A 43-year-old policeman shot dead at the scene of a domestic argument had been commended five times for bravery.
Married father-of-two Pc Richard Gray, a trained firearms officer, was killed while attending a domestic dispute in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, on Sunday.
West Mercia chief constable Paul West said the Dundee-born officer had previously won recognition for his part in the arrests of two armed men.
The second man to die has been named as Peter Medlicott, 33, from Shrewsbury.
The pest control business owner is understood to have killed himself after shooting Pc Gray.
A .222 calibre rifle, commonly used in pest control, was recovered from the scene.
A post-mortem examination revealed both men died from single gunshot wounds to the head.
The force said a police armed response unit was called to attend a domestic incident at 0610 BST on Sunday in New Park Road.
Det Ch Insp Sheila Thornes said two unarmed officers attended the address as there was no early indication of an armed threat.
"However, when the officers arrived they were challenged by a man who held them at gunpoint," she said.
The officers radioed for help and an armed response vehicle was sent to the scene.
"Both authorised firearms officers were armed and as they went forward they were confronted by a man who shot Pc Ricky Gray.
"Approximately an hour later, the body of a man, now identified as Medlicott, was located by officers close to the scene," she said.
Det Ch Insp Sheila Thornes, who is heading the investigation, said the constable's weapon had not been fired.
She said police were not looking for anyone else in connection with the shooting.
Pc Gray, known as Ricky, married his long-term partner last year.
Mr West told a press conference on Monday that the police officer's family was "understandably devastated".
"Pc Gray was an excellent officer. He was very popular with his colleagues, extremely well-liked and held in the highest regard," Mr West said.
"The fact he had been recommended for five commendations spoke volumes about his character."
Pc Gray received a divisional commendation for rescuing a man trying to jump from Shrewsbury's English Bridge into the River Severn, the conference was told.
He also received a chief constable's commendation for his part in the arrest of an "unstable" man with a firearm.
Pc Gray was additionally recognised for his part in arresting a violent man with a semi-automatic pistol who tried to escape police in a stop-check in April, 2006, in Shrewsbury.
The officer had previously worked for Cheshire Constabulary, serving in the Warrington area from 1997. He later joined the armed response unit before transferring to West Mercia Police in 2003.
R.I.P
Monday, May 07, 2007
Friday, May 04, 2007
Forms and Time
Well by some miracle i managed to pass my sgts exam which i sat in March this year. Quite a surprise as to be honest i didn't put as much time into it as i should have and was expecting to fail the exam.
Part of the reason being that i simply did not have the time to put into it. No time on shift to do revision, and not alot of time on my rest days or in the time off after shift. I always try and leave work at work and found it really hard to do work on my rest days. Kind of a work / life balance thing i guess.
So, great i thought, 5 years to become substantive but the flood of letters and emails from personnel etc wanting me to try and become substantive now but i don't think i have the experience to become a full skipper just yet. I did some cover while our skipper was on leave which i kind of enjoyed but was manic due to trying to do the supervisor role as well as crewing a response car and doing jobs.
I am glad of the break now to be honest, 5 days off with the bank holiday.
We had dramas in the last week with restructuring of the shift and being told we need to loose 2 officers off our shift to resource other shifts. Stressful is not the word id use to describe it! And now they turn around and change there minds........... Ahh consistency in the police, don't ya just love it.
We got some new forms the other day, for stop and account! And we had a training day on how to fill in the new form.
Apart from the fact our old forms were stop and account as well as a producer, we now have lost the producer aspect and need to go back to using the old HORT/1 books. All well and good but we will need to do both forms if we ask a driver to account as well as produce! Estimates put it at about 20 mins to fill in the new form.
I have restarted going to the gym again which is painful! And will be making another attempt at stopping smoking (attempt 6 in 3 years).
Another round of traffic jobs came up last month but not for the base i wanted to passed up on doing that one only to find out recently that anyone who passed the board will go into a pool to fill spaces at the base i wanted. Pissed off a tad i was, so looks like ill have another long wait to apply. I thought i was doing the sensible thing rather than getting posted somewhere miles away! But looks like i have shot myself in the foot here! Doh!
Back onto nights soon so looking forward to that and hope its a good set of shifts rather than the dross we have been dealing with recently.
Everyone and there dog has been calling recently wanting us to sort out their "issues". Although it bit someone who called us to tell of their 13 year old son but in the process both admitted assaulting each other which resulted in both getting nicked! Wont be making that call to us again to tell off kiddy for being stroppy. Although im sure that nothing will come out of the job.
Part of the reason being that i simply did not have the time to put into it. No time on shift to do revision, and not alot of time on my rest days or in the time off after shift. I always try and leave work at work and found it really hard to do work on my rest days. Kind of a work / life balance thing i guess.
So, great i thought, 5 years to become substantive but the flood of letters and emails from personnel etc wanting me to try and become substantive now but i don't think i have the experience to become a full skipper just yet. I did some cover while our skipper was on leave which i kind of enjoyed but was manic due to trying to do the supervisor role as well as crewing a response car and doing jobs.
I am glad of the break now to be honest, 5 days off with the bank holiday.
We had dramas in the last week with restructuring of the shift and being told we need to loose 2 officers off our shift to resource other shifts. Stressful is not the word id use to describe it! And now they turn around and change there minds........... Ahh consistency in the police, don't ya just love it.
We got some new forms the other day, for stop and account! And we had a training day on how to fill in the new form.
Apart from the fact our old forms were stop and account as well as a producer, we now have lost the producer aspect and need to go back to using the old HORT/1 books. All well and good but we will need to do both forms if we ask a driver to account as well as produce! Estimates put it at about 20 mins to fill in the new form.
I have restarted going to the gym again which is painful! And will be making another attempt at stopping smoking (attempt 6 in 3 years).
Another round of traffic jobs came up last month but not for the base i wanted to passed up on doing that one only to find out recently that anyone who passed the board will go into a pool to fill spaces at the base i wanted. Pissed off a tad i was, so looks like ill have another long wait to apply. I thought i was doing the sensible thing rather than getting posted somewhere miles away! But looks like i have shot myself in the foot here! Doh!
Back onto nights soon so looking forward to that and hope its a good set of shifts rather than the dross we have been dealing with recently.
Everyone and there dog has been calling recently wanting us to sort out their "issues". Although it bit someone who called us to tell of their 13 year old son but in the process both admitted assaulting each other which resulted in both getting nicked! Wont be making that call to us again to tell off kiddy for being stroppy. Although im sure that nothing will come out of the job.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
End of the year
This blog has been running for about 2 years now i think and even though my posts have varied from ranting about how bad the job is to some of the fun times we get to have out there doing the job, i have enjoyed posting up the majority of the content.
Its been good to look back and see what i have been up to as to be honest i have forgotten alot of the fun stuff i have done over the last year or so and it brings a smile to my face.
This has been the first year of me doing PDR (yawn), being a response driver, trying to get into traffic, doing my SGTS exam and being a tutor. Oh and im apparently getting a commendation for saving someones life.
Its been a big change for me coming off the PDP system and actually being a police officer rather than trying to screw the competencies to get signed off as confirmed in post. I was talking to a crew mate one night and likened finishing PDP with someone flicking a switch in your head to become a real copper.
I have also read my mates blogs and kept tabs on what they are up to and its good to see that from being all nervous when we joined to the majority of us doing some good stuff and having fun.
In reality, in the last year i have had a really good time. Yeah the paperwork gets you down, the CPS having no balls and the courts having all the power of a toothless pit bull, all bark and no action. But there has been a great deal of fun out there.
Some cracking jobs, good nicks and some really funny shifts.
Quite a bit of fighting, a few chases both by car and on foot. New kit, more forms, more policies and less discretion.
But the job is what you make it. I choose to make it a good time and enjoy it.
Hopefully things will still improve and there is still fun to be had.
After all you cant do this job unless you have a sense of humour!
Its been good to look back and see what i have been up to as to be honest i have forgotten alot of the fun stuff i have done over the last year or so and it brings a smile to my face.
This has been the first year of me doing PDR (yawn), being a response driver, trying to get into traffic, doing my SGTS exam and being a tutor. Oh and im apparently getting a commendation for saving someones life.
Its been a big change for me coming off the PDP system and actually being a police officer rather than trying to screw the competencies to get signed off as confirmed in post. I was talking to a crew mate one night and likened finishing PDP with someone flicking a switch in your head to become a real copper.
I have also read my mates blogs and kept tabs on what they are up to and its good to see that from being all nervous when we joined to the majority of us doing some good stuff and having fun.
In reality, in the last year i have had a really good time. Yeah the paperwork gets you down, the CPS having no balls and the courts having all the power of a toothless pit bull, all bark and no action. But there has been a great deal of fun out there.
Some cracking jobs, good nicks and some really funny shifts.
