No Copper Continuity on Calls Reported

Over the last five years you have been under a great pressure to reduce crime. To do this, you have skewed the way you report crime. You handle crime according to the type of crime that is 'reported'. Example, Shed breaks were separated from Burglary and burglaries appeared to reduce by 60%. Massive reduction, big pat on the back, lots of happy idiots in brass hats.

You had another trick, Call Centres. Group all calls into one place in the County, staff it with Civvies from all over the county, and that failed to work well, Call Handlers went off sick with stress, Calls were badly recorded as the Handlers were only allowed a few moments to deal with each call. The computerised recording system was written by people from another country and locally ‘adapted’ at great expense. The same crime could be recorded ten different way by ten different handlers.

Then you started to ask for MORE information, so, a caller calls in for help, and gets asked their name, christian name and surname, (or family name if not a christian) date of birth, their address including postcode, where they are calling from, and only then do they get a chance to talk to the handler. As they talk, the handler is trying to complete the information boxes on the screen, and it has to be done in the right order or the screens don’t work and the handler has to ask the caller to wait.

The caller gets frustrated, for rather than seeming accepting their call for help, the handler seems to be orchestrating the call to meet a hidden objective. At the same time, the handler verifies on another screen that the address given matches the address on public record, and that the caller who states they live there is confirmed by the electoral roll information.

If the address has been flagged as a vulnerable address, then a whole host of extra questions have to be asked. If a PNC check comes back on the name of the caller, or for the names of a resident at that location, then another raft of questions have to be asked.

If a vehicle is involved, the PNC is used to confirm it is taxed, not reported stolen, and it is insured. Verify its details, VRM, Colour, registered owner.

The handler having gained all this information then elects to rank the call and identify one of many offences so that the call can be categorised. This is the ‘initial recorded crime’, or a ‘No Crime, Advice given’ solution.

If it ‘IS’ crimed, then the duty inspector, or his number two, or standby number two, or advanced thinker is nominated. He runs a quick check over the information gathered and elects to float it further on the initial crime recorded, or, if he feels he knows more than the handler, will re-categorise the call in a new category, and this is the crime that gets recorded for posterity and acted upon by the duty officers, or those that are coming on the next shift as the current lot are busy.( its not the final crime, for if other crimes are revealed, it may change to something entirely different, or even a 'no crime').

The call handler may have seen the flag, a small check mark, or tick-in-the-box that states the address has had a crime reported from it at some time in the last three months. If he did, or if the supervisor did, then the crime location becomes a ‘repeat offence location’ and is treated with a tad more urgency, it will become a higher priority for the next shift.

There is no box for a crime reported many times over many years, ha ha, THAT does NOT exist. Repeat offenders that come from different addresses, or change their names, or , hells teeth, ‘lie’ to the police do not get seen as repeat offenders, and as the handler may not take a call from that person for another six months, there is no local familiarity to suggest a series of repeat calls. Call handlers work shifts and have time off too, so they do not do week in and week out call taking and therefore repeat offenders are often lost.

You have resources, precious few and they are needed for important jobs, and if one of them chases off after a hooligan in a stolen car, half the cars in the county suddenly find a reason to be involved, thus reducing the impact of policing in other areas. A Bobbie may turn up at the caller location, see nothing happening and report in that it’s all quiet, the TK is empty and there is no sign of the caller. Off he goes to the next hit. The kids shuffle out of the hedges and from behind bins, high five each other and throw something at the nearest house.

Continuity and Coppers do not go together.

Next day, a tired self important sergeant off nights comes goes into their stores and flops his worn trouser belt on the counter saying “it’s not long enough, I need a longer one’, we say we don’t have longer ones”, he complains and leaves....

The copper remembers the fact we don’t have a belt big enough to go around his fat gut, but not the name of the caller we had screaming abuse down the phone because the neighbour has ripped up her hedge and killed her cat with a spade and we had shown up and arrested her husband who was trying to calm things down.

You could say this is the truth, or you could suggest I have a vivid imagination and made it all up and therefore suggest it doesnt happen this way, Go on, you know you can get away with it.

Police Blogger Fails to Understand.

In reply to: http://pcbloggs.blogspot.com/

Comparing Minor police expenses to the way our troops are being misunderstood by parliamentarians.

To: PC Bloggs, Blandshire (Whinging and Moaning, Division of stupidity)

You are way out of line with this one, for now, you are the one that ‘doesn’t get it’. Comparing your silly squanderings of meal allowance, sick pay and a million other little soaks that cost the tax payer a couple extra quid each on their Council Tax (Seven quid according to a flyer that came through my door) to the events concerning Servicemen is uncalled for and not needed.

Servicemen undergo a change in lifestyle and values that you as a Police Officer will never undergo and never fully understand. You get to claim overtime for working a little past the clock.

The serviceman is paid to work twenty four hours a day, every day, every year until they complete their terms of service. You get a little uniform allowance, and boy I hear your complaints about how its icky in the summer, how it makes you stand out on nights, how it attracts attention to you when your going home in the car and how the cap badge and the thingy for torches doesn’t quite work the way your ‘think’ it should.

