The Policeman's Blog

Congratulations; well done!
 

I appreciate COPS is a worthy cause for all that money...but any chance that you can use some of it to send a copy of the book to every Chief Constable, member of ACPO, and the Home Secretary?
 

Ching Ching....although how the little dears will cope with being locked up and ingorned for 24 hours a day, whilst I count my money, is beyond me!!!
 

I sense Gaoler duty coming.... :(
 

i think they really should re-name that charity to something else.
till i clicked on the link, i thought it was about caring for people that had survived being in the custody of the Police, not people that had been served IN the police force/service/whatever you're called this week
 

web page address of article:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=410399&in_page_id=1770
 

Yes but the problem is that whilst they are in police cutsody they are entitled to exactly the same rights that they are whilst in prison, which is pretty much having everything that they could have ever wanted bar and escape kit.

They will be able to smoke in stations where police are not and they are aloud palystations in their cells. It might not be as simple as we first hoped.

http://www.offduty.co.uk/forums/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=6005
 

correct link

http://www.offduty.co.uk/forums/

phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=6005
 

Stop! Think! Don't do gaoler duties for overtime. This is bailing out the same home office who are denying us our pay rise! Let them sink into the mire of their own doing.
 

Thanks for introducing some sanity into into this topsy turvy world.Anything that shines a light on the sinister march of the PC brigade and their army of unquestioning apparatchiks is very welcome.
 

Indeed - this is their mess. Let the wheels come off!
 

they really do need to change the name of that COPS organistation. i too thought you were taking the piss, and that COPS was about people who have survived some sort of beating up or jailing by bent coppers.
 

I have just read the 2nd serialisation in the Mail and it seems to me that the job has got worse since I left in 2001. It is spiralling out of control and will come and bite the Commissioner and the Chief Constables on their collective PC backsides eventually, but by then it will be too late the job will not exist except for CCTV operators and DNA sequencing squads who will send out fixed penalty tickets for every offence!! The only ones patrolling the streets will be the PCSO's and the Local council Wardens because all the Police Officers will have given up fighting a losing battle with the CPS.
Sometimes I think I must be dreaming surely things couldn't get this bad?
Then I read that 2 kids who killed a ten year old only get 8 years apiece and with the system that prevails will be out before they really start shaving!!!
 

Not so long ago there were fluffy stories about "Supercops" that would be supported by administrators and able to resume duty after making arrests faster and generally be more efficient. DC mentions them at some point.

Now we have PCSOs. Their main duties are high visibility patrol and nuisance youths and general community related duties. They are slowly gaining more powers, able to detain. BTP PCSOs carry cuffs.

Now envisage this, the PCSO can detain people. They are out there on foot doing what beat bobbies of old did (well, at least they are in my force. In the MET I hear they go around in groups of 6 holding hands skipping). I can see the PCSO becoming the supercops and us becoming the administators.

Not a happy thought.
 

You are a disgrace to the service, you have told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, You have defied orders to tell it good when in reality t is crap. No resources, no one cares.
Will my address be logged and investigated. Perhaps I will wear a veil and hide my ID
Sorry I ahve to be anon to prevent job loss
 

You know the more I hear the more I think we perhaps need a radical rethink of how police forces are staffed

You know stuff like, more mature officers who have seen the world being needed, paid their way in the good old free market, would probably help

Probably some kind of "short term service" type arrangement, where you could sign on to do say 3 years in the force and then return to another career, would help both the police in bringing in wider real world experience, and the people offered such a chance by giving them a chance to help the community

Probably a few more enlightened employment practises would help everyone
 

The idea put forward that there is some form of spare capacity in custody suites across the country to cope with some form of over- spill is nonsense.
Certainly within the Met the decisions taken years ago to centralise custody facilities on Boroughs leaves no room for manoeuvre. Even on average days it is often the case that you are either looking for cell space for your prisoner or finding other boroughs asking if they have space available.
If they push this on Police then it means that the old satellite stations will have to be reopened and staffed with all the costs involved as most have been mothballed for years.
Though it might reassure some of the local residents around the old stations with the new renewed activity...(they might naively assume it was a response to the, not unreasonable, requests for a more local police presence)
It is nothing more than an a**e covering excercise for the SMT and the Home office they blindly serve.
 

