'Man swore at woman'

“A man in Nailsworth is coughing - can someone give me the number of the airborne police please?”

“It is good to see that so many of us have responded to this report. The report is sketchy to say in the least. Where did they get their information from? It is good to see that Martin Surl has taken the time to read and comment on people's concerns. It is also good to see that the Glos Police have also responded.

Having just re-read the report I see the time of the incident was in the early hours of the morning which in the circumstances might well have warranted the presence of a helicopter.

I think that maybe the journalist might have worded this differently. Something more on the lines of " Police were called out to an incident in the early hours of Tuesday morning when reports of a woman screaming and a man shouting obscenities were heard coming from bushes near Asda. Airborne police were asked to assist." It's not much better I admit but, at least it doesn't sound quite such a waste of police resources.”

“Any of us can only go on the information given and so I make no apologies. The police too can only go on the information they are given.”

“Well done martinsurl and Glos. police for responding to our posts.”

“Excellent response from GlosPolice. One of the challenges of reading TiG is to get past the Headline which is aimed at catching our attention. With so many comments it has clearly worked in this instance.

I have very few doubts that the police have a system of prioritisation based on information received. Sometimes the information will be based on a report from someone possibly not knowing all the facts. Having a report of a woman screaming in bushes would, to my mind, require an immediate and robust response. Of course, on arrival that may be that a woman had been scared by a snake and the response is then seen as over the top......but only with hindsight, which is, of course, 20-20 vision.”

“We have looked into this incident in more detail and in the initial call a member of the public reported that they heard a woman in some bushes screaming and a man shouting obscenities.

Officers were concerned enough for the woman's welfare due to the information given that it was necessary and appropriate to respond quickly and robustly, as I am sure many people will understand.

Thankfully on further investigation no woman was found to be harmed but a man linked to the incident was traced nearby and arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods.”

“To be absolutely fair, the police helicopter may already have been airborne for other reasons - we simply don't know. It is becoming more common practice to use airborne surveillance and pursuit for the obvious reasons that any fugitive can be seen far more easily from a height than at ground level. They can then direct ground operations to capture the suspect. I would think it extremely unlikely that they took a helicopter up solely for this one relatively minor incident - it's just the reporting style we all know and love!”

“How many candidates are there for this?”

“Ok,

I'll ask Gloucestershire Police to give us the facts. I know what the cost of putting up the helicopter are & I know how short the force are of cash.

My pledge is to match the right resource to the right incident so I'll find out.


Martin Surl. Independent Candidate, Police & Crime Commissioner. http://tinyurl.com/c3v3aeg”

“FreeRadical1........I'm guessing you gave me a red. While I don't see the need for another layer of bureaucracy, we sometimes need to reign in the actions of some of our top civil servants.
In fact from what I've read, this is EXACTLY the sort of thing a commissioner would be tackling.”