Feminism, a lost cause, full of holes?

You once had the pleasure of dating a devout feminist, you say pleasure but really you mean misfortune. You had no idea she was a feminist when you started going out and if you had, you stil lwould have gone for her, you just love a woman that can hold her own in a battle of wits. You learnt alot from her and when the relationship ended, it ended by mutual and amicable consent, except for a few broken plates and a torn football poster.

Some feminists claim to want equality, they want women to be equal to men, they want to be on the same foothold, they want to have the same authority, however some draw the line at responsibility. Some say there is no place for men in this world, but they overlook the fact that if it weren't for a man having sex with their mothers they wouldn't be able to voice this misguided opinion. Personally you think being a feminist can sometimes be an outlet because these women can't get laid.

However, there are some women who may turn to this misguided supremecy seeking cause, because they have been hurt, either violently or emotionally, by men in the past. These humans don't deserve to be called 'men', if a member of the male species disrespects a woman, he deserves to have his private parts cut off and displayed in a jar, or something worse like a key being scratched down his Car.

Feminism, as you see it, has been brought into the lime light by the ongoing problem of prize money at The Wimbledon Tennis Championships, this is that the women want an equal share of the prize money, they want to receive the same winnings as men. Now you agree with this, they should be entitled to the same amount of prize money as men, there is no question about it. However, this should only be the case if they play the same amount of time as men. At the moment, Men Singles at Wimbledon are best of five sets, women's singles are best of three, if they want to have the same prize money they should put in the same amount of work? Agreed?

You see a solution to this situation, the whole aspect of feminism should be disbanded. Call these women chauvinistic cows instead. After all, men who behave in the same way are called male chauvinistic pigs, it's only fair that the buck goes both ways. Some men will allways see women as the 'fairer sex', and to be quite honest you know that many women fit into this catagory. However their are some women who clearly don't, all a person has to do is spend a few nights watching CCTV footage of female fights, fuelled by drink or drugs or whatever the latest craze is.

When all is said and done, every person is unique, every one has their own view, their own take on life and their own way of living and doing. Who are we to ever make an assumption or to judge a person for the worse based on a look or a voice? Take a person as they are found, don't stereotype on gender, sexuality, race or hair colour, when this 'stereotyping' stops, society will be a far better place.

Who needs a two day force policy diversity course, hey?

Human, surprised?

Girl cop's a right cracker!

What many people don't realise is that Police Officers are actually human. The boys and girls in blue are not robots programmed to respond to certain situations and a set of rules do not always apply to every situation an Officer will face.

A domestic incident is never as simple as people might imagine, there are many variables that will effect what outcome an Officer decides is best. This may be to arrest an offender or to transport one of the warring parties to a relative's house, but in every domestic a force policy must be applied. What management don't seem to realise is that force policy can not always be applied; policy can sometimes make a situation worse than it already is, as you know very well. It may work from behind a desk, it may sound good in an air conditioned office in Police HQ, but out on the streets, where an outcome can be changed in a split second, it may not work.

Take for example the new Powers of Arrest that came into force on the 1st of January 2006. These were manufactured by people who, quite likely, have never been Police Officers and have never set foot in a patrol car let alone dealt with an 'effective' arrest. They sit behind their well polished desks and say to themselves:

How can I fess up the work of a Cop and make it far more complicated? I know, I'll change the bread and butter of Policing on News Years Eve that sounds good to me.'

You have one thing to say to this, the only people who should have the right to change how the police do their job are people who have served as Police Officers, or have at least experienced what Officers experience. Why? Because then the Police Officers themselves will at least have some peace of mind that what they are doing is coming from a sense of experience and from the point of view of a person who has dealt with what they have, dealt with what they are going to do.

On a lighter note, you found this whilst browsing the World Wide Web:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006290189,00.html

This link has in it, the photo shown above, it is what you describe as divine, unbridled. Put it like this, you wouldn't mind watching her back, going State 4 would be a pleasure to be savored, for all eternity. The link also shows that Police Officers do have a personal life, they do have a life that should remain just that, private.

After all, Police Officers are human just like any one else, right?

