Makes My Blood Boil!

This weeks "Total Prat" award goes to Daily Mail journalist Peter Hitchens for his article on Sunday 15th September 2013 titled

Get rid of the guns, cars and Tasers and we might just end up with real policemen

I must admit that I don't expect anything else from the Daily Mail when it comes to police bashing which they seem to do in the most derogatory, holier than thou manner but Hitchens has sunk to new lows even for the Daily Mail.

Published three days short of a year since Greater Manchester Police lost two of its finest, PC Bone and PC Hughes (18 Sept 2012) Hitchens goes all out in an ill educated and insensitive way.

For those who can't and won't read the Daily Mail because it makes you feel physically sick, I shall sum up Hitchens words for you.

Hitchens says:

What use are the police these days? We know they have a pretty ambiguous attitude towards us, the public, avoiding us where possible by staying indoors or racing about in cars, and seldom going out alone in case one of us actually approaches them.

He then waffles on about the incident at Buckingham Palace with the Duke of York and drags up the incident with Andrew Mitchell which he conveniently fails to ask the question which we all want to know the answer:

"We know, what you claim you didn't say Mr Mitchell, but what did you say?"

Water off a ducks back, but what really angered me was Hitchens stating:

Call them all back in. Take away their guns and their Tasers and their stab vests, sell their helicopters and their fast cars with the go-faster stripes. Give them proper British police uniforms, which mark them out as the people’s servants, not their masters.

And send them out on solitary foot patrol, yes, even in the rain, where they might once more meet those they are supposed to serve.

What planet does this idiot live on?

I would love to see Hitchens join us on a late or night shift when we have to deal with call after call to fights, drunks, drug addicts threatening us with knives and needles.

When those we arrest are kicking, punching us and spitting in our faces and the calls are mounting and mounting because there are so few officers on such a massive patch.

This man calls to "take away their stab vests and their Tasers"

We all don't live in gated communities and the particular area I police is one of the roughest areas I've ever covered. I've got ten years in and I had a wake up call!

I do not go out without my stab vest, I have had many occasions when a knife has been pulled or a knife has been found on a person I've arrested and or searched.

There has been many occasions where a Taser would have finished a dangerous situation safely for everyone, especially the public but instead, people and officers have been hurt.

A year in three days time we lost two officers to a man with a gun who were tricked whilst they were attending a routine call.

Without the fast cars, helicopters, Tasers etc that Hitchens wants to remove from us this man could have and would have carried on killing officers.

Hitchens has never had to deal with a violent person day after day, week after week, race to a call that may affect someones life with the outcome.

He's never had to pick up the pieces after a road crash, literally in some cases.

He's never had a malicious complaint made against him and still has to carry on, still having to deal with the violence, the sadness of delivering death messages.

Never helped endless lost pensioners, children, adults, or dealt with mental health patients.

Never spent hours on paper work in order to send someone you know is guilty of a serious crime and if you get it wrong you're in serious trouble,

He's never seen the tears and the anguish of a rape victim.

I bet he's never heard the last words and seen the last breath of someone fatally injured.

What angers me even more about this lazy style of abusive journalism from Hitchens is that if he was ever burgled, he would expect the police to turn up with their fast cars and their helicopter and if the suspect was found on his property and was violent towards him, he would want them tasered and if we wasn't there in five minutes, he would be the first to complain.

Yes Hitchens you and I may go home to our families at the end of the day, but I treasure mine the most.

....and lets face it, the public needs the police far more than they need journalists.

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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?

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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.

A Close Call

It's taken me a few days to get back to the swing of writing this blog.  I've been out of the loop with a considerable number of things going on with my new house and everything else has fallen by the wayside.

I've been quite busy with work too but nothing to write home about, just all work and no play making me a dull Response Plod.

Then came last Thursday morning.  An event which a split second either way could have abruptly altered my life with brutal consequences.

I was travelling back from a night shift after leaving my high speed train from central London behind, I walked to my car in the beautiful 7am sunshine knowing I was going to be off for four days.  Everything in the world looked good and tiredness was far behind.

