Seconded. Police are not There To Help You. Police enforce the law. When in doubt of the law, they simply enforce. Don't ever tip someone off to the police unless you have a real reason to believe they have or will harm a person.
I don't know if you're in the UK, but this isn't true for most of our police, certainly outside the cities. If anything, this fact is something they're proud of.
As an example, I called them once (using a non emergency number before anyone says anything) because I was worried about a vulnerable relative who I couldn't get hold of and they were great - went to his house and called back to say he was fine, just couldn't hear the phone over the TV.
I know this is the internet echo chamber, but the police in my community, and everywhere I have lived, provide a lot of outreach opportunities to under-educated and under-privileged (east coast, USA, for reference).
I'm friends with police in a hard to police area, and they are good people. It really has nothing to do with the normal functioning of their community outreach or the individuals themselves. I find my friends are intelligent and care about folks.
Its the system you put your kid into by calling the police on them. Police don't have choices in a lot cases and the system around them has a lot of rules that capture people in them for years.
