On my soapbox

[Escapee]

I would like to take this opportunity to put a few matters straight, If you dont want to read this post I suggest you go elsewhere instead of complaining about it.

I have been annoyed a few times on this site by people who come across all high and mighty and appear to judge people just because their views differ.
The Thread about "Seperate Rules for Police" is a prime example of this, I made some comments that someone decided to look at in a certain way and I was then accused of having a cheap shot at the police, or being an ignorant person. I find it very difficult to understand how someone can comment on another persons ignorance when they know nothing about them.
I have felt that I have been judged by a few who probably think that I am a right thug/criminal just because I do not go along with their Christian views, I am not anti-police but can only comment on the effectiveness of the police force in my area.
I would not wish anyone to experience the same trouble that my parents have had in recent times, but if any of the do-gooders were in a similar situation they would certainly not be singing the polices praises. Many will say that the police need more money but the root problem is the amount of time that they waste chasing criminals that are let of by some silly out of touch judge. I attended court as a witness a few years ago and was amazed when the solicitor said "see that guy there, he has a record as long as his arm but has just been let off with a caution because the court has lost his records" When actually he was in line for a good stretch in prison. That just about sums up the situation I wonder how often that sort of thing happens.
If I threw a stone through someones window because I was in a temper over something, the outcome would depend very much on my actions. ie: If I admitted it, it would be straight to court, if I denied it the police would probably not bother to persue the matter and would tell the owner to claim off their insurance. The police in this area have an attitude of apathy, and to be fair it's probably because they are fed up with rounding up the same criminals only to see them let off again.

My parents live or should I say lived, in a very nice area with some large houses. They have lived in the same street for over 35 years, but within the last few years two of the large houses have been converted to flats. Two of these flats, one house and another house in an adjacent street are now occupied by drug dealers. They even get drugs delivered in the morning by the milkman, and these people seem to get busted occassionally but there always seems to be a problem finding the stuff because so many houses, people and hiding places are being used. The police on the beat will tell you that it's a waste of time, your average copper in our area will tell you that the people higher up the ladder are only interested in statistics and if they get a conviction the judge will let them off with a light sentence or a smack on the wrist anyway. The crime in the area has increased tenfold in the past few years and unless you are experiencing similar circumstances it's very hard to comment. The problems range from very minor issues like a dealer leaving his car across the driveway of an old couples house that stopped them using their car for a fortnight. They said nothing to the police because they were worried about what would happen if the police removed the car. At the other end of the scale it has resulted in robbery and criminal damage, like a patio table thrown through my parents bay windows.
The person was identified but the police "suprise suprise" did not take any action, there has been constant atacks on the people that have their say and on the other hand the frightened, spineless do-gooders get off a bit more lightly because they just appear to get robbed now and again.

I only have one conviction against my name and it was for criminal damage, I always tell companies in interviews about it, and too be honest they usually have a good laugh about it. I received a fine and had to pay compensation because I was silly and admitted what I had done, but on the other hand it was worth every penny because the problems stopped immediatly. I had big trouble living in a street with double yellow lines, and we were the only detatched property and the only one with a driveway. I regulary had problems with vehicles being parked in my driveway and had problems in the past when I was "On-Call" and not able to attend a callout because someone decided that they could just park in my drive. Signs made no difference because many people just dont give a s**t about anyone else. The events that led to me being in court involved my driveway and a solicitors wifes car, he was actually the duty solicitor that night at the police station. Fortunately I knew all about him and expected problems when his wifes name was mentioned, this solicitor was your average upstanding example that had been struck off and was re-instated to work under another solicitors guidance, infact at least one of his partners went to prison over their actions. This fine upstanding solicitor has again been struck off and I understand has now been recently declared bankrupt. I understand from people who have dealings that many wills, property deeds etc are lost, and balifs are appearing at his house regulary. Anyway this solicitor tried to get me convicted for far more serious crimes than I actually committed, the court said it was a civil matter and they told me I was a naughty boy and said the vehicle should not of been left on private property without permission. The court needed to see the estimate for damage and then it was a civil matter, suprise suprise though the policeman involved in the case suddenly lost the paperwork and I was told that I would have to appear again "if that was OK" to see to this formality. I did appear again and this time the solicitor had managed to get me in the big court for a more severe seeing too.

