It Would Never Have Happened To Smeaton...

So, after I posted a blog entry entitled "The Blame Game" exactly what do we blame for the causation of the Summer riots of 2011?


The 'original cause', the death of Mark Duggan has been  significantly over shadowed by the riots which took an even uglier turn with the death of six people across the country and the destruction of peoples homes and businesses.


Tariq Jahan eloquently, wisely and whilst still grieving for the death of his Son called on everyone for peace.  The Duggan family also told the nation that they condemned the riots and did not want them carried out in his name.


So, what caused them?


These riots were going to take place no matter what.  An antiques dealer in Tottenham started to receive telephone calls about a week before they took place, asking if he wanted "protection should anything happen"  This would suggest to me that this was going to happen even if Mark Duggan wasn't fatally shot that August day.  This death was merely a catalyst for events that were going to happen, like it or not.


So where do we start this "Post Mortem" of the events that took place.  What caused this Cancer that spread very quickly across this great city and then the country that I love?


It is very easy and quick to blame the police.  The police would have received the blame whether Duggan lived or died, the fact that there was an illegal firearm, fully loaded in the vehicle he was in, keeps escaping people.


Here in lies the problem.  


The 24 hour news companies were quick to film people on the street hearing that the "police don't respect us" or "the police here don't do nothing to help us" and "the police are always harassing us"


Well, in my opinion, respect is earned.  I hear this a lot in my job "Don't DISS ME" "You need to show me respect"


Funny how quick those who have none for other people are quick to expect it shown to themselves.


"You're only stopping me because I'm black" 


No, it's because I saw you slip a knife under your jog top, or you blew through that red light with no care for anyone else and you have no insurance, MOT etc but, no, lets blame it on the fact you're black being the reason I stopped you and not because you committed a crime.


"If you touch me, I'm going to sue you"


Thank you America! This is another thing I hear regularly.  Including my Mother In Law who is an English teacher.  Some of the story's she tells me, I would quite happily take a machine gun to her pupils. [edit due to complaints on Twitter: This does not mean I will do this literally!  For God's sake get real people! If I meant every time I said to my brother I was going to kill him, I would still be slopping out at Parkhurst!]


My own 11 year old Godson said something similar to his mother the other day when she said to him "You're not too old to get a slap"


The fact he meant what he said shows how damaging our culture has become over the years with discipline.


Our 3 year old daughter was kicking off the other day and my wife said to her "I will count to five and if you don't stop I will slap the back of your legs"


The look of disgust she got from a woman who overheard, speaks volumes, in my opinion of the interference from outside agencies in just simple discipline.


I'm in no way condoning violence towards children but I believe, children need to be taught from an early age that every thing in life has a consequence.  


It is my belief that there are too many groups these days who leap out and attack the ways of parenting and even criminalising parents who have smacked their children when the real abusers slip through the net.


Then we have the schools.  In my day I would get the cane.  I got it twice and never again after that I can tell you.  The mere fact that it was on the wall on a plinth above the Head meant it was destined for your hand after the talk was over.  I respected my teachers and in actual fact, I still speak to one on Facebook who sent me for the cane.


Now we have pupils fighting against teachers, parents who, instead of trying to find out why their little darling set fire to the chemistry lab, want to blame it on the teacher for daring to give their son or daughter a detention for throwing things at another pupil.  In some cases, teachers have actually been attacked by parents for showing discipline to their children.


My Mother In Law will not walk down the road of her village or to our house in case one of her pupils sees her.  She's had her house egged and her windows smashed by her own pupils many times.


However, if my Father in law got hold of one of them, he would be the one arrested.


How wrong, is that?


We have football players who think it's ok to have multiple affairs, to commit numerous criminal  offences and be seen to be rewarded with multi million pound contracts.


These people are supposed to be role models.  


Gangsta Rap which tells their listeners to kill one another for daring to live in another post code or come from another class.  


Single parent mothers who claim they cannot control their child as they have to work every day and that the council took away the local youth club.


"They're bored"  


Well, I grew up in East London, right where they are building the Olympics.  We had miners strikes, Cold War, recessions, 3 day working week.  We didn't have iPods, Nintendo's, X-Box, PS3's etc.  The latest thing I wanted was a set of clackers which you could bounce faster and faster then lose your knuckles in a blinding flash! 


We went out in groups on bikes.  Budgies, Boxers, Strikers, Choppers and Grifters being the fad in those days and we played cricket with a bat made out of floor board and a tennis ball.


We would disappear for hours with our parents safe in the knowledge that we would come back in one piece and with what we went out with.


These days the youth are taught that if you want something, take it.  Kids are bombarded with images of the latest tech and if you don't have it, you're a target in the playground and even the classroom.


We are a society that is quick to take, quick to throw away and quick to blame someone else for your own wrong doings.


I learnt very quickly when I was young that everything has a consequence. 