Off I set for the 20 minute drive which takes me through the Dartford Tunnel.  Yes, dear readers, I live in the Essex area, I will tell you that much.

For those that know the area, I was approaching Junction 1a which is the last exit before the toll booths to take me from Kent to Essex soil.  I was in lane 2 of 4 and ahead in lane 1 were three articulated lorries all close together.

My driver training took over, I held back, checked my off-side and made sure lane 3 was clear in case one of these behemoths attempted to overtake the other.

One pealed off and went up the slip for 1a and I made my approach to the toll booths.

That was when I heard the most awful loud scraping and crashing sound. I turned my radio down and could still hear it, getting louder all the time.  I looked right, nothing.

Then I looked left and saw all hell literally breaking loose.  One of the articulated lorries had some how jack-knifed and the trailer was tipping its load

....straight into my direction.

Out of my left window all I could see were large, long lengths of metal tumbling towards my car.

Instinct took over, I braked hard and yanked the wheel hard right, confident that I knew nothing was there from my check only seconds before.

The first length of metal crashed down right where I had been a split second earlier and rolled backwards before sliding to a stop.  An unfortunate driver behind hitting it.

I turned the wheel again as yet another piece fell and landed right where I should have been.

Thankfully I managed to steer past both pieces.  I checked my mirror before I stopped.  The carriage way was littered with metal.

I managed to avoid being crushed by a 40 ton load of metal which by rights should have landed on my car.

One split second decision probably saved my life or saved me from serious injury.

Thankfully, more by pure luck, no one was seriously injured.  Although the M25 was knackered for the whole day after that.

Normally I'm on autopilot straight after a night shift.  Thankfully because the sun was shining it gave me a little boost and I was a tad more alert than usual.

It just goes to show that despite doing a dangerous job, the real danger is in the returning home from work.

We concentrate so hard in not getting hurt whilst at work, especially when driving on blues and twos that we tend to switch off and take a back seat when coming home.  We relax and think of what we want to do when we get home and usually after a night shift when we are especially tired, is sleep.

They say your life flashes past you before you're about to die, for me, everything just slowed down. It reminded me of the film, The Matrix.

I got into that car to set off for home and remember every little detail of it, the smells, the glint of the sun on the paintwork which I said I would clean over the weekend (and didn't) I remembered saying "bye" to my colleagues and strolled off confident that I would see them again after my rest days.  I remembered the plans my wife and I had with our two young daughters for my days off.

......Who would have thought that just one second could have stopped all of that?

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?

Feeling The Pinch!

Well, today finally came and it's a day where we were hit by people we thought needed us the most.

Tom Winsor, a former rail regulator swung upon the police forces of this country with what can only be described as another "Beeching Axe"

The fact that escapes the members of parliament is that the railways of this country are a disgrace, an under funded shambles run by people who only want a profit and it grinds to a halt come rain, come shine.

And they've let a former regulator of this mess attempt to cull money spending within our force.

...I'll let that sink in for a moment.

I won't bleat on about what Winsor has said and what he has found as it's pointless and been done to death by now and the last thing you want to read is yet another blogger repeating what he's already stated.

What angers me the most through all this, is the media and parliamentary spin that the unsuspecting public who are not in any way connected to the force have had to endure.

We have seen a member of the Green Party come out on TV and state, that it's not fair that we have 30 year pensions completely forgetting the fact that pensions are now for 35 years and have been for a few years now.

I watched in dumbstruck awe, as a retired police officer sat there and stated on TV that he has had times where he has finished "5 minutes into his rest day and claimed 4 hours at double time"

First of all, to that retired officer, Thank you very much for that! You have held onto the handle of the blade this government has taken and helped stab it firmly between our shoulder blades!

You've got your pension, you've secured all your rights and you earned your money so what made you even think to go on National TV and practically pull the rug from under our feet on the very people you served with?

"Pull the ladder up Jack, sod the rest" springs to mind!

Whilst I don't deny that there has been some gross over spending in areas of all forces, don't take it out on the front line for God's sake!

The Barclay's Brothers and their little empire, giving themselves massive pats on the back bonuses whilst all this is going on, adds insult to injury, especially when it was mostly the unregulated banking industry that screwed it for every body!