Quite a bit of fighting, a few chases both by car and on foot. New kit, more forms, more policies and less discretion.
But the job is what you make it. I choose to make it a good time and enjoy it.
Hopefully things will still improve and there is still fun to be had.
After all you cant do this job unless you have a sense of humour!
Law Enforcement Forum (US)
As some may have seen i have added a new link to the sidebar to a US site called Online Police Forum.
The site manager emailed me asking for suggestions to get his site into the wider community and to try and get a worldwide selection of police officers posting on the site.
Over there there is a section for UK police to post in and discuss varying items and tactics and compare what we do here to what they do there.
I have started to post over there and it certainly seems that it is worthwhile discussing stuff as to be honest here we go through the same motions with similar content. At least on that site there will be a more "new" style to posts and threads.
Its certainly worth a look and posting there.
Look forward to chatting to anyone that decides to go and join up and post about the UK policing style.
The site manager emailed me asking for suggestions to get his site into the wider community and to try and get a worldwide selection of police officers posting on the site.
Over there there is a section for UK police to post in and discuss varying items and tactics and compare what we do here to what they do there.
I have started to post over there and it certainly seems that it is worthwhile discussing stuff as to be honest here we go through the same motions with similar content. At least on that site there will be a more "new" style to posts and threads.
Its certainly worth a look and posting there.
Look forward to chatting to anyone that decides to go and join up and post about the UK policing style.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Update Pt 2
Since my last post is a bit negative, we have had some bloody good fun out there as well.
I got into a nice Pursuit, did all the commentary and driving, kept with the car and caught the driver (well my crew mate did that bit)
All good fun and got me some really good feedback which is all good.
Lasted for about 15 mins or so and went everywhere and anywhere, good job it was over night. Car was nicked and 3 up. Quite a good result as my last pursuit ended somewhat differently with me being rammed and injured.
See thats what i love about the job, we just happen to come across it and gave chase. Proper road wars type, all i needed was the voice of Sheriff John Burnell in the background and it would have been perfect.
We have had some cool jobs really, and to be honest i cant remember them all. Many of which have been a good laugh and good for team work.
Its a shame that the managers don't see that side of the job, the side where we give the Scroats a good run for there money and the public are happy.
"did you find my car"
"yes we chased it for ages, and caught the driver"
"really! you actually chased it and caught someone!!"
And to boot the CPS actually gave some cracking charging advice! No extra work and some nice charges.
For some reason, the job went well from start to finish, lets just hope the mags keep up with it and dish out some proper deterrent sentence to this scrote to prevent his mates who are all at it from doing it again.
Scrote that was arrested has no doubt done it before and never got caught!
And we all live happily ever after!
Well we did,
Dunno about the scrote.
I got into a nice Pursuit, did all the commentary and driving, kept with the car and caught the driver (well my crew mate did that bit)
All good fun and got me some really good feedback which is all good.
Lasted for about 15 mins or so and went everywhere and anywhere, good job it was over night. Car was nicked and 3 up. Quite a good result as my last pursuit ended somewhat differently with me being rammed and injured.
See thats what i love about the job, we just happen to come across it and gave chase. Proper road wars type, all i needed was the voice of Sheriff John Burnell in the background and it would have been perfect.
We have had some cool jobs really, and to be honest i cant remember them all. Many of which have been a good laugh and good for team work.
Its a shame that the managers don't see that side of the job, the side where we give the Scroats a good run for there money and the public are happy.
"did you find my car"
"yes we chased it for ages, and caught the driver"
"really! you actually chased it and caught someone!!"
And to boot the CPS actually gave some cracking charging advice! No extra work and some nice charges.
For some reason, the job went well from start to finish, lets just hope the mags keep up with it and dish out some proper deterrent sentence to this scrote to prevent his mates who are all at it from doing it again.
Scrote that was arrested has no doubt done it before and never got caught!
And we all live happily ever after!
Well we did,
Dunno about the scrote.
Update Pt 1
It's been quite a while since my last update here, It's mainly because of Christmas and the like, you know how it is, everything starts to get busy at work, then i spend ages trying to do Christmas shopping (thanks Amazon) and then seeing family.
I managed to get my OSPRE PT 1 application sorted following some cock ups on the part of the force. My application form went astray and it was only by me chasing my registration paperwork that i found out. Fortunately i managed to go to our training center and fill in the form and all is well.
I just need to do some revision now which i am struggling to find time for. Its been a few years since i passed out of Ryton and did exams so im a little bit out of practice. Hopefully be able to squeeze some in over nights.
We have been fairly busy on and off over the past month, mainly with some pretty poor jobs that seem to take an age to sort out. I suspect this is partly to the way we record crime now (seeing as we have been using the same set of rules for ages they keep changing how it is recorded). We are now spending ages bottoming out jobs that are never going anywhere but senior management have decreed we are below on our detection targets so every possibility must be explored. This in turn means we spend more hours on jobs and less time on patrol. It wouldn't be so bad but with some jobs you know it is not going anywhere but we still need EVERY statement and not just the evidential ones before a job can be filed (we used to be able to record witness details and brief account on computers) but now its a full on MG11.
I guess i have become resigned to the fact i can do proactive stuff anymore nor go on patrol as we are too busy doing the paperwork. ( i have been fighting this for ages and still do my best to do proactive stuff).
Has it made any difference.....
Yes recorded crime has increased.
Detection rate has dropped.
Less proactive policing.
More paperwork.
So either way you look at it in 6 months we will get slated from the managers. Crime has gone up what are you doing about it, i want more targeted patrols!
All good fun, i don't get stressed over it anymore. I'm not paid enough to worry about stuff like that!
Maybe we should all resign and come back as PCSO's!
I managed to get my OSPRE PT 1 application sorted following some cock ups on the part of the force. My application form went astray and it was only by me chasing my registration paperwork that i found out. Fortunately i managed to go to our training center and fill in the form and all is well.
I just need to do some revision now which i am struggling to find time for. Its been a few years since i passed out of Ryton and did exams so im a little bit out of practice. Hopefully be able to squeeze some in over nights.
We have been fairly busy on and off over the past month, mainly with some pretty poor jobs that seem to take an age to sort out. I suspect this is partly to the way we record crime now (seeing as we have been using the same set of rules for ages they keep changing how it is recorded). We are now spending ages bottoming out jobs that are never going anywhere but senior management have decreed we are below on our detection targets so every possibility must be explored. This in turn means we spend more hours on jobs and less time on patrol. It wouldn't be so bad but with some jobs you know it is not going anywhere but we still need EVERY statement and not just the evidential ones before a job can be filed (we used to be able to record witness details and brief account on computers) but now its a full on MG11.
I guess i have become resigned to the fact i can do proactive stuff anymore nor go on patrol as we are too busy doing the paperwork. ( i have been fighting this for ages and still do my best to do proactive stuff).
Has it made any difference.....
Yes recorded crime has increased.
Detection rate has dropped.
Less proactive policing.
More paperwork.
So either way you look at it in 6 months we will get slated from the managers. Crime has gone up what are you doing about it, i want more targeted patrols!
All good fun, i don't get stressed over it anymore. I'm not paid enough to worry about stuff like that!
Maybe we should all resign and come back as PCSO's!
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
OSPRE PT 1
Well as some readers may be aware i was considering doing my skippers exams.
Well after much thinking i decided to do the application forms and send them off to HR.
A bit of checking and it was decided that yeah they have authorized the application and i should get some exam papers sent to me to register for the exam next year.
Part of the reason for this is the fact i have 5 years to complete the workplace based assessments. Part 1 is the exam and to become a substantive sgt you have to be assessed over the course of a year (Pt2).
Also if i pass Pt1 then i can be an acting skipper with all the rights and privileges without doing pt 2.
Part of the reason for doing the paperwork is the support i have had from a few people who out of the blue came up to me saying "are you doing your Pt1 because you would be a good skipper" my own skipper has been hinting at me to apply which has been good and give me confidence in doing it.
Downside is i don't want to be a full skipper just yet as i don't really want to be stuck behind a desk. As you know my goal lies with being a traffic officer, but this will hopefully assist in strengthening my application in the future.
I also re read my failed paper application the other day and looked at the feed back. If you recall at the time i was a but peeved at being rejected but the comments from the Chief were quite good really, stating that i was a strong applicant with a good application but he felt i needed more experience on shift before going forward. This all in all has made me feel better about the whole thing and hopefully my career may be going somewhere rather than dealing with crap day in day out. I still have a great deal of fun on shift and don't want to leave but i guess unless you keep trying you ll stay where you are and never get anywhere.
Also i have had some good feedback as i am becoming known to RPD for some of the stuff i do. But you are only as good as your last job and for all the good stuff you do, people only remember the bad things!
But i guess the moral of this is, if you want something bad enough then keep trying and plugging away.