I got into trouble when I was about 11 and my Dad informed me that I would come home from school, do my homework and I would not watch TV for a week.  For me, this was a disaster, early evening TV was a must. I knew that if I timed it right, I could watch the tele and turn it off just before my Dad got home from work.


My Dad got home, walked to the TV, put his hand on the back, felt the warm glow and then I felt the warm glow of that hand as it connected with my backside.


I didn't do that again, I can assure you.


I was grounded.  My Dad then saw me frantically riding home on my bike with my mates as he crossed the park walking back from the local Underground station.


I learned then too.


I was always told that if I ever brought the police home or got into trouble at school I would suffer the consequences.


Imagine my horror when the local bobby, a big bearded fellow, followed my friends and I to the garages behind my mates house as we collected his bike!


"What's going on 'ere then?  Breaking into garages I see!"


Cue frantic explanations that we were just innocent lads getting my mates bike from his Dads garage.


"Let's just check this lock here then" 


Praying that Tony had actually locked the garage and what on earth my Dad would say if he heard I was taken down the local nick even though I was innocent.


I feared the police, but respected and even admired them all the same.  I called him "Sir" and I meant that too.  These days I get no respect.


Nowadays it's "See that man, he's the one who will take you away when you're naughty"


Or in one case: "See that son, it's a pig"


The police were a "force" not a "service".  If you got on the wrong end of the police you would expect a clip round the ear and taking home to your parents where you would receive a belting for not only breaking the law but bringing the "Old Bill" round the house!


These days, if a police officer lays a finger on someone it's on the news in seconds, filmed on mobiles and shown on You Tube.


Police officers fear striking back for losing their jobs, their homes, or worse, be imprisoned. 


So what is to blame for these riots?


Well in my opinion I would say it's a combination of ill discipline starting with parents, schools which results on a lack of respect for those around.


The "I want it now" and "I'll just take it" culture caused by the mass media marketing strategy from everything from a pair of new trainers to the latest car.  The "upgrades" which means people have to have the latest and you can include football kit.


We didn't have a lot when I was a kid.  Mum only started to work again when we went to school full time so Dad had to pull in a lot of hours.  We got by, but we were well taught that if we wanted something, we had to earn it.


We had to make do and live with it.


What's the solution?


If I knew the answer to that I wouldn't be in this job, I would be earning a fortune on the lecture circuit.  


But it's my belief that if we allowed teachers to regain the classroom without fear of reprisals, parents to take some responsibility in their offspring instead of expecting others to do their work for them, the police to become a "Police Force" again instead of a "service" doing Social Services job for them and take away the mindless amounts of red tape and the ready critical media we have.  Stop this blame culture, the ambulance chasing solicitors who immediately say 


"Where there's blame, there's a claim"


If we get this little bit sorted, perhaps, just perhaps, the world may be a better place.

The Blame Game

First Tottenham, now Hackney, Lewisham, Catford and reports of disorder in East Ham, Ilford, Barking, Birmingham and Leeds.

The Home Secretary Theresa May pays tribute to the "brave police officers" but makes no reference about how she is going to assist officers with solving this problem. 

All we heard was typical government rhetoric and political avoidance of direct questions.

Earlier on the BBC I heard a young woman on scene at Tottenham who stated that it was:

"Justified to loot as the government had fiddled expenses, the banks had bankrupted the country and the police were taking back handers"

From where I was sat it appears that yet another person live on television had decided that the blame lay firmly at someone else's door, and not theirs.

I've heard the police are blamed, I've heard the government are blamed, the local councils, rival gangs, everyone blamed for who is the cause, the catalyst of this rather than those who are picking up the bricks and bottles themselves.

This is the society we live in.

The blame culture.

Blame everyone else for the situation you are in rather than taking responsibility for your own actions and taking stock of your own life.

The latest apparent reason for this riot in Hackney is because a black male was searched.  A crowd took umbrage and the officers were surrounded.  It all went off from there on.

Excuses, excuses.

These people were organising this before this search even took place.  They just wanted someone to blame in order to "justify" starting it.

Again, we are hearing "the police are racist" as they dared to stop a black male and search him. "It has been building over the last 20 years" said one male to Sky earlier this evening.  "The Brixton riots started with overbearing policing and now this."

Well, because of the "overbearing" policing the Police And Criminal Evidence Act was brought in to sort this out.

An officer needs to justify and have a reason, unless a Section 60 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 has been put in place in an area which gives police the right to search people in a defined area at a specific time when they believe, with good reason, that: there is the possibility of serious violence; or that a person is carrying a dangerous object or offensive weapon; or that an incident involving serious violence has taken place and a dangerous instrument or offensive weapon used in the incident is being carried in the locality.

This law has to be authorised by a senior officer and is used mainly to tackle football hooliganism and gang fights.

What these mindless thugs are doing are destroying communities.  Destroying communities that have worked hard to get where they are now.

