I went to the Cop shop the other day. What I wanted to acheive was trivially simple- I needed a copy of a bank statement and my drivers licensed certified as copies.

So the first station I go to is the little community station and I'm told that only the senior sgt. (or above) can sign the documents for me and he is away on a call. Fair enuf says I... so I head into the main station in the middle of town.

I get there and rock up to the counter and a coppa comes out who is either;

• Extremely ignorant
• Extremely rude
• All of the above

He was about as much help as tits on a bull. I had copied both the statement and drivers license onto a single sheet of paper. he refused to sign them on this basis- or at least I think that's what I could make out from his mumbles and grumbles. No effort was made to be helpful though... no 'oh I'll just pop out the back and make another copy for you'... just a 'piss off and come back later thanks very much'.

Now this pisses me off something cronic. Our Police seem to have lost the community focus that they really should maintain. If they want people to be helpful when they need to investigate serious offences and the like then they should be a bit nicer when we law abiding citizens go asking for a favour.

So anyway... I buggered off and have yet to get this stuff certified. When I got home I thought I look up a bit more on the guy in question to see if he was some big cheese - maybe I had pissed him off by asking such a menial task of him. He did look about ready to Perf. But no... he was a Senior Constable (kinda like going from Private to Lance Corporal in the Army on the basis of 'long service')... so he would have been a fat lot of good when it came to signing it anyway.

Last time I try that approach- next time I'll try a nice friendly, elderly Justice of the Peace.