Fracking

The silence weeps oozing into the days
Stretching out into weeks and months
The frackers come, smug, oily hands rub
The expectation of profit flows from there very pores
The nature recoils, trees sigh with sadness
The earth made to heave itself skywards
In shafts of despair

A yellow flowering on the trees and fences
A splash of joy and hope unleashed
Strange people garbed in hues both bright and somber
A gathering of ordinary minds joined as one
One purpose many minds power exponentially multiplied
The pawns of the state used to suppress freedom
A bad law misapplied a legacy of Thatcher

A week or two pass our masters gaze distracted
The people remain with their black clad chaperone
Cameron is diverted he smells oil in the air
Petty politics rises with votes to beat him
His cabinet wail at lost trips oe’er the pond
They have no clue of plebeian muses
Mutterings in corners not seen by the great

The drones are restless things fall apart
Money is worthless life beyond our means
The devil strides the world disguised corporate
Gekko the model, greed is the king
You fanfare destruction our green earth is dying
Small steps derided economy ignored
The way forward is spend buy and store.

Nights

The dark depressing hours pass,

The screen flickers burning the back of my eyes,

The dross of society keeps me busy,

Damaging our society.

The victim, lost, confused and scared,

Lays blame where they can,

You should have prevented this

Where the hell were you?

Dawn filters through the mist,

The light grows bright and strong

Words burn on the screen tumbling

From my fingers.

Reports all done time for home,

The engine roar brings sanity.

Few cars abroad on the twisty

Cold dawn air to waken me

Austerity gone wrong

Posh Dave has told us, ‘In these straightened times we must all pull together, put our shoulders to the wheel, well not mine obviously my Armani wouldn’t like it, tighten our belts and go without.’

It is obvious that Dave and his mates don’t mean this to apply to them but only to us plebs.

Now, the PigPen is a little thin on the ground. Old coppers have been put out to grass. Young coppers aren’t being recruited. The received wisdom from the head shed, ACPO etc is that there is no overtime. By working smarter we can deal with everything life (the great British public) throws at us.

I was rostered for a 14:00 x 22:00 shift yesterday. I was busy all day, burglaries and the like needing to be sorted out. Then, late in the shift a paedophile grooming job reared it’s ugly head. Three officers had to work overtime to deal. I finished work in the wee small hours and will be back at my desk for 14:00 today.

Well it’s only one day isn’t it? Hasn’t cost that much has it?

In fact, since my return to this particular arc in the pen I have finished late more often than on time. Each late finish means a cost to the job, irritates me because I would rather be at home and impacts on the efficiency of officers on the next shift. It is like doing a days work then partying most of the night and going back to work the next day.  Not as much fun and no hangover but the tiredness / exhaustion is just as real without the change as good as a rest syndrome.

Is this the quality of service the public wants? They probably don’t know or care, until it is their house burgled, their son in a car crash, their daughter raped or father mugged. Lets hope that when these things happen the officer has not been forced to work overtime for too long and can actually function at the top of his (or her) game.

Another thing has also happened since Theresa May took over the role of executioner in chief of the ‘best police service in the world’ is the lack of available vehicles. OK, I hear you, lets put plod back on the beat. Fine.

This week Officers in my particular arc have been unable to conduct necessary enquiries and transport victim’s and witnesses to where they need to be. The area my arc covers is half of a County. I don’t know the exact area but about 170 square miles I would guess. Yesterday I heard a call for Officers to intercept a wanted man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpI9A9fxRH4

The response over the radio to this call was, no cars in the pen, two officers made their way on foot, setting off 10 minutes after the ‘felon’ had been spotted. I ask you, dear readers, what chance they will catch up to the individual even given that we knew where he was heading. Officers now need to be as fleet of foot as the estimable Mr Bolt!

To return to my Arc, the recent cuts and amalgamations mean that my colleagues and I cover three policing districts. Those districts have two radio channels. My radio can only listen to one. How does that work? On nights, one plain clothes porker covers the aforementioned acreage, one other based an hour or more away covers a similar acreage and one sergeant covers the entire area. That would involve something in the region of 7 radio channels. I can’t see how that is meant to work.

If only each major town had it’s own detective arc within the pen, but that is what we used to do. Should we re invent the wheel now or wait until even the spare is knackered beyond redemption and only then start over?