This job has its bad sides, but it also has its great sides, best job in the world and all that. Besides it gives you the best stories to tell people over a beer.
And also make a difference to peoples lives in a way no matter how small.
Well after much thinking i decided to do the application forms and send them off to HR.
A bit of checking and it was decided that yeah they have authorized the application and i should get some exam papers sent to me to register for the exam next year.
Part of the reason for this is the fact i have 5 years to complete the workplace based assessments. Part 1 is the exam and to become a substantive sgt you have to be assessed over the course of a year (Pt2).
Also if i pass Pt1 then i can be an acting skipper with all the rights and privileges without doing pt 2.
Part of the reason for doing the paperwork is the support i have had from a few people who out of the blue came up to me saying "are you doing your Pt1 because you would be a good skipper" my own skipper has been hinting at me to apply which has been good and give me confidence in doing it.
Downside is i don't want to be a full skipper just yet as i don't really want to be stuck behind a desk. As you know my goal lies with being a traffic officer, but this will hopefully assist in strengthening my application in the future.
I also re read my failed paper application the other day and looked at the feed back. If you recall at the time i was a but peeved at being rejected but the comments from the Chief were quite good really, stating that i was a strong applicant with a good application but he felt i needed more experience on shift before going forward. This all in all has made me feel better about the whole thing and hopefully my career may be going somewhere rather than dealing with crap day in day out. I still have a great deal of fun on shift and don't want to leave but i guess unless you keep trying you ll stay where you are and never get anywhere.
Also i have had some good feedback as i am becoming known to RPD for some of the stuff i do. But you are only as good as your last job and for all the good stuff you do, people only remember the bad things!
But i guess the moral of this is, if you want something bad enough then keep trying and plugging away.
This job has its bad sides, but it also has its great sides, best job in the world and all that. Besides it gives you the best stories to tell people over a beer.
And also make a difference to peoples lives in a way no matter how small.
I caught a burglar!
Yep for the second time in my career i managed to catch a burglar.
Quite a good one really as when we got to the scene, a member of the public (MOP) shouted to us. "Hes over there" i promptly jump from the panda and give chase as hes running with stolen property under his arms down the busy high street.
I scream at him to stop as he runs past other MOP's but he just carries on (there's a surprise!)
He ditches some of the property but is still making off as MOP's just stand at watch him run past while i give chase.
I thought to myself.
I'm never gonna catch him in all this kit but surprisingly to me i am gaining on him. We go around a few corners and i still have sight of him closing the distance and he lobs the last of the stolen property in my direction, now i am closing quite quickly and im not out of breath.
One of the things i have thought about is "what do you do when you catch someone who's running away" i mean, do you rugby tackle them, baton there legs, push them over, grab an arm and do a "take down".
Its not something i have ever really done to be honest until recently at other jobs where i have been more hands on than i would have been 6 months ago.
Well crunch time, i am in range of him and i just jump on him and we both hit the deck, well he hit head first and i landed on him, gripped his arms up and a colleague came and assisted in restraining him.
Cool i thought.
By this time i saw behind me a number of MOP's standing watching and laughing. Matey boy was cuffed and nicked and taken away. I walk back to the scene to what surprised me the most. A few people clapped and someone came out of a shop asking if i wanted free drinks as he had seen what i did and had watched from the start.
Made me smile somewhat i can tell you.
Now back to the hands on thing.
I in the past have been a bit wary of going straight hands on with no control as we are trained to control people. A lot of times we have no control and getting that control is quite hard compared to training.
I think a lot of policing is down to confidence. In the past year or so i have grown, not only in confidence but in size as well (no not the doughnuts) which i think has helped somewhat.
I have commented in the nick about the new kids that join up and do all the training and are afraid to go hands on or use their tools because of the way we are trained. It takes ages to retrain them from this and get them to go hands on when necessary.
In my view we need to be able to be many people.
We need to be kind, caring and considerate to victims of crime and the the police "service"
But in a split second we need to be forceful and to a degree agressive when dealing with suspects and become a "force".
It takes a lot of juggling to become a balance of the 2 and sometimes we can be aggressive when it is not appropriate and other times to considerate on the flip side.
When you learn the balance then the job becomes enjoyable. As a lot of us are taken the piss out of by suspects or "youths" when giving us lip when we need to be more robust in our response.
But there is also a fine line between aggression and assault.
And public perception is everything. A push in the chest can look from a distance a punch in the throat.
Quite a good one really as when we got to the scene, a member of the public (MOP) shouted to us. "Hes over there" i promptly jump from the panda and give chase as hes running with stolen property under his arms down the busy high street.
I scream at him to stop as he runs past other MOP's but he just carries on (there's a surprise!)
He ditches some of the property but is still making off as MOP's just stand at watch him run past while i give chase.
I thought to myself.
I'm never gonna catch him in all this kit but surprisingly to me i am gaining on him. We go around a few corners and i still have sight of him closing the distance and he lobs the last of the stolen property in my direction, now i am closing quite quickly and im not out of breath.
One of the things i have thought about is "what do you do when you catch someone who's running away" i mean, do you rugby tackle them, baton there legs, push them over, grab an arm and do a "take down".
Its not something i have ever really done to be honest until recently at other jobs where i have been more hands on than i would have been 6 months ago.
Well crunch time, i am in range of him and i just jump on him and we both hit the deck, well he hit head first and i landed on him, gripped his arms up and a colleague came and assisted in restraining him.
Cool i thought.
By this time i saw behind me a number of MOP's standing watching and laughing. Matey boy was cuffed and nicked and taken away. I walk back to the scene to what surprised me the most. A few people clapped and someone came out of a shop asking if i wanted free drinks as he had seen what i did and had watched from the start.
Made me smile somewhat i can tell you.
Now back to the hands on thing.
I in the past have been a bit wary of going straight hands on with no control as we are trained to control people. A lot of times we have no control and getting that control is quite hard compared to training.
I think a lot of policing is down to confidence. In the past year or so i have grown, not only in confidence but in size as well (no not the doughnuts) which i think has helped somewhat.
I have commented in the nick about the new kids that join up and do all the training and are afraid to go hands on or use their tools because of the way we are trained. It takes ages to retrain them from this and get them to go hands on when necessary.
In my view we need to be able to be many people.
We need to be kind, caring and considerate to victims of crime and the the police "service"
But in a split second we need to be forceful and to a degree agressive when dealing with suspects and become a "force".
It takes a lot of juggling to become a balance of the 2 and sometimes we can be aggressive when it is not appropriate and other times to considerate on the flip side.
When you learn the balance then the job becomes enjoyable. As a lot of us are taken the piss out of by suspects or "youths" when giving us lip when we need to be more robust in our response.
But there is also a fine line between aggression and assault.
And public perception is everything. A push in the chest can look from a distance a punch in the throat.
Old people
Since a lot of my posts recently have been a bit downbeat, i feel the need to post some good stuff that has happened over the past few weeks or so. Mainly because we haven't had a great deal of good jobs to be honest. Some of them are not that funny but its the public responses or those of the suspect that made me chuckle the most.
A while ago my crew was deployed to an immediate graded call of "cows walking in the road" well we weren't deployed as such, we took the call as 1) it was immediate graded and 2) there would be no paperwork. We make with the lights and noise going through traffic as it was daytime, we get to a section of road which is duel carriageway. Its all looking good as both our lanes are clear but the opposing carriageway is quite slow moving as there is traffic queueing for a roundabout. I see in the distance an elderly lady on the pavement, she looks like she is going to cross the road (which is still duel carrageway). I think, nah she cant be and then lo and behold out she steps into the road and begins to walk slowly across the duel carrageway. I change tones and she looks straight at us (im slowing down at this point) she continues to walk into the middle of the 2 lanes on our side so i change to the third tones, she then stops in the middle of the outer lane waving her walking stick at us shouting at us to slow down (im going quite slowly now) she stands there wildly gesticulating at us as we are watching her in disbelief. We go past her and then pick back up the speed again and i still see her in my rear view mirror swearing away at us. I chuckle to myself thinking she must be mad as we approach the pedestrian crossing which was a hundred meters or so away from where she was crossing.
This happens fairly frequently, you know the elderly people assume we are always traveling too fast and stand there shaking there heads when we have all the kit on. Once someone complained we were making too much noise with our sirens in such a quiet area!
It is quite funny sometimes doing immediate drives and the looks we get from the public and other drivers, some seem to want to block our paths and don't move out of the way but amble quite nicely in the road. Its no great issue and ill get past them eventually usually with daggered looks at us from the other drivers who seem greatly inconvenienced by us trying to get past. Again this is usually elderly drivers or pedestrians, who's day i am ruining by making on immediate, spoiling the quiet time in there little worlds. All you can do is chuckle really or you would go mad.
