Back-office Policing

Today's quote is again from the House of commons Select Committee Report on Police Reform:

"The Government's definition of 'front-line policing' as including work on case files and report preparation skews the statistics and gives an exaggerated impression of success in returning police officers to street duties. We recommend that the definition of 'front-line policing' should be changed to exclude time spent dealing with paperwork indoors." (2005)

If the definition were not changed to "exclude time spent dealing with paperwork indoors", we could happily say that all police work is front-line policing, satisfy all targets, and all get Special Priority Payments.

'Rise' up the ranks

Today's quote is from the House of Commons Select Committee Fourth report on Police Reform (2005)

"We support the Government's intention to merge the pay and conditions
of police officers and staff. There should be a single police service
pay spine up which individuals will progress according to their skills
and expertise. The office of constable should be retained." ... and pay everyone peanuts.

I agree in principle with paying staff according to skills and ability, but I think that would involve a slight management reshuffle!

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Building Communities, Beating Crime

From the 2004 white paper:

"By 2008 – by cutting bureaucracy, improving science and technological support, and other reforms – we will have freed up the equivalent of 12,000 officers for front-line
duties"

"We are removing unnecessary burdens, scrapping unnecessary forms"

(p. 7)

Disappearing bloggers

Because I've had two long periods without blogging, with just a short return in between, there seem to be so many police blogs that I used to read that have either disappeared completely or haven't been updated for months. It's just kinda depressing.

I know that there are lots of cases where officers have been found out and forced to stop blogging or worse. Particularly when the whole blog has disappeared it is as though it belittles that officer's experiences and their account of them. Those officers have invested a lot of time to let us know how hard they work in their jobs, the emotional effects of this and how they are attacked from both sides for and because they are doing their job and for and because they are not permitted to do it through constraints of accountability and paperwork. These are insightful and illuminating pieces of writing, written under freedom of speech and protected by copyright. Under these rights the individuals in question should be free to have their writing published wherever they wish under their pseudonym. Just like my disgust if ever I see the burning of books, the forced disappearance of these posts is a oppressive way of preventing the reader from choosing what they know and learn.

Its about time management (SMT/ACPO/Government) read these blogs with a view to seeing what the problems their (often frontline) officers are facing, and start to come up with real solutions, not brushing their issues under the carpet and moving those officers on who try to explain why everyone is tripping up over the huge mound in the middle of it.

When I say real solutions I mean long-term planned out answers to problems, not quick-fix keep the peace for five minutes patch-ups.

Anyway I don't know where that rant came from and to anyone who has just not blogged for a while because they're busy I know the feeling! But I just hope that those who are forced to stop blogging know there's a community of people online who feel for them and will miss them.

Blogging without obligation

Thanks Dickiebo for introducing me to this. It's very interesting with regards to the power of users over their blogs and vice versa.

Elektra states "After coming across what seemed to be the 4000th or so post on someone's blog starting with "I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile." I decided it is time to rethink what makes a good blog and the expectations that have come to be part of it. I am thinking that no one should utter those words again . . .and with that thought I give you Blogging Without Obligation"

Blogs and social software are hailed as giving the user more power over webpages, opening up the possibility for the non-technical to create and maintain sites and to interact with other internet users, but in her post Elektra shows that along with the fame having a 'good blog' brings, it also brings some obligations and expectations, which is in danger of turning and enjoyable hobby into a tying chore, and reducing the quality of posts and thus the blog itself.

So when I don't post for a month it's to keep the quality up...ok?...any takers...

Wow, a month without posting!

Doing a PhD and being a graduate teaching assistant is hard work! I'm settling into it now though and am less nervous before each teaching session and less tired after it - partly because I feel a bit more like I know what I'm talking about.

Because I'm more relaxed I feel like I can actually start doing something about the PhD because its really just been teaching up to now. I'm really glad to be getting the teaching experience though even if it takes away some research (and blogging) time, one of my colleagues said that doing a PhD is extremely lonely so I'll be glad to have that social teaching side (though I might not always think that when I have tight deadlines!).

Things may be looking up for Chunky too, she's got an interview next week (eek!)

Spread the Word and Sign up

Men and women, we really need to spread the word about this pay gap, and help to do something about it.

"The pay gap is a rip-off equivalent of men getting paid all year and women working for free from October 30th.

With women working full-time paid 17% less an hour than men on average, women’s work is being discounted scandalously."

Sign the petition, write to your local newspaper, or join or organise a Women's No Pay Day Campaign event

Post dissertation clear out

In response to Frances Blog and Facebook question - not any more hahaha! :)

Yesterday...

Messy desk

Today!

Tidy desk!!