May, Cameron and the rest, need to get real. My fervent wish is that no more citizen’s are the victim’s of crime but that the Politicians are targetted by the mindless moron’s who wreak havoc in our society. Perhaps then the government will realise that what they are doing to the emergency services is slowly starving them to death. 999 I’m being killed – sorry we cannot take your call at this time please try later.

Silly me, this will never happen, the government have their private army of Police Officers there to personally protect our leaders and ensure the dirty public don’t get too near. So you and I can be offended against by any Tom Dick or Harry (Tomasina, Deidre or Harriette) and feel the lack of funding and therefore justice. THEY don’t give a fig.

Police cuts improving services

Yesterday I had a thoroughly frustrating day. I had to change a shift in order to arrest someone who is in prison to speak to them about further offences committed. Initially this involves completing nonsensical forms to have the prisoner ‘produced’ so he can be taken to a Police Station in order to be interviewed with the protection of PACE. I would have thought it would have been better to have the legislation to allow us to talk to him in prison, but there you are simple solutions seem never to find favour.

Having collected our man, after a 90 minute drive to get to the prison we drove to the Police Station. Only one Police Sergeant to look after 22 prisoners. There used to be more but since we all have to save money we can’t have so many. Now, sergeants are the people with power under PACE. There are functions that only they can do. The custody personnel do a lot of the booking procedures (Group 4 employees i.e. private enterprise) but they cannot authorise detention. This has to happen before anything else can be done. So, myself and a colleague, a handcuffed prisoner and an appropriate adult wait for an hour, yes an hour, to have a sergeant explain the prisoners rights explained to him.

The right to have someone told you are here, the right to free and independent legal advice and the right to consult the codes of practice covering police powers and procedures, you may do any of these things now but if you do not you may do so at any time during your detention.

A short discussion (45 seconds) about why we need to have the prisoner there at all then ‘detention authorised’.

An interview that lasted 33 minutes and 36 seconds.

Waiting for the custody sergeant to grant a technical bail to our prisoner so we can take him back to the prison from which he came. Yes more waiting.

Three hours to get to prison and back, half an hour for the interview, the rest of my 9 hour shift was spent waiting for the custody sergeant to find time to authorise detention and grant bail. My time wasted, my colleague too. The appropriate adult who had to sit in the interview with our young man (he was a juvenile) was an unpaid volunteer who wasted his day standing (no seats for anyone) in the custody block. The young man, even though he was not the nicest type and already under sentence should not be treated like this either. When I investigate I have to do so expeditiously otherwise the behaviour can be seen as oppressive / intimidating.

No-one concerned wanted to be at the custody block, but it was something that had to be done. The prisoner co-operated in that he did not complain or become difficult, even in the absence of a meal as no-one had time to feed him. All because it is so important to save money. I would argue that the prisoners right to be dealt with expeditiously and fairly are more important than the need to reduce cost. This is a human being who for whatever reason finds himself in trouble. Should he be treated like some kind of cattle?

When I arrived at the custody centre a female officer was waiting to interview a young man. His father had turned up to be appropriate adult. They were there before me. They were still there after me.

It would appear that our society has reached a point where money is more important than people, despite our whingeing about human rights abuses elsewhere.

A bright future for Britain’s Police?

Following on from my last post, I am currently dealing with several matters which for obvious reasons I cannot discuss in detail. Suffice to say a victim of crime has been lucky. By sheer good fortune I have been able to recover some stolen property. The victim was happy, until he realised that he couldn’t get the property back until it had been forensically examined.

Of course, with fewer Police Officers and all the support staff, everything takes much longer. Our Forensic examiners are nothing like Dr Eve Lockhart. We don’t have on site labs where we can wander at will. The same examiner has to come and collect the item(s), transport them to a lab, deal with jobs happening real time with all the travel that involves and not work any overtime. Numbers have been slashed over the years.

A month after the property is recovered my victim still doesn’t have his property back because it cannot be examined. He feels let down, I feel I have let him down.

Smaller does not necessarily mean better.