One job i went to was a burglary in progress at an elderly ladies home. The job came in as "caller can hear voices and shouting from her spare bedroom" so we turn up literally a few moments after the call came in and we walk into the house. The lady greats us at the door and says she can still hear the voices in her spare room. We go in and check the room with no signs of entry or any persons. I can hear a radio on in the front room quite loudly which was a bbc world type program about china and protests.
She says to me, can you hear, they are still shouting, there are quite a lot of them.
I ask her "are you sure that's not just your radio?" she replied no, i turned it off a while ago.
The radio is positioned hear to the adjoining wall between the front room and bedroom.
So i turned it off and asked if she can still hear the shouting. She says they have now gone.
I end up concocting a story to make her feel less embarrassed about it being the radio and reassure her that we are in the area and to call us if she hears from them again. For some reason she felt quite intimidated by the noises and part of my job as social worker / carer is to reassure her that there is nothing to worry about and we are on all night and will keep an eye on the area for her.
She was quite happy as she felt she was taken seriously. I went and got some food.
In a way i feel quite sorry that elderly people who need better care are left to there own devices with little or no company. Not the way i would want to be treated at all.
I have dealt with other types of people who have been left to it who have later died becasue of the neglect from social services who after me speaking tot hem say, oh yes we are aware thankyou. Sorry i dont want you to be aware, i want you to provide a level of care to these people who need your help!
A while ago my crew was deployed to an immediate graded call of "cows walking in the road" well we weren't deployed as such, we took the call as 1) it was immediate graded and 2) there would be no paperwork. We make with the lights and noise going through traffic as it was daytime, we get to a section of road which is duel carriageway. Its all looking good as both our lanes are clear but the opposing carriageway is quite slow moving as there is traffic queueing for a roundabout. I see in the distance an elderly lady on the pavement, she looks like she is going to cross the road (which is still duel carrageway). I think, nah she cant be and then lo and behold out she steps into the road and begins to walk slowly across the duel carrageway. I change tones and she looks straight at us (im slowing down at this point) she continues to walk into the middle of the 2 lanes on our side so i change to the third tones, she then stops in the middle of the outer lane waving her walking stick at us shouting at us to slow down (im going quite slowly now) she stands there wildly gesticulating at us as we are watching her in disbelief. We go past her and then pick back up the speed again and i still see her in my rear view mirror swearing away at us. I chuckle to myself thinking she must be mad as we approach the pedestrian crossing which was a hundred meters or so away from where she was crossing.
This happens fairly frequently, you know the elderly people assume we are always traveling too fast and stand there shaking there heads when we have all the kit on. Once someone complained we were making too much noise with our sirens in such a quiet area!
It is quite funny sometimes doing immediate drives and the looks we get from the public and other drivers, some seem to want to block our paths and don't move out of the way but amble quite nicely in the road. Its no great issue and ill get past them eventually usually with daggered looks at us from the other drivers who seem greatly inconvenienced by us trying to get past. Again this is usually elderly drivers or pedestrians, who's day i am ruining by making on immediate, spoiling the quiet time in there little worlds. All you can do is chuckle really or you would go mad.
One job i went to was a burglary in progress at an elderly ladies home. The job came in as "caller can hear voices and shouting from her spare bedroom" so we turn up literally a few moments after the call came in and we walk into the house. The lady greats us at the door and says she can still hear the voices in her spare room. We go in and check the room with no signs of entry or any persons. I can hear a radio on in the front room quite loudly which was a bbc world type program about china and protests.
She says to me, can you hear, they are still shouting, there are quite a lot of them.
I ask her "are you sure that's not just your radio?" she replied no, i turned it off a while ago.
The radio is positioned hear to the adjoining wall between the front room and bedroom.
So i turned it off and asked if she can still hear the shouting. She says they have now gone.
I end up concocting a story to make her feel less embarrassed about it being the radio and reassure her that we are in the area and to call us if she hears from them again. For some reason she felt quite intimidated by the noises and part of my job as social worker / carer is to reassure her that there is nothing to worry about and we are on all night and will keep an eye on the area for her.
She was quite happy as she felt she was taken seriously. I went and got some food.
In a way i feel quite sorry that elderly people who need better care are left to there own devices with little or no company. Not the way i would want to be treated at all.
I have dealt with other types of people who have been left to it who have later died becasue of the neglect from social services who after me speaking tot hem say, oh yes we are aware thankyou. Sorry i dont want you to be aware, i want you to provide a level of care to these people who need your help!
Friday, November 17, 2006
Pay award - Now with Conditions!
In the never ending farse that our fight for a pay increase this year, John Reid has announced that there will be a review into the way our pay increase is determined.
No doubt this will be another way of reducing the cost to the government of policing and trying to get "Policing on the Cheap".
The Minister for Policing, Security and Community Safety (Mr Tony McNulty): On 6 November the Police Arbitration Tribunal’s recommendation on the police officer 2006 pay award was received.
The Home Secretary responded to this recommendation, agreeing to implement the 3 per cent pay rise for police officers with effect from 1 September 2006. The Home Secretary also noted the tribunal’s comment that we not only had “the right but a duty to consider and put forward different factors and approaches which could be applied in determining police pay” and said that he would be reviewing the way police pay is determined including indexation and would announce the terms of reference of the review shortly Effective pay arrangements for police officers are essential for a modern police service which delivers high standards of community safety and security to the public. We must move quickly to put police officer pay on a sustainable basis. We cannot continue with arrangements which produce pay rises beyond the level which police authorities can afford to pay without detriment to service delivery. For that reason, we will establish a review of the way police pay is determined, reporting early in the New Year and in good time to inform the 2007 pay round. Following this I will also be asking this review to consider further changes to the police pay negotiating machinery. In particular, I am minded to place responsibility for determining chief officer pay within the remit of the Senior Salaries Review body and the review I have announced will look at this as part of its consideration of the options for replacing the current police officer pay determination arrangements.
I have asked Sir Clive Booth to undertake the first part of this review and I am pleased to announce that he has accepted. Sir Clive will report to me in early 2007 with recommendations on the pay determination mechanism that we should use for next year. This along with any other proposals for pay modernisation from the Service or representative organisations will be considered in the 2007 pay round. The Home Secretary and I will consider further how the second part of the review looking at the police negotiating machinery should be take forward including consideration of John Randall’s report on this issue.
The terms of reference for the review are:
TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR REVIEW OF POLICE OFFICER PAY DETERMINATION AND OF POLICE NEGOTIATING MACHINERY
Part 1) To consider the options for replacing the current arrangements for determining changes to police officer pay for 2007 and make recommendations on this. The conclusions and recommendations in part 1 to be framed so as to inform part 2 of the review
Part 2) To review the effectiveness of the negotiating machinery for the police, including the Police Negotiating Board and the Police Staff Council, and make recommendations for how police pay and other conditions of service should be determined. The review must consider the option of a pay review body for police pay and consider the impact of any proposal for determining police officer pay, on the negotiating machinery for police officers
Both parts of the review must take account of the need for arrangements to reflect and support the following:
• The future requirements of the service for the effective and efficient delivery of policing services, motivation and morale and recruitment and retention rates, and overall affordability
• Government policy on public sector pay and the broader economic and employment context, and consistency with the achievement of the inflation target of 2 per cent
• The need to enable wider police workforce developments including proper reward and recognition arrangements
• Arrangements for pay determination in other parts of the public sector
Part 1 should report no later than February 2007, and Part 2 in the autumn of 2007
I have asked Sir Clive Booth to undertake the first part of this review and I am pleased to announce that he has accepted. Sir Clive will report to me in early 2007 with recommendations on the pay determination mechanism that we should use for next year. This along with any other proposals for pay modernisation from the Service or representative organisations will be considered in the 2007 pay round. The Home Secretary and I will consider further how the second part of the review looking at the police negotiating machinery should be take forward including consideration of John Randall’s report on this issue.
The terms of reference for the review are:
TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR REVIEW OF POLICE OFFICER PAY DETERMINATION AND OF POLICE NEGOTIATING MACHINERY
Part 1) To consider the options for replacing the current arrangements for determining changes to police officer pay for 2007 and make recommendations on this. The conclusions and recommendations in part 1 to be framed so as to inform part 2 of the review
Part 2) To review the effectiveness of the negotiating machinery for the police, including the Police Negotiating Board and the Police Staff Council, and make recommendations for how police pay and other conditions of service should be determined. The review must consider the option of a pay review body for police pay and consider the impact of any proposal for determining police officer pay, on the negotiating machinery for police officers
Both parts of the review must take account of the need for arrangements to reflect and support the following:
• The future requirements of the service for the effective and efficient delivery of policing services, motivation and morale and recruitment and retention rates, and overall affordability
• Government policy on public sector pay and the broader economic and employment context, and consistency with the achievement of the inflation target of 2 per cent
• The need to enable wider police workforce developments including proper reward and recognition arrangements
• Arrangements for pay determination in other parts of the public sector
Part 1 should report no later than February 2007, and Part 2 in the autumn of 2007
Police Federation Response:
Following the statement this morning by Police Minister, Tony McNulty, regarding the review of police pay arrangements Jan Berry, Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, says:
" We are bitterly disappointed that despite assurances from the Police Minister that we would be consulted on the terms of reference of this review, we received them the same time as everyone else.
" Given the conclusions of the independent Police Arbitration Tribunal, the pay arrangements review must recognise the special role that police officers play, the dangers they face and the unique restrictions on their private lives. It must also take account of the operational realities of policing.
" Any review where the conclusions are written before the ink is dry on the terms of reference will not win the confidence of police officers".
No doubt this will be another way of reducing the cost to the government of policing and trying to get "Policing on the Cheap".
The Minister for Policing, Security and Community Safety (Mr Tony McNulty): On 6 November the Police Arbitration Tribunal’s recommendation on the police officer 2006 pay award was received.
The Home Secretary responded to this recommendation, agreeing to implement the 3 per cent pay rise for police officers with effect from 1 September 2006. The Home Secretary also noted the tribunal’s comment that we not only had “the right but a duty to consider and put forward different factors and approaches which could be applied in determining police pay” and said that he would be reviewing the way police pay is determined including indexation and would announce the terms of reference of the review shortly Effective pay arrangements for police officers are essential for a modern police service which delivers high standards of community safety and security to the public. We must move quickly to put police officer pay on a sustainable basis. We cannot continue with arrangements which produce pay rises beyond the level which police authorities can afford to pay without detriment to service delivery. For that reason, we will establish a review of the way police pay is determined, reporting early in the New Year and in good time to inform the 2007 pay round. Following this I will also be asking this review to consider further changes to the police pay negotiating machinery. In particular, I am minded to place responsibility for determining chief officer pay within the remit of the Senior Salaries Review body and the review I have announced will look at this as part of its consideration of the options for replacing the current police officer pay determination arrangements.
I have asked Sir Clive Booth to undertake the first part of this review and I am pleased to announce that he has accepted. Sir Clive will report to me in early 2007 with recommendations on the pay determination mechanism that we should use for next year. This along with any other proposals for pay modernisation from the Service or representative organisations will be considered in the 2007 pay round. The Home Secretary and I will consider further how the second part of the review looking at the police negotiating machinery should be take forward including consideration of John Randall’s report on this issue.
The terms of reference for the review are:
TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR REVIEW OF POLICE OFFICER PAY DETERMINATION AND OF POLICE NEGOTIATING MACHINERY
Part 1) To consider the options for replacing the current arrangements for determining changes to police officer pay for 2007 and make recommendations on this. The conclusions and recommendations in part 1 to be framed so as to inform part 2 of the review
Part 2) To review the effectiveness of the negotiating machinery for the police, including the Police Negotiating Board and the Police Staff Council, and make recommendations for how police pay and other conditions of service should be determined. The review must consider the option of a pay review body for police pay and consider the impact of any proposal for determining police officer pay, on the negotiating machinery for police officers
Both parts of the review must take account of the need for arrangements to reflect and support the following:
• The future requirements of the service for the effective and efficient delivery of policing services, motivation and morale and recruitment and retention rates, and overall affordability
• Government policy on public sector pay and the broader economic and employment context, and consistency with the achievement of the inflation target of 2 per cent
• The need to enable wider police workforce developments including proper reward and recognition arrangements
• Arrangements for pay determination in other parts of the public sector
Part 1 should report no later than February 2007, and Part 2 in the autumn of 2007
I have asked Sir Clive Booth to undertake the first part of this review and I am pleased to announce that he has accepted. Sir Clive will report to me in early 2007 with recommendations on the pay determination mechanism that we should use for next year. This along with any other proposals for pay modernisation from the Service or representative organisations will be considered in the 2007 pay round. The Home Secretary and I will consider further how the second part of the review looking at the police negotiating machinery should be take forward including consideration of John Randall’s report on this issue.
The terms of reference for the review are:
TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR REVIEW OF POLICE OFFICER PAY DETERMINATION AND OF POLICE NEGOTIATING MACHINERY
Part 1) To consider the options for replacing the current arrangements for determining changes to police officer pay for 2007 and make recommendations on this. The conclusions and recommendations in part 1 to be framed so as to inform part 2 of the review
Part 2) To review the effectiveness of the negotiating machinery for the police, including the Police Negotiating Board and the Police Staff Council, and make recommendations for how police pay and other conditions of service should be determined. The review must consider the option of a pay review body for police pay and consider the impact of any proposal for determining police officer pay, on the negotiating machinery for police officers
Both parts of the review must take account of the need for arrangements to reflect and support the following:
• The future requirements of the service for the effective and efficient delivery of policing services, motivation and morale and recruitment and retention rates, and overall affordability
• Government policy on public sector pay and the broader economic and employment context, and consistency with the achievement of the inflation target of 2 per cent
• The need to enable wider police workforce developments including proper reward and recognition arrangements
• Arrangements for pay determination in other parts of the public sector
Part 1 should report no later than February 2007, and Part 2 in the autumn of 2007
Police Federation Response:
Following the statement this morning by Police Minister, Tony McNulty, regarding the review of police pay arrangements Jan Berry, Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, says:
" We are bitterly disappointed that despite assurances from the Police Minister that we would be consulted on the terms of reference of this review, we received them the same time as everyone else.
" Given the conclusions of the independent Police Arbitration Tribunal, the pay arrangements review must recognise the special role that police officers play, the dangers they face and the unique restrictions on their private lives. It must also take account of the operational realities of policing.
" Any review where the conclusions are written before the ink is dry on the terms of reference will not win the confidence of police officers".
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Pay Result Press Release
POLICE NEGOTIATING BOARD – STAFF SIDE
6th November 2006
Police associations join forces to welcome pay crisis arbitration decision.
Welcoming the decision of the independent Police Arbitration Tribunal and speaking for all the police officer staff associations of the UK, Jan Berry, chairman of the Staff Side of the Police Negotiating Board (PNB), says:
"This decision is welcomed by 170,000 police officers throughout the United Kingdom who should have received an increase from 1st September but have been waiting for their pay arrangement to be honoured.
"It is disappointing that this had to go to arbitration but the arbiters’ independent decision reaffirms what we have been saying all along – that the Official Side of the PNB acted unfairly and unjustly by reneging on their commitment to honour our current pay arrangement until it has been renegotiated."
The independent decision of the Police Arbitration Tribunal is binding on both the Official Side and Staff Side of the Police Negotiation Board, and is now passed to the Home Secretary, John Reid, for ratification.
Calling upon the Home Secretary, Mrs Berry says:
"You know the strength of feeling amongst police officers across the UK, who have felt cheated, angry and undervalued throughout this dispute. The independent arbitration tribunal has now delivered its decision and found in our favour. The matter now rests with you Mr Reid. Only you can put this right. Show your support for the police service; honour our pay agreement and pay the 3 per cent now."
ENDS
Further information:
Police Federation of England and Wales press office, 020 8335 1071
6th November 2006
Police associations join forces to welcome pay crisis arbitration decision.
Welcoming the decision of the independent Police Arbitration Tribunal and speaking for all the police officer staff associations of the UK, Jan Berry, chairman of the Staff Side of the Police Negotiating Board (PNB), says:
"This decision is welcomed by 170,000 police officers throughout the United Kingdom who should have received an increase from 1st September but have been waiting for their pay arrangement to be honoured.
"It is disappointing that this had to go to arbitration but the arbiters’ independent decision reaffirms what we have been saying all along – that the Official Side of the PNB acted unfairly and unjustly by reneging on their commitment to honour our current pay arrangement until it has been renegotiated."
The independent decision of the Police Arbitration Tribunal is binding on both the Official Side and Staff Side of the Police Negotiation Board, and is now passed to the Home Secretary, John Reid, for ratification.
Calling upon the Home Secretary, Mrs Berry says:
"You know the strength of feeling amongst police officers across the UK, who have felt cheated, angry and undervalued throughout this dispute. The independent arbitration tribunal has now delivered its decision and found in our favour. The matter now rests with you Mr Reid. Only you can put this right. Show your support for the police service; honour our pay agreement and pay the 3 per cent now."
ENDS
Further information:
Police Federation of England and Wales press office, 020 8335 1071
Thursday, November 02, 2006
3% Is it really enough?
It has been a while since my last update, partly because i have been busy dealing with the poorest of jobs which in an ideal world would not be attended, trying to regain control of certain areas where the "youths" have taken a liking too and getting rammed.
I find it quite hard to believe what people deem to be acceptable anymore. When i was a kid and a police officer spoke to me i was polite to him as he was to me if they asked me to move on i would have done, no questions. Now all we seem to get is abuse from them along with a load of backchat which no matter how hard you try will always get your back up. Now imagine what the parents are like. Their little darlings are wreaking havoc and we get it in the neck because "he's only having fun".
Yeah at someone else's expense literally.
Every evening its the same, if I'm not getting grief from little johnny, I'm getting grief from his mum or dad for moving him on, or speaking to him about an offence that has occurred a minute ago around the corner from him.
I am apparently victimising him.
Nothing to do with him being as guilty as sin.
Anti Social behaviour does piss me off, there is no need for some of the behaviour some of the 10 - 17 year olds display, no respect for people or property and the parents are just as bad, no discipline, no consequences for their actions. As its just Kids having fun.
Personally they can do what they like provided they arnt upsetting local residents, im not there to spoil the fun, im there to ensure the local residents can enjoy their peace and quiet.
The parents join in and if thats the kind of attitude that the parents display towards police is it any wonder the kids are just Mini Mee's
So to the title of my post.
3% pay rise that has not been honoured by government, i have kept quiet on this issue for a while but the increasing demands on my and my personal life from the job is getting unbearable. We have massive commitments throughout the force meaning all overtime is cancelled because we are skint, and we are unable to take leave because we have run out of police officers. Duties are changing patterns to keep shifts at minimum manning as well as resourcing other commitments.
This means i am run ragged, most rest days are not honoured. When i attend court i don't get wound back off nights because they will be under staffed on shift. I'm more and more knackered.
I have less time off.
More work due to less numbers on shift.
More and more is being asked of me and my shift which we cannot fulfill safely.
Officer safety is at risk due to tiredness and low staffing levels.
Its only a matter of time before someone gets hurt or worse because of what the powers that be are doing to us.
But strangely, i still really do enjoy my job. Must be a warped sense of humour or more likely, i like being the underdog and come out fighting!
Just gimme my 3% please I've worked hard enough for it this year as well has the majority of officers that i know.
I find it quite hard to believe what people deem to be acceptable anymore. When i was a kid and a police officer spoke to me i was polite to him as he was to me if they asked me to move on i would have done, no questions. Now all we seem to get is abuse from them along with a load of backchat which no matter how hard you try will always get your back up. Now imagine what the parents are like. Their little darlings are wreaking havoc and we get it in the neck because "he's only having fun".
Yeah at someone else's expense literally.
Every evening its the same, if I'm not getting grief from little johnny, I'm getting grief from his mum or dad for moving him on, or speaking to him about an offence that has occurred a minute ago around the corner from him.
I am apparently victimising him.
Nothing to do with him being as guilty as sin.
Anti Social behaviour does piss me off, there is no need for some of the behaviour some of the 10 - 17 year olds display, no respect for people or property and the parents are just as bad, no discipline, no consequences for their actions. As its just Kids having fun.
Personally they can do what they like provided they arnt upsetting local residents, im not there to spoil the fun, im there to ensure the local residents can enjoy their peace and quiet.
The parents join in and if thats the kind of attitude that the parents display towards police is it any wonder the kids are just Mini Mee's
So to the title of my post.
3% pay rise that has not been honoured by government, i have kept quiet on this issue for a while but the increasing demands on my and my personal life from the job is getting unbearable. We have massive commitments throughout the force meaning all overtime is cancelled because we are skint, and we are unable to take leave because we have run out of police officers. Duties are changing patterns to keep shifts at minimum manning as well as resourcing other commitments.
This means i am run ragged, most rest days are not honoured. When i attend court i don't get wound back off nights because they will be under staffed on shift. I'm more and more knackered.
I have less time off.
More work due to less numbers on shift.
More and more is being asked of me and my shift which we cannot fulfill safely.
Officer safety is at risk due to tiredness and low staffing levels.
Its only a matter of time before someone gets hurt or worse because of what the powers that be are doing to us.
But strangely, i still really do enjoy my job. Must be a warped sense of humour or more likely, i like being the underdog and come out fighting!
Just gimme my 3% please I've worked hard enough for it this year as well has the majority of officers that i know.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Moral
Well, what a crap month it's been for policing in general.
I don't know about anyone else out there but every job i have attended has been shite. Even public order stuff has been on the slow side with no real incidents of disorder.
I have a docket full of crap jobs i can't get rid of, why....
Well part of the problem is we don't have enough officers on shift to be able deal with the incoming work so we have to drop our own enquiries so we can attend the incoming jobs on the system.
This leads to our own jobs getting smellier and smellier as we cant progress them, we then have to extend bail to enable us to get the enquiries done!
The other part is the whole management thing at the moment. We are still under pressure to hit targets which we are all failing badly at right now, again this is down to the low shift numbers, being unable to redeploy to jobs as we are stuck with a non starter generating paperwork and a general moral draining set of circumstances.
To top it all off out duties department have refused all leave we are applying for and say "sorry but you cant carry it all over" Oh but we require you to work on your rest days to cover other low staffed shifts.
There is no time to relax from work, let alone see families at the moment due to the long hours and frequent recalls to duty.
It's a no win situation at the moment, hence why i haven't posted for a while.
But on a lighter note, a funny thing happened to me the other day (well was funny to me)
We went to a fear for welfare type job at an elderly residents house.
No answer at the door so off i wander to find an open window so i can climb in, Aha, an open window.
Check that its still part of the same house and yeah, looks bout right.
So in i climb and go to the front door to let me colleagues into the house.
I open the front door and get a funny look from the other officers, i look around and see that they are banging on next doors house.
Shit, as i slyly close the front door hoping no one saw me, i had climbed into the next doors house and opened their front door.
Cue lots of laughing and piss taking.
That was actually quite funny and really made my shift, its times when the silliest of things happen that make you laugh and enjoy the job.
I was also thinking bout doing my sgts exams, hmmm £10k pay rise for me if i become a skipper, but will it take me too far from what i do actually love doing??
Answers on a post card, or alternatively the comments box!
Cheers all,
JS
I don't know about anyone else out there but every job i have attended has been shite. Even public order stuff has been on the slow side with no real incidents of disorder.
I have a docket full of crap jobs i can't get rid of, why....
Well part of the problem is we don't have enough officers on shift to be able deal with the incoming work so we have to drop our own enquiries so we can attend the incoming jobs on the system.
This leads to our own jobs getting smellier and smellier as we cant progress them, we then have to extend bail to enable us to get the enquiries done!
The other part is the whole management thing at the moment. We are still under pressure to hit targets which we are all failing badly at right now, again this is down to the low shift numbers, being unable to redeploy to jobs as we are stuck with a non starter generating paperwork and a general moral draining set of circumstances.
To top it all off out duties department have refused all leave we are applying for and say "sorry but you cant carry it all over" Oh but we require you to work on your rest days to cover other low staffed shifts.
There is no time to relax from work, let alone see families at the moment due to the long hours and frequent recalls to duty.
It's a no win situation at the moment, hence why i haven't posted for a while.
But on a lighter note, a funny thing happened to me the other day (well was funny to me)
We went to a fear for welfare type job at an elderly residents house.
No answer at the door so off i wander to find an open window so i can climb in, Aha, an open window.
Check that its still part of the same house and yeah, looks bout right.
So in i climb and go to the front door to let me colleagues into the house.
I open the front door and get a funny look from the other officers, i look around and see that they are banging on next doors house.
Shit, as i slyly close the front door hoping no one saw me, i had climbed into the next doors house and opened their front door.
Cue lots of laughing and piss taking.
That was actually quite funny and really made my shift, its times when the silliest of things happen that make you laugh and enjoy the job.
I was also thinking bout doing my sgts exams, hmmm £10k pay rise for me if i become a skipper, but will it take me too far from what i do actually love doing??
Answers on a post card, or alternatively the comments box!
Cheers all,
JS
Monday, August 14, 2006
A Poem
When i was at Ryton doing my training in the last week of my course, my Tutor gave us all a A4 sized piece of paper titled "When God Made Police Officers".
I have been sat here trying to explain to someone what its like being a member of my shift which got me thinking about the poem again. I managed to find an American version which is similar to the British one:
When the Lord was creating Police Officers, He was into his sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared and said,"You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this one."
And the Lord said, "Have you read the requirements on this order?
A Police Officer has to be able to run five miles through alleys in the dark, scale walls, enter homes the health inspector wouldn't touch, and not wrinkle their uniform."
"They have to be able to sit in an undercover car all day on a stakeout, cover a homicide scene that night, canvass the neighborhood for witnesses, and testify in court the next day."
"They have to be in top physical condition at all times, running on black coffee and half-eaten meals, and they have to have six pairs of hands."
The angel shook her head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands . . . no way!!"
"It's not the hands that are causing me problems," said the Lord,
"it's the three pairs of eyes an officer has to have."
"That's on the standard model?" asked the angel.
The Lord nodded.
