In Sickness And In Health

I've not been a well Response Plod these past couple of days.  I won't disgust you with the exact details but needless to say Essex and Suffolk Water want to speak to me urgently.

I was sent home yesterday after feeling and looking like (apparently) "death warmed up" however, it took them half the shift to decide that I was no good to them and if I was in for half then it doesn't count as a sick day.

What annoys me most about that is I had spent since 4am not feeling at all well but decided to go in for many reasons:
1. I don't like calling in sick because
2. No one ever believes you so
3. You go in to prove you're ill but
4. Everyone moans at you for bringing it in and no one thanks you for actually making the effort but
5. You only went in so it wouldn't count as a sick day if you got sent home.

What angered me however, is today, I had to take a rest day in lieu rather than phone in sick.  Why is it that the job has made us so scared of phoning in sick when we are genuinely ill?  Why is it that I face the wrath of the part one sickness warnings if I dare have one day of sick then God forbid I'm ill at a later date?

I can understand the need for some sort of sickness monitoring.  There are many officers out there, some I know personally, took the piss out of the sickness policy and played it to their advantage on the old scheme.  However, people who are really ill are having to tread the lines carefully because if they have a 24 hour bug one day and then Lord help them, flu a couple of months later then the policy enforced could mean they can kiss good buy to that course they wanted or that vacancy they dreamed of.

We Officers face enough stress in our lives as it is.  Our long and hard shifts dealing with all kinds of incidents leaves the body weak and open to illness.  That's not including close contact with people who are also ill.

I also know that the stage one policy is discretionary but I also know that there are many Inspectors out there who have their power trips and like to bring down hard justice on their troops.

Troopers like me for instance. Some years ago, I injured my arm very badly in a fight during an arrest that went horribly wrong. My right arm was left hanging from its socket and the muscles and tendons severely damaged.  I was off for three months and returned on heavily restricted duties.  Months of physio and to this day, it's still not right.  This didn't stop my, then, Inspector collaring me on my first day back for a chat in his office.

There I was thinking he was bringing me in for an "how are you, great to have you back" chat, but no, on the desk was a stage one warning and he was putting me on it knowing this was going to severely damage my chances of the course I wanted to be on.  I point blank refused to sign the document and got the Federation involved who thankfully after many and some heated meetings it went away.

The policy was re-written soon after.

If you are ill, you are ill but why do we have to be frightened of someone who has no policing skills whatsoever who writes these policies and enforces them upon us?

The problem we now face, is that they are using any excuse to cut costs and if you are a sickly officer.

...be looking over your shoulder

Police Crime and 999

Written by John Donoghue, It’s a look at a year in his life as a front line response officer, comes with the warning:  CONTAINS HUMOUR AND TRACES OF NUTS and, amongst other things, answers those basic questions:

What REALLY happens behind the scenes in the police?

What bizarre 999 calls are made to the emergency services?

Why can wearing 2 pairs of socks make you a suspect?

What is the link between police and vampires?

Which Royal arrest never made news headlines?

What covert sign do officers make when they no longer wish to talk to you?

He's changed names and places to protect the guilty!

The book isn’t officially available until August, but it is available NOW for all readers of this blog via his website www.policecrime999.com  and John has kindly given us a  10% discount!

Quote: ResponsePlodBlog when ordering for your 10% Discount!

The Greasy Pole

When I joined the job all those years ago, I had ambitions that I would go far.

The two major problems I have that stopped me is that I failed the Part 1 Ospre, twice, although by a small margin but a miss is as good as a mile.

Secondly, I don't know when to shut up.  I will openly state to Senior Officers that something is not right when it blatantly is not right.

Putting it bluntly, I'm a coppers copper.  I don't take crap from anyone and I enjoy working on the factory floor getting my hands dirty.

However, I have massive respect for my Senior Officers.  I may not like some of them but I respect them nonetheless.  I know that they have made it through the ranks and have stood where I stood and have seen what I have seen.