I understand in some forces, though not mine, PCSOs can 'detain' someone for up to 30 minutes but have no official powers of arrest. Can someone enlighten me as to the difference between 'detain' and'arrest'? If someone is 'detaining' me, then they are preventing me from going where I want to go, i.e. being arrested.
Confused of Surrey
 

I have been waiting for an opportune moment to say a thank you to PC David Copperfield so please excuse this intrusion as I say a very big 'thank- you' to David on behalf of Care of Police Survivors (COPS). On behalf of my fellow Trustees and the surviving family members of Police Officers who have died in the line of duty we are most grateful to David for donating his fees from his online publishing to our charity and to date, COPS has benefited to the sum of £4,600. I understand that we will further benefit from David's recently published book and from the serialisation in the Daily Mail.

For those who have expressed some concern about our charity name, please do not concern yourself. We are now in our fourth year and we have a growing reputation amongst the Police Service in the UK and with the families we support. Our name is accepted by everyone and we are all comfortable with it. The acronym COPS is derived from our 'sister' organisation in the USA - Concerns of Police Survivors (www.nationalcops.org) - which has been in existence for over 20 years and now supports over 14,000 families throughout the USA.

If you would like to know more about COPS please take a look at our website at www.ukcops.org and while you are there, why not purchase our lapel pin to show your support to the families of Police Officers who have died in the line of duty.

On a personal note, as a retired Police Officer, I admire David for telling how it really is and I hope that his commitment will one day see the restoration of policing how it should be.

Thank you for reading this and to David, .... carry on writing!

Dick Coleman
Chair of Trustees
for Care of Police Survivors (COPS)
dick.coleman@ukcops.org
 

Here in the Fenny wastelands, we're just short of being declared bankrupt. Never mind a 3% pay rise, we've got a blanket overtime ban, with not even time due authorised. Our CC has just asked officers to refrain from the cynical practice of declining to attend jobs near the end of their shift just because it might make them a bit late off. Having had a supervisor recently remind me that the 'first half hour's free anyway', I fear that goodwill may start to wear thin just about..... now. On the upside, the Home Office are paying double time to staff an empty cell block that can only be used for HMP prisoners. By my calculations, a cell block with one Sgt and one Pc costs about £2000 per day, so every 12hrs another bobby's 3% gets a little further away...
(sadly anonymity is far too necessary here in the flatlands, since a recent in-houe online open forum has led to two officers being relentlessly badgered for making remarks the management didn't like)
 

Having just read The Mail and all the comments on here it appears we all share the same frustrations. No intranet notice board (people got upsett), an overtime ban & officers happy to accept the same salary as me but unable to prise big backsides out of soft seats and leave the station. If you don't like the job, leave !
 

Sorry, ran out of space....when I say leave its directed at those too fat and lazy to get out and do the job they joined to do. Let me and the officers happy to work on the front line get on and do it ! Find yourselves a nice easy 9-5 and free up some of the money for those of us that deserve it.
 

Anonymous said: "They will be able to smoke in stations where police are not and they are aloud palystations in their cells. It might not be as simple as we first hoped."

Get your facts right Anonymous. Having just finished a nightshift on this Op, and having dutifully read the national Op Order - it clearly states "no visits, no association, no radios, no personal entertainment systems, no smoking where your current force policy would not permit it" etc. They get banged up like our normal police detainees get banged up. To be honest, as remand prisoners - they are getting a pretty raw deal compared to a local prison regime. Call me a namby pamby, but in the main they're not yet proved guilty. Put yourself in a position where someone makes a serious allegation against you, you haven't been to court for it yet - and you're banged up with no exercise, radio, entertainment etc in a police cell one half of which is full of shouty Saturday night drunks. Not nice! Let the punishment begin when they're proved guiilty.