The fact that we get paid for what is a dangerous job again escapes them.  Policing has the highest rate of all occupations for divorce and sickness.

Why?

Simple, long stressful and potentially dangerous hours with the fact that we at the last minute can receive a rest day cancellation for court, urgent policing matters never minding what you had planned with the family.  We can never have a "life" so to speak, as we are constantly expecting it to be cancelled.

You don't see Tom Winsor, Theresa May or David Cameron policing the streets single crewed at 3am.  Or policing New Years Eve on flat rate money because the Bank Holiday hasn't kicked in till 06:00 hrs.

You don't see them turn up to deliver a death message to a woman who's been out of her mind with worry wondering why her husband hasn't answered his mobile.

Or holding onto a child that has been involved in a car crash and watch their life ebb out of them because there's nothing they can do to save them.

Every time something like this happens, I leave a piece of me at that incident.  There's only so much of me to go round.

We deserve the pay we get for what we have to endure!

What has happened today will effect each and every household across the country.  You won't see recruitment drives any more and officers won't be replaced when they leave.  So don't go screaming that no one has turned up to your burglary because pulling items from magic hats only works for Paul Daniels.

How about this one Mr Winsor? Try going to London Underground or other railway companies and try sweeping cuts in something you do know something about.

Then see how long it takes before the capital and the country grinds to a halt again with an all out strike.

Something I envy them for at times!

Here endeth the rant.

And The Hits Just Keep On Coming!

Police pay cuts 'unavoidable' says Home Secretary

Pay cuts for police officers "must form part of the package" of savings earmarked for the service in England and Wales, the home secretary has said.

BBC News 2 March 2011

Well to quote the Federation Chairman (@PoliceFedChair) on Twitter this morning

 "The home sec knows how to motivate cops!"

Once again I'm left baffled as to exactly why I am still a bearer of Her Majesty's Warrant, when the government who call upon us to put ourselves in danger for them due to their radical and sometimes stupid decisions, stab us straight in the back with an announcement like this.

As I stated earlier on Twitter (@ResponsePlod) I don't do this job for the money as otherwise I would have joined an organisation where I was guaranteed better pay and conditions, my rest days, Christmas Day, Bank Holidays and going home at the end of every shift, preferably alive.  I did join this job,however and please forgive me for sounding cliché, to make a difference and help people.

I've always enjoyed working with the public and being a police officer has been a dream of mine since I was 8 years old.  However, in those days, the police were a respected career, good pay, good conditions and looked after by the government.

If the government want to cut funding by 20% by 2015, increase our pension contribution , cut our overtime, housing allowance, travel and freeze our pay what next?

They actually had the cheek to state that police officers can retire early therefore benefit considerably from their pension.  What they fail to state is that by the time we retire, we are burnt out!  We've gone through hell to get there with long and dangerous shifts, cancelled days off and the risk of divorce due to never seeing your family.

Cutting our benefits?  That's a joke!  There's nothing left!  If they cut our travel allowance then what they fail to realise is that the reason it's there is so if there's an incident on a train, bus etc you are duty bound to get involved!  

I would say, they can kiss that goodbye because if I've had to buy a ticket, I'll be sat in the corner (most likely crushed standing) with my headphones on, looking the other way.  The problem is, I most likely will get involved and probably get a Reg 9 as a thank you present.

With the recent insulting staged 1.5% pay rise from the last Home Secretary resulting in a mass protest march which I was proud to take part in. What will this latest kick produce from us?

Some mutterings and groans because that's all we can do.  We cannot strike like other services.  If we had that right, we would have walked out and not been back.

This government with their cuts, have pushed people to the limit.  You only need to take a look at the goings on in Greece and the Middle East for an idea of what could happen.

The government would then expect us to fight back against these protesters for them.

Be very careful Mr Prime Minister, as you may see one or two of us joining the protest, come the revolution!

They Always Come Out At Night.....(or sometimes the day too)

The Night Turn always guarantees to bring out the oddest people and therefore some of the oddest calls that generally, as a rule, you don't get during the day.

