The Real Enemy
The secret workings of the Police Arbitration Tribunal continue behind a rosewood panelled door somewhere in London.
Meanwhile, in another part of London, a 32-year-old man has been taken into custody for trying to kill four police officers who were trying to arrest him. Two have been seriously wounded.
One story pretty much sums up the other. For as long as I've been blogging, police officers have been chasing the elusive figure of the Health and Safety-conscious, Home Office-approved, Twenty-First Century Police Officer. Pulled in different directions by the government and the press, our senior managers and the public, we've struggled to pin down our true identity. The truth staring us in the face - a truth we've always known - is that we will never win the chase. Just as we seem to be getting there, our prey turns dirty, and stabs us in our faces and in our stomachs.
You don't have to be a police officer to sign Sergeant Nigel Tompsett's e-Petition on fair treatment for the police.
Nor do you have to be to pray for the officers lying in hospital tonight.
However you say it, however much Theresa May wants you to believe it, being a police officer is not like any other public sector job.
It is not Arbitration going on behind those sheets.
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'Diary of an On-Call Girl' is available in some bookstores and online.
posted by PC Bloggs at 22:01
20 Comments:
Nicely put.
I finally got round to stumping up for your book - I enjoyed it immensely, although my other half questions the point of having days off if you're going to spend them reading books about The Job.
MPS(n)P
19 November, 2011 22:51
This comment has been removed by the author.
19 November, 2011 23:52
I am with you on this one Ellie. I would add that the Met are one of the minority of Forces that have not issued TASER to their officers. The newish Met Commisioner needs to immediately change this disgraceful state of affairs. The Metropolitan Police Authority should be told it is happening whether they like it or not. Officers in one of most difficult and dangerous cities should have this protection and the Force are failing in their duty of care.
The other thought I had was, will the offender in this case claim that he was previously assaulted by police officers and as a result is suffering from post traumatic stress and therefore not responsible for his actions. If so, I guess the jury will have to acquit him as they did the offender who assaulted the poor prison officer with a broken bottle.
20 November, 2011 00:00
For so many reasons Ellie, I would sign the e-petition in a heartbeat. However, you seem to have chosen greed as your reason to identify your case being more worthy than many others.
Money is a bit tight for everyone just now, whole nations are tightening thier belts. Bankers and the banking industry seem to be exempt, but I see no reason for our police to be exempt.
Next year we have the Olympics, and I feel confident your pay packets will swell with copious overtime payments. You will take home far more in one month that many 18 - 25 year olds will have earned in thier jobless lives.
Sorry Ellie, love your books and your outlook on life, but I wont support greed, not just now.
20 November, 2011 09:43
An interesting point from above.My personal opinion is that Specials will be used in copious amounts to cover the Olympics.Double nothing is still nothing.
Overtime is earned by us,it is not just given on a whim.
Jaded
20 November, 2011 13:07
I'm with ex.pnn account holder on this.... What a greedy bunch of officers those four are, the immense cheek of it, to simply ask for the pension they pay for every month in return for being butchered by some maniac, bloody cheek! And money IS tight isn't it? You know, the £4 bn increase in foreign aid, the £2.75 bn on the war in Libya etc
Tosser.
20 November, 2011 16:05
It isn't greed, it is what they have worked for. We are at war with bankers and global institutions who exploit our bickering.
The only politician i have any time for is the UKIP leader. I would give up my pay rises for the next 10 years to see that man in charge and kick europe out. I would rather be poor and share my poverty with bankers and lawyers than carry on with them taking the proverbial.
I want to see the police march through London in the middle of the Olympics, alongside us, the public they serve....not their political masters who think the police belong to them.
20 November, 2011 16:35
ex pnn. The petition is all about asking the government to recognise the fact that there are a whole host of restrictions on the lives of police officers (and their families), not least that officers are not allowed to strike.
You may note that the government recently gave concessions to other public sector workers. Would they have done this if they had not had the right to strike – don’t think so.
Yet when you look at the state of the country, who is to blame? Could it be past and present governments? Aren’t governments accountable to the public through the elected MPs?
MPs have a far better pension scheme than police. MPs have a far better expenses scheme than the police.
It is MPs, who as a collective, have approved policies which brought this country to its knees.
What’s galling is that they shaft us because of our weakness, but they look to us to protect them from the civil disobedience which will certainly come.
Oh and MPs who are refusing to look at their own pensions.
GU
20 November, 2011 16:53
Has 'An ex .pnn account holder' actually lived in the real world?
