Thought twice about responding to your post Sandbach ... this thread has been “ done to death “ and needs putting to bed !
However ( ) ... I’m going to ignore that on the cuff remark about “ summary justice “ being dispensed on a whim , simply because it isn’t true !
Where I DO agree with you is in respect of staffing levels and investment in ALL our public services, not just the police service .
If I can again speak from experience ( can hear the zzzz on posters clicking on this haha ) I started my service in January 1968 at Cheadle Hulme as a probationer .
Having done my 13 weeks training at Bruche my first tour of duty was on nights , on my own with my bike , torch and notes in my pocket book as to which telephone booth I had to wait to ring (on the hour at different locations) in the event that the PC holding the fort at the nick had a job for me to do . Oh the only car we had was a Morris Miner only to be used with the sergeant’s permission who was in bed ! Oh the sub division of Macclesfield Division which I was responsible for that night covered Cheadle Hulme, Bramhall, Woodford , part of Cheadle and part of Heald Green .
Fast forward to Moss Side in 1974 when I was promoted to sergeant taking the parade on nights again at Moss Side station , I had 3 PC’s ( with cars by then but going solo , no doubling up those days ) and a double manned “ prisoners van. The tour was nights , 10 pm - 6am covering Moss Side, Hulme, Whally Range and part of Chorlton . Before going out there was ALWAYS outstanding jobs from the previous shifts to deal with before we could go on patrol as we should do . By midnight the PC’s and the van were all occupied leaving me to drop supervisory duty to deal with incoming 999 calls .
There was AND still is, a chronic lack of manpower and investment ,which you can’t just blame on the Tory government , Labour were in power then but never got a grip of it either we just had to like it or lump it which many did NOT like, resulting in loosing fully trained officers time after time because they couldn’t stick it any more !
Sorry about the length of this post ... I can go on and on but the “ battle royal “ to keep you and all members of the public safe in your beds at night is one ONLY the very dedicated to their job officers can put up with, with pride and satisfaction in doing so