'You do not have to say anything.....'

One thing you have wanted to do since you knew what a Policeman did, is to arrest someone for doing something wrong. So when that opportunity came along, on your second shift as a Police Officer, you grabbed it with arms outstretched, no one was going to take this away from you.

You are sat in the station writing your Pocket Notebook, trying not to fall asleep as it's so hot and thinking about all sorts of things. A voice speaks and it says those exact words you've been wanting to hear since the first time you switched it on, a shoplifter has been caught stealing something from a supermarket and control wants you and your partner to deal with it. You hear your partner state than they should show that you and he are dealing and traveling to the scene.

You jump up from your seat, hastily packing your PNB away in your trouser pocket and run through the corridors to find your colleague. As you stumble through the door, almost falling over he laughs and says that you need to calm down, it's only an arrest, the Queen won't be there to watch. This doesn't stop you from wanting to get there and slap on those bracelets.

On the way to the scene you tell your colleague that you want the arrest, you want to do the paperwork and you want to process the offender at custody. He is quite taken aback by this as most part-timers don't ask to do the paperwork or even process the prisoner, let alone want to jump in and arrest someone on their second shift. But as you say you are ready for it, he says its no problem.

As you continue to drive to the scene many things are going through your mind. You imagine having to grapple or wrestle with the offender when he turns violent, you imagine having to press the panic button if it gets out of control and to tell the truth you feel that as it's your first arrest it might just go pear shaped. But as you are very confident in your abilities and you have been preparing for this event for along time, you do not fear or worry, it's an adventure more than anything.

You arrive at the supermarket and go into the security office. After speaking with the member of staff who has 'detained' the offender you move in for the kill (not literally). You say the words you have been waiting to say for as long as you can remember: '

'You are under arrest for stealing ....................You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defense if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court, any thing you do say may be given in evidence.'

You handcuff the offender to the rear, as it's your first arrest you don't want him escaping (imagine the embarrassment) and you don't want him assaulting anyone. You have this feeling, it's hard to describe, but my oh my it's great, it's brilliant!!

Five hours, a strip search, many many A4 pieces of paper, an interview, a Section 18 search and three car rides later, you realise it's not all you expected it to be. But in all honesty, that feeling you got when you said those words, was absolutely magnetic, the adrenaline alone was worth the long wait.

It wasn't better than making love to a beautiful woman though, nothing can top that, you are certain.

Everything becomes a blur, all except her.

What comes with being a student is a lot of time off. Really you want to stay in bed till the afternoon and relax an awful lot, but it’s not that simple. After a lot of relaxing you decide that enough is enough and it’s time to get yourself a job. This isn’t that hard and you manage to secure a temporary job working in an office for a company that sells and distributes medical supplies. On your first day you find the job to be tedious, routine and quite frankly boring, however the people are nice and the pay is good, so it makes up for it.

On the second day, after fighting the urge to send fourty public toliets and a commode to a pub in Liverpool, lunch time approaches and you are getting ready to do a runner. It’s getting too much, the routine, the lack of stimulation and the constant complaints from customers who haven’t received their orders. As you turn around to speak to one of your colleagues, you see a woman come into view. Time slows down; everything becomes a blur, all except her. She’s a beauty, a stunner and you’ve never seen anything as beautiful as her. You know nothing about her, not her name, her age and you haven’t even had the pleasure of hearing her voice, but you know one thing, you won’t be leaving this job until your contract is finished. Maybe this makes you mad, impulsive or perhaps just fickle, but that does not matter.

There is a point to this story and it’s a good one, hopefully. One thing can change everything; one moment can define a life and with that in mind you say to others that they should live every day as if it were their last.

You don’t wish away time; don’t look too far forward, because you rarely get a second chance, it is better to regret what you have done that what you wish you had done.

Reality, so different from fantasy.

You once had a view of what the job of a Police Officer entailed. You thought it was all about chasing people, arresting them and then throwing them in prison.