My first response was to step 1:

"Clear the clutter. Instead of incrementally sorting through your drawers and desktop, start by dumping the lot somewhere else and only allowing the important things back."

There's a big pile of cds, papers, wires, floppy disks!?! on the floor to the left of me, does that defeat the object (not to mention the windowsil) ah well, I've got room for more piles of paper now :)

Still messy sil :(

ps. methinks the desktop could do with a looking at next, can never find anything!
It's been worse mind...

Ahhhhh :)

Sorry for not posting for so long, I've been working veeerry hard on my dissertation - just finished printing it :)

then I deleted 2,700 emails from my yahoo account that I have collected over about 3 years, it feels kinda strange, I'm definitely an email hoarder, eek!

I'll post a link to my dissertation as soon as I've anonymised a particular force I mention.

Betty

'Potato and Meat 'pies

In continuation of my previous rant, I also want to mention 'potato and meat' pies - whatever happened to the good, old-fashioned meat & 'tater. Why does potato have to come first because there's more of it, I know it's helpful on ingredients labels (and scary sometimes) but why mess with the name, we've been eating meat and tater pies for hundreds of years, well not me personally...anyway, I don't know of any way to eat a hot sloppy meat and tater pie without a fork - tried today, it was gorgeous but kinda messy and singed fingers etc...mmm pastry; worth it :)

Future contenders:

Chips & fish
Chips, pudding and gravy
Squeak & bubble
Mash & sausage
Chow mein chicken

I'm getting hungry...

Don't commit crime

That ought to work, why didn't they think of it sooner?

Most of these daft messages we have to have on everything nowadays is more of an arse covering exercise because of the 'I'm gonna sue' culture. Just like in the 'common sense is dead' post where the woman successfully sues for spilling hot coffee on herself (and my idea about the conditioner bottle). I'm sure I'd be very good at nitpicking the inaccuracies in a lot of things because I'm so logical like that, but I can't bring myself to add to the insanity (I can use that word, I looked it up; 'extreme foolishness', so ner!!), even for financial gain.

We're all treading on politically correct eggshells (no eggs were harmed in the making of this post), having to be careful about every word we say.

In my questionnaires, 90% of Police agreed that too many people use email to cover their backs, and 87% said they had to word them carefully in case they were forwarded.

It all comes down to where you draw the line, "warning...may contain nuts" on something that is nut-free but prepared in the same environment where nuts are prepared is fine, on a packed of nuts it is insulting peoples' intelligence. Carefully wording an email in case it offends staff or a member of the public is fine, having to worry about complaining to a friend about a difficult shift (as everyone has from time to time), well it just means email can't be used to keep in emotional contact with and get the support from friends and colleagues you might not get to see very often, surely this reduces officer morale. One of my comments says "I've stopped sending e-mails to colleagues wingeing about work etc as I've heard recently that our division is thinking about monitoring e-mails"; sometimes everyone needs a good winge, as evidenced in all the blogs in the sidebar and hundreds of others.

However, it seems that some people's intelligence needs insulting, though I don't know who's worse, those that try to sue because their coffee is hot and MacDonald's made them fat, or those that let them win. If they were never successful they wouldn't keep trying.

Soon we'll need signs everywhere saying 'don't commit crime', this will happen about the same time as someone is successfully let off because they weren't told not to (commit crime). These companies were silly to assume that people didn't know that their coffee was hot of their food was fattening, so who says it won't be the Police next who should have known better than to assume that ignorance of the law is no defence against it.

The spokeswoman in the article is right though when she says "If stating the obvious helps to reduce crime or has any impact at all we will do it...[w]e are not saying it is going to stop hardened criminals, but it may make someone who is nervous think twice."

I don't really know anything about actual Policing, is it the case that ignorance is becoming more of a defence? Is this part of why everything has to be so politically correct, stating the obvious in as many languages as possible?

Reassuringly Stella

"Pass on something good", have a Stella instead

Need I say more?

Brilliant comment that from Wan Crarker - a contender for a mention in dispatches Dickiebo?

Personally I quite like Stella but can't mix it with any other lager without being ill, and it's too strong to drink all evening, so I don't have it very often.

Ok I did say more, but I didn't need to, for any nitpickers.

Fair Pay

We're all signed up. You don't have to be in the Police to support fair pay. It's not fair that they can't join a trade union or go on strike. Over a barrel?...

Read more >> Options >>

Stress

In relation to David Copperfield's post today 'On Combat'. Here's an excerpt from a paper on stress in the Police, this time from Canada. It would be longer but you can't copy and paste from it ho hum...