This gives me faith in the people in charge that they, ultimately, know what they are doing.

They can safely make the big decisions at murder scenes, fatalities, major incidents etc. because they have been to these incidents themselves over the years and have built up a wealth of experience and knowledge as they progressed through the ranks.

Which amazes me that the "Flagship" police force of the country, The Metropolitan Police,  is toying with the idea of "Rank Skipping"

It amazes me that at a time of budget cuts and restraints that are going to affect every rank and file officer that they want to insult the officers even more.

How can anyone who has served from a recruit, only 12 months as a PC and given intense training then fast tracked to Inspector in another 12 months then expect to become a good copper earning the respect from others "below" ?

How can I trust an officer with only 2 years "police service" much of it class room based to come out as an Inspector then make the right decisions at incidents?

This officer would have had no experience in policing what so ever and just because they may have some fancy degree in policing or been a manager for a large company, why would that mean they would be good coppers?

If you or I were to go to a company like Hovis and apply to become "senior baker" (hypothetically) they would not even give your application a second glance if you have never baked a loaf of bread before!

I still cannot see you being taken seriously if you then went on to add that you spent 12 months reading cook books and occasionally kneaded some dough.

The bakers around them would lose respect for their immediate supervisor as they would expect, when a problem arose that the senior baker would know what to do, due to their valuable experience gained in the ranks below with years of bread making at their finger tips.

The person may know how to manage people effectively and may actually be great at managing budgets but dealing with the real stuff that comes to policing, well, it's not enough to just have read some books on it once.

I really hope that the Met decide against this little venture.  It's going to be a huge waste of money to train these officers to be Inspectors and have them fall at the first hurdle.

Some may crack under the strain of being thrown in charge of a murder scene as they have not built on the experience of same or similar incidents before.

It will be a shame to see these people ridiculed by their own and the public when they find out they only have a couple of years in and they are supposed to be in charge.

What about the officers who are making their way up the traditional way, only to see some whipper snapper who was in charge of DFS last year suddenly take the promotion over them?

What if, the Commissioner was suddenly ousted by someone who was once in charge of Lloyds TSB?

Would he like it?

 Follow me on Twitter 
www.twitter.com/ResponsePlod
@ResponsePlod #ResponsePlod

Sucking Eggs

After reading the excellent article in Police Review w/e 3rd June 2011 by Hollie Clemence entitled “Officers urged to ‘look and feel’ cheerful” she reports that ACPO is drafting an Olympic 'Look and Feel' strategy document which they claim will provide a 'consistent message' on how officers on mutual aid during the games are maintaining the 'highest of standards'.

Summarising, it is basically telling officers working during the Olympics how to dress, how to talk and even to remember to smile.

ACPO have also stated that every officer must be trained in the fine art of egg sucking and will be trained to NVQ level although cut backs mean that you will need to provide your own eggs during the 12 week course.

Alright, I made that last bit up, but really, are they serious?!

First of all, exactly how much money are they wasting on this ridiculous and quite frankly insulting report?

Secondly, just exactly who do ACPO think they are?

Not only are they insulting the very officers their thousands of pounds trained and the vast majority have years of experience but instead of backing us up with the ongoing dispute with the government they are basically telling us to just “grin and bear it”

What with the Winsor Report pay and conditions biting into its first year by the time the Olympics come along many officers working the long tiring hours are not going to be wanted to told to “smile and be nice”

What ACPO need to realise is that police officers will continue to do the job we were employed for. It's the job we joined for and want to do.

So please, don't insult our professionalism. We don't need to be told how to dress and how to smile. We do this every day and don't need expensive reports to be reminded how to do it.

What I will ask is for you to declare how much this farce of a report cost and why the money wasn't better used for something more worthwhile, or better still, saved.


Follow me on Twitter
www.twitter.com/ResponsePlod
@ResponsePlod #ResponsePlod