The Policeman's Blog

They tell me that the first step to solving a problem is to recognise that you have one.
A couple of years ago, having spent a fair bit of time as a response officer and a short stint as a beat officer (exactly the same as a response officer, but the Beat Manager got to assure the Parish Council that I was dedicated to their parish, all lies of course), I realised that I was starting to get snappy and short tempered, both at home and at work.
I knew the real skill was in resolving confrontational situations by empathy and good communication, but I was starting routinely not to bother talking and was instead just putting people on their arses and nicking them.
I was frustrated with various policies which eroded the discretion I was allowed and my heart was no longer in going home late so that I could ensure that I completed a DV file and CPS advice which I had known from five minutes into the call wasn’t going anywhere – and, more importantly, wasn’t in anyone’s best interests.
I needed a break from a performance culture that rewarded issuing 10 HORTs to law-abiding members of the public over spending time assisting elderly victims of a distraction burglary who were trying to come to terms with what had happened to them.
A job in the Field Intelligence Office came up. Despite some reservations. I was persuaded by the words ‘proactive’ and ‘exciting’ in the job specification.
With an element of sadness, I bade my farewells to my skipper and shift and applied for the job.
I spent a frantic couple of days glorifying a PDR which had remained untouched since the day I finished probation.
I became conversant with a lot of very boring legislation, spoke to some friends with OSPRE experience and to a greater or lesser extent bullshitted my way through the interview and was accepted in post. (I scored lowest on ‘team working’, as I felt I had done this every day of my working life for 20 years and would easily be able to evidence it; conversely, I scored highest on another area where I didn’t feel I had any relevant experience, so I made up a scenario of what I would have done if time, resources and enthusiasm had been unlimited. I was quite surprised when the interviewing officer, who had several years’ experience as an OSPRE assessor, told me it was the best evidenced answer he had ever heard!)
I then entered the twilight zone.
The parade room I came from had six computers and three phones for the 40 officers on the five shifts that worked there.
Not only did I now have my own desk and drawer, I had my own computer and phone and a Simplex lock on the office door so only selected people could come and ask me questions.
More important than this, I had a ’remit’ and it appeared that everyone else did as well.
I am still not absolutely certain what is in my remit as it changes on a regular basis.
What I have repeatedly been advised, and on occasions firmly told, is what is not in my remit.
This includes: arresting criminals, interviewing criminals, speaking to criminals on my own, taking statements, writing statements (unless absolutely necessary, and even then it’s frowned upon), working nights, working late evenings and on certain days leaving the office unless we are out of milk.
I have seen close-up the world of specialist teams and squads and, more intriguingly, the world of the SMT.
Much to my surprise, the majority of the SMT are actually quite intelligent and experienced and a couple of them are bold and decisive whilst remaining firm, fair and likeable.
The majority of them however, whilst being bright and articulate, are driven by policy, scared of decision-making and only eager to please people in positions of authority above them.
There are no real leaders, just managers who devolve both responsibility and decision-making to anybody they can pass the buck to and then berate when things don’t go according to plan.
These unfortunate individuals are normally Inspectors, who are clearly mad for agreeing to do the job they do for the difference between their own and a top rate Sergeant’s pay (and no overtime).
Unless you have decided to climb the greasy pole up to ACPO or Superintendent rank, I can see no point in wanting to get promoted past Sgt.
Inspectors are held accountable by their staff for everything the senior management do and accountable by the senior management for everything their staff do.
They truly are ‘between the devil and the deep blue sea’.
All the Inspectors I deal with have laptops they take home and are routinely catching up on emails on days off and leave, sometimes in the early hours of the morning.
I am aware of the existence of C/Inspectors, but not of what they do other than provide long lists of mostly pointless actions and enquiries when you seek tactical advice for firearms matters from them.
The officers on the specialist squads are nearly all very professional and competent, they just seem to have lost the desire for ‘hands on’ policing – you know, getting in criminals’ faces, disrupting them, dealing with the public, helping people who need help, identifying problems and solving them, all that stuff.
The less specialist squads (normally a squad of the month to deal with a specific, current problem) are staffed by the sick, lame, lazy and mad (apologies to the good female officers who end up dumped on these squads when they become pregnant).
