What is the world coming to?

[Bri w]

What a sad world when someone only sees the five minutes of fun and says "how dare they blah blah blah blah" I bet the same idiot would be glad if one of those guys turned up to help out at an incident they were involved in.

And as a manager of a very successful, profitable, Team I know my guys nick a bit of time for school sports, buy the wife's Xmas pressie etc, and quite frankly I don't mind in the least. They hit the numbers, respond out of hours, behave professionally when called on, work away from home if needs be. And on occasion I tell them to go and have a bit of fun, "I'll field your calls, you go and play golf, or whatever. Take your wife out for a meal, on me."

Oh my God, they might be five minutes late for a shout... and they might actually be five minutes closer - good job they were sledging so close to the incident.

But they must behave in a professional manner. As long as they do when called on just what is the problem here.

They should have had a snowball fight with them instead. By flying down that hill on a riot shield they werent engaging with the public and were being selfish by not letting others have a go...

Originally Posted by Shellywoozle

It's good to laugh and a good thread VT .... more light heartedness means more smiles.

I do a lot of work with people over 70 because they get their cavity wall and loft insulation installed for free. For a laugh I get a bit flirty with some of the old grannies because it makes their day, you should hear the things some of them come out with though.

Btw - fair play to the coppers showing a human side, even if it was on Police time. Any senior officer who genuinely gave them a rollicking needs shooting. No-one was hurt, they were still on call and able to respond, so what's the problem?

Originally Posted by robchester

They should have had a snowball fight with them instead. By flying down that hill on a riot shield they werent engaging with the public and were being selfish by not letting others have a go...

Originally Posted by Lozzo

I do a lot of work with people over 70 because they get their cavity wall and loft insulation installed for free. For a laugh I get a bit flirty with some of the old grannies because it makes their day, you should hear the things some of them come out with though.

And I'll hold the jokes about filling cavities, as my mind can't cope with the mental images...

Originally Posted by Lozzo

Btw - fair play to the coppers showing a human side, even if it was on Police time. Any senior officer who genuinely gave them a rollicking needs shooting. No-one was hurt, they were still on call and able to respond, so what's the problem?

Watching the coppers do that would have made my day! mind you i do agree they could have done their skiving a bit more discretely - you should know something like that's gonna get sent all around the web until it gets to some miserable old sod who makes a complaint

The problem is everyone's afraid these days - afraid what people will think, what some top brass or the local paper will say, etc So they stay on the safe side and stick to the rules/make them even more rigid.

Same camp as the Health & Safety brigade, or those councils who ban Nativity plays because they are afraid of 'offending' people who probably wouldn't be offended anyway

[Viney]

I think we are missing the point here. Some nutter was going to go down the slope in a Kyak! Nutter.

AS for the coppers, the new crime of Toboggoning on duty has well and truly been broken, so what, its a laugh. If someone had hurt themselves whilst sliding down the hill, then the police would have been on site 1st hand and saved the day, then the story would have been different. It also shows initative. You never know when they may have to apprehend a suspect in snow running down hill. To their suprise, PC Eddie the Eagle hurtles down and arrests him on the riot shield. I would pay to see that.

Originally Posted by Von Teese

I meant ANYONE in jobs, life etc... seems everyone has to be so serious and miserable and worried about what others are doing rather than seeing the fun in it.

The thing is, back in the days when policemen had to be 5'10" and they wouldn't face recriminations for clipping a scrote round the ear, they just would not have done stunts like this. There is a certain thing called 'professional conduct' which is the complete antithesis of the actions of the characters in this story.

[Bri w]

Originally Posted by carty

The thing is, back in the days when policemen had to be 5'10" and they wouldn't face recriminations for clipping a scrote round the ear, they just would not have done stunts like this. There is a certain thing called 'professional conduct' which is the complete antithesis of the actions of the characters in this story.

and 'back in the day' even brickie's labourers wore ties.

On the one hand we've seen threads about why can't the Police be more tolerent about being a few miles over the limit, and then there is no tolerence going the other way.

Mixing with Joe Public, and showing their human side, is a good PR exercise at the very least.

As for professional conduct, if they behaved like unruly kids whilst on a job thats unprofessional. Each to their own but I don't see this as unprofessional.

I can completely understand why they'd want to lighten up 10 minutes of their day; and as nobody seemingly suffered from their actions then there is no harm done, but no-one, in any profession, could claim they were acting responsibly and professionally, whilst using a piece of specialist equipment to sledge down a hill.

I don't see the harm in it really, but people's values and the way they see their role as part of society has changed. In this case, I would say that a nice cute picture of a uniformed policeman gently pushing a youngster on a sledge at the top of the hill would have remained professional and potentially improved public relations. Unfortunately, particularly during a recession when people are watching every penny and wondering where their taxes are going (mostly to paying off failing banks it has to be said), seeing policemen 'on a jolly' does not really fit with that.

Originally Posted by carty

In this case, I would say that a nice cute picture of a uniformed policeman gently pushing a youngster on a sledge at the top of the hill would have remained professional and potentially improved public relations.

Oh you mean that 'paedophile cop' that the parents complained about for 'touching up' their child and pushing it down a slope where injury could have also been caused and the child could have ended up in a wheelchair?

You know...

the one that got fired for it?
That would have been the headline on your 'cute picture'.

Cops can't win!
End of!

But back on topic, we were talking about EVERYONE cheering up a bit!

Originally Posted by Von Teese

Cops can't win!
End of!

Cops can and do win, but if you start with that attitude you certainly won't