The Police are Ignoring me!

[Rottweiler]

Uh why did you stop? Did you really expect these dick heads to care that they almost killed you? Did you expect any out come aside from getting strangled?

Sure sure, fuck the police and all that just... wow man, wow.

You have no sense of justice. By your logic, if you saw a child being raped or a man being killed on the street, you would do nothing.

Hard truth: If the cops didn't give a shit within minutes of it happening, they're certainly not going to care 5 months later. They've got real crimes to deal with.

You've missed the point entirely, I don't care if this issue gets chased up. All I want is a common courtesy call explaining why it won't be investigated... and when you say "real crimes", define it? Every crime is a "real crime"... I know how the system works quite well, I have numerous mates who are cops and they are constantly complaining about the amount of paperwork and people they have to let down to tackle the 'bigger' issues. The point, therefore, is that the system doesn't work if 'small' crimes go ignored entirely.

In-fact most of you are missing the point. It isn't about the crime itself... it's the fact that no one has bothered to speak to me about this! A simple phone call... nothing. Not even an email. Asking for 15 seconds of someone's day to send an email makes me a whinging douche-bag does it? I'm the bad guy here? Please...

How low has our society fallen to assume the person who challenges the foolish behaviour of others deserves to be ridiculed? I guess we should all just turn our heads away from crime and just be walked all over by thugs... because that makes more sense... clearly... cowards.

First, I would have beaten your assailants unconcious with a tire iron. I don't idly sit while violence occurs. I also don't approve of bullying nor assault.

However.

*You* have utterly and completely missed the Reality. The police have many, many crimes to investigate. Many. Your report is likely one amongst thousands.

Police Point of View:

"Random guy got angry for a vehicle driving slow. He yelled at them, there was a physical altercation *which ended quickly* and no lasting damage was done. He has reported this to the Police, and an investigation will ensue."

You realize that on the scale of Crime, what happened to you happens to thousands of pub patrons every night in every country on Earth which has drinking establishments. They're called 'bar fights' and usually they have worse injuries than you suffered.

So the Police probably have about 5,000 Bar Fight reports to go through before your case.



In comparison to your case, the police have:

Assaults where persons are maimed or killed or disfigured

Thefts of thousands of dollars

Murders

Arson

...I could go on.


Furthermore, those same Police go to the home of the persons you reported. What do they do?

Lie.

Or worse, tell the Truth- that some *crazy guy tried to pass them, breaking the speed limit, and almost got into a head-on collision*.

After which he threatened to kill them (your word against theirs) and then they 'might have shaken him' in the Loud Argument that followed.

Yes, you have witnesses. So do they (themselves). The Police are weighing whether they can get a conviction on any kind of charge, and how much it will cost the Taxpayers to do so.

The Prosecutor (I don't know the Australian Legal System) then has to decide whether or not they can reasonably do anything in court.

Generally (and I speak from experience) the Police end up basically telling those three yobbos that *this time* they're getting off, but they're on Record and anything else out of them will result in them getting the Boot.

That's the Reality. And they're unlikely to tell the Public this because, surprise, the Public thinks that the Police should believe *them* without question and immediately arrest the guilty. If the Police were to tell someone 'look we can't get a conviction, they lied out their arse and it's your word against theirs', a lot of people then explode and blame the Police anyway.




In addition, have you considered the following?

You are by self-admission guilty of endangering the lives of others, by almost getting into a head-on collision because YOU 'had to pass' someone driving slowly.

No matter how irritated you were, the car in front of you posed no danger whatsoever. In the eyes of the Law, you were in no way justified in almost getting into a head-on collision. You could easily have driven behind the other vehicle and gone about your day none the worse for it. *You* chose to *speed* to get around the other vehicle, and have admitted you almost caused a head-on collision.

Therefore, whilst you are condemning the Police for not *talking to you about an ongoing case* you should be thankful you weren't cited for *your* actions.

End result: I don't agree with the actions of the other driver. He was a rank ass. However, you also need to face the reality of the situation, and realize that if you expect swift justice, you should also consider the reality of what *you* were guilty of, and whether you'd be as pleased if the police also busted *you*.

 

[Clearing the Eye]

I'm sorry. Contrary and glib.

You're not getting any better at this generalization thing. Also, I don't think you know what glib means. It's not a catchphrase - it actually has a meaning.

"Readily fluent, often thoughtlessly, superficially, or insincerely so. Easy or unconstrained, as actions or manners. Agile, spry." - http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/glib

But if you can show the class how "Where as you, apparently, just love generalization," is readily fluent or free flowing, I'm all ears.

Glib means you have a superficial answer for everything which you fire out quickly and thoughtlessly. Usually like a quote from a dictionary or something, without much higher cognitive understanding behind it.

We're still waiting for you to explain how "Where as you, apparently, just love generalization," is glib. Or were you avoiding that?

You're really not very good at picking up on subtext, are you?
Or maybe you're better than you're making out and just being stubborn.
In any case, I can assure you that my responses have been very witty and I don't want to ruin it by having to explain them...