Has he seen what it's like in the cities nowadays?
The police, (That's the front line police, not the senior desk jockies who have more pips on their shoulders than they know what to do with who are more worried about the paperwork being filled in than the actual officers) are on the front line. They are abused, verbally and physically and for what. They are damned if they do and damned if they don't.
They protect us, or try to, from criminals, but they are losing due to politicians, and health and safety BS people, thinking they know whats right for the police force, yes i said force and i meant it.
They should be a force to be reckoned with, making the criminal scum frightened of breaking the law, and we the public should be backing them 150% of the time.
There are three sets of people who should be paid a hell of a lot more than what they do.
Army
Police (Front line police)
Nurses
A message to An ex .pnn account holder. You should walk in their shoes before you critisise them.
P.S.
Great book by the way.
I don't suppose you have another planned?
20 November, 2011 17:18
Ex pnn
Look at it like this. Say National Savings advertise an investment bond. You pay 360 payments of around £350 into the bond. For your investment (of your own money) you get a guaranteed return on your investment of £350,000.
Yet, around 200 payments in, suddenly out of nowhere, National Savings say you now have to pay 480 payments. Also, the payments have now increased to £500. In addition, when your investment matures your ‘guaranteed’ return is now £200,000.
Would a complaint be based on greed, or the sheer unfairness of it all?
Would YOU complain or would you say “hey ho, that’s life, can’t be greedy, it’s for the greater good”?
GU
20 November, 2011 18:27
The important thing to remember Ellie is that the majority of the British public ARE on your side but they are the silent majority with little interest in the machinations of politicians as long as they can afford their Sky sub and a pack of supermarket lager. One of the rare occasions when they voiced their support was after the riots when for a time they shook coppers' hands and thanked them.
It took a long time for the public to be as supportive of our troops as they are today. I think a similar exercise needs to be undertaken for the police.
21 November, 2011 07:24
I'm now allowed to swear at you as a High Court Judge has ruled that you are used to it and so will not be offended.
21 November, 2011 10:02
Thank you for this post, a sad one, but necessary. It was sickening to hear of that attack on the news. I have gladly signed the petition and will continue to pray for the injured officers, and indeed all who serve in the police. We all benefit from your, and should take these opportunities to support those who serve when they arise.
Kevin
21 November, 2011 16:18
Platitude, platitude, platitude....
21 November, 2011 17:52
Spot on, Ellie.
21 November, 2011 21:59
Hi Ellie I have just read you piece in the Guardian,
“I remember being briefed by an inspector in no uncertain terms that if someone was found urinating or swearing in public, I should give evidence of the dear little old lady who passed by them in disgust. If our local magistrates noticed that Blandmore had a strangely high population of dear little old ladies, they never mentioned it.”
Nice of you to mention police corruption in a national newspaper, I have read your blog for a while, but no more you are corrupt and a disgrace.
I can only hope that professional standards catch up with you soon.
22 November, 2011 12:38
Hi Ellie,
just read your article in the shit rag Guardian, brilliant btw, the commentors are getting restless over the 'granny witness' comment. Just thought you should know.
22 November, 2011 13:38
@anon - 'I can only hope that professional standards catch up with you soon'
You may have to wait a little longer.
The Guardian piece is clearly saying:
1) if you want to get a S5 home, you need to have a witness there who is likely to be caused HAorD.
2) Officers haven't been identifying such witnesses and we've been losing perfectly good S5s as a result; therefore, if such witnesses are there, 'little old ladies' maybe being shorthand for such witnesses, make sure they are noted in your evidence.
3) The mags haven't quibbled at the increase in little old ladies appearing in S5 evidence (but if they did, we would explain that it's because we're now recording them where before we weren't)
The line about officers 'abusing' S5 is separate - this whole case was about (court-decided) abuse of S5.
22 November, 2011 15:32
In Canada, this guy would've stabbed(or tried to stab) exactly one police officer before he'd be at the very least, headed to the hospital to have the bullet(s) taken out.
22 November, 2011 20:33
Ellie ~ thanks very much for highlighting this e-petition on your blog. I really do appreciate all the help with getting this recognised.
pnn ~ well what can I say? I think everyone else has already said it for me, but just in case you missed the point ~ this is about fairness, not greed. About justice, not avarice.
Everyone else ~ thanks very much for all the supportive comments. Keep the solidarity ~ we'll be needing it and some, in the coming months!
Regards,
Nigel Tompsett
30 December, 2011 01:29
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