This is the official blog of ex-Sgt Ellie Bloggs. I was a real live police constable then sergeant for twelve years, on the real live front line of England. I'm now a real live non-police person. All the facts I recount are true, and are not secrets. If they don't want me blogging about it, they shouldn't do it. PS If you don't pay tax, you don't (or didn't) pay my salary.


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Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Somebody give that man a degree.




I understand that PC Ian Dibell intervened after seeing a gunman chasing a couple up his road.  Most of us would probably have run the other way. 

Under Tom Winsor's reforms, PC Dibell would be paid several thousand less if he joined the police nowadays. We don't yet know what previous career he had, what "qualifications" he held, what personal circumstances let him to the police.

We do know that Tom Winsor does not want "jobs for life".  He wants a more highly educated recruit, on a lower salary, carrying out only front-line duties requiring warranted powers.  An older man or women, with a previous career and perhaps a family to support, will not be attracted by Tom Winsor's pension offer, nor the lack of career progression. 

It is unlikely that these things would have stopped Ian Dibell from joining the police.  Nor prevented him running into the street to try to save lives.  But as a neighbourhood officer with ten years' service, he would have been paid less overall, and in the next few years would have had a decision to make about whether to keep working on the front-line into his sixties, or start planning a career change to secure a pension for his future.  If there's anything likely to instigate the "clock on, clock off" culture that Cameron bemoans, it's being underpaid and a lack of prospects.

If Cameron wants to keep seeing brave, mature men/women with life experience, putting themselves in the line of fire whether on or off-duty, he needs to look again at his plans.

For now, the story is about a brave individual, who lost his life trying to help others, who happened to be a police officer.




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'Diary of an On-Call Girl' is available in some bookstores and online.

12 Comments:

Anonymous A Polis Man said...

RIP

I wish I knew if I was that brave

11 July, 2012 11:29

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well done. I don't know why some bloggers tolerate that piece of filth.Please delete this one as well or it will look like i'm talking to myself!
Jaded

11 July, 2012 21:16

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Asitis says: God bless you, Ian. taken too soon and all because of a selfless act.

11 July, 2012 21:50

 
Anonymous MTG said...

"He wants a more highly educated recruit..."

Utter nonsense. The Winsor recommendation for entry has simply been revised to the equivalent of three A-levels at C-grade or higher. An obstacle for Jaded and anyone else failing to comprehend plain English, WPC Bloggs.

11 July, 2012 21:54

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

MTG So in Winsor's world someone with two A levels grade C and one graded D would be no good?

When I joined the police I had no qualifications, then around 10 years of doing the job I worked part-time for my degree. I can tell you now that holding a degree is not relevant - common sense however is essential.

Being a police officer is about who you are, not what qualifications you have.

RIP PC Dibell, you ran towards danger when everyone else looked on.

12 July, 2012 00:14

 
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12 July, 2012 14:54

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

MTG,
Actually the entry requirement has been changed to allow the CC to decide whether to accept untrained recruits with A-levels similar to those you describe OR to choose to select "policing graduates" from some numpty degree course. These will have the advantages of (in theory) eliminating the requirement for a training budget.
Which entry criteria do you think a cash strapped CC is going to go for?

The obvious drawback is that anyone with any sort of prior life-experience is going to be unwilling to take part in an unpaid and self-funded policing degree with no guaranteed job at the end of it.

As someone who likes to slag off anyone you feel is your intellectual inferior - you are going to have a busy future.


Tang0

12 July, 2012 17:51

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes great idea,raise the bar to get into the police and then cut the wages and pension dramatically.The graduates will be queueing round the block to get in won't they?
Unfortunately for you Melvin the recruiting standards are not retrospective,so I stay in!
Jaded

12 July, 2012 19:06

 
Blogger PC Bloggs said...

MTG - "more highly educated", how is that "utter nonsense"? The recommendation is for A-levels rather than just GCSEs. By definition, that means more highly educated applicants. To many that is not an obstacle to applying, because let's face it A-levels are not what they used to be. But to a large number of students they are still more difficult, and I question their value in relation to the job of police officer.

13 July, 2012 17:16

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I cannot translate nonsense nor say how it arose;
I suspect yours was some mimsy laid amongst the borogroves.

(With apologies to Carroll.)

13 July, 2012 18:23

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Do they do 'A' Levels in bravery and courage?
Do they do 'A' Levels in coping with Long hours without a break and shiftwork?
Do they do 'A' Levels in taking copious amounts of personal abuse and not rising to the bait?
Do they do 'A' Levels in dealing with death, tragedies and misery with compassion?

Because you have an 'A' Level does it make you more committed at the job?

I joined in the 80's with 6 O'levels and am still out on the frontline. I have known some very clever people who couldn't hack it and some not so clever who have persevered and made it.

A person could be top of the fitness tests but if he lacks the moral courage he is not going to be rushing to your assistance.

I have fought the good fight but have had enough. The young uns who have come in are just as capable as the ones i joined with 26 years ago. If they were left alone to police and in the number we had previously then i would happily retire in the knowledge policing was safe. I can't because they are left in pitiful number and with a leadership that cares not one jot.

I will do my best to see out my career, but am looking for a light at the end of the tunnel which does not appear to be there. Good luck to all the remaining Officers.

15 July, 2012 11:27

 
Anonymous DB said...

I can't say that my Arts degree is much use as a copper, but I've certainly had decent wear from my years playing rugby.

16 July, 2012 08:34

 

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