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.