Reduction in Police

Following on from my post here:

     https://fromthepigpen.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/business-greed/

I have just been informed that the Police Service that I work for, we can no longer say Force due to its negative connotations, saved £22 million by the end of 2011/2012, a term vague by design I believe. Apparently the service will save another 8 million by the end of this financial year. In total the service in this area have to save £50 million by 2015. So from April 2013 until April 2015 the service needs to save a further £20 million.

In order to achieve this it seems that 400 Officers and 450 support staff will have to go.

We are told that the second phase of the operation to save money, yes it has an operational name and a team to match, is not just about saving money. Yes, that’s right, my Chief Constable has said so. Just because he earns £145,000 (November 2011) does not mean that he can treat his constables like idiots. This phase is apparently about modernising, with less money to cost less money at the same time as saving £20 million. But, of course, it is not all about saving money.

The chief opines that by 2015 ‘… we will look and feel like a very different organisation.’ He goes on to say that he cannot describe the plans in detail, probably because the May fairy hasn’t told him what they will be yet.

I CAN envisage our service in 2015. There will be fewer Police Officers. There will be fewer Police Stations. The Police Stations that do exist will be open for fewer hours. There will be less staff to manage ‘front offices’, custody and scene’s of crime officers.

We will modernise. That probably means another set of computer programmes that cost the earth, do not talk to other system’s within this service never mind those with common borders. No maintenance contract being taken out to save money so no updates provided. A change of personal equipment, different baton’s, … again. In all probability Cheaper handcuffs and less training in Home Office Approved Techniques for restraint.

To shed the 400 officers it is likely that the older more experienced officers will be shed because they are expensive, being at the top of the pay scale. The experience will be gone. The officers will, in all likelihood, be shed because they cannot complete the soon to be introduced fitness tests. I can run all day, I cannot complete the ‘shuttle’ run because this requires constant turning and after an active life my knees don’t like the strain. My job does not entail chasing people. I am a detective. Unlike Chief Superintendent Boyd (‘Waking the Dead’) Inspector Frost and many other TV Detectives, in the last 7 years I have not had to run after someone. I have arrested people, interviewed them, investigated serious crime and never once had to break a sweat. Some would say that is what experience does for you.

I joined the Police at a time when they were recruiting more mature people because there were so many youngsters ‘in the job’. Now, as a cost cutting exercise the more mature among us are likely to be targeted for removal. My pension has been worked for. I have paid 11% of my salary into the scheme. As a consequence of the contribution, in the early years, my family suffered financial hardship. Now, if I continue to work until I am 60, which the government will allow me to do, I will be forced to accept reduced benefits for increased contributions.

If the government do not want me to continue being a Police Officer, pay me off. I have already previously blogged about where money can be found. To the good people of England I would say, do you want a Police Service comprised of students, or would you like some experienced people. I appreciate experience does not equate to good, but new does equate to mistakes. Mistakes lead to wrongful convictions and wrongful acquittals.

Business Greed

I am so pleased that in these times of austerity and belt tightening that those at the very top of the tree are leading by example. Most of the ordinary working people in the UK have had pay rises of less than one per cent over the last couple of years, all doing their bit for the shrinking economy. We are all patting ourselves on the back for our selfless sacrifice for the greater good.

Meanwhile, back in Gotham City, the FTSE 100 CEO’s have managed to husband their resources, save on staff salaries, reduce the work force and award themselves an 11% pay increase according to the BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17996094

In 2011 their pay rose by half, according to The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/oct/28/ftse-100-directors-earnings-rose-by-almost-half

Noe Thr Telegraph reported today that ‘Michael Spencer, the former Tory party co-treasurer who runs broker Icap, got £13.4 million.’ If my maths serves 11% of 13.4 million is

1 474 000

That is the equivalent of about 67 new Police Officers. 69 nurses, and for a worker over 21 being paid the minimum wage of £6.08 per hour for a 40 hour week (12646.40 for 52 weeks work) a further 116 people could be found work. It will not have escaped your attention that Michael Spencer is, presumably, one of Dave’s mates. A believer in the big society. The Politico‘s lament the rising unemployment figures but cannot find a solution.

How about not taking obscene pay rises, perhaps even reducing or foregoing the odd million pound from your salary on top, and using the cash to create some jobs? I wonder how many people would be able to struggle by on £500,000 a month? What would we spend it on, if Mike could manage to get by on this he could donate 7.4 million to job creation. Now, they would say it is but a drop in the ocean, if all the FTSE CEO’s followed suit it would be a substantial pot. Then of course there are all those who do not fall within the FTSE 100 but still earn in excess of £6,000,000 a year.