There is apparently, some medical evidence (somewhere, don't ask me to look for it) that states that the effect of gravity from a full moon on the chemicals in the human brain can have some bizarre effects and it is where the term "Lunatic" comes from.

Also the cover of darkness with enough light from the full moon can allow people to move about almost undetected.

So no surprise to be asked to assist a call in the small hours to a lady who stated that she had been burgled.

Nothing unusual there, except for the fact that she said over the phone that she was out in the garden squatting on her lawn going to the toilet when her neighbours broke in and took her stuff in the ten minutes she was sat out there.

She said she "knows its wrong to do toilet out on the lawn but next door are just evil, just evil!"

Thankfully, within ten minutes she called back to say that she had found all her stuff and all was well and we don't have to worry about coming round.

Queue sighs of relief over the radio!

We all do some odd things in time and the light, be it from a blazing sunny day or a moon lit night can play havoc on your perceptions.

One Sunday a few years back, we were called to an Immediate grade to a street in Brixton, South London, for a robbery in progress. We arrived about 10 minutes later and witnesses had informed us that the robber and his victim had both left the scene. So after taking descriptions we carried out an area search of which there was no trace.

To double check everywhere we went up on the Brixton train station which we knew had no service due to engineering works.

It was a very sunny day and as we were up on the platform I could see a man at the far end leaning against the wall with his bag by his side. Thinking to myself that this man could be either the victim, robber or witness it was a good idea to check him out, either way, I was going to inform him that there was no service on this day and he needs to find another route.

As I approached, I called out a “Hello” to which I received no response, I thought maybe he didn’t hear me so I repeated my call, still I got no response. The man was just leaning with one foot up against the wall and staring into no where. I thought either he’s genuinely deaf, or just plain ignorant so I waved my arms above my head and shouted “YO! You on the platform!” Still I got no response. “OI!” I shouted “OI MATE!” still nothing!

It was only as I got about 10 feet away from him I realised that this man would never answer me

…he was a statue and not just any statue,

......he was the famous Brixton statue of the “Perpetually Waiting Man”

A chorus of laughter from my bewildered colleagues as I turned back meant that, damn they had seen it all! I was getting comments like,

Well, I instantly blamed the bright Sun in my eyes!

“Was you going to arrest him under section 25, failure to provide details”?

 And “Who’s that over there? ….Statue?

On The Night Shift

God, I hate nights shifts! Mainly because I tend to spend an entire week of my life in reverse, tired, grumpy and I see only about an hour of sunlight a day!

I'm going to work when everyone around me is settling down for the night.

It starts off completely mad, so I haven't even got time to tie my boot laces before we go racing off on an "I Grade" call (Immediate Response) or become assigned to the many outstanding calls still to attend.

Then every thing seems to slow down. I may get called to assist with the occasional drunk by the LAS (London Ambulance Service) or domestic that has sparked during the early hours of the night. Or I might stumble across a driver who is over the alcohol limit.

There's also something inherently wrong with eating a burger or kebab at 3am when I've not been drinking!

Problem is, that as I start seeing the clock run down, the world is waking up and with each tick of the clock brings the possibility of a shout that causes me to go way over my finish time.

Then there is the issue on my last night onto my rest days.

Do I sleep and ruin a precious day off? Or do I stay awake and become grumpy, tired and see my day off go by in a sleepy haze where I'm too tired to do anything I needed to do.

Nights do have their benefits though. Whilst I'm driving home, the opposite way to traffic and watching you all sit in jams heading to the office.

I'm the one grinning and going past you the other way

.....to my bed!

G'Night all!



Follow me on Twitter @ResponsePlod #ResponsePlod

Liar Liar Pants On Fire

I've just spent the best part of 9 hours attempting section 18 property searches.

Bloke in custody nicked by us for fraud and immigration issues gave five addresses all over London.

Coupled up with address checks, locating them, heavy traffic and the wasted journeys to literally all four corners of the Capital, I doubt very much he'll get the cost of our wages and the fuel added to his penalty

....if found guilty of course!

Police officer dies in road crash

From BBC

A police officer responding to an incident has been killed in a road accident in Manchester. Pc Christopher Hart, 40, was driving a police van on Pottery Lane in Openshaw when it collided with a car, overturned and hit a set of traffic lights.