They are destroying the very fabric and ripping out the heart of where they live.

They have destroyed homes, belongings, work places and put people, their own neighbours into school halls and shelters to sleep and possibly will make more homeless as private businesses are destroyed and livelihoods are ruined.

The repercussions of this will stretch far and wide.

Just like the football violence of the past, it has denied us hosting World Cups and other major events. 

This will have major effects on tourism.

Al Qaeda don’t have to do anything to us.  We are destroying ourselves.  They will be sitting there and laughing at us as our way of life crumbles. Our monetary system has collapsed and the streets are over run with thugs.

How do we sort this matter out?

Therein lies the Sixty Four Thousand Dollar Question.

I would like to see this Government stand up and be counted for once.  Stop pussy footing about and let the police do the job we were employed to do.

Stop the pathetic form filling for every time we look at someone, give us the tools, and we will give you the results.

I want to see a Met Commissioner and a Home Secretary have the balls to say:

 “Deploy the water cannon, deploy the baton rounds, deploy tear gas”

Stop letting the “Human Rights” of these thugs get in the way of finishing this. 

What about the Human Rights of those innocents effected by this? and including this I mean the police officers too who will no doubt have family and friends worried sick about them at this time as they are pushed to the limit physically and mentally.

The government have reacted too slow over this.  The officers on the front line are tired, over run, stretched to breaking point and low in morale.

This is only going to get worse.

The public need to wake up and smell the coffee.

If the police cannot sort this out now due to low numbers, criticism by the public, media and government interference in tactics. When these 20% cuts bite you will hardly see any officers out there to deal with this.

The Neighbourhood Policing Teams will be decimated through these cut backs and could potentially cause more of these scenes in London and other cities and towns.  

These NP Teams have created massive links to the local community. 

Lose these and you will lose them.

Well, You're Damned If You Do......

So Mark Duggan, a man in his own Obituary picture shown on national news is posing using what appears to be his fingers shaped like a gun looking like gang signs is pulled over by armed police in a taxi and during an altercation a shoot out takes place resulting in one  officer shot and Duggan fatally wounded.

What we saw last night was according to one "witness" on the BBC "The locals taking revenge for the killing of a brother" and "The Police don't police our community they only turn up when this happens"

Memories of The Broadwater Farm riots in 1985 where many of the rioters were not even born or too young to remember were being tossed about by "witnesses" being interviewed on TV.  "This memory is in our DNA where Cynthia Jarrett died after police broke into her home" said one representing the "Youth of Haringey"  "We may have not been there but it's passed down to us"

Cynthia Jarrett dying is in no way even the same as Duggan dying and comparing the two is an insult to Cynthia's memory.

People on tv last night were calling Duggan "Their Brother" and even they said they didn't even know him.

Duggan lived by the sword and by the looks of it, died by it.  He allegedly shot at officers and therefore was shot at in defence and was killed.

Some bright spark witness on Sky was complaining that Duggan didn't have the safety equipment that the armed police officers had and therefore it was unfair and a reporter on Sky even had the gall to say "We don't know who shot at who first"

There are internet rumours going round that someone who knows someone spoke to someone who saw someone see a 16 year old girl allegedly beaten with sticks by police for no apparent  reason. What angers me more is depending on who you believe is that this was used as a "reason" for a full scale riot in Tottenham last night.

There was a protest about the killing of Duggan and the way the area is policed and this was presented to the doors of the Tottenham police station.  For whatever reason after that, it went down hill from there on.

Then a police car with two officers was hijacked and pushed into the road and set alight. This was then a beacon for others to start violent disorder.

The police were then lambasted by locals and the media for not policing the riot properly and their tactics used.  Some complained that the police were only targeting black rioters and some even complained that the police were too soft.

Damned if we do and damned if we don't.

What angers me more through all of this, is the two faced cheek of the government and media.  Suddenly to the government we have their "full support" and "no justification for the aggression shown to the police" with the media it was the complete lack of support and the cutting off of anyone who dared to voice support to the police coming under attack.

The media completely ignored the fact that Duggan shot at officers, completely ignored the fact the innocent bystanders were caught up in the riot, and that the reason police let the bus and buildings burn is because it was unsafe for the London Fire Brigade to go in and put it out.

The government talk about the "aggression shown to police" but fail to realise the irony of their aggression shown to police with the cut backs to the front line and to the police pensions and pay which are about to take place.  The "thin blue line" is so thinly stretched it's fracturing at points and last night was a case in point.  I think you can expect more of this to come.

What the government and public fail to realise is that Public Order trained officers and others like myself with specialist skills in areas including firearms are all volunteers.  We get no extra money and certainly thanks to Hutton, Windsor and May we won't be getting any more for a few years.

We can just as easily turn our passes in as easy as we got them.  If I don't want to be a Public Order trained officer any more I can turn in my certificate.  Just as easy if I don't want to do CBRN or Search.  I can easily fail to sign up for the next refresher or fail the fitness test.

