An Idea

A while back i was crewed with another guy off shift and we got to talking about specialist roles.

At the moment if you want to specialize you need to transfer off core shift and into a specialist department.

Now i actually quite enjoy core shift work where i have many roles ranging from emergency response to social services to traffic warden.

I would like to specialize in Roads Policing (Yawn i hear you cry, he's mentioned this hundreds of times) I have applied and been rejected, but i will reapply.

Now my crew mate wants to join Tac Firearms or ARV as they are more commonly known. This again will involve him leaving shift.

So we were discussing this and came up with a solution which may actually make sense.

We decided that core shift was the dumping ground for the force (crap rolls downhill) and experience is a big issue, i mean I'm the most experienced on shift at the moment and i have just under 3 years in.

What we would like to see is a multi role core shift where there is a class 1 driver in a fast response vehicle or maybe 2 which could deal with core shift responsibilities and also deal with traffic related incident, thus keeping experience on shift and enabling officers to learn from each other.

Also we would like to see AFO's on shift so that should there be a spontaneous incident they can be authorized to arm and deal in the immediate instance until more armed support arrives, thus avoiding issues of waiting 30mins for ARV to arrive from miles away. Again experience retained on shift with that little bit extra.

We even thought that maybe a couple of CID trained officers on shift to assist where there is serious incidents to enable proper planning and interviewing skill to be utilised.

This would mean core shift would suddenly have masses of tactical options available 24hrs a day 7 days a week. We would have experienced and well rounded officers on shift who can pass there knowledge to others. Rather than being detached from shift for a few months on attachment.

Just imagine a fully staffed reactive shift with firearms / pursuit / traffic / CID capabilities and each officer able to learn about all these areas. Who would want to leave shift unless they wanted to become dedicated AFO, Traffic or CID. It could even be a stepping stone to these areas thus reducing the drain on resources and keeping core shift at the top of its game with the best mix of abilities and knowledge and each officer knowing what is required from different departments!

Am i dreaming or is this a good idea?

John