Pc Hart suffered serious head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. His colleague and three people in the VW Polo suffered minor injuries.

Investigations into the cause of the crash are under way.

The junction between Ashton Old Road, Pottery Lane and Alan Turing Way was closed shortly after the crash, at 2355 GMT, while officers dealt with the scene.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said the second male police officer in the van was taken to Manchester Royal Infirmary but was later released.

Pc Hart was a response officer based in Bury.

Ass Chf Con Justine Curran said: "This is a tragic incident in which a serving officer with Greater Manchester Police has lost his life. "Our thoughts are now with his family and colleagues and we are offering them every support."

Chf Supt Jon Rush, Bury Divisional Commander, said: "Chris was a respected member of Bury division and his tragic and sudden death will be deeply felt by his family, particularly his young son, and his work colleagues."

Chris Burrows, of the Greater Manchester Police Federation, said: "We are mourning the loss of a respected colleague and father. All our thoughts are with his family at this time."

------------------------------

My condolences to his family and friends at this sad timeIt's a worrying thought which must go through my head every time I switch the blue lights and sirens on. Is the call worth this blue light run? and I hope we get there safely. I would rather arrive two minutes late than never at all

Police officer dies after arrest

From The BBC

A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a policeman died on duty in north-west London.

The 48-year-old police officer collapsed trying to arrest a man following a domestic incident at Brinkburn Gardens in Wembley.

Police were called to the address at about 1745 GMT on Boxing Day.
A post-mortem examination will be carried out later to establish the cause of death. The man arrested is in his 30s.

Other deaths

Home Office minister Tony McNulty said: "I am deeply saddened to learn of the death of a police officer while on duty with the Metropolitan Police.

"Events such as this highlight the dangers that our police officers face every day when protecting the public."

The Association of Chief Police Officers also offered its condolences.

Two other police officers have died on duty this year.
On 6 May Pc Richard Gray was shot by a man after attending a domestic incident in Shrewsbury. The man then committed suicide by shooting himself.
In June 36-year-old Pc Jonathan Charles Henry was fatally stabbed in Luton. A man is awaiting trial accused of his murder.

My sincerest thoughts and condolences go out to our colleague's family and friends at this difficult time.

There are Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

Sir Ronnie Flanagan made some excellent points about officers not being allowed to use their discretion. Due to the target driven nature of police forces these days, officers are being told to make arrests with absolutely no discretion so their force can make their targets in particular crimes so to guarantee their budgets for next year.

I just wish that someone had told my force about Sir Ronnie Flanagan's findings!

Due to some administrative cock up by person(s) who shall remain anonymous, we all received an email regarding the number of low level disorder detections that had been calculated at our particular nick. We are a very successful police station if I do say so myself but in many ways probably too successful. When the predicted detection rate for the year we are in now was sent, somebody over-estimated it by nearly 400 detections!

So what, you may say but the problem that faces us now is that each officer has now been instructed to detect an extra two low level disorders a week to be able to make that target.

Meeting that target isn't really a problem but what the problem is, is that once again discretion has been chipped away so that there is hardly any left.

In a normal situation regarding low level disorder you could have used your discretion to decide on the outcome. The person committing the disorder could have been moved on or ejected from a location in order to stop that disorder from occurring. That person after being spoken to goes home with a flea in their ear and a little bit wiser and the chances are they will not come to police notice ever again.

But, if we are now being instructed to detect these extra disorders then people who would have not normally come to notice are being put through the criminal justice system and could end up with a criminal record for something extremely minor! We are therefore making criminals out of people who are not criminals just to make targets!

The problem doesn't stop there.

Who's going to deal with all this extra paper work that goes with these extra detections? Us that's who! Sir Ronnie Flanagan has already stated that there is too much bureaucracy and unnecessary paperwork that the police officers have to do and this is just adding to it. It takes at least 2-3 hours to put together a comprehensive file for court and that's not including the time it takes to book the detained person into custody assuming they have been arrested for the offence rather than reporting them for it.