If this carries on with the front line being savaged by the government and public alike I can see many officers ditching their specialist training.

Why should we face a barrage of petrol bombs and rocks whilst the ones that govern us and take away our rights, pensions and wages are sleeping soundly in their beds?

I can see many officers failing to come in when off duty, the sounds of unanswered ringing phones deafening.  The number of mobiles that suddenly had no signal.

We don't get paid a call out fee, so why should we come in?

One Inspector said to me that you could face disciplinary action if you are on a call out list.  Well, prove my phone had no signal, prove my phone rang at my home and not at the exchange.

We have enough restrictions on our lives as it is without placing me under virtual house arrest in case another riot takes place.

It's about time that the government realised that last night is a taste of things to come.

Mess with our tactics, mess with our numbers, budgets and wages and this is what you get.

A lot of innocent people cleaning up after a night of disorder and many officers injured.

What I will say is that it's going to make the Notting Hill Carnival an interesting two days.

Your Attention Please!

This blog entry is the email I received this morning and it brings me no joy to post this tonight for you all but it needs saying.  This is from DC Simon Steele the Chairman of the Constables Branch Board and serves with Sussex Police.  This message needs to be sent far and wide people so, copy, paste and send to all your colleagues!  Even send a copy to your local MP.

Dear Colleagues,

For those of you that are not aware The Police Federation held their Annual Conference in Bournemouth between the 16^th and 19^th May 2011.

I don’t apologise for the length of this document. You have a right to know all that has happened over the past week. Please read it in its entirety. YOURS and YOUR COLLEAGUES FUTURE are at stake and we need your support. Please feel free to forward this email internally to all of your colleagues. Now more than ever we need to stand as one.

This report is intended to update you on all the relevant points and issues that were discussed last week. It will also give you an insight as to what the Federation are doing to protect your pay and conditions.

Firstly let me make this abundantly clear, the next twelve to eighteen months are going to be the most financially challenging period that you will have faced in your lifetime. This is not scaremongery, this is not spin this is FACT. You will not like what I am about to say and you need to prepare for the tough months that follow.

On Monday I attended the Eve of Conference Meeting.

The Olympics.

The key dates for policing the London Olympics next year are 1^st May 2012 to 16^th September 2012.  The opening ceremony will be on 26^th July 2012.

Policing of the Olympic Torch Run will be conducted on a regional basis with mutual aid provided where necessary.

Each Force has been told of its Olympic Commitments in respect of Officer Number’s and specialist skills. (Apparently).

PFEW has issued guidance to Chief Officers suggesting they set an overall 7% restriction on leave during the Olympic period. Individuals with caring responsibilities should be given priority when leave is allocated at peak periods. Further support has been requested in terms of approaching schools regarding removing children classes during term time.

The more specialist the role you perform, the more likely you WILL be subject to restrictions on taking leave during the Olympic period.

The PFEW will support a minimum of doubling of the normal carry over allowance without prior approval i.e. 10 days or 80 hours. (I guess in Sussex’s case doubling nothing leaves nothing but I would hope a degree of flexibility will be offered and I will update you when a decision is taken).

The mutual aid pattern will be:

Day 1 Travel to Accommodation Venue,

Days 2 - 6 deployed on an 8 hour tour of duty with a minimum mandatory 4 hours overtime period (12 hour day)

Day 7 return to Force area.

It will then be down to each individual Force to manage returned officers rest days.

Two main accommodation sites have been identified. The vast majority will be housed at Hatfield University in Hertfordshire (subject to on going contractual negotiations).

The main accommodation for mutual aid to Dorset is a mobile home park on the outskirts of Weymouth.

Onto the gloomy bit!

The Economic Outlook.

To say that the economic outlook is gloomy is somewhat of an understatement.

We are now 18 months out of the longest recession since 1930. It has been the deepest recession since World War 2.

It lasted 1.5 years through six quarters. (Quarter 2 - 2008 through to Quarter 3 - 2009).

The cumulative loss in national income and output over this period amounted to 6.4%.

The economy has been stagnant for the last 6 months. It fell back 0.5 % in the final quarter of last year and this 0.5% loss was recovered in the first quarter of this year.

The economy is predicted to grow slowly this year and next year.

Inflation will be high and running ahead of pay. There will be severe cuts in expenditure and investment will remain weak.

The government are pinning their hopes on strong growth in exports but the truth is the gap is still growing.

The labour market is weak with unemployment standing around 8%.

Given the weak economic recovery it is likely that employment will start to rise again soon.

In the 20 years up to 2006/7 public spending averaged about 40% of GDP. Government receipts also averaged around the 40% of GDP mark.

HOWEVER in 2009/10 spending increased to 48% of GDP and receipts totalled 37% of GDP resulting in the government borrowing 11% of GDP to make up the shortfall. This is known as the Public Borrowing Requirement (PBR). In 2009/10 this stood at 11%.

