Stupid things you were scared of when you were little.

[George 1978]

Re: Stupid things you were scared of when you were little.

There are crimes that seem marginal in comparison as to whether it is illegal or not - for example, the difference between consensual sexual intercourse and rape; being a bailiff or a burglar (both go into people's homes and take belongings); sending someone to prison and false imprisonment; the death penalty and murder etc. They are identical, but main difference is that one is perfectly legal while the other one is not.

Back in 2005 someone had taken my money from me in the street after the person said that she was working as someone - they accosted me in the street and I knew that I was a victim. I went to the local police station and the person at the desk said that no crime had been committed and told me to contact Trading Standards. I suppose it is how I told it, and it did sound as if the person was illegitimate when they were not, but it is worrying when even police staff cannot see through these acts of crime. A family member reported it again to another police station and the crime was logged as robbery. To be honest, being told to go to the Trading Standards if you have been robbed is like being told to go to the Health and Safety Executive if you have been physically assaulted.

A similar thing happened only a couple of months ago when I got cold-called by someone who said they were from BT - in a nutshell, three quarters of my bank account was taken by this man - I found out that they are from India and pretend they are from a call centre while using a British mobile number - they mentioned a non-existing visit from a BT engineer which was indeed false when I contacted BT themselves. Fortunately, I got all of my money back as I telephoned by bank's fraud department and I was protected, and when I contacted BT (because the man claimed he was from BT), they put me on the 1572 call service so I can block unwanted calls. The police visited me, and because the man used the TeamViewer app, the fraudster's details appeared on my screen, and so I wrote it down at the time, and passed it onto the police - I am sure that they could make at least one arrest with all the evidence I gave them.

Even last month I got a call from a voicemail saying it was from Ofcom and mentioning that my internet was to be terminated in 24 hours - after what happened last time, I knew it was false - I dialed 1572 to block the number, and then reported it to Ofcom (as they were implicated in the original telephone call) and Action Fraud.

Yes, it has happened to me, and sometimes it does feel like the police are not always on the victim's side.

[Danniella]

Re: Stupid things you were scared of when you were little.

This is why we have what is now referred to as the Independent Office for Police Conduct (formerly the Independent Police Complains Commission, and before that, the Police Complaints Authority). In some incidents, the police are implicated within what has happened, and so as a result, the police themselves do not have an impartial perspective of the incident, hence the involvement of the IOPC (nee IPPC and PCA) - it is a step above the police themselves.

Such a long process but it was worth it, she said afterwards that if the police don't help victims of crime then who do we turn to.
She accepted their apology but she has lost faith in the police.

[George 1978]

Re: Stupid things you were scared of when you were little.

I agree with you, although the police do get things wrong too, i know a woman who reported a crime and the police actually fobbed her off, she didn't give up though as she reported them to Police Complaints and after an investigation she received a grovelling apology from them.

This is why we have what is now referred to as the Independent Office for Police Conduct (formerly the Independent Police Complains Commission, and before that, the Police Complaints Authority). In some incidents, the police are implicated within what has happened, and so as a result, the police themselves do not have an impartial perspective of the incident, hence the involvement of the IOPC (nee IPPC and PCA) - it is a step above the police themselves.

[George 1978]

Re: Stupid things you were scared of when you were little.

Does anyone think that series like The Bill used to give an exaggerated parody of how the police really are in real life - and do you think that police officers can see through programmes like as being unrealistic and even against what a real police officer would behave?

[Richard1978]

Re: Stupid things you were scared of when you were little.

I agree with you, although the police do get things wrong too, i know a woman who reported a crime and the police actually fobbed her off, she didn't give up though as she reported them to Police Complaints and after an investigation she received a grovelling apology from them.

That's probably the right thing to do.

[Danniella]

Re: Stupid things you were scared of when you were little.

I’ve always liked and respected the police and it irks me when I hear someone slagging them off because when something goes wrong they’re the first people asking the police for assistance


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I agree with you, although the police do get things wrong too, i know a woman who reported a crime and the police actually fobbed her off, she didn't give up though as she reported them to Police Complaints and after an investigation she received a grovelling apology from them.

[Zincubus]

Re: Stupid things you were scared of when you were little.

I’ve always liked and respected the police and it irks me when I hear someone slagging them off because when something goes wrong they’re the first people asking the police for assistance


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[George 1978]

Re: Stupid things you were scared of when you were little.

When a police car is parked on the street, you think either someone is a victim or someone has committed a crime, and the fact that they are not there for nothing.

[Zincubus]

Re: Stupid things you were scared of when you were little.

I was ( still am) always ‘respectful’ of the Police when I was a little lad in the sixties ...


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[George 1978]

Re: Stupid things you were scared of when you were little.

Sometime back I posted about how I found the General Electric logo scary.

For obvious reasons, I almost read that as the "General Election" logo!

Did anyone else actually find a company's logo scary in the past?

[beccabear67]

Re: Stupid things you were scared of when you were little.

I was only a little scared by the Abominable Snowman in the Rudolph Reindeer special, until he got that bad tooth yanked!

I couldn't watch the Marx brothers at all at one time because I thought Harpo was genuinely insane and it scared me. Turns out he was one of the nicest people in real life.

[victorbrunswick]

Re: Stupid things you were scared of when you were little.

Sometime back I posted about how I found the General Electric logo scary. During the holiday season the Rankin Bass Christmas specials were also a bit scary to me, perhaps because they were sponsored by GE, so there was that association. The following is the perfect storm of stupid scary! It also shows the NBC intro from the '60s and '70s which I also thought was a little creepy. I seem to recall that they used this intro every year well into the early 1970s.

https://youtu.be/QovoRux3EbA

[zabadak]

Re: Stupid things you were scared of when you were little.

After seeing Jaws, I had an irrational fear that nuclear tests would create a modified shark which could swim through land (not on it, through it!) and get me! Seriously, I had trouble sleeping for weeks!

I may pitch this as a film storyline to the same people who made the Sharknado films!

[beccabear67]

Re: Stupid things you were scared of when you were little.

I was terrified when Worzel Gummidge took his head of and replaced it with another one! I would always look away until his new head was firmly in place.

That's cute that that would be scary, I remember the scene of him having a spare head in a bucket, but it's good to have a bit of scary. That nose of his was terrifying enough! The only thing I remember on tv that genuinely lead to disturbed dreams was an old Outer Limits show with insects with criminals faces! Oh, and also a Lost In Space where two robots fought, but a lot less disturbing. We only had a b&w telly up to 1975ish and I didn't know I was watching a lot of old shows. I saw Space 1999 in colour after watching it in b&w so long and some of the spaghetti bolognese type monsters I'd laughed at in b&w were scarier, so I suppose I'm lucky I only saw those weird bugs with human faces in b&w!

[Danniella]

Re: Stupid things you were scared of when you were little.

It was also scary when he fell over at the end of the credits.

Did you notice how sometimes he fell forwards and sometimes he fell backwards? I found Mr Crowman a bit scary too.