Numbers are often made up by agency staff who are routinely retired police officers who spend a lot of time talking about the good old days and how crap modern officers are.
Added into this mix are the PCSOs and Beat Managers. Whilst I disagree with the idea of PCSOs, most of them are actually decent people who are very keen but lack focus or experience (not to mention training and ability).
A very small number of them, who aren’t 19 years old and hoping to be a real police officer soon, are mostly older and more thoughtful and show a glimmer of what neighbourhood policing could be.
These guys have made the long term commitment to involve themselves with the communities where they work and are slowly gaining more local knowledge and trust than their police officer colleagues.
Unfortunately, due to lack of resources, they are often sent to ‘response’ jobs where they don’t have the powers or knowledge to be able to take the appropriate action and this undermines their position and worth which means they become devalued to both the general public and their more critical colleagues.
The Beat Managers do a good job and, again, Neighbourhood Policing is beginning to have some effect.
Sadly, the Beat Managers are also so busy backfilling response jobs or fulfilling HMIC requirements and attending endless meetings that some of the more impactive enforcement options that they have get forgotten about.
We are, after all, an enforcement agency and whilst multi agency working probably is the only way to resolve some of our longer-term problems, that shouldn’t mean that we are the only agency that actually does anything.
There is also a lot I could say about our partners within the CJS and the CPS but, as my mother often told me, ‘If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all’.
Needless to say, I have never seen a Magistrate, Judge or CPS lawyer sitting in a police car on a Friday or Saturday night, familiarising themselves with what we do, how we do it and what we are up against.
My impression of most magistrates is that they are attracted to the post for the prestige of the title and position, rather than any real desire to involve themselves in the important checks and balances of justice. (There are exceptions and, agree or disagree with the views in it, the blog ‘The Law West of Ealing Broadway’ is probably one of these).
Mostly, Magistrates are incredibly naiive and, when swearing out warrants, my colleagues and I regularly chuckle when they ask if we will be taking a female officer to look after any children at the premises. As long as you say ‘Yes’ to this they will grant you the power to smash someone’s door in, and occasionally point guns at the occupants, without asking any further questions.
Magistrates’ Clerks that I have come across seem to have, at best, a deep mistrust of the police and, at worst, a pathological hatred of us.
I’ve tried for a few minutes but I can’t think of anything good to say about the CPS or any individuals within it. The most constructive comment that I can make is that they lack consistency in nearly everything they do. I am also fairly sure that they don’t particularly like anyone who isn’t a detective.
I’ve wanted to be a police officer since I was quite young, for reasons that I have never really been able to put my finger on.
I still want to be a police officer and I think I still enjoy being one; it’s just that what I think of as being a police officer encompasses uniformed policing, reactive CID and proactive units that actually leave the office and catch criminals.
I take the very simplistic view that there should only really be two types of police officers: those who arrest criminals and investigate offences, and those who develop and submit intelligence which leads to the arrest of criminals.
It strikes me that there are vast numbers of police officers who don’t do either of these things, yet, strangely, there are now a number of civilian staff and PCSOs who do.
So if you are a downtrodden response officer, take encouragement from this: your average age is routinely lower than any other department in the police and this is normally reflected in the experience you have.
You are expected to be conversant with every new piece of policy and legislation which comes out but you are never trained or given time to familiarise yourselves with it.
You are held accountable for everything that goes wrong but given no praise for the good results.
You go to the griefy jobs first and leave last.
You get no extra money, despite the fact that the risk of injury and illness to you is far greater.
Despite all of this you continually keep the wheels on.
You trust each other and you have a laugh.
You don’t and probably never will go on strike, stopping both anarchy or a military state happening.
You still have a huge amount of respect from large segments of society and every time you interact with someone you have the opportunity to ensure this continues.
You are jacks of all trade and often masters of several.
Despite the criticisms and negative feedback from the public, media and your own organisation, you are still grudgingly admired for what you do and how you do it.
You are the role model of modern and liberal policing that is still aspired to in a number of other countries around the world.
The only thing that is constant is change. The job I joined will not be the job I leave, and it is unlikely that I will be the same person, but I will be a Police Officer.
I used to be a response officer and I will be again soon.

A Police Constable.
June 2008