The servicemen gets a generous uniform supplement because he is going to wear that kit all day every day in many countries in many conditions, day and night with no extra allowance.

No, you cannot compare the police force with the armed services, hells teeth, you go around killing innocent civilians with your cars, casco sticks and guns and get away with it. The worst that will happen to you is you might be jailed. Our serving military people don’t get away with it, they come back in a bloody box, and the worst that can happen to you is that you will be fired, our boys and girls are fired at!

You have crossed a line, and probably knew you were. You are just a whining, pointless, job laden blogger. Bitching about the perils of your dream job, complaining about the cost of doing the job you volunteered for and suggesting that if it were not for good people like yourself, people like Fiona Pilkington and her daughter, Baby P, Ian Tomlinson and others would not be boxed off as they have been. Leave it out. There is no way that you lot even come close to the guys wearing the Queens standard with pride, you’re not even in the same league, you don’t get it, do you.

VS

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Police HQ, Greedy Corporate Aspirations,

Too many Head Quarters are growing, like mushrooms in an early morning horse field . Ours, (bless ‘em), fills its car parks before 8 in the morning, BMWs, Mercedes, Porches, Hi-end ford pickups. The ‘common’ car park, used by the run of the mill civilians fills quickly, with its Bangers to Bentleys. The Priority parking area (Closer to HQ) fills with more high end vehicles than any car showroom in the area, and a good percentage belong to people in IT, HR, Road Policing, Assassins (sorry, firearms), Business Planning and Corporate Services. The ‘Essential Staff’ car park, attracts the heads of departments, several marked police vehicles used by uniformed heads but rarely taken out, a whole row of covert vehicles with big white stickers on the windscreen stating ‘COVERT VEHICLE, Do Not Use’!

Before you get pissy at me, I am not complaining about all the HQ staff having a nice earner to be able to buy the best motors, I am using the above as an indicator of the greed value of the HQ leeches, to milk the system for all it can get, hundreds of jobs for the boys, you know, been a mediocre copper for 20 plus years, now retires, full pension and on Monday comes back as a civvie in a post that never existed before, but now on a good pension and a Senior Staff Pay Rate. Said ex-copper can still hang out with his mates in the Restaurant snurdling coffee and having such a good time.

Head Quarters thinking they are a Corporate Entity, lapping up the Pounds, Shillings and Pence in their greedy desperate bid to earn more by doing less. This is where the money goes, the money that could be funding more officers on the front line. The money that could be putting more resources on nights so there are less single crewed cars looking after an entire city, missing their refs and getting it in the neck when they failed to spot a huddie skulking in a bush who later went on to burgle Mrs smith and stomp on the poor ladies cat in the process.

HQ is too big, it’s too expensive and ours has lost its way. Ours thinks it is an entire corporate entity, with corporate managers, decision makers, problem brokers, the thinking centre with respect for the people, communication enablers, Community Resource Centres of Excellence, Enhanced Area Management Teams and so on and so forth...

I wish we had a CC with his own head on his shoulders instead of one who thinks he is an important public dignitary, always on the television bleating on about the flavour of the day, telling us how good the last place was he worked at and spending most of his time at the Bramshill Goon Show, (No Point In Asking)

VS

...

Headdress war of words. Tin Hat Brigade.

No Helmet, No Training, Q.E.D.

If you cannot wear the safety equipment, provided by the Force to protect you while undergoing riot training, firearms training or other confrontational training, then you should not be asking to be given the role.

It may feel good that you are being given equal rights along others; it may be that you can gain credit for being a highly paid police firearms user. But to gain equal rights, you have to demonstrate equal opportunity and when some colleagues are able to wear the safety equipment, and you choose not to, then you should not get the training.

You are self excluding and that has nothing to do with equal rights. It has everything to do with making your colleagues more vulnerable. If you get killed or injured because you refused to wear a bullet proof helmet or chest protector, then you are placing an increased burden on your colleagues around you and one of them could get killed or injured looking after you.

I understand the need for some to act within the scope of their Faith, however, when that Faith requirement impacts upon the safety of colleagues and members of the public, your employer should do whatever they can to protect those whom would be endangered by your actions.

There are anti-ballistic headdress options, sadly, the manufacturers charge an exorbitant price and demand a very high purchase rate over a budget period. For the numbers taking up the option, some forces simply cannot justify the cost of entering into the purchase. Some headdress options, acceptable to some, are not acceptable to others, so the spending costs are extreme and simply not cost effective.




Take for instance two recent headlines:
1) The Indian Army do not have bullet proof turbans
2) Police Force blows £100,000 on failed search to find a helmet to cover a Sikh officer’s turban.

One thinks it odd, some people will happily wear a motorcycle crash helmet, but not a riot helmet.

Even more odd when evidence exists of a Sikh military metal headdress!

Police Officer, £50,000 pay, complains about income.

Spare a copper, guv!

I read the blogs today, and read how a Police Officer is complaining about the volume of overtime they have to work, taking home only £50,000 to £90,000 a year. These are cops that have the maximum increments and have failed to rise above the rank of Sergeant in ten years policing. Police officers with extraordinary knowledge in many cases, seen by their colleagues to be ,’The Right Stuff’, with an exceptional knowledge of crime, criminals, the justice system and how to milk the public purse, a purse already stretched to the limit funding massive unemployment, for maximum benefit.