So for those extra two detections they are instructing, you can expect to find the officer spending at least a shift off the streets to deal with the paperwork and procedures. A shift which will no doubt be short of an officer to detect, what is in my opinion, more serious crime which if the officer would have been allowed to use their discretion in the first instance, that more serious crime would have been dealt with.

The Federation have already spotted the potential flaw with constabularies following the recommendations of Sir Ron with their response to his review of policing:

"The Police Federation would agree with many of Sir Ronnie’s recommendations, but you could be forgiven for thinking we have been here before. In 2002 a predecessor of Sir Ronnie’s chaired a Bureaucracy Task Force that made many similar proposals. Regrettably, without the cash and political will needed many of these recommendations will fail to become a reality."

It looks as if Sir Ronnie's words are already being ignored!

Night Shifts

Nights are a strange set of shifts. For me my entire life is upside down for 7 days. You eat when you should be sleeping, you're sleeping when you should be up and about and now the nights are drawing in the chances of seeing any daylight for the week is nigh on impossible. I work a 5 week roster so the other 4 weeks of the shift are during daylight hours.

Now, I understand and accept that due to the nature of the job night shifts are inevitable but why in the modern age I have to do 7 of them is beyond me?

The most common performance challenges of night-shift work come from the human biological clock or cycles. Three main cycles, or rhythms, have been identified: ultradian (20 hours or less), circadian (20 to 28 hours), and infradian (28 hours or more). Circadian comes from the Latin (circa, about; dies, day) and is based on the human internal-body clock that runs on a schedule of about 24 hours. To understand this 24-hour cycle, let's look at what influences it.

Biological factors include the rise and fall of human-body temperatures throughout the day and the daily cyclical production of different hormones. Human-body temperatures can vary by nearly five percent in a single 24-hour period. A low temperature peak at approximately 4 a.m. and a high temperature peak near 5 p.m. coincide with a police officers typical alertness extremes.

The social cycle is dictated by societal norms, such as when the smell of breakfast wafts into your dream, or when the bin men tumbles the dustbins down the street. It's difficult to overcome these sleep influences, even with reduced light and noise for daytime sleeping. The clock on the wall, habitual sleep, meal times, and work and leisure activities are prime examples of social time cues. People seldom or never adjust completely to the night shift or to a new rhythm.

Sleeping at the right times, in best coordination with the circadian rhythm, is referred to as having good sleep hygiene. Postshift sleep should be coordinated with the circadian rhythm. Studies show daytime sleep periods are typically 41 percent (three hours) shorter and less restorative than nighttime sleep. A shift from the normal sleep, work, leisure schedule to one of work, leisure, sleep is required to allow sleep during the normal afternoon trough in body temperature and peak in error tendency. Studies show a moderate error peak around 3 p.m., with a much more severe error peak around 3 a.m.

There is an old saying that shift work takes ten years off your life and in many ways I believe it. It takes two days for the human body to adjust its hormones to cope with night shifts. This switch from diurnal to nocturnal mode then allows your body to cope with extended night shifts. Hence the reason you tend to sleep better and longer towards the end of your set of night shifts. The problem lies when you need your body to switch back from nocturnal to diurnal. This takes 6 weeks. So if you are working a 5 week roster and it takes 6 weeks to switch back, technically you are working with your hormones on permanent nights. To counter this problem, night shifts shouldn't be over more than two shifts then switch back to days to counter the hormone imbalance.

Then there is the problem with fatigue. You have to be extra careful with response driving at night. The glare from headlights, poor or cold weather takes its toll on a drivers ability to concentrate but when you're responding on blues and twos in the middle of the night you have an extra responsibility to be able to get to your destination safely.

All of this and you have to deal with potentially dangerous and or violent situations involving people who maybe more alert than you when you arrive!

Over time this accumulates into stress which can lead to illness. I already suffer with a thyroid problem which is upsetting the balance of my hormones. The Federation are looking into the possibility that it may have been caused by the shifts. There are scientists studying the effects of night shifts and an increased risk of cancer and heart problems.

I love the job to bits but as the song goes "Too much love will kill you!"

A healthy bunch aren't we?