I got coward punched this evening. Thankfully by some skinny little teenage soft-rooster with all the muscle tone of a perished rubber band, so it didn't damage anything except my dignity. My crime? I didn't give way to the coward when he and his band of merry men tried muscle me off the footpath. Probably on ice. I'm pretty sure he was white, if that makes any difference to anyone.

It was within two blocks of the local police station. I reported it post haste, but because I didn't know who my assailant was, Constable Care at the desk regretfully informed me his hands were tied. I told him that it was a gang of roaming teenage thugs headed in a south-westerly direction along a fairly major thoroughfare, and that if they'd just put a cop on the beat they could probably nick them for something, or at least scare them back to their homes for a while.

Constable Care said, no, sorry, all the people you pay your taxes so you don't get coward punched by punks are too busy to protect and serve like they are supposed to. Would I like to make a statement? I asked if it would help. He said no, not really.

What do I pay my taxes for? I see Her Majesty's 'Noble' Constabulary spending more time pulling over sober people to breath test them than I see them devoting to easily preventable street violence. What a joke. If the police aren't going to do the job we pay them to do, it can only be a matter of time before vigilante justice breaks out.

'morning Toni,

As a member of our local Neighbourhood Watch it seems PC now stands for Politically Correct.

Unfortunately vigilantes are likely to fill the void. We had an example here last year when we were tormented over about a week by hoons in a hotted up Holden Statesman with a rather nice paint job, tearing up the roundabouts late at night. No response from calls the local "Bill" as they said the plates were false?

On about the fifth instance this car was pursued by a Porsche and a Mercedes Vito, clearly from the swish end of our road. The Porsche cut off the Holden on the roundabout and the Vito blocked them in from behind.

A few neighbours watched the event over our garden walls as the five heavies with baseball bats emerged from the Vito, "encouraged" the three occupants to vacate the Holden, rolled it to a side road and demolished it, and I do mean demolished, tyres and all. No Hoons were injured.

The Police "rapid response" team arrived the following morning, took some notes, had what was left of the car towed away but took no witness statements.

It was raised at the next NW meeting and the assembly was duly warned about vigilantism. Wry smiles of satisfaction circulated the room as we imagined the Hoons had clearly upset someone with the "means".

That is how it begins. Short term satisfaction perhaps but long term threat.

sorry to hear Toni. I think most cops do a good job. Judges on the other hand are more political animals than anything else. Even the head of the Human Rights Commission has shown that. A white male being assaulted ranks very low on the scale. If a footballer is booed you are far more likely to get a Police response. Its seems the more politically correct we become the more crimminals/thugs get away with all sorts of crimes.

Too busy collecting revenue to keep the streets safe:

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/how-the-police-waste-our-time-on-a-massive-scale-20150412-1mj1te.html

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/how-the-police-waste-our-time-on-a-massive-scale-20150412-1mj1te.html

I don't mind the government collecting revenue, it's one of the things they do. But when it comes at the expense of the safety of your citizens because your police are too busy playing taxman to address violent crime then we have a serious problem on our hands.

The fight against methamphetamine and other drugs is lost. The crime explosion that goes with it has swamped police.

There are millions to be made and the corruption associated with it extends to the top echelons of society, including politics and law.

What to do when courts give such paltry sentences for drug manufacturers and traffickers?

Recently two very serious traffickers of hard drugs that could have delivered nearly a million 'hits' to addicts and hooked hundreds of youthful newbies were celebrated, deified, with the media's social commentators leading, including from the 'fact-finding' (what a joke!) taxpayer-funded public broadcaster, the ABC.

It is tres 'progressive' among Hipsters, the middle class professionals with money to burn on conspicuous, personal consumption to use recreational drugs, tabs and cocaine usually sourced from the outlaw motorcycle gangs. However the same 'progressive' Hipsters cannot save for their own housing!

-Was it coincidence that the same 'progressive' Hipsters also supported the 'rights' of the OMG bikie gangs when Qld's courageous (now ex-) Premier Campbell Newman successfully reined the bikies in, disrupting their trade? Premier Ms Annastacia Palaszczuk helped Labor into government by promising Kid gloves for the OMG gangs.

Most police are useful. What use are SOME politicians?

Dear Toni,

I'm so sorry that you were punched and
that you didn't get any satisfaction
from your contact with your local police officer.
Hopefully the matter could have been handled better by a more
experienced senior officer.