PC Gaoler
 

Pc Gaoler
I would agree that compared to conditions in a local prison, remand prisoners are getting a raw deal(I am not to sure whether the word 'regime'is allowed in todays HMPS)
However the fact that they are 'remanded in custody' tells me quite a bit about the individual concerned.
It is difficult to get a court to 'keep them in'. For the court to make that decision they usually weigh such points as...they are recidivists with a history of like offences,they commit offences whilst on bail and fail to surrender to bail.
From this coppers point of view if they are temporarily inconvenienced whilst the Home office sorts its life out then I wont be worrying to much.
Perhaps if this overspill situation continues then maybe some will think twice about putting themselves in a situation where they might get'lifted'
Maybe... but then I could probably hear of a temperature drop in Hades first.
 

What can I say??? I think I love you!!!!!!! Don't panic....Female aged 61!! :o))) A grain of sanity in this Blair World of Fantasy!!!!! Now all we need is to teach the other 75% of Britain to read and write, then they can join the crusade for a sane Britain!!! Keep it up... very funny (when I'm not crying):o(
 

What can I say?? Love your honesty! Only hope you don't go and get so rich from this book, you sail off into the sunset and leave us to the dogs..:o))) Where did we go wrong?
 

Officer Dibble - yes, I know - the chance is that 95% of them are guilty, and they aren't remanded for no reason. But I get sick of this 'The prisoners are going to be cossetted in police cells, with lapdancers being shipped in, and patrol inspectors being forced to give them backrubs instead of conducting PACE reviews' stuff that seems to be going round. Fact is, their stay with us is unlikely to be as comfortable as would the local prison. Those making comments that suggest otherwise have got their facts wrong. If people come here to DCs site to get the pure unvarnished truth about the criminal justice system we're demeaning it a bit by presenting hysterical rumours as fact.

PC Gaoler
 

They can have all the playstations they want in our cells. There are no plugs.
 

I haven't read your book YET, but read the article in the Mail which I found very uplifting. Having retired 14 years when you actually saw officers on foot...22 beats in the division where I worked + various crime patrols, compared what is happening on the streets today without the local beat man...it doesn't take a genius (Not including C.Cs or M.Ps) to work out that the aforementione chaps initialled have got it WRONG.

Cluggie
 

Dave, you just HAVE to start a thread about the Welsh Police muzzling their police dogs because they dont want them to bite their suspects. Another one of Brunstroms whacky ideas......Please!

Ex Job (thats Me!)
 

Read this about North Wales Police dogs... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=410542&in_page_id=1770

Britain has offically gone MAD MAD MAD!!! Why do we bother. Yes, we'd better not hurt the criminals had we. Lets do away with handcuffs and batons whilst we're at it. I despair....now where's my passport to get out of here.
 

It's ok, the dogs have been trained to deliver a "flying head-butt".
 

dave
utterly brilliant book, mate.
i take my big pointy hat off to you.
i don't think this is why you've done it but i think you're going to make a few quid here and i hope you spend it on something nice for mrs c and a big f-off holiday in the caribbean or somewhere.
all the lads and lasses on my shift have been listening to me reading it out at work today and begging to borrow it.
obviously i said no and told them to buy their own!
top work our kid, pat yourself on the back
 

Recieved my copy last Friday, got half way through and the misses 'borrowed' it to take on a weeks holiday!
 

DC

Reading the Daily Mail again today. A "force" I believe North Wales is training its police dogs to stop offenders with a head butt, not a bite, and proposes to muzzle them!

You could knock me down with a feather.
 

To the one who thought PCSOs were for 'visible patrol'. Ha! One very large force (sorry, service) is putting them in Victim Contact roles (phoning vics to tell them how their investigation's doing) and in Station Offices - official. They reckon they can afford 2 PCSOs in the Office for every current civilian 'cos the Job's not paying for them; the mayor is!
 