The Government debt (Accumulated PBR) stood at 71.3% of GDP in 2010.

In the June 2010 budget government announced their intentions to raise 113 billion pounds to combat the government’s debt deficit. 29 billion from tax increases and 84 billion in expenditure cuts. This includes 18 million (11 million initially) in benefits cuts and 63 billion in spending cuts.

Cuts in departmental budgets (other than health and overseas aid) amounts to a 19% cut in real terms over 4 years. 2011 to 2015. (Labours planned cuts would have amounted to 12% in real terms).

Police funding is to reduce by 14% by 2014/15 in real terms.

Central government funding is to reduce by 20%.

In real terms the reduction will be greater than 20% as the governments Inflation assumptions are unrealistic and too low.

The cuts are concentrated on the first two years so over the next 18 months we are all going to start to feel the pain.

These savings are going to be achieved by a saving in back office functions, modernising pay and conditions (Winsor Review), an increase in pension contributions (Hutton Review) and by reducing Police Numbers.

Effects of the Winsor Review Part 1. (REMEMBER THESE ARE PROPOSALS AND HAVE NOT YET BEEN IMPLEMENTED)

Abolish incremental Pay Progression from September 2011.

This will affect 55 - 60% of Constables.

On completion of training Constables will lose two increments amounting to a loss in wages of £3,186.

Don’t forget that you will lose the first increment in both years 1 and 2 meaning the cumulative loss will be £4,695 over the two years.

Pay Point 5 will result in a loss of £1,671 and a cumulative loss of £2,556.

This one recommendation will generate savings of £250 million over the next two years.

The abolition of CRTP will mean that 35 - 40% of Constables will lose £1,212 of pensionable pay saving 145 million over 2 years.

The abolition of SPP will affect 43% of Constables with an average payment in 2010 of £1203 and will affect savings of £175 million.

The reduction in casual overtime from time and a third to plain time will result in 82% losing a further £422 from your pay packets.

Replacing double time with time and a half for working rostered rest days will affect 65% of you with an average loss of £273.

The introduction of an interim Expertise and Professional Accreditation Allowance will benefit only 33% of you and amounts to £1200.(Non Pensionable).

The On Call allowance of £15 for each session beyond 12. (The downside to this is that The Chief Constable could instruct every single officer in the Force to provide 12 periods of on call cover during the course of the year without it costing the Force a single penny.)

Tow Winsor estimates that if implemented his recommendations will save the government 485 million.

You will not get a pay rise either this September or next September as a result of the Public Sector Pay Freeze. We are told that “We are all in this together” and yet the private sector experienced the pay freeze during the recession and at a time when inflation was in the negative so effectively real pay for the private sector rose. The pay freeze in the private sector lasted for one year and NOT two. Subsequent pay awards have made up some of the lost ground.

We are about to experience our pay freeze at a time of high inflation. The Bank of England predicts inflation at 6% for the remainder of this year and 4% for next year. The BoE persistently under estimate these figures so the likelihood is that these figures may in fact be worse than predicted.

Increased pension contributions are extremely likely with 3% rises recommended.

There is a likely reduction in real disposable income in excess of 10% over the next two years. For an officer earning £35,000 a year this equates to a reduction in pay of around £3,500 . (I did say you wouldn’t like what I had to say).

Unemployment is likely to increase due to the fragile state of the economy and there will be an increase in numbers looking for jobs due to welfare cuts.

A final word of warning, if you haven’t got the message yet - The next two years are going to be very, very tough and you need to start budgeting now for this difficult period.

A recent Federation survey revealed the following: From over 42,000 police officers who responded to the online survey, a 98 per cent said that morale has fallen owing to planned police budget cuts, the possibility of a reduction in police officer numbers, possible changes to terms and conditions. Meanwhile, 86 per cent of police officers believe cutting police officer numbers will have a detrimental effect on crime levels. As a result of the reduction in police officer numbers 78 per cent of respondents believe their workload has already increased or will increase in the future and 91 per cent of police officers believe there will be a decline in service delivery due to planned budget cuts.

At the Constables Central Conference the chair Julie Nesbitt called on the Home Secretary to reject the proposals to freeze incremental pay and scrap the CRTP. She accused the government of being dishonest when they say cuts are needed to protect officer numbers. She also accused ACPO of attempting to become more powerful than it is today.

Policing Minister Nick Herbert attended conference on Tuesday and was attacked from all sides. He was asked by one delegate “If crime goes up as a result of a reduction in Police Numbers will you tender your resignation”. Like almost every other question he was posed he failed to answer it satisfactorily. He appears to hide behind refusing to answer “hypothetical questions” as he uttered the same response when asked if he would make the findings of any future arbitration panel binding, as his party had promised whilst in opposition.