1. You thought every shift involved an arrest and a chance to help someone, this is not the case. You arrest someone for theft of an Item from DIY Store, the item was worth less than five pounds, you spend over three hours in the custody suite dealing with this theft. Who have you helped? No one. Have you made a difference? No, not in the slightest. To be quite frank, it was a waste of your time.

2. You thought that while you were in a foot chase of an offender music would play in the background. This is not true, far from it. Foot chases very rarely happen, because the Police very rarely arrive while the Offenders are still 'on scene'. When you go to a buglary it is very unlikely that you will ever catch the offenders, especially if the buglary is reported two days after the offence took place. The only thing you can do is have forensics come out and give the victim a crime number and a victim support hot line (not so hot).

3. You thought the public would get to see you in uniform, would engage with you, treating you like a person and that they would care about what you were doing. Do they? No, all they want is the service you provide, if you arn't willing to do what they say and do it now they will abuse you, and by the way, you stand there and take this abuse because, apparently, it's your job to do so.

4. You thought management would back you up when things went wrong. Granted alot of Officers in management do a great job, but there are some, especially in the Voluntary Area of Policing who are quite frankly, useless and spineless. They don't know procedre and they haven't been out 'on the streets' for years. They wouldn't know how to arrest someone, let alone whether the arrest was needed. Ask one of them what SOCPA is and they wouldn't have a clue, such faith they have from you, yes right, pull the other one it's got bells on it.

5. Paperwork, speaks for itself.

However, there are good points to the job, you just can't think of any at the moment. It's a thankless job, but someone has to do it, right?

A counter has been added to this blog, out of pure curiousity.

Respect, to a role of unbridled responsibility.

If there is one kind of person you admire it is women who make brilliant mothers, even more so single mothers.

What makes a good Mother? Patience? Compassion? The ability to nurse a baby, the fact that they turn around whenever a little voice shouts 'Mum' even when their children are safe at school or home, or the ability to bite their lip when their teens dye their hair green? You admire women who take on the role of a mother, because it is and will always be a very honourable role, no question.

Most men out there shy away from single women who have children, you have no idea why this is. Granted, when you are young you don't want too much responsibility because let's face it you might mess up. But being a single mother, a good single mother, requires maturity, patience, humility, versetility and many other traits. These are also traits that you look for in a wife, a girlfriend or just a friend, that in your book makes them a perfect partner for life.

Taking on the role of a mother, especially when a woman is in that role alone, is the most important job in the world, that is fact.

Partners

In your time as a cop you've had a few interesting partners:

The Bored One:

This guy was, well, you could tell he was bored with the job. He didn't really want to leave the station at times. He tried everything he could not to go to what he called 'the shit jobs'. If a urgent job came in where someone was actually being hurt or the police were actually needed, he would be in the car and making his way to the scene like a rabbit, faster than the speed of light. He was a good cop, but not your type, you wanted to be out there going to every job and running to every shout, so you didn't gell very well. However this Officer did have some good stories to tell and some experience to share.

The eager one:

This Officer was quite frankly, crazy and very eager to please. He took all the jobs, every single one. He didn't care about the paperwork, that was increasingly mounting on his desk. He saw being a Police Officer as a way to connect with people who he wouldn't usually meet on a day to day basis. He would talk to the criminals like he had known them for years. You enjoyed your time with him, because it was different, in a good way.

The posh one:

Now this guy was 'oh so polite', on blue light runs he instead of shouting or cursing under his breath to the drivers who wouldn't move when they saw the blue lights, he would say things like 'Jolly good that idiot, if you would kindly move old chap I will try and get through.' He would ask the arrested person politely to 'step this way' or 'move as quick as you like old chap'. He never shouted or became annoyed, calm was his 'river'.

The all rounder:

This Officer was the best Copper you have worked with, he was the epitomy of Police work. He knew what to do, how to behave and when to take control. If the situation required it he would be firm, or polite whatever the situation needed. He did all the paperwork on time, and he knew all the laws he was going to use. He never shyed away from a job and always took what he was given. He was a pleasure to work with, a cop's cop.

What you knew when you joined was that all Police Officers are different, there is no tried and tested style. But one thing you knew was to stay away from the Officers who cause more problems than they are supposed to solve.