My husband and son also were not treated too well
recently at their local police station.

Our son urgently
needed a JP's or a Police Officer's (witness) signature on a
business document. Our son asked his father for assistance.
My husband took our son down to the local police station.
The young officer behind the desk was very abrupt, rude, and
instead of responding to the request started questioning
both my husband and son as if they were criminals.
Eventually my husband was able to calm the officer down and
convince him that all they needed was an appropriate
signature on the business document. Only then did the officer
call the station's senior officer to witness the document.

It would appear that in recent years of the selection of
police candidates has lower standards than in the past.
Also their training in people-skills seems to be
sadly lacking. Which gives the police a bad name.
Things need to improve.

Glad that you are only dignity diminished and otherwise uninjured, Toni...

The balance between reactive and preventative policing is never going to be adequate especially when policy, priorities and resources are not up to the task. This is made worse when we only discover they'll not be up to the task which is when, of course, we need them. By then it is too late.

None of which helps you in this situation.

Maybe you could reconsider supplying a statement?

Because as far as 'The System' is aware it didn't happen, the police didn't 'fail' to respond and there is no statistical trail of yet another unsolved crime against persons in that area which might eventually help refocus back-to-basics policing away from the plethora of victimless crimes with which police are required to address and use [number of breath tests undertaken, for example] as evidence of 'effectiveness'.

If you had been really badly or permanently injured they couldn't have ignored the incident. But I don't accuse you of getting it wrong... that would be blaming the victim.

Police are not there to protect you and me - they are there to serve their patrons, the government.

Had we been allowed to hire our own police force, had they been employed by members of the public who pay them voluntarily, then there's a chance they would be working for our safety.

I get to meet police mainly through community organisations, sports and schools (not so much schools in recent times).

I get to meet them in those environments because those who join the police force, like those who choose medicine, ambulance, bushfire brigade, teaching, the military and some other occupations do so because they want to serve the public and make a difference. They choose vocations where they can make a difference that really matters to the lives of others and to the community of which they are part.

Now I realise that when we feel powerless we cast around for people to blame and those on the sharp end are the easiest targets, sometimes because they were having a rough day too.

Our local police station covers some very large suburbs but from dusk to dawn there is just one patrol, with a trained officer and usually a trainee. Incidents involving drugs and alcohol eg domestic disturbances burn up most of their time.

Of a day there are more police available but all are burdened down with the extras that the Nanny State and political populism have added, that likely contribute zilch to effective policing and law enforcement.

Toni Lavis,

Brusque treatment is not excusable.

Other than that the fault is political. It is fortunate that you didn't clout one of the ferals with a walking stick, in which case the prevailing political correctness may have seen you interrogated and charged instead.

//The fight against methamphetamine and other drugs is lost. The crime explosion that goes with it has swamped police.//

Simple fix: employ more beat cops. Or just employ the cops we have on more beat patrols. Nothing keeps citizens in line like seeing the long arm of the law walk amongst them.

It's easy to get away with a simple street-level transaction when the fuzz don't want to stray from the air-conditioned comfort of their cushy cars. It'd be harder if they had to pound the pavements. This afternoon I counted six (empty) police vehicles outside of the police station that I was told could not spare a man to investigate a coward-punch. Clearly, somebody is investing too heavily in capital and insufficiently in labour; or to put in another way: too many toys, not enough boys.

//Most police are useful.//

Show me the evidence.

//Maybe you could reconsider supplying a statement?//

I might, but I don't think it's the sort of statement they're going to want to hear. In my experience, 'people' like the NSW Police Force are naturally talented at remaining deaf to the sort of things they don't want to hear.

//Because as far as 'The System' is aware it didn't happen, the police didn't 'fail' to respond and there is no statistical trail of yet another unsolved crime against persons in that area which might eventually help refocus back-to-basics policing away from the plethora of victimless crimes with which police are required to address and use [number of breath tests undertaken, for example] as evidence of 'effectiveness'.//

In short... churn my statistics through the statistics mill and hope to buggery that the right answer is fed out into the 'answer' hopper.

It all seems a bit Victorian to me.

Here's a nice Victorian solution to a modern problem: re-employ veterans of the Afghan war to protect and serve the peace. It's a win-win-win: the vets get all the benefits of contributing to society and earning an honest wage, the public can have defenders of the peace that care about the peace, and the wealthier classes can still have their thief-takers.