Come on Dave, big society, who are you trying to kid. All you want is for the poor to sort their own problems out without inconveniently getting in the way, so you and your chums can party.

Mr Clegg, another posh boy who ought to know better given his parties history has been noticeable by his silence on issues of any importance. Some of the money generated could be used to provide free solar energy for the very poorest, investment in alternative technologies to sustain the country through the impending doom of global warming. Even using the money to research new technologies or to build sustainable housing would be better than having it sit in a fat cats bank account.

A new blitz?

Apparently, the government are rolling out anti aircraft missiled in readiness for the olympics. They will be deploying not only the army but armed Police, helicopters will be continuously in the skies above the capital with on board snipers.

The explanation, the missiles are to take out commercial airliners should one of those be hijacked in a repetition of 9/11. The airborne snipers will take out the pilots of small aircraft, presumably small turbo prop privately owned type aircraft. All this will be centred on the East end of London.

There is, perhaps, a small flaw in the plan. Following a missile strike, where will the debris land? East London is a very densley populated area. If the pilot is shot, his aircraft will continue to be a very destructive object likely to explode on impact bombed up or not.

The telegraph carries a story relating to the concerns of the locals, which can be seen here:

http://m.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/apr/30/bow-resident-evict-army-missile-base?cat=uk&type=article

Gen Sir Nick Parker, to quote from the article; ‘ said military snipers are to be deployed in helicopters to shoot pilots of low-flying aircraft that might be involved in terrorist attacks. He said that as well as the missiles on tower blocks, larger Rapier surface-to-air missiles could be located at Blackheath, Lee Valley reservoir, Shooters Hill and Epping Forest. He said the missiles would only be fired as “a very last resort” and a decision to do so would have to come from the “very highest level” – on the authority of the prime minister.’

Oh well that’s OK then. If the poor little posh boy who has failed miserably in gaining the respect and trust of the population is the one who has the final say on any kill order everything seems to be peachy. Personally I will stay firmly in Saelig Sussex well away from the demon politician of Downing Street.

Cameron’s Big Society, about which he has been quiet of late, obviously doesn’t extend to talking to the people who are about to have the Army based next door with SAM’s bolted to their roofs.

 

 

 

Cameron and his Posh Chums

Cameron said to Mrs may

My chums they feel the pinch

It’s up to you and Winsor too

To find some cash now do your bit

So Tom consulted, advised, considered

Report it followed first report

‘The upshot is, the Rozzers CAN

help out Cameron’s chums.

Reduce their pension, for which,

They can pay for longer more,

Work longer years to qualify,

For less than they got before.

Fitness test will reduce the old,

They’ll be forced to early retire,

They’ll never serve out ‘til the end,

So we save even more.

May goes to Cameron with her plan,

‘Oh wizard wheeze indeed.

My chums can find a use for this,

Another Lamborghini.

Cameron plays with family,

Its Sunday no work for he,

His mates have come for caviar,

Champers, oysters and some tea.

Old Bill – New Bill?

What is worse, no union or an ineffective staff association?

The UK government are tinkering with terms and conditions of public sector workers. I can only comment on conditions in the pigpen I’m afraid but I am sure comments can be applied (or at least the sentiments) across the public sector.

I am not particularly talking about pay, although we are all concerned about being able to earn enough to maintain a certain lifestyle hovering somewhere between what passes as poverty in the UK and getting by. There are so many other issues. Tom Winsor, who was appointed by the current UK Government to review pay and conditions, seems to believe that middle and upper management positions in the service should be open to all. I don’t necessarily have an issue with that, I have always maintained that coppers make lousy managers, they don’t have the skills. However, it is also true that managers make lousy coppers. If the middle and senior posts are managerial, which do not involve any input into day to day Policing then a person with no Policing knowledge would be fine. However, one such middle manager post could be to set tactic’s and policy for the Public Order Unit. Now, regardless of a person’s opinion of the efficacy, proportionality of the Police response to Public Order situations, if your house was being threatened by rioters who would you want in charge? An Officer who has spent some years being trained in such situations or a regional manager from a local retail outlet?

The Police Federation, toothless wonders that they are, have posed the question to local MP’s,

‘Would we parachute captains of industry into the army and have them lead troops into battle without them having an understanding of soldiering? So why does he think it will work in the police service?

The UK Government state they want to attract the right calibre of candidate, while reducing the starting salary by £4000 and requiring higher educational qualifications (three ‘A’ levels). The Federation argue that,

‘This will potentially be the end of a police force reflecting the community that it serves, which goes to the heart of policing in this country as not everyone will be able to reach the required standard. Along with our colleagues, we have all served with officers who have not been academically endowed but who could catch and lock up villains with consummate ease using skill and common sense but not ‘A’ levels. They were known as “thief takers” but people like this will be lost to the service if this recommendation is adopted.

I am not sure that the Police do truly represent the community they serve. I work in a town where there is a large Asian community but there are very few Asian officers. What the Fed say appears to say is that the Police must be truly representative of and reflect the composition of the society in which we function. Nonsense. There are always limits, I cannot see the Police employing a partially sighted driver nor a deaf interviewer. Do the Fed suggest that the blind and deaf are excluded from society? I am sure they do not. That this section of the community is not reflected in the Police Service has not been the death knell of ‘the heart of Policing…’ If the educational standard is set then it is probably for sound reasons, like being able to accurately record in writing (in English?) what has taken place so that the witness can be left alone to get on with their life. My written English leaves much to be desired. I have a degree in Law. Education and good written skills, a basic requirement of the job, do not necessarily go hand in glove. I become increasingly frustrated at the standard of spelling, even more than grammer, wrtiien in Police Statements by officers. Sometimes to the point where I have to re write the statement! This has also lead to a culture of, ‘Can you come to the Police Station to make your statement so I can type it, it needs to be typed for court anyway.’ Yes and PC Brain Cell can use the spell check. So is a requirement for basic educational ability outrageous?

There are many other elements to Winsor, introducing a basic fitness test, removing a competency pay from officers at the top of pay scale which will decrease pension benefits while increasing pensionable benefits for senior officers, officers to work to age 60 an increase of 5 years. Of course a person can only afford to retire at 55 if they have achieved a full 30 years in the job and therefore benefit from a full pension. I was a late starter and need to keep going to 62 in order to achieve a 20 year pension!

The Fed point out that Winsor wants to reduce pay of officers who are restricted in the work they carry out, through sickness or injury. Why anyone would be surprised at this measure is beyond me. The Police are paid more than their equivalent in the forces. At present a soldier stands more chance of being shot, blown up, maimed or killed than any Police Officer. The government have reduced payments to injured soldiers and reclaimed ‘overpaid’ salary issued to KIA troops. In fact, is it wrong to pay a person less for doing a substantially different job? I can see the argument that if an officer is injured at work risking life and limb to protect a member of the community we serve there should be no reduction after all the officer was doing his job and should not be penalised for that. But if the reduced ability is not work related …

The fitness test. A lot has been said about this in the UK media. I have watched overweight officers trying to outrun a 19 year old racing snake, it is not pretty, it is not effective. As a more mature person, OK old git, I do not look on the requirement of a fitness test with horror. The military conduct annual (at least) fitness tests. An age / time allowance is given to those of more advanced years. The only real problem I have is that the army are a physical entity. There is time factored in to the work programme for fitness training. In the Police we are stretched for resources. My shift pattern does not have time in it for training, of whatever kind. There is a Gym at the station where I work, funded by the officers themselves. In the last three years I have been able to get to the gym only infrequently. It is in a room 12′ x 12′ and contains some free weights a rowing machine, cross trainer and running machine with a couple of excercise bikes. If all equipment was being used the officers would suffocate because there is no proper ventilation or natural daylight. If I am required to pass a fitness test, time needs to be allocated by the employer to enable me to train. The Police (and therefore the government) make play of the Police family, indeed when I joined my wife and children were welcomed as individuals into the wider Police family. My shift pattern has changed. I now see my wife for one weekend in 6. She works weekdays, even if I am off I cannot treat this as a weekend as my wife works. I have three evenings a week off at the same time as my wife. I would ask, what is work life balance. I do accept that I am fortunate though. My children are grown so they don’t miss out and I have only got about 5 years to retirement.