Physical Evidence of Police Officer Stress

"The results...demonstrate that police officers experience both physical and psycho-social stress on the job, anticipating stress as they go about their work, while suffering anticipatory stress at the start of each shift. The results demonstrated that the highest levels of stress occur just prior to and during critical incidents, and that officers do not fully recover from that stress before leaving their shift. Overall, the results illustrate the need to consider stress reactivity and repressors in the assessment of police officer stress wile clearly demonstrating the need for debriefing after critical incidents and increased training in stress management and coping strategies" (Anderson, Litzenberger & Plecas, Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 2002:399).

If anyone wants a copy of the whole thing please email me because it's only accessible through my uni passwords and I'll get into all copyright troubles etc if I post it or attach it anywhere.

Results

Hi, I've posted some results on the Police Communication site, I can't stratify them into ranks, but as 77% of respondents were PCs I think we can safely say these are the general views of PCs (those who read blogs at least!).

These general views being that yes - you get too many emails, most of which are irrelevant, and therefore very, very annoying...you didn't need me to tell you that did you!

Would you step in?

There's a poll on the daily mail today 'Would you step in if you saw somebody being attacked?'

I don't think it's a yes/no answer that can be selected that easily, it would depend on the circumstances. I really don't know if I could though, and not for fear of being prosecuted as many of the comments say on the related article, I don't think that's something you think about in the heat of the moment. Basically I would be afraid of what the attacker would do to me. I would feel better if we lived in a society where people would back each other up against the attacker and hold him until the Police arrive. But what if there's no-one else around? I suppose in those cases you must ring the Police first so they know where you are, or they might be looking for two dead bodies!

I think some people are using the related article to complain about the fact that the innocent are prosecuted and the criminals go free, as I say, I wouldn't think about that at the time. It's true though, and we need an excuse to voice this complaint - here's a perfect excuse, it's completely astoundingly, unbelievably disgusting what that bastard got away with (and I'm sure he's not the only one).

Just think about how much courage it took that woman to stand up in court against the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with at one point. Think about how many people haven't got friends who will alert the Police. Think about all the Police time wasted for a fine that won't even make a dent. Just like the attackers in the first story, criminals are being allowed to think they can get away with things without being punished - and it seems often they can, no matter how hard the Officer on the street (when they get the chance) tries.

Grammar

Starting a sentence with 'but' in my last post reminded me of a great quote from linguist Naomi Baron - it took me a few seconds to get the whole thing ;)

"My composition teachers railed against using contractions, beginning a sentence with a conjunction, or ending one with a preposition in a written text, acts which were permissible in speech. (But obviously, these were suggestions I didn't always listen to.)"

I don't know if I'd have the guts to joke in an academic paper!

Acronyms

Just found out Chunky is an ABC SPOC, she knows no-one has time and they're all made up, she remembers the old beeping box, and the pens, barcodes and clipboard. She doesn't remember that I'm not in the Police and have no idea what half of the things she says to me mean!! Well I did get this one actually because of the comments on PC Southwest's post. But the Police are full of acronyms.

The NHS is just as bad. I've changed this slightly but I'm quite sure you could have got a letter to my department just by putting:

MHU
PGH
AUM

on the envelope!

In my induction (how many months after I started!!) they warned us against using too many acronyms. We were told the story of (a different Trust of course) where someone had written DOA and the date in the margin of a patient's notes meaning 'date of admission'. It was an unfortunate nurse who got the call from the relative asking how the patient was doing, to which she broke the news that he was 'dead on arrival'.

I'm gonna be rich!

I'm back on my 'world's gone mad' view (suffering from a mental illness sorry) where everything's PC and it's the words that are important not the meaning behind them (remind you of the promotion crammer?)

Looking at my conditioner bottle in the shower today it said ' use with [insert own brand name here] shampoo for best results'. If I write to them and say "well I've found I get best results using it with dum-de-dum brand shampoo and unless you can prove you have tested every possible combination of shampoos and found yours is the best I want a settlement of £1 million in my bank account a week next Tuesday or I'll sue you for misleading me for all the time I've been using the two together (two washes) when I could have been using cheaper and better dum-de-dum brand. This has cost me 37p I needn't have spent and two days of marginally less shiny hair and I am deeply affected by this."

Do you think I'd get anywhere?

Two Eye Openers

Everyone should read this, particularly if you're not a Police Officer. Of course, I knew Policing was nothing like the Bill, but North East Policeman's post is a fantastically written look into the real world of Policing, and that's only a tiny fraction of the sort of things they and not to mention the kids have to deal with.

There are 'unofficial' Police blogs full of these heart-wrenching experiences Officers have to deal with. ACPO and the like should spend less time trying to close down these blogs and more time actually reading them. Then they might start to get the slightest idea what these guys are going through and why they complain about all the bureaucratic red tape stopping them from doing real Policing.