Sorry, I didn't see you explaining how the statement was glib anywhere in there. Perhaps because it wasn't. Or, reply with another subversion.

 

[Bassik]

I'd be ignoring you too. The police have more pressing matters to attend to than a minor road rage scuffle.

Like giving out parking tickets, speeding tickets, tickets for people who's windshield is .12% too dark, tickets for people who pee against a tree in the middle of nowhere, tickets for people who are disdainful of the cops because they write so many tickets instead of DISPENSING JUSTICE!

 

[Rastien]

Reading through your story...

It sounds like the 3 guys in front of you weren't old and you were driving up there boots, then when you went to overtake they put their footdown (i do this also just irritates me when people feel im going to slow). Once you over took them you stopped to yell at them... defeating the entire point of you overtaking then you get strangled for it? so you called the police...

You behaved like a douche, stopped to yell, got strangled for it, then grassed... classy.

Also you must have been hurling abuse for sometime at them to let someone stop their car, walk over to your car still hurling abuse? then let him get close enuogh to strangle you? what did you think was gonna happen when they got out the car and walked towards you?

You remind me of the kid at school that picks a fight looses then crys to his mum : /

My advise?, suck it up and learn from it and don't blame the police if they cba to investigate this trivial matter.

 

[Pink Gregory]

I'd be ignoring you too. The police have more pressing matters to attend to than a minor road rage scuffle.

Like giving out parking tickets, speeding tickets, tickets for people who's windshield is .12% too dark, tickets for people who pee against a tree in the middle of nowhere, tickets for people who are disdainful of the cops because they write so many tickets instead of DISPENSING JUSTICE!

That just sounds like someone who'd say ''The police should be catching muggers and rapists instead of pulling me over for having an out of date tax disc''.
The two cannot be compared, their job is to enforce the law on their beat, a traffic officer isn't pulling double duty as a homicide detective.

I don't know what the US police are like, sure some of them are probably petty and get away with that bullshit ticketing, but everyone's so quick to dismiss the entire Police Force on that minority.

 

[Bassik]

I'd be ignoring you too. The police have more pressing matters to attend to than a minor road rage scuffle.

Like giving out parking tickets, speeding tickets, tickets for people who's windshield is .12% too dark, tickets for people who pee against a tree in the middle of nowhere, tickets for people who are disdainful of the cops because they write so many tickets instead of DISPENSING JUSTICE!

That just sounds like someone who'd say ''The police should be catching muggers and rapists instead of pulling me over for having an out of date tax disc''.
The two cannot be compared, their job is to enforce the law on their beat, a traffic officer isn't pulling double duty as a homicide detective.

I don't know what the US police are like, sure some of them are probably petty and get away with that bullshit ticketing, but everyone's so quick to dismiss the entire Police Force on that minority.

Dutch police is all I know, some of them are allright. Most of them are people who really, really want to have power over other people. Little gits. I have more respect for people who work in security then I have for most policemen.
And they have a real, actual quota for writing tickets. Aint that a stinker?

Anecdote time: (You should probably TL;DR this)
I had a Nissan 100NX for three years, and one day suddenly this git in a uniform stops me, acts all tough guy like and measures how much light passes through my windshield. It was less then two percent darker then allowed, and he had to write me a ticket, all the while trying to intimidate me, and when he took my driver's license to his car, he took a ridiculous long time to give it back to me.
He came back, and I was smoking an oversized stinky cigar just to spite him. A lot of Euro's were lost that day, but I think he was very dissapointed he couldn't intimidate me.
It's hard to explain, but it's that type of guy, you know, gets off on hassling everyone who has less power then him. I wish I could should dakka from my eyes that day.
/psychotic rant.

 

[Danceofmasks]

Let this be a lesson to you.
Always have a cricket bat handy.

 

[Rancid0ffspring]

SNIP

Not being funny dude, but even if they were driving like idiots, you antagonized them by hurling abuse. I mean, why even stop to shout at them? Also, at what point after three yobs got out of the car was it a good idea to stay there?

Was it a pride issue?

EDIT: Having read your posts about 'Justice' it was a pride issue. If the police are ignoring you it's because you could have avoided the situation but you felt as thought you had to tell off these ruffians. I'm not surprised they are not taking you seriously.

The police are probably viewing it as you got lippy when you didn't need to and then suffered the consequences.

I feel for you. It isn't nice to be assaulted. Believe me I know better than most as I'm going through a hell of a lot of dental treatment because of some one acting like a twat. I need three crowns that'll probably need to be replaced with implants at some point costing me thousands of pounds.... which I will not have for years.

However, I had the sense to walk away from this person. They followed me and then the assault happened.

SNIP

Rottweiler, you have broken this down VERY well.

Kudos.

 

[Britisheagle]

Don't know why but this reminded me of the Inbetweeners episode whereby Simon gets strangled after shouting calling people wankers.

