she told me that he was being taken to Plumsted station which is some distance away especially in comparison to the local Bromley station.

I went out to ask the officers why he was being taken so far from his home as his partner was distressed about the aftermath and maybe having to go and meet him. I had my camcorder to hand so took it with me.

At first I was ignored, then I was mocked for the camera. Rather than responding to my query, they were hostile and demanded irrelevant information from me.

When it was clear that I was not cowed by the confrontational attitude, a burly Sergeant formally and forcefully introduced himself and in no uncertain terms told me that he would tell me no information other than the station they came from.

I found this very interesting because it may surprise some that I did not think that the Police were wrong to take the man away. What I did find disappointing was their lack of commitment to the bigger picture.

They knew that I had the lady in my home and it was obvious to any who looked that I had her interests at heart.

A little joined up co operation would have been in the ladies interests. However, I think that the crime targets that IG speaks of, certainly would have had it's crime number and a positive (from that targets perspective) outcome.

However, the Police could not help her due to her long seated mistrust of them, but Simon and I sat her down, gave her some hot food and tea and mainly listened. (She was afraid that her partner would blame her for his arrest but we let her know that the law had changed so that they could press charges even without her consent or cooperation. She was reassured by this somewhat.)

She thanked us several hours later, saying that she had never been offered support in that way, and we told her (often and copiously, you know what alcohol does to the memory :) ) that it really wasn't a problem.

I know that I would feel better with the police's support rather than hostility, that maybe we could together make a long term difference to this woman's life.

As it is, the police got a result and there is potential for further targets to be met. This is particularly likely if there is no follow up or referral for this couple until his court date. Let's face it, not one of the root causes for this issue was helped by his arrest.

It is this purely reactionary stance that police take that alienates the support of the community. Imagine how it could be if they actually got off of their superior high horses, tried to consider that maybe not all the people they come into contact with are scum and engaged with the community properly!

Do you think that if those officers who I met last night had the true public interest at heart, that their attitude would have been different?

08/02/10 Edit: The man was released without charge the next day.
Here is the highlights of the footage: