Why the British Police service needs reform

 

Things have moved on since then -

Or have they?

The 1926 General Strike saw an important agreement made afterwards, that the Police service would not strike.

For that agreement, to continue to serve, keeping of the peace and prevention of the disturbance without recourse to withdrawal of labour, has ensured that the service has perhaps not been subject to the level of restriction against things like labour conditions and performance agreements that may have been foisted onto other organisations.

But has that meant that reform of the service by past governments has been limited and changes to the service, perhaps not as far reaching or definitive as hoped, have been in the past watered down to appease the non-striking body?

Whilst representation of the staff members of the Police Federation is something that should be preserved, the federation does wield power. And in the past has managed to strongly argue for what it will or will not accept.

The Police Community Support Officers-

A wasted opportunity for greater efficiency?

One of the recent innovations to policing, the introduction by David Blunkett of the Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) was worthwhile, but the concept was watered down perhaps.

This could have been an opportunity for two tier policing, allowing a front line operational deployment of federated staff, but backed up with a wider tranche of PCSO staff with a limited remit but with power of arrest.

In essence, the PCSO would do a lot of the ordinary work such as patrolling, statement taking and the like, which would free up the other officers for targeting of criminals and preventative crime work.

The PCSO's would have provided vital boots on the ground as an integrated part of visible policing. The fact they are not equipped to operate in a more fulfilled role in my view has been a mistake. It also means that their role is less fulfilling and perhaps job satisfaction would be greater with more scope for a more comprehensive nature of their remit.

Some officers see the Special Constable as little more than being 'hobby police.' Although this is not the case with all. The Special Constable is a volunteer and largely only available because they give their spare time.

With policing cuts, the Specials have been in demand more. Often being used to try and fill the gaps in operational policing, particularly on night shifts.

The nature of crime is changing -

technology allows foreign criminals to operate in the UK, remotely from abroad

Crime is now no longer what happens on our streets. Cyber crime, whether by computer fraud, hacking or email scams is big business, often by foreign criminals and terrorists is a reality that affects UK citizens.

The police service has to change and evolve to meet the demands of maintaining law and order in this new age.

So, there has to be a new way forward, where the government of the day protects the livelihood of the police officer but at the same time, is on a more 'working' basis, not a confrontational one, without the General Strike carrot and stick fall back position?

We frequently get the 'there is no money' and 'budgetary restraints' arguments when politicians orate. This is no excuse anymore, not when we waste billions in 'foreign aid' payments. It is time to start reinvesting in the UK infrastructure and that includes the Police, Fire, Ambulance and Military services.

Basic income Guarantee would help provide volunteers to help the police service

With automation taking many jobs, Mark Carney the Bank of England Chief has recently predicted half of the 31 million UK work force will lose their jobs permanently to automation. This means the government must introduce a basic income payment.

Basic income would also allow others to volunteer and this would help efficiency in law and order provision. It would allow more Special Constables, whilst this influx might not sit well with some regular officers, what other answer is there except major investment by the government, rather than cuts to police numbers?

I served in the police service for seven and a half years and saw changes and cuts in my time. 'Lean' management practices have cut too far and there is nothing left to cut. If the UK has no money, politicians should ask why and then do something about it. Britain first, has to be the way forward if we want this country to be great again. 

We must not sacrifice the sanctity of law and order on the altar of bean counting, we need to take our country back, Brexit has started that ball rolling. We must now grasp this opportunity to reboot Britain, law and order and homeland security must be in that mix. 

Degrees of stupidity? Why British Policing does not need officers with degrees and Superintendents with no experience

Police raid -

you don't need a university degree to be able to put a door in

It was some years ago when I was in the job, that a colleague said why he had joined the Police service. That reason was that he had won a book as a prize at school called the Ladybird book of the Policeman.  

A book which is allegedly frowned upon by 'modern' forces!

At the time I joined, out of the 20 officers in my station, 2 had university degrees. Neither in law related subjects I might add.

The proposal that all new officers attain degrees is ridiculous and comes from sources that clearly have never walked the beat, a thing that is supposedly 'obsolete' we were told about 20 years ago and a 'luxury.'

In my view it is essential, not only for what you learn, the people you come across and also to prevent lard-arse obesity of the staff. Even when I was in the job there was 'we hardly see any Police around anymore' which is 'no Police anymore' in these lean days.

A 'mission statement' does that make you feel safer?

In around 1991 I was asked to join a working group project  for a couple of months to help with the transition of my old force from being a Constabulary to a 'Police' service - this entailed a change to all officers wearing white shirts, a 'mission statement' being put on new signage which probably cost a fortune after it was dreamed up by some image consultant.

Not to mention many other 'improvements' that cost a lot of money. Like the corporate identity project to have everyone wear the force crest on their uniform and equipping all customer facing staff with a uniform, force crested Filofaxes and more. Or the reported £80,000 wasted on changing the colour of the badges from red and blue to yellow and blue to make the 'less confrontational?' Yes, you  couldn't make it up. They made up some badges and then abandoned the project! I never saw an example of the badge.

Around this time, a management of staff change came into being. I recall when I joined in the late 1980's that I could often in a day shift, see up to 8 officers around the town I worked in. After these changes, sometimes I might see 3 during the day shift and on one occasion, it was a Sergeant in the patrol car and me on foot covering the whole town.

The 'luxury' of officers on the beat as the management would have it, was the core reason why Police were often on top of criminals and crime and were able to glean intelligence. Stop and search powers often got you a name and often someone going equipped to do a crime or carrying drugs. Most crime then was low rent and done to support a drugs habit.

 Local crime intelligence could often be gleaned from the local scrotes you stopped. You don't get that from a CCTV camera, because you often don't know who you're looking at if no one has stopped them and they don't have a mugshot on the system or a hoodie up so you can't see their face. These local patrols are the building blocks of local policing.

I have nothing against degrees, but the majority of officers I worked with did not have one and it did not make a difference. They were mostly on the beat because that is what they wanted to be doing. They weren't interested in management bullshit, they just wanted to get on with the job that they joined to do.

I remember a project to give 'generalisation' skills which saw many officers taken off the beat and put into jobs they did not want to have to do, or thought were best done by civilian staff. Sure enough, the force did civilianise some of these jobs, only later by cuts to police stations, did they end up doing away with the civilians they had employed. Well thought through that one.

Senior officers need to go through the ranks

which gives them the necessary experience -

most do start on the beat -

before eventually ending up at Bramshill drinking coffee

and telling each other how good they are

A recent plan to 'parachute' civilians into being uniformed Police Superintendents is frankly ludicrous. Senior Officers only learn the full spectrum of the job by going from being on the beat and having real policing experience. I would not want to be having to contain a public order situation, commanded by some ex-Supermarket manager with a possible degree in golf course management, without real world experience. 

I think it is foolhardy to allow a civilian 'manager' to just after say a few weeks of training, become essentially a divisional commander. It is not that you have a Superintendent in every station, just the divisional HQ station, so this is hardly a job saving.

Trend policing is just that, gimmicky and an industry in itself within the police service for the 'career politician' type of officer who is ambitious to 'get on.' Empire building within the police service is where people 'need more staff' to do the job, builds on this often gimmicky scenario. I have  often seen the meteoric rise of this type.

Especially the 'Hobby Bobby' that may have some expertise in something that they are able to wheedle their way into a working group to do. Little knowledge is a dangerous thing so they say.

There are officers that go from working group to working group, often at a nice, snug, out of the way Police Headquarters building, a world away from the reality of the streets having to deal with the usual local conveyor belt smeggers.

The old officers with experience were the best in my view, not some senior officer that looked about 12 years old on a good day.

The Police Community Support Officers -

A chance for two-tier policing that was wasted

The introduction of the Police Community Support Officers should have meant that this potential resource could have taken on much of the day to day beat policing, such as taking of statements and less operational based policing work but with greater powers than they ended up getting, to free up other staff for frontline operational work.

Likely, with respect to the PCSO proposal, the Police Federation laid down red lines that they would not accept as encroachment on their federated officer's duties. That is fair enough in principle, but the PCSO's have ended up as some sort of 'halfway house'. In the inception, many of their staff were recruited from within existing police staff as councils took over parking enforcement and the police forces were left with traffic wardens without portfolio, effectively redundant. So the PCSO role was a good side move for them.

There is no doubt in my mind, that having boots on the ground does bring results in the fight against crime. You cannot fight crime on the cheap. The PCSO role should have been more forcefully increased in functionality, because that is what is needed. With more and more cuts, their functionality should be increased, to effectively the level of a Special Constable.

Much of the work the police could do should be automated. With so much more computer integration and advancement that has happened since I was in the job, the service must be more automated. It is the future, but a future in which human involvement is also paramount in the process.

Basic Income Payments will take the place of paid work

If the government adopts a Basic Income Guarantee system as jobs disappear to automation and robots, many more people could volunteer to help out with the policing situation to help with the demand. From Patrols to staffing police stations.

Crime is not all cyber crime, although this is a new area of crime compared to twenty years ago. More police are needed full stop. They still need to deal with the realities of why most low rent crime is done, to feed drug habits.