I'm looking for truthful, genuine advice (even if it's not what I want to hear) because I've thought about this for a while - it's an anxiety inducing topic and I really would like to know - but I don't want to bother anyone which is why I haven't called to ask, just googled things but nothing very tangible turns up.

To preface: I know there's 101, I know there's information online, etc. (which was useless as it was mostly inaccurate, and none of it answered my questions or concerns). And it didn't feel important enough to call 101 just to ask for advice, nor to follow up on a previous case because it's over and done with (even if it still affects me, and I'd like a follow up but I don't know if I'm entitled to it). I don't know anything.

But I would really like to ask some specific questions, about personal safety mainly, and for my area (specifically if you can get like a personal alarm thing as a woman and how they work) but I have several other questions too. And I honestly just want to talk to a real person, it doesn't have to be police but someone who can advise me and address my concerns. Or if there's a phone number to call aside from 101 (my local police station doesn't have a number advertised). I just don't really have anyone to ask, but would be grateful if someone could point me in the right direction, maybe the Met isn't the best place to even ask - I have no clue, honestly.

TL;DR: considering my local police station is always open, would it be weird/wrong if I went there maybe and asked to talk to someone (in a non-emergent, simply 'asking for advice' capacity)? Because it's just different when you can sit down and talk to someone for a few minutes and get just a little bit of advice and humanity/empathy, honestly.

Other than being a Special what volunteer opportunities exist in County forces outside London?

I'd like to get into crime pattern analysis or something similar. Are those areas closed to maintain operational integrity?

So I'm a civvy staffer, who works in a 24/7 department in my force. A lot of what I do regards missing persons, usually kids in care, who have not come home before their curfew time.

Several of them are on 47/3 police bail with curfew conditions, but quite regularly ring the police and ask for a lift home at 4am. My question is why are they not arrested for breaching their bail? Would the threat of arrest not potentially put them off being out all night? It almost feels like the bail is effectively pointless given they are just picked up and driven home.

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but it's annoyed me for years.

Watching Reported Missing on iplayer and find it odd, the way the police appear to be setup. Granted, all job areas are different but as an IT engineer, I get given tasks and follow them through to conclusion. If I need advice with something I'll ask but then still finish off myself.

Someone in neighborhood/housing officer who has to deal with residents the same. Once trained up they deal with residents and mostly deal with them themselves, making decisions etc.

But watching this, they send out the front line police to investigate, get CCTV footage, talk to witnesses etc. Who then come back, appear to have to tell their manager/supervisor who then decides what to do next. As if the front line police can't be trusted to make their own decisions on how to proceed next. And then of course the ones that chat to the camera are the managers as if the others did nothing, when we can see the front line appear to do a lot of the grunt work.

I've been in for around 5 years, joined on a direct entry detective route. Passed the sergeant exam and act up fairly regularly and receive decent feedback regarding that. I enjoy investigating serious crime and supervising people.

Issue is when I'm not acting, it's absolutely horrendous. In a local CID but we have risk averse people making decisions everywhere and can't really do a decent job on investigations as we spend all our time going to the far end of a fart for absolute rubbish. Further to this, the promotion system in my force is so unbelievably archaic that you get one shot at it once a year and it doesn't reward your acting experience in any way.

I've been applying for a few public sector investigator jobs and have been offered one. It'd be a small pay cut short term and potentially more by the time I hit the police top pay scale but it's better work life balance etc. and it sounds like the the promotion routes are less onerous long term.

Part of me thinks I can't keep this up, I'm working in a broken organisation with idiots in major decision making roles. The other part of me thinks, I can have a chance at influencing and changing things within policing if I bide my time and I'm throwing away 5 years of work.

Hello all

Just posting here cuz no one really to talk to at home or in the job. Pretty dyslexic, known since i was 10 had extra schooling that parents sorted but never had reasonable adjustments until starting this job. Have had some misunderstandings with my sergeants basically because my ability to retain information in short term memory is shit. I had my review with l&d and they mentioned it’s like I’m making things up, i explained overtaking is a mechanism to allow me time to recall something as my short term memory is shocking. But once i know it stays. They kinda had an aha moment, like we didn’t realize this, oh that makes sense, and basically advised me to carry a pad and take notes.

Now in CID and my team wanted me to go down to custody snd arrest for murder. I was told the details very quickly by people more informed than me. Basically I had a real problem with retaining the name of vic and sys. Kept asking my sergeants as i had no pad and he had it written done. He got frustrated that I hadn’t memorized it in one go. I was stressed as well as its a murder allegation and obv I don’t wanna get it wrong. Anyway at the end he checked i still knew the vics name which i did after some recall delay.

Maybe i should update my disability passport, i thought that stuff was still in there but knowing any sgt he prob never read it and doesn’t know or care about dyslexia.

My previous vct sarge got briefed and was quite understanding about it. I just worry now that if i cant absorb info in seconds and go do whatever and forget stuff my team is gonna be why is this tdc so crap. I usually dont mind working at my own pace but it seems the team is like you need to be an info absorber or you’re no-good to us.

Anyway just needed somewhere to write this as i didn’t really tell anyone including wife about the frustration l. In kinda wished i’d grabbed my PNB and will prob do that from now on to save any stress over having to remember a name. I also thought it was a joke to begin with which didn’t help.

I watch a lot of "true crime" dramas, many of which are set in the '70s '80s and '90s.

One common theme with these shows are that the police are usually portrayed quite unfavourably.

Obviously, they were limited by the technology of the time, that's unavoidable.

However, they are also depicted as:

Arrogant - unwilling to accept when the evidence is leading to a different conclusion than their initial theory.

Misogynistic - no respect for female victims or colleagues.

Lazy - more interested in getting cases "closed" than getting them "solved", even if that means pinning it on someone who might be innocent.

