Here’s a show dedicated to the 999 (think 911) calls that the police got over a short period of time. The program itself (i…e the entire series) was ace too.
You will never regret watchign this, seriously.
Why would you think Americans would be aghast? I think it’s very entertaining.
Rather than my watching a 47-minute video, can someone more dedicated to the topic summarize what may be appalling to Americans?
Or what may be funny to Brits?
Tough crowd!
Saying “Here is a link to a lengthy video, the content of which I will only vaguely allude to and the specific points that drove me to post the link I will not mention at all - enjoy!” is definitely one of the top ten ways to annoy the SDMB.
Police officers go about their daily business, which for the most part deals with domestics and drunks, in which the officers calm the situation, and which seldom involves guns.
Compare that to an episode of Cops, in which police chase people in cars and on foot, are quick to draw their guns, and are very physically forceful in the arrests.
Which makes for more exciting TV? Which makes for better policing?
This just confirms what I’ve always believed: Everything is funnier in British.
Doesn’;t Jay Leno do this on the Tonight Show every couple of months?
Having watched more episodes of Cops than you can shake a stick at, I can attest that a minority of incidents involve police drawing their weapons, said weapons are fired extremely rarely, and I have no idea what “very physically forceful” means, unless the typical scenario of putting arrested people in handcuffs is regarded as extreme force.
As to U.K.-U.S. comparisons of effective policing, one measure of that is violent crime incidence, which has dropped off markedly in the U.S. in recent years, not so much in the U.K.
“The United Kingdom is the violent crime capital of Europe and has one of the highest rates of violence in the world, worse even than America, according to new research.”
Oh sure, you burn down one little city and suddenly you’re the “violent crime capital of Europe”…
Wooo! We’re number 1!
As of 2006, your assault rate was more than five and a half times that of the USA’s and twice that of England and Wales.
Of course what the figures don’t set out is that assaults that end in homicide are not included in the assault rate. Your homicide rate of 1.6/100,000 managed to [del]beat out[/del] kill off England with its rate of 1.1/100,000, but neither of you came remotely close to the USA’s 5.0/100,000, which went to number 1 with a bullet.
Better luck the next time around!
Different countries have different definitions of “violent crime” and “assault” blah blah blah. Same old argument.
According to discussions on this very topic with Brits the argument seems to be that some good old fashioned assaults are no biggie as long as fists are involved, ditto for muggings. But you Americans are crazy and have to bring GUNS into it.
The truth or which is better is debatable.
Call me crazy, but I’m going with “the one that is least likely to result in death”.
Here’s the excitement filled grand finale of the most recent season of Coppers. Watch it and try not to smile! - YouTube
Funny, that sounds like my job. I was unaware I was working in Britain.
Not to be rude or anything, but I think knowing what country you’re working in should be a requirement for any cop.
Either way, it’d be more entertaining if you show it in fast motion accompanied by Yakety Sax.