I live in a neighbourhood with two police as neighbours, and nicer family guys you would never meet. One a traffic officer and the other located at the Station in general policing and has riot qualifications. The problem is if they are at the the forefront of violence and abuse everyday and often their responses are developed from dealing with abusive people. Give the police some slack, they are indifferent to trivial complaints. For those thugs it wont be the first or last time they show such behaviour so they will ultimately be caught.

//they are indifferent to trivial complaints.//

Can I come over and punch you in the back of the head, and we will see whether or not you consider it a 'trivial complaint'?

//Give the police some slack//

Why? They are public servants who are manifestly failing to carry out the job we (the public) employ them to do. They are either incompetent or just plain lazy. In most industries that would get you the sack. But when it comes to policing we get a bunch of apologists telling us the police are beyond reproach and trying to shift the blame for their failures onto the judiciary or criminals.

//nicer family guys you would never meet.//

They might be the nicest guys in the world, but they aren't doing their jobs. Maybe they should think about taking up interior decorating instead.

"Here's a nice Victorian solution to a modern problem: re-employ veterans of the Afghan war to protect and serve the peace."

That seems an idea worth giving a go... Those Taliban types were pretty efficient at hitting transgressors in the streets with big sticks.

Plus, all the supporters of corporal punishment will be happy, but won't they have issues with the - you know - Muslimy fanatical thing?

Seems TONI LAVIS the police weren't doing their job when you sought their assistance ? A case of; 'plain lazy or incompetent' perhaps ? The SMH journo who wrote his piece on the police, of course he'd know wouldn't he ? Like most members of the media, they know squat ? What they don't know, they simply 'expand' upon the narrative, to suit an editors good copy ?

As you've quoted a piece from the SMH I assume the assault occurred in NSW ? Interestingly I spent over 32 years in the job, and I've needed to approach police at a station, and some young prick behind the counter, was also full of arrogance and bad manners, gave me short shift when I made a simple enquiry ? I never let on I'd been in the job ?

You see TONI, some of these boofheads believe the majesty of their uniform, their Glock 17's, their cuffs, mag holders, etc. etc. will intimidate everybody from daring to even look at them, but hey, they'll soon learn when they've been sat on their arse a few times, by some angry man ? Try and get over it dear girl, most coppers do a good job, but they MUST work within a very tight government framework ? Why your copper chose to do nothing, I really couldn't say ?

Someone also eluded to excessive paperwork ? Why do you think coppers all end up with very short fingers ? Hours of typing and producing squillions of reams of useless documentation, for Court, statistics, DPP, public defender, etc. etc. ?

Finally TONI, I'm profoundly sorry that you were assaulted at all. Nobody should suffer being accosted or/and assaulted anywhere in this country. Even sorrier, your expectations from the police were NOT met !

Many people would empathise with Toni's frustration and sense of powerlessness. The assault could easily have resulted in severe injury or death.

Not receiving any acknowledgement, interest or action from the police on the desk would be the absolute pits.

What is especially galling for the public is that even where police do react quickly, the harm is already done and the victim could be bleeding out or if s/he survives could have lost his/her mobility and mental faculties.

Ordinary law-abiding citizens are denied means to protect themselves and where they do defend themselves or their loved ones, they could be up in court themselves, with a prosecutor requiring them to defend their own actions. Criminals have rights you must remember and all they risk is a return to their girlfriend in prison, or if they are young, a slap on the wrist for monstering some old guy. It was probably the old guy's fault or at least society's 'bad', the hand wringers would say.

What use are police?
Well when some bloke dies out on his property, miles from town, and with no road access it's the unfortunate local copper who has to do the job of bringing the body in, if the coroner thinks that he, personally, doesn't need to view the scene.
There may or may not be a chopper available, or someone in authority decides that it would be character building, and cheaper, for the Constable to bring the body to town (or the nearest road) by pack horse.
Of course the body would be sealed in a body bag so the horses are likely to be tractable, but there is the unpleasant job of getting the decomposing body into the bag.

A policeman's lot is not always a happy one.

Dear Is Mise,

Who ever claimed that the lot of those who serve the devil should be a happy one?

We all die one day - if someone dies out there on their out-of-town property and the family is not concerned about the corpse, then neither should the state interfere with it: I wouldn't want them interfering with mine - nature will take care of the body in due course!