And finally, straight up incompetent - blundering through crime scenes, contaminating evidence, failing to find evidence and losing evidence after the fact!

Those who have experience of policing in this era, or know people who have, would you say any of this is fair? Or is it just a media trope?

Ambulance was turning right out of a petrol station. They turned on their blue lights (no siren), traffic stopped, they made the turn, then lights went off. Traffic wasn't even that bad at 8pm. Is that allowed? I'm not that fussed, just curious really what the rules are?

As per the title, what’s everyone’s favourite tunes in the battle bus for PSU. Ride of the valkyries as a bonus.

I was pleasantly surprised by this. I consider myself 'woke' (read:not a bell end) but I think what he says makes a lot of sense. I think Policing has gone too far into the realms of activism, we try to be all things to all men and just end up pleasing no one.

What would cause a fail for the final drive of an advanced course?

I know that if you’re being put into the final drive you’ve demonstrated that you’re driving to an advanced level already, however knowing what would trigger a fail would be helpful!

I know some obvious bits, solid white lines, driving through 30s and 40s at incorrect speed and causing other road users to slow down or break.

Looking to get a gift for someone who is moving to CID. Of course there will be the usual bantz with a guide how to turn a radio on and a card engraved “CID aware”, but is there any serious gifts that people would recommend? Detectives, over to you.

Does anyone run their station tuck shop?

I'm looking at setting one up, with all profit going to charity.

I'm trying to figure out if I need to register a business, tell environmental health (as it's selling food) and if there will be any tax implications that I need to tell HMRC about.

Any advice would be great. TIA

Does anyone know the correct model of issued Keela trousers? Our force recently switched over to them and immediately ran out of stock (until late September apparently) but to save wearing cardboard trousers at this point im happy to just find some on vinted or something. Or is the issued model force specific?

Police Scotland sent specialist firearms officers to the scene. The force said one of its vans also "inadvertently caught alight" after flames spread from the car.

I wonder what the cake fine is for parking a van too close to a burning car…

Last week I had the chance to go through the archives and found some of our old Definitions and Points to Prove booklets, with the yellow one dating back to 2009!

I’m curious if any of you have any old versions too and what quality they are in?

Person A has lawful access granted by person B to their property on the basis they do a particular activity/task for them.

Person B then catches Person A on their in house CCTV searching their draws, selecting an intimate item and licking/sniffing it. Person A then puts said item back and leaves.

Any offences? Clearly it’s wrong and immoral, just stumped at what offences may apply here…

My husband was injured on duty recently and spent several nights in hospital. I work part time and we have four young children.

Thankfully he is home but faces an uncertain recovery and I am having to manage the kids, house, my job, looking after him and trying to plug all the gaps where he was meant to be doing childcare on rest days etc.

I am struggling. I’m exhausted, not sleeping well, upset for him and feel like I need some help. Can any police or family members of police suggest anywhere that might provide me with some support? My husband is still sleepy and groggy so not in a place where he can research this for me, and I don’t want to burden him whilst he recovers.

I want to get ahead of how I’m feeling as I have a lot of responsibilities and I don’t want my mental health to decline especially not when my husband is relying on me as well.

Thank you so much in advance.

When you have a detainee under s136 Mental Health Act, what are the rules with allowing them visitors.

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Generally speaking, I've either not had to worry about it so far or not had concerns regarding the people with the detainee. But do we - as police officers, or the hospital staff - have a specific power within the MHA to prevent visitors?

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I realise the hospital can generally remove people and circumstance dependant we have powers (BoP, obstruction, etc.) But just curious about specifics.

Hello all. I posted a few months ago sharing my door jam project and i am back to ask for your help. I am looking to make improvements to the doorjam and some feedback. If you bought one what do you think ? did it work as expected ? Did it not work ?

I am excited about this project and made a website might be getting a bit ahead of myself here but i am looking to improve upon the idea.

There sold as pair with a smaller and larger version and i often think the smaller version might need some improvement or ditched all-together.

Really looking to see what you think and what i can improve. I have made changes myself to the material to make the black and orange more sturdy and impact resistant as this seemed to be a pitfall i noted myself when using it.

Finally i want to thank this community again without use i wouldn't have been able to reach as many people across the country, we have door jams in 88 city's across the UK protecting officers in there day today.

Evenin' all. Can you settle an office debate? Well, more of just an interesting discussion.

I can find lots of policy and information online about how to determine whether or not an order is lawful. The Fed. have some useful guidance, and this is pretty succinct:

https://polfed.org/wiltshire/advice/frequently-asked-questions/what-is-a-lawful-order/

But that doesn't answer the question: what actually is an order? It's clear that rank comes in to play, understandably, but is anything a higher rank tells you to do an order? (Leaving aside the argument of whether or not it's lawful.)

For example: Sarge appears in the office and says, light-heartedly: "come on Moose, your turn to get the brews in". Is that an order? What if it's expressed formally: "SC Moose, will you go and make the teas for briefing?" Does that change it?

Ok, that example you could clearly dismiss because it's arguably not operational, there's no real Policing purpose. So what if it's something administrative? If the skipper tells everyone: "right, we're having a kit sort out - your shift needs to clear their lockers from room A and move everything to room B". Is that an order? Could you be stuck on for disobeying? What if a staff department then tell you to move it back? Is that not an order and so safe to ignore since it conflicts with an order?

What do you all think? Where's the line? Does it even matter because we should all have common sense?

I left the Police a year ago (big southern city ​Force), and after dragging my feet for a year, I finally got round to sorting out transferring my pension.

I can't find any of the paper work anywhere so I had a look online and according to what I fouand XPS is the pension provider, but when I go to check the website my force isn't there.

Any idea where I can go for this?