"One pair that sees through a bulge in a pocket before they ask, 'May I see what's in there, sir?'"(when they already know and wish they'd taken that accounting job) "Another pair here in the side of their head for their partner's safety, and another pair of eyes here in front so they can look reassuringly at a bleeding victim and say, 'You'll be alright, ma'am,' when they know it isn't so."
"Lord," said the angel, touching His sleeve, "rest and work on this tomorrow."
"I can't," said the Lord, "I already have a model that can talk a 250 pound drunk into a patrol car without incident and feed a family of five on a civil service paycheck."
The angel circled the model of the Police Officer very slowly. "Can it think?" she asked.
"You bet," said the Lord, "it can tell you the elements of a hundred crimes, recite Miranda warnings in its sleep, detain, investigate, search, and arrest a gang member on the street in less time than it takes five learned judges to debate the legality of the stop . . . and still it keeps its sense of humor.
This officer also has phenomenal personal control. They can deal with crime scenes painted in hell, coax a confession from a child abuser, comfort a murder victim's family, and then read in the daily paper how law enforcement isn't sensitive to the rights of criminal suspects."
Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the Police Officer.
"There's a leak," she pronounced, "I told you that you were trying to put too much into this model."
"That's not a leak," said the Lord. "It's a tear."
"What's the tear for?" asked the angel.
"It's for bottled-up emotions, for fallen comrades, for commitment to that funny piece of cloth called the American flag, for justice."
"You're a genius," said the angel.
The Lord looked somber.
"I didn't put it there," He said
I have been sat here trying to explain to someone what its like being a member of my shift which got me thinking about the poem again. I managed to find an American version which is similar to the British one:
When the Lord was creating Police Officers, He was into his sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared and said,"You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this one."
And the Lord said, "Have you read the requirements on this order?
A Police Officer has to be able to run five miles through alleys in the dark, scale walls, enter homes the health inspector wouldn't touch, and not wrinkle their uniform."
"They have to be able to sit in an undercover car all day on a stakeout, cover a homicide scene that night, canvass the neighborhood for witnesses, and testify in court the next day."
"They have to be in top physical condition at all times, running on black coffee and half-eaten meals, and they have to have six pairs of hands."
The angel shook her head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands . . . no way!!"
"It's not the hands that are causing me problems," said the Lord,
"it's the three pairs of eyes an officer has to have."
"That's on the standard model?" asked the angel.
The Lord nodded.
"One pair that sees through a bulge in a pocket before they ask, 'May I see what's in there, sir?'"(when they already know and wish they'd taken that accounting job) "Another pair here in the side of their head for their partner's safety, and another pair of eyes here in front so they can look reassuringly at a bleeding victim and say, 'You'll be alright, ma'am,' when they know it isn't so."
"Lord," said the angel, touching His sleeve, "rest and work on this tomorrow."
"I can't," said the Lord, "I already have a model that can talk a 250 pound drunk into a patrol car without incident and feed a family of five on a civil service paycheck."
The angel circled the model of the Police Officer very slowly. "Can it think?" she asked.
"You bet," said the Lord, "it can tell you the elements of a hundred crimes, recite Miranda warnings in its sleep, detain, investigate, search, and arrest a gang member on the street in less time than it takes five learned judges to debate the legality of the stop . . . and still it keeps its sense of humor.
This officer also has phenomenal personal control. They can deal with crime scenes painted in hell, coax a confession from a child abuser, comfort a murder victim's family, and then read in the daily paper how law enforcement isn't sensitive to the rights of criminal suspects."
Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the Police Officer.
"There's a leak," she pronounced, "I told you that you were trying to put too much into this model."
"That's not a leak," said the Lord. "It's a tear."
"What's the tear for?" asked the angel.
"It's for bottled-up emotions, for fallen comrades, for commitment to that funny piece of cloth called the American flag, for justice."
"You're a genius," said the angel.
The Lord looked somber.
"I didn't put it there," He said
Thursday, August 03, 2006
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
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
PC Copperfield's Book
I have just seen on PC Copperfield's blog that he has managed to get a book deal.
It's not been released yet but you can pre-order here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0955285410/026-3909426-5639660?v=glance&n=266239
Should be a good read and look forward to getting my copy, especially if its anything like his blog.
JS
It's not been released yet but you can pre-order here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0955285410/026-3909426-5639660?v=glance&n=266239
Should be a good read and look forward to getting my copy, especially if its anything like his blog.
JS
Sorry
Sorry, seems to have been a fault somewhere along the blogging lines where my blog was not being displayed.
All seems sorted now and normal service will be resumed.
John
All seems sorted now and normal service will be resumed.
John
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Metpol Ban Blogging
I have just read from here http://worldwearydetective.blogspot.com/ (i know im a few months behind the times, its only just been drawn to my attention) that he is hanging up his blogging due to pressures from the powers that be. Its a shame that the views of the underlings are suppressed to keep the public from knowing what we do and how we feel about the job. We don't give any secrets away, we don't name and shame nor do we give any intelligence away. We just comment on our lives as police officers and the effects on us.
I get the impression from reading various websites that the general public like to know what its like on the inside of the secret society known as the police and shows we are not just robots handing out tickets and not arresting anyone.
We show how we are restrained at times, but encouraged at others and we all try to do the best we can with the tools we have been given and that its not actually always our fault, but the fault of the courts, and the senior management team and the government.
I quote from His blog:-
On Friday 3rd March 2006, the Management Board of the Metropolitan Police Service issued the following statement to all members of staff:
'Recently the organisation has become aware of a series of web-logs or blogs - where authors - claiming to be police officers - have offered their views on a number of issues in a highly personalised, often controversial manner.'
This statement is followed by 'guidance' on writing blogs. In summary, this states that although 'blogging' cannot be stopped, the 'impact of expressing views and opinions that are damaging to the organisation or bring the organisation into disrepute' must be considered. Disciplinary proceedings may be considered against posters of material that may be (among other things) defamatory, offensive or otherwise inappropriate.
I have committed no crime. I have compromised no police operations. I have received no payment for anything published on this blog. All opinions expressed are my own.
It is therefore with deep regret and great sadness that I must announce that I will no longer be submitting posts to this blog. I cannot challenge New Scotland Yard. I am weary indeed and cowardice is my bedmate. The protection of my family must take precedence.
To each and every one of you - take note of what has happened here and be afraid.
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever. - George Orwell.
Best of luck out there, stay safe.
John
I get the impression from reading various websites that the general public like to know what its like on the inside of the secret society known as the police and shows we are not just robots handing out tickets and not arresting anyone.
We show how we are restrained at times, but encouraged at others and we all try to do the best we can with the tools we have been given and that its not actually always our fault, but the fault of the courts, and the senior management team and the government.
I quote from His blog:-
On Friday 3rd March 2006, the Management Board of the Metropolitan Police Service issued the following statement to all members of staff:
'Recently the organisation has become aware of a series of web-logs or blogs - where authors - claiming to be police officers - have offered their views on a number of issues in a highly personalised, often controversial manner.'
This statement is followed by 'guidance' on writing blogs. In summary, this states that although 'blogging' cannot be stopped, the 'impact of expressing views and opinions that are damaging to the organisation or bring the organisation into disrepute' must be considered. Disciplinary proceedings may be considered against posters of material that may be (among other things) defamatory, offensive or otherwise inappropriate.
I have committed no crime. I have compromised no police operations. I have received no payment for anything published on this blog. All opinions expressed are my own.
It is therefore with deep regret and great sadness that I must announce that I will no longer be submitting posts to this blog. I cannot challenge New Scotland Yard. I am weary indeed and cowardice is my bedmate. The protection of my family must take precedence.
To each and every one of you - take note of what has happened here and be afraid.
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever. - George Orwell.
Best of luck out there, stay safe.
John
Friday, July 14, 2006
Priorities
When you first go to join the Police you are told that there are many opportunities to join other departments and move around the Police. In reality the options are very limited as i am finding out.
Some of you may recall i applied for Roads Policing a few months ago and i was paper sifted out the reason being "length of service". To be honest i didn't expect to get in but at the least i would have liked to be able to board for the position (boarding is a form of job interview) and given the reasons i couldn't quite understand how i didn't get a board.
A few things came to light recently.
The current big thing in the police is neighbourhood policing, this is where we work with partner agencies closely and provide a more personal approach to the members of the public. This requires more neighbourhood policing officers (they used to be called area beat officers of ABO's)
The second big thing is Priority Crime Team, this is a unit setup to tackle the forces priority crimes such as vehicle crime, drugs etc and is a sub department of CID.
What i have noticed is that people on shift are going to these departments on attachments of 3 - 6 months with no application and no boarding, and after the attachment is up you can stay if you like. Fair play to the people who wish to work in those areas and best of luck to them but what annoys me is that these people are now specialising in areas where they have less service than me.
So the logical step would be to ask for a traffic attachment.