Read the Daily Mail and the blogs here. Same old story everywhere, so well done David for telling it as it is. I'm office bound now, and try to support those on the front line. But the CPS - Couldn't Prosecute Satan - are underfunded and in a mess. The Home Office knows this and covers it up with statistics that bury the truth and blame the police. The courts have just had their budget cut by 8% - that means losing staff. Meanwhile the Home Office wants fixed penalty tickets for assaults on police - that puts us in line with parking offences. PCSOs meanwhile get paid £25k in some areas, £28k for supervisors while student bobbies facing danger every day get less. Training is all e-learning and just about teaching us how to behave. Nothing on new legislation, powers pf arrest etc but its all intended to make us fail. Bobbies are an endangered species. Custody officers are about to be replaced by detention officers. Sergeabts replaced by 'advanced' constables who can be promoted to Inspector. ACPO want rid of us too - remember they are part of the Official Side who have rejected our pay claim along with members of the association of police authorities. By the way, the arbitration due on Thursday is going to be postponed - the Official Side want more time - just another excuse to earn interest on our pay rise while some of us struggle to survive. Frankly, its time for industrial action, if the Home Office won't play by the rules, then neither should we.
 

And there I was planning my new kitchen when my force stated that they are not going to take part, dam !!!!!!!!
Was pleased to read the Mail (for once), will buy the book tomorrow.
 

Dave,

the dog story has to be worth a thread surely?

Mainly because I think N Wales have a small point, and that the paper concerned (along with a few others) would criticise anything Brunstrom does, even if they agreed with him....

Most of all, it would be nice to know what the full HDC story is rather than the paper's edited version.
 

HGC - Heddlu Goggleth Cymru

Sorry - misspelling a word with three letters is rather mongy.
 

Left the force three years ago to come too Toronto. Same crap, different place, at least they pay well and trust me with a gun. Gonna have to order a copy of the book.
 

"The bit where it says "My colleagues prefer to sit behind a desk" was made up by The Mail."

The Mail? Made bits up? Surely not!!! ;)
 

I just got to the page where you mention my site. Made my day that did DC! Breach of my copyright but hey the book is the best I have read in years so I'll let you off ;-)

Chris, PoliceUK
 

Just wanted to say well done for teling it like it really is DC. I am certain that front line officers like us who joined to be front line officers all feel pretty much the same as you do. May the deskjockeys soon be turfed out of their cushy jobs and returned to uniformed duties and may we all get back to knicking criminals. Amen!
 

I can think of a lot of my colleagues who would much rather sit behind a desk....!!!
 

So Operation Safeguard is now in in full swing and we only have a few spaces left in our prisons. To those coppers suddenly finding out the job we do and realising how difficult it can be, thanks for your support, it won't be forgotten. To everyone else, please start to realise the job those of us in the Prison Service and in the Police Service really do and maybe you'll realise why we kick up over appaling pay rises.

PC Copperfield...thank you for your honesty.
 

I took my force to task over the massaging of figures i.e. possession of cannibis became detection for supply etc etc I ended up retiring early because I was treated so badly. They all stick together when an honest one comes along and look out because they will get you. It has helped me enormously reading your comments as I know now I am not mad as it has been suggested just honest. That doesn't count for anything !!
 

Sorry DC, but the comment which you deny about colleagues preferring to sit behind desks is a fair and accurate summary of your book, which I have read and which informs me that many of your colleagues, sick of patrol, would indeed love to get a job sitting behind a desk and cannot wait to do so. This is backed up by my own experiences in the police. You are an honourable exception as you seem to have decided to remain in patrol, but you can't honestly say that the majority of your colleagues feel the same way. You are in the minority, and your own book clearly says so. I admire you, but your book itself is full of contradictions - you want to criticise the way the police works, and usually successfully manage to atribute it to senior ranks and civilian staff (I wondered how long it would take a PC to blame it all on civilians and you didn't disappoint me - or should that be you DID disappoint me - both I suppose) but you let slip enough examples of PCs with the same attitude to start claiming that ordinary bobbies are the good guys trying to do excellent jobs if only nasty old civvies and senior ranks would let them get on with it.