I wouldn’t want to be a policeman (I suppose I should say ‘police-person in these PC days…).
The job isn’t particularly well paid. They get little accolade for dealing with drunks and violence on a regular basis, and they don’t even get to carry guns like our Transatlantic cousins. Because of this I do my best to avoid having too much to do with the Police - I wouldn’t want to cause them extra work if I could avoid it.
Recently, however, I did have to call the Police. There was some little oik racing around our little village on a 50cc moped/scooter thing that he had clearly poked the baffles out of the exhaust. Every 15-20mins or so you could hear this little bike having its’ throat absolutely wrung as the errant teenager tried to get speed to justify the disproportional amount of noise he was making.
So - like a dutiful citizen I called our local Police station to ask them to come and chat with him rather than me “having a little chat” of my own. I was assured that they would send someone around. Two weeks later - same story. A week after that and I was getting frustrated enough to consider endangering my shotgun certificate by battering the little toerag.
About a month after this (and incidentally the noise seems to have stopped so perhaps Plod did manage to have his quiet word) I get a questionnaire from Dyfed Powys Police asking me to make comments about the service quality that I received and whether or not I am happy with the way that it was all dealt with.
Usually I would be delighted to fill out a questionnaire like this. They usually come from companies that I have dealt with and give me an opportunity to make it very clear what I think of their disservice. When it is the Police asking you to complete the form things seem to take a slightly different hue. Subsequently I put the questionnnaire to one side and forgot about it.
Then today, I have received a letter from Dyfed Powys Police asking me why I have not completed the questionnaire yet. OK - now I am highly suspicious. If I am honest - there isn’t much that I can answer in a positive light from the questions asked. The Dyfed Powys Police force have the largest geographical area to cover per officer of all the Police regions in the UK, so it is no real surprise that a rural village like ours doesn’t see a beat cop very often - and yet I am expected to answer a question on how often I see them…
Dyfed-Powys - I wont be completing your form. Not because I am particularly unhappy, and not even because I am too lazy (the form is filled in and sat here), but because I can see no good to come out of my answers and I don’t want my shotgun certificate taking off me, and my car a target for your officers.
Thanks - but no thanks.
I have run out of coffee - fancy buying me one? Tags: 50cc moped, accolade, amount, area, basis, certificate, citizen, cousins, disproportional, disservice, drunks, Dyfed, errant, force, form, guns, hue, job, light, oik, opportunity, Police, police station, policeman, Powys, Quality, questionnaire, questionnnaire, quiet word, scooter, Service, service quality, shotgun, someone, speed, story, Subsequently, surprise, teenager, thing, today, toerag, Transatlantic, violence, way
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