Chairman of the Sergeants committee John Giblin asked “Is it not too late to call off your pack of hounds, return them to their kennels and do the right thing before others cry havoc, and let loose their dogs of war”.

Mr Herbert defended the governments decision to spend billions of pounds on foreign aid stating the money was “saving lives” across the world.

It is clear that those in the Home Office do not wish to listen to officers concerns. There appears little willingness to engage on their part and both Nick Herbert and Theresa May avoided the many difficult questions that were posed of them. It will be particularly difficult to influence a government that has thus far shown no desire to listen and they are using the public debt to legitimise their actions.

The highlights of Conference week for me were the key note speeches by our Chairman Paul McKeever and Home Secretary Theresa May.

Paul McKeever gave a quite brilliant speech in which he systematically dismantled the Home Secretary. For 40 minutes he spoke without notes, without auto cue and he did not let the Home Secretary off the hook for one minute. I have copied a link below which you can cut and paste into your browser and see the contents of his speech in its entirety. I would strongly urge you to read it especially if you care about your future.

http://www.polfed.org/Paul_McKeever_conference_speech_2011.pdf

Mid way through the speech he switched to a recorded video message from David Rathband the PC who was shot by Raol Moat. He told the Home Secretary how much he earnt last year (£35,000) before posing the question “Do you think I’m worth it - Home Secretary).

Our Chairman accused her of being absent without leave at a time when Liam Fox had been fighting and winning to get the cuts in the defence budget lowered .Theresa May did not fight our corner and remained silent.

Paul McKeever received a three minute standing ovation following his speech and the Home Secretary took the floor to complete silence, endured complete silence throughout her speech before leaving the stage to complete silence. She was left in no uncertain terms how angry the rank and file officers are with her and her government.

If you wish to see the Home Secretary’s response you can find it on the Federation website. Its fair to say she came out fighting, all guns blazing and like another famous Conservative female it is abundantly clear that this Lady is also “Not for turning”. We have a fight on our hands to protect our rights, our pay and conditions and it is vitally important that we all stick together over the coming months.

Ian Rennie our General Secretary and Chief Negotiator on the Police Negotiating Board also addressed conference and started by attacking the absence of ACPO Chief Sir Hugh Orde who was otherwise engaged in Canada. He was also critical of Tom Winsor who also declined an invitation to attend conference and explain his proposals for reform of the Police Service.

He emphasised that the Winsor recommendations would have a negative effect on female officers and “could make them an endangered species in policing”.

Mr Rennie highlighted the fact that the removal of CRTP would result in officers being £800 a year worse off in their retirement. Mr Rennie reiterated that Windsor’s report contains little or no evidence to support recommendations. Mr Rennie was further critical of ACPO and damned them for expecting us to pay an annual fee as a membership subscription at the same time that they supporting a reduction in our pay and conditions. He called for ACPO to stand up and support those people they purport to lead.

The phrase “More for less” has crept into the Police Service recently and Mr Rennie highlighted the point that the only thing that you get for less is in fact “LESS”.

He too called for a Royal Commission in Policing, a theme that was repeated throughout the week but apparently falling on deaf ears.

On Thursday we held our annual general meeting and two significant motions were passed at conference.

The first has instructed the Joint Central Committee to write a letter to ACPO stating that the PFEW have no confidence in them to act in the interests of British Policing. As you are no doubt aware ACPO have remained silent of late and appear reluctant to stand at our side in protecting our pay and conditions.

Secondly a motion was proposed to deal with the issues of lawful orders and the motion instructed the JCC to seek changes in this regulation so that the words Lawful Order are replaced by the words Reasonable Request. The motion also calls for the right to challenge such decisions at an employment tribunal.

The Treasurer Martyn Mordecai reported a further welcome drop in expenditure and he assured Conference that he intends to continue to drive costs down further. He has reported that there is no need to increase Federation Subscriptions next year which in this current climate should be applauded.

On a personal note I thought that it was a hugely successful week. It was exactly the response I was looking for from the Federation. Mr McKeever was undoubtedly the star of the show. The delegates that attended Conference were challenging and forthright in their views and have left both the Home Secretary and Police Minister in no uncertain terms how angry we are about this unprecedented attack on the Police Service. Paul McKeever has shown to me in this past week that he has started the fight back to protect our futures and the future of The Police Service. He has shown to me that he is up for the fight and we now place our trust in Ian Rennie as our chief negotiator of the PNB to secure the best deal that he possibly can at the negotiating table.

Negotiations of the PNB start in earnest this week and there is a table of meetings scheduled to take place between now and the 26^th July which is the deadline set by the Home Secretary. If no agreement can be reached then a failure to agree motion will be tabled and the matter will be referred to the Arbitration Tribunal for them to decide on the outcome. The Home Secretary will then have two options - accept or reject the proposals. She has the power to impose all of Tom Winsor’s recommendations but she has been put on notice that this would be a particularly dangerous path to follow.