I have no regrets over the incident because at the end of the day the problem stopped overnight, I stood up in court and told them that I would be doing exactly the same thing next time I had similar problems but would deny it to make things more difficult.
It was worth every penny, no more problems and no more wasting police time. It definately proved that the people using my drive to park in knew exactly what they were doing but just didn't care less.

I would just like to suggest that people who are not experiencing these sort of problems in their area will not appreciate the difficulties, and they should remember that no matter how nice their neighbourhood is, it can change very rapidly if the wrong type move in. Incompetence, scandal and bending the rules happen in all walks of life and just because someone is a policeman, fireman, solicitor etc they are still human at the end of the day. The world is made up of a mixture of good and bad people and inevitably some bad ones become policemen although I think they are the minority.

Off my soapbox now, perhaps in my next post now I feel better about it, I will explain what a disgusting and sick thing was said to me by a practicing christian. I think it would turn everyones stomaches, and was the main reason that I have been a bit quiet lately.

[Ramrod]

Originally Posted by Escapee

snip.

Good rant m8!

[paulyoung666]

bloody hell , not a typo in sight , thought i hadnt seen you about for a while , if i remember rightly we had a conversation about this a while ago , it is getting to be the same round here , and as far as i am concerned you are 100 % right about the courts

[Shaun]

Glad you felt you could share that with us mate, an excellent and well rounded post

escapee.

I suppose you mean me. I don't think I'm high & mighty, nor a practising Christian but rather lapsed Jewish. I apologize if you felt offended.

Firstly, on your own admission the several incidents you mention are hardly due to police errror as you made it clear: errors or bad decisions were made by judges/magistrates?

Secondly, normally serious police cases are dealt with by the Crown Prosecution Service. It is for them to decide if a prosecution will be successful. If they believe it won't then it is up to them to refer the case back to the police officers concerned.

Thirdly, I agree sometimes bad apples can be found in the police service, I don't deny that. I felt having had one police officer murdered, one seriously injured and another almost killed it wasn't fair to use the thread in the way you did but then the thread itself was headed as to invite judgements rather than understand the result of the Boxing Day incident. As I said the original idea was a kite flown by a BBC journalist seeking cheap public responses.

Fourthly, I have worked closely although in the past with the Met. Police and I'm only to well aware of the pressures they can be under. I have also lived and worked in Zimbabwe and Kenya where policing practices, corruption and abuse of citizenry, bare no relation to our own. On my return to the UK I really appreciated how human our police officers are.

Having explained the above I do not intend to intervene again.

[Russ B]

What was said to you by the 'practising Christian'? Don't name any names, and PM me if you prefer.

[Bex]

escapee babes, sounds like you've had a wee bit of a tough time at the hands of one or more of our members, unfrotunately this is often the case with this median since people reflect their own emotions onto what someone posts or read some sort of hidden sub-text which is not really meant to be there......
i would advise that if you get any sort of problems to pm a member of the admin staff...they helped me with a similar situation and intervened and it was sorted......

and happy new year hun

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by bexy

escapee babes, sounds like you've had a wee bit of a tough time at the hands of one or more of our members, unfrotunately this is often the case with this median since people reflect their own emotions onto what someone posts or read some sort of hidden sub-text which is not really meant to be there......
i would advise that if you get any sort of problems to pm a member of the admin staff...they helped me with a similar situation and intervened and it was sorted......

and happy new year hun

Thanks, Russ and Bexy and sorry to Gogogo as it is not your fault that I have exploded recently.

It wasn't anything said by a christian on this site, but a very viscious attack by a christian I was having a relationship with.
I couldn't talk about it but now feel better possibly revengefull, she said that she wouldnt introduce me to her children because I wasnt a christian. because I wasnt a christian she couldnt trust me because I may do terrible things to them or worse still be like Ian Huntly, whilst she would be like Maxine Carr sticking by me without realising what I was doing!