//here is the unpleasant job of getting the decomposing body into the bag.

A policeman's lot is not always a happy one.//

No it is not. Neither is the lot of the fireman, who has to prise dead bodies out of car wrecks. Nor the lot of the paramedic, who sometimes have to deal with traumatic cases of 'dead on arrival'. It's rough being an emergency room doctor or nurse. Soldiers in warzones probably have the worst lot of anybody, and they - firemen, paramedics, doctors, nurses, soldiers - all still do the jobs that are expected of them.

Having a crap job is not an excuse for slacking off. If everybody thought like that the economy would implode and we would have no useful emergency services.

//That seems an idea worth giving a go... Those Taliban types were pretty efficient at hitting transgressors in the streets with big sticks.//

I wasn't really thinking of those caped crusaders. But yes, sometimes, it behooves a man to speak softly and carry a stout stick.

//Plus, all the supporters of corporal punishment will be happy, but won't they have issues with the - you know - Muslimy fanatical thing?//

Stout men taking stout sticks to the backs of young scallywags? Who could take issue to that, sir? Besides, I believe they rounded up every last Thuggee and strung him from the gallows. So that is the last we should see of religious fanaticism.

No, Sir, I am talking about a gentleman being assaulted by common cowards and wastrels, for no other reason save the fact that he was there. And if the Constabulary will not serve in the manner of expected of them, why should a gentleman not seek to set about these vagabonds with the stoutest stick to hand?

Forget the stick Toni Lavis, the moment an unskilled person picks up any hand weapon, they become very predictable, & easy meat for anyone skilled at unarmed combat.

I suggest you go & get some unarmed combat training, if you wish to defend yourself. If not, get some running training, & start lobbying for the right to carry a hand gun.

A funny story about the uselessness of some cops.

I was in town, at the main shopping centre when I started having my first heart attack. Knowing how long it can take to get an ambulance in a country town, I jumped in my car & headed for the hospital. At the car park entrance there were two cars stopped, waiting to turn in, one each right & left, the drivers indecisively looking at each other, wondering who had right of way it seemed.

Not having time to waste, I drove through & off to the hospital. When I stopped there a cops car stopped behind me, I assume wanting to book me for not giving way at the car park entrance.

I must have looked pretty bad, as he asked if I was OK. When I told him I thought I was having a heart attack, he said simply Oh, & jumped into his car & shot through. Probably a lot of paperwork if someone dies while the cop is booking them.

I struggled the hundred meters or so to emergency, where the doctor quickly had my clot sorted, but they weren't letting me go home. I arranged a daughter to come & pick up the car, & told her what I thought was the funny story about the cop following me to the hospital.

Continued

Continued.

My 5 Ft 2 inch 24 year old daughter went to the cop station & roared the hell out of the half a dozen large flatfoots, & the one diminutive police lady there. An hour later I had this group of cops visit apologising for not offering assistance.

My daughters death stare would make July Bishop look a total amateur. She regularly intimidated very large horses, bending them entirely to her will. I almost felt sorry for the cops, & certainly enjoyed their embarrassment.

Toni,

All those that you listed usually deal with fresh meat.

TONI LAVIS...

I don't know whether you're a female or male ? Sorry ?

Anyway, concerning your thoughts about taking to these vagabonds with a stout stick...? Go for it ! I'm sure the constabulary wouldn't mind ?

Make sure that it is a walking stick as having a stout stick that is just a stick is possessing a weapon and no ordinary citizen is allowed to have a weapon; especially for self defence.

//no ordinary citizen is allowed to have a weapon; especially for self defence.//

No ordinary citizen is allowed to coward-punch random strangers. The law is an ass; the police doubly so.

I’m late off the blocks for this thread, but a couple of thoughts:

1. It’s well worth reading a novel by Stephen Leather entitled “Rough Justice” which pits rule of law very vividly against rule of justice in the context of present day PC non-policing in Britain. Although this may not be what the author intended, rule of justice looked a lot more attractive than what passes for rule of law.

2. In the 1950s an ad appeared in the local New York press to this effect:

“Last night a blue Cadillac convertible was stolen near the Manhattan docks. The car belongs to Tony Anastasia. It will be returned, cleaned inside and out and with a full tank of fuel within 24 hours to where it was stolen from.”

It was.

Tony Anastasia was the feared crime boss of the Brooklyn and Manhattan docks. A win from way out in left field for justice.