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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
Targets, paperwork diversity . . .
It seems to be a common theme amongst those members of the police force who have broken ranks and described modern policing that most time is taken up with covering one's back and paperwork. Targets must be met whatever the cost which inevitably leads to concentration on minor, easily solved crimes rather than anything which is going to take a mountain of paperwork to...
Published 14 months ago by Damaskcat
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
You're Nicked My Son
We've had Dave Copperfields book (and excellent blog), then Diary of an On-Call Girl, now the Inspector has called (hee hee - soz couldn't resist). Another sideways look at the world of the modern Police Force but this time from higher up the ranks, very well written and it's interesting to see the story told from the bosses view. He still describes the madeningly...
Published 4 months ago by Icemaiden
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Great insight, 15 Jul 2009
After having read "Wasting Police Time" and as a serving officer I was looking forward to another truthful insight of modern British Policing. I was not disappointed, Inspector Gadget is obviously of the same opinion of the job as I am and it is a welcome change for someone of rank to have experienced the same problems and issues as I do on a daily basis.
A great read for any officer and an interesting read for anyone else interested in how the police service actually works
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Good book, shame it's so true..., 4 Jul 2009
Have read 'Wasting Police Time' and this is equally as entertaining. Was very interesting to hear the take on things from somebody a bit higher up in the ranks. Some hilarious (and saddening!) stories to remind us all of just how ridiculous our justice system is
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
You're Nicked My Son, 1 Jul 2009
We've had Dave Copperfields book (and excellent blog), then Diary of an On-Call Girl, now the Inspector has called (hee hee - soz couldn't resist). Another sideways look at the world of the modern Police Force but this time from higher up the ranks, very well written and it's interesting to see the story told from the bosses view. He still describes the madeningly frustrating world they have to Police and the ridiculous constraints put on our Force by the powers that be. Read it, you won't be disspointed.
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1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
give a man an axe, 28 Mar 2009
and he will grind it, repeatedly. Unfortunatle this book got tedious, not the best way to win arguments. Yes, he has got a lot of good points to make, however until we find a politician with ears that work and a mouth that talks about something other than himself it is unlikely to make a difference
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Very entertaining! But..., 27 Feb 2009
This is an excellent book and deserves to be read. Anyone who works in the police (or any A&E department or ambulance service come to that) doesnt have to ask whether its true...I have no doubt it is.
However, some of the less-impressed reviewers have a point. By admitting the system is rotten and skewed to 'results', charging or cautioning people, including children, for ridiculous 'offences' (such as taking a crisp or two mates shoving each other playfully) simply to get the detections up is nonsense, and can damage lives forever. Yes there are government targets, but it is still up to individual officers as to what to do...'Gadget' admits that offences can be 'no-crimed' for those who have the gumption to do so...and, sadly, its clear few have. For my own part, I was made homeless from my OWN home so an ex could move her boyfriend in...because the police could not be bothered to make enquiries. My subsequent complaint was met with lies, despite a witness!, and an admission that I had 'suffered'; but the officers behaviour was upheld. Anecdotal evidence? of course...and it meant that my previous stance of the-police-are-there-for-us changed to utter contempt when I realised that the police will do anything to avoid actually having to sort something out. Far easier to threaten do-as-I-say-or-be-arrested. 'Think about the pension' as PC Copperfield in 'Wasting Police Time' put it. That sums up the attitude of the police. Its a pity that more were not like Lewis Page ('Lions, Donkeys and Dinosaurs') who had the integrity to leave an organisation (the Navy) he no longer believed in.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
A Fantastic Read, 12 Jan 2009
Having read Wasting Police Time: The Crazy World of the War on Crime and Diary of an On-call Girl: True Stories from the Front Line and loved them both I thought I would give this one a go. I wasn't disappointed! Perverting the Course of Justice isn't as funny as either of the first two (although it is amusing in parts); it gives major insight into the life of a man who has to tackle criminals, red tape and complete lunacy on a daily basis. It is also written in a great chatty style - it seems as though the author is talking directly to you about his experiences.
A fascinating and truly revelatory book, Inspector Gadget reveals that he is not allowed to make a cup of tea in his police station (in case he scalds himself), wear combat trousers (in case he injures himself on something he puts in a pocket), or turn on his desk fan until it has been checked by an expert (something that probably won't happen until December). He is, however, allowed deal with scores of drunken yobbos in his district of a Saturday night.
As he says: "Kettles and trousers - too dangerous.
"Tackling 250lbs of screaming, tattooed nightmare, armed only with a 50g tin of pepper spray which doesn't work and a flimsy aluminium stick - you carry on officer."
It is also a thought-provoking book. He describes what it is like attending horrific accidents and then having to visit a family and tell them that one of their loved ones is dead, knowing that he is going to shatter their world.
But it is the nonsense he has to deal with constantly that is the most interesting aspect of the book - his force spent hours investigating after a teenager committed the "crime" of telling a youngster that Santa does not exist and they also arrested a child for gleefully grabbing a few crisps from his friend's open packet.
A couple of reviewers have criticised the author for whining and not doing anything about the problems he faces - surely writing a book highlighting the problems is doing something! If only our politicians would read this and take notice.
Inspector Gadget tells it like it is. I highly recommend this book.
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1 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
Dismal rubbish, 16 Dec 2008
What a dismal little book this is. It reads like a disgruntled ten year olds' diary. From cover to cover, the anonymous State stooge relentlessly whines and whines, never once making any suggestion for viable improvement to the broken system that he actively supports every working day. It is truly pathetic. It isn't hard to understand that being lied to all of the time might make a policeman somewhat cynical but this pile of tripe is just beyond any reasonable justification. Yes, we know the system is broken and it isn't just the Police Force that is suffering, it's ALL of the major State institutions.
Not once in this book, does the author mention the possibility that his own actions (or rather, inactions) might just be contributing to the problem. But then, maybe he just wanted to make a few quid by jumping on a contemporary literary bandwagon.
All this book really does is epitomize the pathetic and utterly useless British habit of armchair protesting. The author is deeply embedded in (yet apparently completely ignorant of) a socio-political system that has no interest whatsoever in the wellbeing/safety of the public. But all of his rants and all of his whining won't achieve anything, except maybe a bigger bank balance for the author.
I won't go into the disgraceful stereotyping and institutionalized class prejudices contained in the book, suffice it to say, they're there.
All I can say to the author is this, If you don't approve of something, stop supporting it!
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2 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
I never found it hilarious or shocking, 20 Nov 2008
I have given this a one star review as anything else would not have been correctly reflected among the previous reviews.
This book contains alot of hypocrisy. For example berating defence solictors for defending their clients against charges laid - whilst admitting that because of government targets alot of people are being charged with offences that once upon a time they would not have been.
It is rather like saying - we act in a way that is morally corrupt - but no one else can.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
... awesome, 25 Oct 2008
As a front-line response inspector, like Mr GADGET, I read this book and both laughed and cried with equal measure, finishing it the day I bought it. I then immediately gave it to my Dad to let him read of my world and have already bought six copies for Christmas presents for other family / friends.
GADGET's insights sum up all that it has been my privilege to witness in over 10 years of operational policing at the sharp end and that this man does my specific job made it all the more engaging.
This is spot-on-the-money, intelligent, sufficiently angry, no-ranting exactitude. Your police force does not do what you think it does and does not fail you for the reasons you think: here's why.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Must read! For anyone even remotely intrested in the Police!, 23 Oct 2008
This is a great book! which to be honest is on one of those must read books for anyone who either has anything to do with or an intrest in the Police service!
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