The author of the blog, (http://pcbloggs. blogspot. com) blames predictable events and shows, shoplifters, the courts system and the pace of work police officers can find themselves subject to. The author goes on to suggest that managers and supervisors are unable to simply reallocate officers to cover shortfall. If senior officers are unable to complete minor office staff and management anomalies, it begs wonder if officers are promoted through the ranks too easily, leaving others to flounder in the promotional system, to systematically milk it for all they can get.

Officers are not poorly paid by any stretch of the imagination, when one considers they are have a job for 30 years or more if they keep their noses clean, with little likelihood of losing their job simply because there is a downturn in jobs as the recession bites. You never hear of police officers being laid off as there is no demand for them. Pop along to your local Police HQ and look at the high end cars and trucks in their car park, ours actually has porches, big BMW’s, and other high value marques. (Normally such cars are out of reach to most people in times of a recession, but officers earn interesting sums and can easily afford the better cars)

There is a simple solution.

1) Stop the second jobbers in toto. This would ensure all officers are bright eyed and bushy tailed after their 16 hours off duty.
2) Compensate all police officers by introducing a fixed Salary.
3) Reduce the number of officers occupying roles that require no use of their warrant or charge.
4) Re-employ uniformed officers in the roles that depend upon the officer having police powers (put them back at the ‘sharp end’).
5) Employ much lower paid civilians in the tasks previously done by the police that had been miss-employed at a cost to the public purse.

The armed forces do not get 'overtime', why should the Police?

Easy peasy solution, but watch and listen while the whiners in blue find a million faults with the simple logic that provides an affordable, realistic intelligent solution.

VS

Tired of listening to MP's complain.

I don’t want to hear leading political figures apologising for members of their cabinet. Technically, the members who have made claims for products and services that have been deemed to be in the spirit of expenses listed in the Green Book, but who now appear to have been taking the Great British Public for a ride, should be dismissed and handed over to the Police and the VAT Authorities.

Where we have quite happily made a rule that enabled the free flow of public money into pockets owned by MP’s, we should now create the complimentary role of removing those financial abusers, removing the public owned money from them, and then placing them in a position that prohibits the person from attending any meeting upon the behalf of the poor innocent voters in the constituency that sadly elected them in the first place.

You cannot sack an MP, but you can ensure that a person, who has acted much like a highwayman, is unable to resume office, and that needs to be done now.
It is a perfect moment for a new leader to shut parliament and call an immediate election, with every sponging MP being barred from attending for life. Mr Cameron seems to be the only one who has not siphoned funds from the system, let him be the one to select a safe house to see us through the General Election. I have no doubt the Ghurkhas would be given the rights and freedoms we have promised, without fuss or demerit.

In-car computer maps to speed limit!

From the Mail-OnLine.

A sophisticated in-car computer could soon make it impossible for motorists to speed.

The system detects the speed limit and automatically slows the car if it is being driven too quickly.

It pinpoints a vehicle's exact location via satellite and accesses a database of every road's speed limit to determine how fast the vehicle should be travelling.

The Intelligent Speed Adaption system will be unveiled today as part of the largest-ever pilot of its kind.

It is seen as a blueprint for a nationwide scheme which could add around £500 to the cost of a car.

But critics last night claimed that it was further evidence of state interference.

They say it undermines motorists' freedom and claim it could hinder, rather than aid, road safety.

Comment: probably from the same stable as Trident, TSR II, Free Nuclear Electricity, The National Health Computer System, joined up police IT equipment and Government Sanctioned Expenses Allowance.

We don't expect our Police to kill innocent people, repeatedly.

It appears, that unless you ‘toe the party line’, and agree with those authors who believe they are the word almighty, you are considered rubbish, stupid, infantile and aggressive, abusive and illiterate.

We are all entitled tour own opinion. I have every right to get upset when I see Police Officers behaving like idiots. I am allowed to get pissy when I see an Officer kill another officer in order to hide something that the first officer has done wrong. I am allowed by law to get angry when a police officer abuses their powers to drive at breakneck speeds with no flashing lights or sirens and kills a young innocent teenager girl.

We pay enough to dress our police, to train them, to educate them, to support them while they are sick or off duty without having them dictate to us that they have absolute right of authority as no one else could possibly know the law as well as they do.

We do not expect our senior police officers to sanction raids on innocent civilians simply because they come from the wrong ethnic side of the city.
We do not expect our officers to use their powers to kill civilians and then claim that they thought the dead victim might have had a gun.

We do not pay our police officers to swan through a hit and miss career and then offer excuses when they kill one of their own in a shooting accident in a warehouse.
We do not spend a fortune on police officers so that they can abuse their privileges and decide to stop being a senior police officer because the going has got tough and the press are taking an interest.

We do not countenance our police officers to claim their very good pay and then whinge and moan on the internet at how hard their job is or how tough it is for them. A phrase comes to mind, “If its too hot in the kitchen...”

VS