Well "I'm sorry but we do not have sufficient number on shift to release you" so please explain to me how a week ago we could afford to loose one to ABO's and now in 2 weeks we loose a second person to PCT.
So roads policing isn't an area priority, no great surprises there. But another factor is that RPD is a force roamer role and not dedicated to one police area so they aren't really that bothered.
Its a pain in the backside for me especially where i keep getting asked to join other local departments as it would "Benefit my career" but cant even board to join the department i want to join. I would go to another department if it actually interested me and would help my application but sadly the roles such as PCT or ABO would not benefit me one bit so sorry...
One thing i did decide though is ill keep plugging in the applications every 6 months or so until i get in.
As frustrating as it seems i am quite enjoying myself at the moment on shift and everything seems to be going well so far, but I'm not sure if this is the lull before the storm to be honest as shift numbers get depleted further to fund these "departments" will only lead to more dangers to the front line staff, but that's another topic.
Roll on Roads Policing, at least this gives me the time to get to know some of the traffic guys and i'm already getting talked about by them (in a good way i might add for a change)and I'm getting a reputation for doing good traffic work.
Some of you may recall i applied for Roads Policing a few months ago and i was paper sifted out the reason being "length of service". To be honest i didn't expect to get in but at the least i would have liked to be able to board for the position (boarding is a form of job interview) and given the reasons i couldn't quite understand how i didn't get a board.
A few things came to light recently.
The current big thing in the police is neighbourhood policing, this is where we work with partner agencies closely and provide a more personal approach to the members of the public. This requires more neighbourhood policing officers (they used to be called area beat officers of ABO's)
The second big thing is Priority Crime Team, this is a unit setup to tackle the forces priority crimes such as vehicle crime, drugs etc and is a sub department of CID.
What i have noticed is that people on shift are going to these departments on attachments of 3 - 6 months with no application and no boarding, and after the attachment is up you can stay if you like. Fair play to the people who wish to work in those areas and best of luck to them but what annoys me is that these people are now specialising in areas where they have less service than me.
So the logical step would be to ask for a traffic attachment.
Well "I'm sorry but we do not have sufficient number on shift to release you" so please explain to me how a week ago we could afford to loose one to ABO's and now in 2 weeks we loose a second person to PCT.
So roads policing isn't an area priority, no great surprises there. But another factor is that RPD is a force roamer role and not dedicated to one police area so they aren't really that bothered.
Its a pain in the backside for me especially where i keep getting asked to join other local departments as it would "Benefit my career" but cant even board to join the department i want to join. I would go to another department if it actually interested me and would help my application but sadly the roles such as PCT or ABO would not benefit me one bit so sorry...
One thing i did decide though is ill keep plugging in the applications every 6 months or so until i get in.
As frustrating as it seems i am quite enjoying myself at the moment on shift and everything seems to be going well so far, but I'm not sure if this is the lull before the storm to be honest as shift numbers get depleted further to fund these "departments" will only lead to more dangers to the front line staff, but that's another topic.
Roll on Roads Policing, at least this gives me the time to get to know some of the traffic guys and i'm already getting talked about by them (in a good way i might add for a change)and I'm getting a reputation for doing good traffic work.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Scum Burglars
Yesterday was another interesting day for a short shift. We were sat in briefing when the first immediate job came in.
"ANY UNIT FOR AN IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE FROM AMBULANCE"
Thatll be us then. Me and my crew mate for the shift jumped into a panda, luckily i knew where the road was and we just made our way there as updates came across the radio.
"MALE HAS TAKEN AN OVERDOSE AND CALLED AMBO, AMBO ON SCENE BUT CANNOT GAIN ENTRY"
We arrived moments later and cannot see an easy way in, so i checked the door and with a big kick the door goes in shattering the frame. Shouts of "POLICE" go up and we see the male lying on the floor collapsed. Ambo do there stuff and he is quickly sitting up refusing to go to hospital.
Sad thing is this guy is quite a nice lad but has a few "issues" but we manage to get him to hospital and he seems quite grateful for our help. The door is mended and we resumed.
Moments after we leave the hospital another immediate call comes in (all other units are committed with other work at this time) "ANY UNIT AVALIABLE FOR AN IMMEDIATE THEFT" We were some distance away but take the call and start making, sadly the facts that the caller gave to control room were not quite accurate and the theft was unwitnessed and happened in the past 30 mins. The offence was crimed and the necessary paperwork completed.
We get back into the car to head to the nick to tidy the paperwork up when "ANY UNIT FREE FOR AN IMMEDIATE RTC, ROAD BLOCKED"
I light the car up and start making again only to be cancelled as a roads policing unit starts to make and gets there before us.
We eventually get back to the nick when we are deployed to a couple of urgent jobs which we resolve quite quickly.
We were heading off to do our taskings while the radio was quiet and en route whilst discussing what to have for dinner a very stressed controller shouts our call sign stating "POSSIBLE BURGLARY IN PROGRESS". Again the car gets lit up and the noise goes on and we start making again at speed through traffic. We got to scene very quickly to find an elderly lady had been burgled. It seems 2 lads had knocked her door and then forced there way past her to search the house and take all of a few quid from the house. SCUM.
The only humorous part was the fact the aggrieved called her friends and her neighbours before police making the call some 20 mins old before we were called.
Hopefully SOCO will find something as there is no other witness's, or evidence apart from maybe DNA and fingerprints.
This left me and my crew mate tired and to be honest pissed off with these people who target the elderly, let alone forcing there way past her and searching the property while she is stood there helpless.
I hope we do get SOCO and get these SCUM that did this, no burglary is pleasant and this is aggravated by the aggrieved being elderly prompting thoughts "IF THAT WAS MY NAN ID KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THEM".
We know we are not supposed to get personal but i'm sorry, i positively detest these people who choose easy targets for a few quid. But we are only human.
Hopefully we will get something.
Hopefully they will get whats owed to them in some way in the future in a restorative justice kind of way.
Was a good shift all in all, a lot of work done in a short shift, all commitments met and dealt with.
Bet i still get grief for not progressing my own jobs though!
"ANY UNIT FOR AN IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE FROM AMBULANCE"
Thatll be us then. Me and my crew mate for the shift jumped into a panda, luckily i knew where the road was and we just made our way there as updates came across the radio.
"MALE HAS TAKEN AN OVERDOSE AND CALLED AMBO, AMBO ON SCENE BUT CANNOT GAIN ENTRY"
We arrived moments later and cannot see an easy way in, so i checked the door and with a big kick the door goes in shattering the frame. Shouts of "POLICE" go up and we see the male lying on the floor collapsed. Ambo do there stuff and he is quickly sitting up refusing to go to hospital.
Sad thing is this guy is quite a nice lad but has a few "issues" but we manage to get him to hospital and he seems quite grateful for our help. The door is mended and we resumed.
Moments after we leave the hospital another immediate call comes in (all other units are committed with other work at this time) "ANY UNIT AVALIABLE FOR AN IMMEDIATE THEFT" We were some distance away but take the call and start making, sadly the facts that the caller gave to control room were not quite accurate and the theft was unwitnessed and happened in the past 30 mins. The offence was crimed and the necessary paperwork completed.
We get back into the car to head to the nick to tidy the paperwork up when "ANY UNIT FREE FOR AN IMMEDIATE RTC, ROAD BLOCKED"
I light the car up and start making again only to be cancelled as a roads policing unit starts to make and gets there before us.
We eventually get back to the nick when we are deployed to a couple of urgent jobs which we resolve quite quickly.
We were heading off to do our taskings while the radio was quiet and en route whilst discussing what to have for dinner a very stressed controller shouts our call sign stating "POSSIBLE BURGLARY IN PROGRESS". Again the car gets lit up and the noise goes on and we start making again at speed through traffic. We got to scene very quickly to find an elderly lady had been burgled. It seems 2 lads had knocked her door and then forced there way past her to search the house and take all of a few quid from the house. SCUM.
The only humorous part was the fact the aggrieved called her friends and her neighbours before police making the call some 20 mins old before we were called.
Hopefully SOCO will find something as there is no other witness's, or evidence apart from maybe DNA and fingerprints.
This left me and my crew mate tired and to be honest pissed off with these people who target the elderly, let alone forcing there way past her and searching the property while she is stood there helpless.
I hope we do get SOCO and get these SCUM that did this, no burglary is pleasant and this is aggravated by the aggrieved being elderly prompting thoughts "IF THAT WAS MY NAN ID KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THEM".
We know we are not supposed to get personal but i'm sorry, i positively detest these people who choose easy targets for a few quid. But we are only human.
Hopefully we will get something.
Hopefully they will get whats owed to them in some way in the future in a restorative justice kind of way.
Was a good shift all in all, a lot of work done in a short shift, all commitments met and dealt with.
Bet i still get grief for not progressing my own jobs though!
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