Well "dumb" is the wrong word but complacent or under performing may be more appropriate. But to be fair to them, the British police are fighting this war with both hands tied behind their backs. Compared to the US and even the rest of Europe the UK is incredibly soft on all criminals when it comes to sentencing and aggressive policing. The US has got to be the golden standard in this on the whole. My view of the US legal system is that it gives fitting punishments/sentences to wrong doers if not a tad excessive in certain cases but these are criminals and this is the way I'd prefer it. Here in the UK it is almost the complete reverse- murders/rapists/PEDOPHILES walk after <10 years if they behave themselves. I've had first hand experience of this here in the UK of just how little justice our legal system delivers. If the worst of the worse are back on the streets after a handful of years behind bars, what can you expect the police to do in reality?
The whole system is geared in favor of the perpetrator.
All one has to do is compare the average high-security prison cell/conditions in the US to that in the UK for a good old laugh if not a pretty accurate reflection of the failings of the UK's entire legal process. Here prisoners actually consider having Sky (satellite television) a basic RIGHT and there have been cases of people breaking IN to a UK prison in fact I remeber a case where a ladder was accidentally left up against a prison wall for 2 whole days and not a single prisoner even considered attempting to escape. Look at a Super max in the US to see how justice to the scum of the earth should be administered in a civilised nation.