It's interesting to note that both the posts I've linked to above say they don't mind doing the paperwork (in triplicate) if they've actually been able to make a difference; it's all the other stuff that gets in the way.

Top Ten Comments

Due to the success of the questionnaires - (thank you!) I've created a comment of the day section on the wiki - here are the top ten comments so far.

1. Because of email … Communication between officers and the SMT is more strained.

I've never seen any communication between officers and SMT

2. People sometimes get left out of important email communications.

Good

3. Because of email … Too much irrelevant information is sent, wasting my time

I once had a e-mail, stating that less e-mails are to be sent

4. Too many people here use email to cover their backs

No understand question.

5. Because of email … Too much irrelevant information is sent, wasting my time

Could'nt give a toss if Jane from comms support is having a 40th birthday bash at the Horse and Cart friday night, to name one of many.

6. I am careful how I word email messages for fear they will be forwarded.

And don't send one when you are angry at 0530 in the morning, gets you in lot of smelly stuff

7. I receive many email messages not related to my work.

After a month off last year i had received 450 e-mails. 12 had relevance to me

8. Every now and then, an email message will infuriate me

More often than that

9. Because of email … I feel closer to my boss.

He e-mails me from the next office!

10. Because of email …Many trivial issues come to the attention of higher management

...and often misconstrued, requiring further emails to clarify nonsensical points of no real importance.

CS Spray

Apparently now it's un-pc to say CS gas, due to a complaint from a Jewish citizen. We now have to say CS spray, fair enough but this seems like another example of the 'world gone mad'. In my view, people who say un-pc things are usually not doing it to offend, they're usually not even aware it could possibly offend e.g Nitty Gritty and Black Maria. Anyone wanting to offend isn't going to consider or care either way about the 'pc-ness' of what they say.

Then again, apparently it's not a gas so who are we to talk...the world's still gone mad though (am I allowed to say that??!!)

Ashfordly Police Station: Communications technology is bad for you!

This post has links to more about email and communication technology.

Ashfordly Police Station: Communications technology is bad for you!

Thank you!

My sincerest thanks to PC David Copperfield for posting about my research, the results are coming in fast already. And thanks to everyone for filling the questionnaires in.

Betty

R.I.P. Common sense.

If felt the need to reproduce the text of this rather than just linking to it. It isn't mine, I got it from totallyun-pc's blog, who reproduced it by permission of others. I haven't asked permission but it's just gotta be spread - I agree with the comment about putting it on notcie boards. What about stapling it to certain people's foreheads?

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, as his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn't always fair, and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Panadol, sun lotion or a sticky plaster to a student but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar can sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust, his wife, Discretion, his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.

He is survived by three stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, Someone Else Is To blame and I'm A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realised he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not join the majority and do nothing.

"the preceding blog is not mine, I didn't make it up, and Google shows it has been reproduced thousands if not millions of times, but in the sad sad memory to all our friends and colleagues, and anyone else who has become a victim of our times.... I say blog it in memoriam to us all."posted by totallyun-pc at Friday, February 16, 2007

Ps. I know this blog is turning into a collection of others' posts, I'm reading back over older posts at the moment and some of them can't be allowed to be lost in the ether.

Betty

Surplus school places

This is brilliant, though I thought the better idea would be to keep the school places as they are and put the prisoners in them, that'll be far more humiliating and keep the teachers in jobs. I don't evny them though - mind you it probably wouldn't be much worse than what they have to deal with now.

You're nicked!: I've found the answer

Organisation??

And I didn't use the word organisation anywhere...

Police Communication (Updated)

I've returned to my long neglected blog with a new slant. This blog is now mainly about police communication, mainly ;)

Chunky is a Police Sergeant, Betty is a student researching the Police (that's me), Chunky finally learnt what blogs are, having read PC David Copperfield's book, 'Wasting Police Time', but never gets to go on the computer anymore because I'm always on it...

I'd been made aware by Chunky and friends that email use was considered a problem amongst some officers, so for my MSc research I requested that a questionnaire be sent out for the mutual benefit of me as a researcher and the force in question, to help identify and try to remedy the problems and pressures being felt by officers.

Unfortunately my request was declined, partly through my own lack of prior discussion with the force. However, I feel that the comment; "[w]e have to be quite protective given the amount of emails that our staff receive" in the final email I recieved shows to a certain degree that my belief that I could help the force in question has not been considered, whilst simultaneously showing that there is indeed a problem.

I would like to thank all Police Officers who visited this blog's sister wiki Police Communication and completed the questionnaires. The results are now in and the raw percentages are available on the wiki, plus the best comments from Officers. To protect my future research I have decided not to post the full dissertation until a later date.