One thing is clear and that is there will be NO winners. We are all going to have to sustain some pain over the coming months.

Prior to Conference Ian Rennie asked you all for a “call for assistance”. We need your support, now more than ever. Please continue to lobby your MP’s. Please continue to call for a Royal Commission in Policing. Please continue to support the fight for fair pay and conditions.

Over the coming months I will continue to keep you updated on developments. If any of you have any ideas as to how you would like to see the Federation respond over the coming months please let me know and I will pass your views on. What would you like to see the Federation in Sussex doing over the coming months? We are here to represent you so please give us your views.

If any of you would like to become a Federation Representative then please let me now as we still hold some vacancies.

Ensure that your voice is heard over the coming months and remember one thing “WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER”.

Detective Constable Simon Steele CS597,

Chairman of the Constables Branch Board

Detective Constables Federation Representative

Sussex Police Federation.

Got Your Number!

I sometimes wonder why I bother to read some reports about policing published in the main stream media, many are bias towards the government and have a tendency to be rather far from the truth or grossly exaggerated.

Do we "kettle" or do we not?

Do we go in hard against violent thugs claiming they are for "democracy" as they smash every thing up and then we face hatred in everything we read?

Or do we go in "soft" and then face hatred in everything we read?

Damned if we do, damned if we don't!

However the amount of utter drivel that can be spouted in the media, some of it is brought to our own doorstep and is our own bloody fault!

Once again (unconfirmed) reports are coming through from a variety of sources stating that some officers on duty on Saturday were not wearing numbers....yet again!

Why? It is clearly regulations that officers on duty, in uniform, with the rank of Sergeant and below, must wear numbers and that includes public order kit.

Now, playing devils advocate here, it could be the reports are wrong.

It could be that the officers involved have had their numbers ripped off. A tactic used by protesters in the past to either anger officers, gain a trophy or to purposely cause the officer not to have any numbers on display then they're open to complaint or discipline. Also poor design on the coveralls mean the epaulettes can easily be ripped off.

It maybe that the officer is so sick and tired of malicious complaints that they have taken them off in order to get on with the job.

Or, it could be that the officer does not want to be accountable for their actions and will use the anonymity to get away with unlawful tactics which if thats the case, makes my blood boil.

I wear and have always worn my numbers. I am accountable for my actions and I am not hiding anything.

If the reason for failure to wear the numbers were for sinister reasons only, then I hope you are found out and disciplined.

I cannot figure out why the Supervisors left it to go unchecked. Then again, in all that was going on, it may have been a tad difficult. However these should have been on the kit and checked before deployment.

It angers and disappoints me because it takes the shine off the hard work that was done by the thousands of officers on duty that day who were there for lawful duties, to protect those demonstrating and the property of those on the route.

It angers me because if it means you were in it for the unlawful tactics then you are no better than those that were trashing the area.

We take enough hits being police officers as it is.

We don't need any more being brought to the public eye by officers I thought were supposed to be colleagues and friends!

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UKUnCut March 26

Today I have met some wonderful people. People I would not have thought that my job as hated as it can be at times would have crossed my path or touched me in ways that my job has done before.

I'll be honest with you from the off. I hate policing demos. We always end up the target for hate. A tool of the government to throw bottles and stones at. We get screamed at that we are breaching civil and human rights never mind the fact that they've been throwing missiles at us for hours.

Today, was different in so many ways.

I met people who are in the same boat as us. Facing an uncertain future, facing massive cuts and exploitation by a government that not only are threatening our very existences, have lied to us all.

I met a family with their young Son on the way there who had travelled a hundred or so miles to show their support for everyone of us facing cuts be them doctors, nurses, teachers, fire brigade even Union of boilermakers.

I spoke with them for some time and they thanked us for helping them demonstrate safely and that they know we face an uncertain future but cannot demonstrate with us.

I became worried for them, as I had heard no issues on my radio of trouble but soon as they had gone from sight, the trouble began.

These anarchists can only be described as mindless thugs hell bent on destruction, hijacking any reason just to have a fight.

These people did not represent any of those I saw today. Decent, hard working folk who are concerned not only for their future, but their children's futures and their children's children's future.

To those I did manage to speak to I thanked. I thanked them for demonstrating a worthy and just cause and to prove that us decent hard working people will not just go gently into that good night.

I thanked them because I could not join them. They were our voice today too and they did us proud.

However to those who set out to destroy that message today by destruction.

Shame on you!

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Stand and Deliver!

Well, it's Budget day today and we have experienced the usual "Robbing of Peter to pay Paul"

There was a mention of public sector pensions and George Osborne accepts Hutton's review of the pensions contributions.

I guess that means it's going ahead and we're all doomed.

Well, the government are claiming we are living longer and therefore contributions must rise to accommodate the short fall but what with everything else on the increase, inflation, food costs, job loses and fuel rising who would want to live longer?