In all seriousness, this shit happens. I had someone crash into my car and drive off leaving about £350 worth of damage whilst I was in work. Police where useless. However with having independent witnesses etc you could prosicute the other driver. That way the police have to get involved.

A friend of mine clipped someone's bumper in a car park pulling into a space (literally a 6 inch scrath on the nearside wheel arch). There was a witness and they went to the police. They had to give a statement to say they hadnt realised there was any damage and would have stopped if he had. The police agreed that it seemed likely and said it was unlikely to go any further but the idiot owner of the vehicle pressed charges forcing the police's hand. He went to court, judge coulnd't believe that it had gone to court, dropped the charges but said that he had to pay damages and a fine.

So yeah, press charges!

 

[CaptainMarvelous]

SNIP

SNIP

Rottweiler's response ^ a thousand times over.

If a guy drives crazily to overtake someone driving slowly (incidentally, we don't seem to talk about this much, why was that? Maybe they just passed their test and were nervous and didn't need someone racing past them? Maybe they were intimidated by that?) then they are likely not going to be very pleased when that go pulls in right in front of them and starts telling THEM they were driving dangerously by... going below the speed limit? Not a crime last time I checked.

I wouldn't advise going to the media for the very real reason you are unlikely to 'win' this, your view of justice is 'someone crossed me, the laws only apply to support me', in the ensuing court case they might get punished for the physical assault aspect (if there's any proof) but likely the court's going to round on you for driving at dangerous speeds into incoming traffic, verbally 'threatening' some youths after you presumably blocked them somehow? (I found it doubtful if you pulled over to stop they wouldn't just go straight past you unless, again, they just passed their test) so in all likelihood the cops backing off is beneficial to you.

We aren't being condescending, we're just examining the case on it's merits, I don't think the cops have done anything wrong (again, following Rottweiler's argument but with my own embellishments of 'What were the youths motivation')

 

[Flames66]

It's kind of your own fault that three guys strangled you, you did provoke them. If there's a dick in a car that you just overtook, you don't get out to "yell" at them that's insane. What did you think would happen when you yelled at them? There isn't much the police could do about it, if you had the reg of the car then maybe they could have followed it up. The police shouldn't have completely ignored you when you reported it. They committed two crimes dangerous driving and assault so the police should have done something.

1) I didn't get out.
2) You're advising never to stand up to a bully.
3) I do have the reg, 2 witnesses, and even a photo of the incident thanks to a witness (sorry forgot to mention). Also of course have make and model of their car.

You should report it to a newspaper. The police have no reason not to investigate if you have the details of the car and witnesses. You can stand up to bullies, but in circumstances like that it's probably best to let it pass. Standing up to a troublemaker is going to put you in a tricky situation.

My advice in, don't listen to this guy. Always stand up for yourself and let people know you won't walked all over. Don't do it aggressively, just make it clear what you think they did wrong and how to fix it.

On this specific issue, do you live in the UK? If so, file a freedom of information request with the police station demanding to know exact details of how far your case has progressed. They then have 30 working days to either tell you or give you a very good reason why not (which can be appealed). If that doesn't get you anywhere, try the media.

 

[Jewrean]

I love how everyone's blaming the OP. What's wrong with you people?

Oh and to the guy who thinks carrying a gun will help. What, are you nuts?

Another subtle point people seem to be forgetting is (one a friend of mine just pointed out to me), the OP was overtaking. So these "hoons" were actually on the correct side of the road. Not him.

Which is entirely legal. The other car sped up AND slowed down so I couldn't get back over and even veered closer to me so I had to drive in the parking area on the other side of the road.

 

[Mau95]

Welcome to the club. The world is pretty broken already.

 

[Jewrean]

Bloody hell. What's the opposite of a keyboard warrior? I've never come across such unashamed commitment to cowardice and general appeasement. Do you all seriously blame the OP for "provoking" his attackers? That's fucking ludicrous! That's as stupid as the "she dressed in a way that was totally asking to be raped" argument. It's not your responsibility to tip-toe around the volatile personalities of every random asshole or thug you meet.

Not to mention that if these thugs are driving dangerously and strangling people, they're a definite threat to society. They are what cops and prisons were designed for.

I don't even think most of the people posting in this thread have even fully considered their own feelings on the subject. The Escapist community just loves to be thoughtlessly contrary.

Thank-you. Clearly the topic I've raised segregates this community quite a bit. I'm still unashamed of my actions, I admit that it didn't work out well for me, but that's why I wanted the police to be involved.

Thoughtlessly contrary indeed, just plain trolling.

 

[Jewrean]

and OT, this is why I keep my Springfield in my car. (Yes, guns do solve the issue of people strangling you quite well!)

I'm in Australia, practically no guns here.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

Sounds like just a normal day of driving for me. (except for the whole strangling part) This is all too common. Although you trying to pass them with oncoming traffic is your own fault not theirs. Yes it pisses me off too, but thats the law at least in America.

Did you get a license plate number? That would help big time, other than that there really isn't much the police can do. No leads lead to no arrests.