(Roughly nine minutes in)
The ethos of policing in the UK, just as in the USA and elsewhere, has greatly changed since the 1990s. The communit(y)arian policing which we now have, is NOT about tackling, investigating and solving crime. The ethos of community policing results in letting crime happen but ensuring that the mess that ensues gets cleaned up and smoothed over as calmly as possible for reasons of community cohesion. It is about hitting targets and producing useful statistics. It is all about the community not the individual. This why the UK police stepped back from the recent riots and just let them happen, much to the public’s puzzlement and dismay. It is not in police officers’ job descriptions anymore to do anything much, other than be a visual threat to put off would-be trouble makers (hence the new black uniforms). Their job now is all about control and containment. Health and Safety rules in their employment contracts prevent the police from stepping in to stop a crime that’s actually taking place. The police will also stop anyone else from reacting to a crime by threatening them with the law if they try to help (interfere - as they see it). The endless stream of TV shows broadcast in the UK, like Frost, Lewis, The Bill, Midsomer Murders, even Wallander and Inspector Montalbano which are set abroad, consist of ‘the drama of reassurance,’ acting literally like ‘programs’ to influence (or ‘nudge’) the public’s perception of real policing, giving the impression that these drama have a base in reality and that the police really are like this. They are NOT, anymore.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/26/line-of-duty-police-drama-bbc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9M5MMqgYNo
This is my view. Please feel free to prove me wrong, if you can!