Oh wait, fuel increase has been frozen.  Well hallelujah, we are saved! There was me thinking that we had the most expensive fuel costs on earth and there is Osborne stopping the 1p increase until at least 2012.

The problem is, it's not 1p, it's 1 penny plus VAT and 1 pence above inflation so you will not find your fuel pumps only going up by 1p.

I finally received my letter today from my local MP to whom I wrote with regards to the Winsor and Hutton reports.  The letter I received was not impressive.  But what do I expect from a Tory fat cat who is probably claiming for two houses and a moat to be regularly maintained whilst her husband sits and watches porn all at our expense (allegedly)

The letter which she could have sent via Twitter,as it was that short, basically stated that Winsor has to find cuts in the police service and during these hard times we all have to take a large bite of the shit sandwich kindly brought to us by those wearing Gordon Gekko braces, drinking coffee somewhere in one of the City's banks.

As for the pensions, well, sorry but once again, we are all having to save and this is the best way (apparently) to make cuts.

I am going to reply in a similar manner and suggest they freeze Parliamentry expenses for MP's for the next 5 years as that will save a fortune in public money being wasted and see how she responds to that.

After all, Ken Clarke was being paid a small fortune today and yet he fell asleep during the Budget.  And Yes I can say he did fall asleep and no allegedly too, as it was noticed by Ed Milliband, TV cameras, The Telegraph and bookies who have paid out at 16/1.

If they dock him pay for the length of time he was asleep during PMQ's and Budgets there would be enough to run a hospital for a year.

I ask you, what other career can you be paid and sleep during your shift?

....Ok, who said "Fire Fighter" ? Right, Get out!

This Saturday sees a demonstration in London TUC, Unison etc with regards to the cuts.  I bet many of us that are policing it would actually like to be there protesting with them, I know I want to be but I'm having to make sure that Whitehall doesn't end up looking like Tripoli after dark if the idiots who ruined the Student protests turn up again.

So if you are attending, please play nicely people.  Get your point across and leave without destroying anything.  Remember that there are others who are looking after your demonstration who agree with everything you're demonstrating about.  The main differences being, we can't voice it on Saturday and we can't go on strike.

Problem is, with fuel prices soaring, cost of train fares rising beyond a joke etc etc

.....Who's going to be able to afford to actually go?

When I Get Older, Losing My Hair, Many Years From Now....

I'll still be working in the Police Force and probably have a blue light attached to my Zimmer Frame or electric cart!

That's assuming I'm still alive of course!  Thanks to Lord Hutton there's a good chance that I'll still be chasing after criminals a damn sight younger than me at the age of 60 and to make matters worse, the decent pension I thought I would have received, is a lot smaller than it should have been and I've paid a lot more for it.

Whilst the banks are declaring major profits and bonuses, the suckers that are us public sector workers have taken yet another hit, this time with our nest egg, the pension.

I did not join the Police Force in order to retire early, as stated in a previous blog entry, I joined to help and make a difference.  The reason we only tend to do 30 years as a police officer is because of the stress and strains that come with the job.

It used to be an average of 5 years a police officer would live after retirement. Thanks to appropriate support in place that is no longer the case.  However, upping our retirement age and taking away our final salary pensions in place for "career average earnings" is probably going to see that death age creep back as retired officers cannot afford to heat their homes or are so burnt out from the job life style that ill health rapidly over takes them.

Hutton basically states because of the rise in life expectancy people are living off of pensions longer and are a drain on resources.

The government have said they are grateful for his work [Hutton's] and will give it careful consideration.  Which you and I know means that they will go along blindly with every word he says.

Well, thanks to the government's major cut backs to the funds for the NHS, Armed Forces and Policing we can see that rise in life expectancy being only short lived.

Dave Prentis the general secretary of Unison said:


"This will be just one more attack on innocent public sector workers who are being expected to pay the price of the deficit, while the bankers who caused it continue to enjoy bumper pay and bonuses."


I agree whole heartedly, however, your members can strike, we cannot unless some line in the sand is drawn by the Federation now. 


On the talk of strike, the problem with being a police officer and strike is two fold:


One. The public suffers, not those that make the stupid decisions.


Two.  Can any officer, honestly say that they could sit there and ignore calls from people who need our help?


Well, there is the Army of course but they're all off fighting a pointless war in a far off land and anyway, those who are stationed here will probably have to cover any Fire Brigade strike because someone woke them up during a night shift.


Matt Wrack, Fire Brigades Union general secretary, said: "This is the great pension's robbery and is completely unacceptable to firefighters across the UK."


So that's that, they'll be out on strike along with everyone else and we'll have to pick up the pieces

He also stated: "Expecting firefighters to work until they are 60 is wrong. Firefighting is a physically arduous job. Peak fitness is essential where seconds can cost lives. The public will not want an ageing frontline fire and rescue service."

What about the Police?

Do we really want to be The REALLY OLD Bill?