I was disgusted by these comments and I did not leave the house for three days, I am really appalled that she could say or think those things about me without there being a single shred of evidence. When I opened up to my friends about it they were appalled and said she must be some sick person, she stopped communicating with me and I went down to her street to see if her car was about. It wasn't but her friend saw me and she threatened to report me to the poliec for harassment and stalking. I still dont know why she suddenly reduced the amount of communication and then let rip with a horrible attack on me, the above comment was only one of many. I honestly did nothing to deserve the treatment that I got, and the emails and telephone calls from her were telling me how much she loved me. The last bitter attack she had on me ended with a sentence saying "I hold you in very high esteem and enjoyed our time together if I didn't have kids I would of loved to spend my life with you" I can tell you it has really hit me hard, I have never been like this before and it's very unusual for me to show emotion.

I just cant believe that she also said because she was christian she didn't believe in sex before marraige, this woman would attend church twice on a sunday and them drive up to my place and not for playing tiddly-winks.
She was the one solely responsible for making the moves in that department and I know feel very bitter over the incident feeling that she was telling me a load of lies and leading me up the garden path possibly playing a game with my emotions along the way.

Sorry if I have been off with anyone recently, but I usually talk my mind and I know sometimes the points I make look different from how I mean them.

[paulyoung666]

bloody hell mate , this is my opinion only but it sounds as though you had a lucky escape there

[Russ B]

Not wishing to turn this in to a religious thread....

That is an EXTREMELY odd (and thankfully, rare) attitude for a Christian to take. I don't know what made her feel that way but I would go so far as to say it would be pretty ignorant for her to view all non-Christians that way. Most of my mates don't share my beliefs and I wouldn't think twice about allowing them to play with my daughter.

It's important to realise that once we are saved, we're not suddenly transformed in to perfect people - we are still capable of doing bad things. We still getting tempted by all kinds of things, lust, dishonesty etc.

I like to think that this person's views has not affected the way you regard us Jesus freaks

[Sociable]

At the risk of being a "Do Gooder" yet again this sounds very much like the actions of a young lady tarring you with the same brush she is unable to use on someone from her past that let her down badly.

The sad fact is that given the reference to her children being the problem this may point to their natural father or worse still her own father/step father being the source of the pain she feels.

Try not to take the anger she expresses too personally as I think it truely wasn't aimed at you and maybe just feel a little sad for her and the damage she is doing to herself allowing the past to haunt her in this way.

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by Russ D

Not wishing to turn this in to a religious thread....

That is an EXTREMELY odd (and thankfully, rare) attitude for a Christian to take. I don't know what made her feel that way but I would go so far as to say it would be pretty ignorant for her to view all non-Christians that way. Most of my mates don't share my beliefs and I wouldn't think twice about allowing them to play with my daughter.

It's important to realise that once we are saved, we're not suddenly transformed in to perfect people - we are still capable of doing bad things. We still getting tempted by all kinds of things, lust, dishonesty etc.

I like to think that this person's views has not affected the way you regard us Jesus freaks

I think she reacted to something that had nothing at all to do with me, it was probably a family issue as I know her sister was having big problems with an abusive husband she had just split from.

I have no intention of knocking Christians in this thread Russ, I found it to be a little more awkward to understand when the same week that she said that terrible thing, my local newspaper reported that a lay preacher (who goes in my local pub) was arrested for indecent assault on a young boy. That just made it all the more difficult to understand her reason. I have had two partners with children before and to be honest in one instance early on in the realtionship would refuse to babysit because I would never want to put myself in the position where a finger could be wrongly pointed. I had told her this and I think she knew it was an easy way to hurt me, I would never say that sort of thing to my worst enemy.

I have learnt from the whole fiasco and will be back to my wary self again from now on, I thought how it would look from others points of view and even showed her emails to prove that it was not a matter of me chasing someone who didnt want my affections. This womans affections and feelings were so intense and then turned to hatred overnight, I can understand her finishing the relationship but the viscious comments and attacks are very confusing.

Women......... will we ever understand them!

[Bex]

Originally Posted by Escapee

Women......... will we ever understand them!

OI we are easy to understand, unlike you men :p

but seriously...if you need a chat....then do the usual and pm me babes

[Julian]

Kevin, your openness, honesty and willingness to share your experience with the other forum members is a true measure of this forum's capabilities to be a community.

I truly hope you have a good 2004.

PS you could try enabling your rep system, I feel sure there are a few people who would like to credit you.

[Russ B]

Originally Posted by Escapee

Women......... will we ever understand them!

Women...can't live with them....chuck us another can, mate