A Case Of "You want me to deal with my own problems??"

A couple phoned the police to report a possible house burglary, which so concerned the couple that they promptly fell asleep. They were awoken by a text message. They were:

"...totally gobsmacked and disgusted that this text was sent out an hour later to us.

"To text the person who calls and ask them to investigate what had been stolen, broken into and who did it is just incredible.

"It just gives burglars the idea that they can get away with it because the police aren't going to send anyone out."

Mr Bishop, 33, added: "I would've thought they should have been able to catch a man in a white T-shirt as there couldn't have been many running around the area at five in the morning."

Shocking indeed... the police shouldn't be asking people to actually get out of their bed in times of emergency and assist them. That would suggest the victims gave a damn about what had happened, and we wouldn't want to suggest that now would we? Here's the actual text message:

Lloyd. Following on from your call earlier on to the police, please can you contact us if you are able to establish what has been stolen and where from? At this time we're struggling to get the police to attend general calls for service, many thanks.

So what they were actually asked was could you let us know what has been stolen and where from. Not who did it. Not to even try to apprehend the suspect. Just a simple request to let the police know what had actually been taken as they had their hands full with higher priority calls. Not exactly asking the Earth there are they?

I am constantly amazed at the attitude of people in this country. Sure we pay taxes to help fund a police service to help keep the peace. But surely it is also our responsibility to actively assist this police service and also to deal with the shit that happens to us directly?

The police cannot possibly be expected to stop every burglary and catch every burglar in the act, if the burglar is no longer in the building then the incident is going to be a lower priority that more life threatening incidents. They can, however, be expected to, within a reasonable time period, investigate said burglary. If you want to give the burglar the idea that they can't just get away with it, you need to actively protect your home and do everything in your power to ensure the police have every bit of information required in readiness for a possible investigation later on.

But no, as usual the British just moan and bleat about the lack of police assistance without bothering to consider all the factors involved. Should the police maybe have ignored a violent incident and come to assist at this house, without even knowing if anything had actually been stolen? I don't think so. And from what I can tell in the news story, nothing was stolen at all and the burglar was scared off before entering the property. A broken padlock is not really worthy of an immediate nighttime visit by the police when their numbers are at their lowest is it?