Wycombe's top cop blasts Home Secretary's decision (From Bucks Free Press)

I wish him good luck - and if what you are saying is that he does not have a supposed policing background - given the so-called Police that have done NOTHING for the past 8 years for myself and my family when required - then surely this can only be a good thing. The Police Service today ABSOLUTELY SUCKS - by someone that has first hand knowledge of the same.

The police commander has got this spot on. It is not wise to employ a carpet fitter to fit your kitchen?! but the home secretary thinks it is acceptable for a railway lawyer to hold the most senior policing inspection post in the country! This is at best crazy and at it's worst corrupt!

The Superintendant is right; and for his comments he may have some problems coming his way, such is the internal politicking within the police service. That same politicking is destroying the best police service in the world and why so many officers can't wait to get out. This decision makes no sense but good on you Superintendant for saying how you see it; to thine own self, be true.

Zafira1979 wrote:
The police commander has got this spot on. It is not wise to employ a carpet fitter to fit your kitchen?! but the home secretary thinks it is acceptable for a railway lawyer to hold the most senior policing inspection post in the country! This is at best crazy and at it's worst corrupt!

Quite agree. Target culture and reactive (rather than intelligent Policing) will likely ensue, meaning more form filling, less independence, more political interferance. I too am highly critical of the Police when they get it wrong but the Winsor report was in my opinion fundamentally flawed and unfair.

About time that a senior officer spoke out against what the government are doing. Well done Supt Houalla! I am at a loss for words about what the government are doing to the finest police service in the world. Now the chief officers should be following Mr Houalla's lead.

I find it odd that whenever in the past 30 years, when any Government has tried to reform the Police that reforms fail and are blocked because of the Police complaining and always falling back on the "wonderful job" they are doing! Organisations can always do better. I note that the Police always say their jobs are so difficult and complicated that only they can do it, suggest changes or even sort out complaints against themselves. They clearly do not like change or reform, so no wonder they hate the thought of someone with new and different ideas sorting them out. The Police only look after themselves with a few exceptions.
They are well paid, have great inflation-proof/fina
l salary pensions, numerous and often out-dated allowances, are paid generous overtime and retire early. They do not even know how to behave decently - for instance I was disgusted at the way they treated the Home Secretary at their conference. Time for major changes, all other institutions are adapting and transforming in the new era from the Armed Forces to the Civil Service. So Police - stop complaining and get on with your highly paid and lucrative jobs and learn to change and provide accountability and better value-for-money - like the rest of us.

Speaking as one who retired from the service just before this government came to power, who also voted them in, I cannot believe the havoc they have wrought. The previous comments are clearly by persons with little or no actual knowledge of the Police service pay and conditions. It has been a long time since we had the "out-dated" allowances, they were in the main scrapped under the previous Sheahy and Edmund Davies reviews. As for the "gold plated pensions", I paid 11-12% over 36 years for my pension. I believe I worked hard for it and deserve it, especially as statistics suggest my life span will be 10% shorter as a result of all that shift work hence the early retirement! As for the generous overtime, we were already working 45 minutes a day extra without any payment, by having to report for duty 15 minutes before the duty starts and were expected to work for 30 minutes after each shift for "debriefing" etc. In my world that equals 3 and 3/4 hours any "average week". The Police no longer investigate themselves where complaints are concerned, has the previous writer not heard of the Police Complaints Commission! In addition, the restrictions on private lives place additional responsibilities on each and every officer and includes being disciplined for their actions on and off duty. For someone to claim that the police are not amenable to change is to misunderstand and discount all the changes that have gone before. Our federations have failed to inform the general public about all these changes. I guarantee that at the first hint of any danger the first port of call by any of the above will be the Police!

"I guarantee that at the first hint of any danger the first port of call by any of the above will be the Police" maybe in the olden days but CERTAINLY NOT today - open your eyes and SEE what the Police are like today - pen pushers - bullies - actors in uniform that don't like to get their hands dirty. Afraid they have let my family, friends and members of the public down greatly over the past 8 years and are continuing to do so - as you stated you are retired so obviuosly don't know what is going on in the Force today :(

ght478 wrote:
Speaking as one who retired from the service just before this government came to power, who also voted them in, I cannot believe the havoc they have wrought. The previous comments are clearly by persons with little or no actual knowledge of the Police service pay and conditions. It has been a long time since we had the "out-dated" allowances, they were in the main scrapped under the previous Sheahy and Edmund Davies reviews. As for the "gold plated pensions", I paid 11-12% over 36 years for my pension. I believe I worked hard for it and deserve it, especially as statistics suggest my life span will be 10% shorter as a result of all that shift work hence the early retirement! As for the generous overtime, we were already working 45 minutes a day extra without any payment, by having to report for duty 15 minutes before the duty starts and were expected to work for 30 minutes after each shift for "debriefing" etc. In my world that equals 3 and 3/4 hours any "average week". The Police no longer investigate themselves where complaints are concerned, has the previous writer not heard of the Police Complaints Commission! In addition, the restrictions on private lives place additional responsibilities on each and every officer and includes being disciplined for their actions on and off duty. For someone to claim that the police are not amenable to change is to misunderstand and discount all the changes that have gone before. Our federations have failed to inform the general public about all these changes. I guarantee that at the first hint of any danger the first port of call by any of the above will be the Police!

ght478 thanks for the most useful insiders update and factual corrections to my post. It just shows that your "trade union", the Federation, have done a pretty poor job providing this information to the public.

However, by thinly veiled threats to the Government and public, public anti-Government pronouncements (such as comments to BFP by Area commander, Superintendent Houalla), marching in demonstrations, boorish behaviour at the Federation Conference against the elected Home Secretary - have done little to help the case for the Police. In fact it has, in my opinion, done the opposite to what the Police wanted.

And about turning to the Police "at the first hint of any danger" - well what choice does the public have? You have the monopoly and want to keep it!

Let's try a new Chief Inspector of Her Majesty Inspectorate of Constabulary and elected controls of the Police. If after 5 years it does not work then you can tell us that you warned us and we can try something else. Perhaps the Police if they want to be of real service to the community should stay out of politics?

....and the end result will be G4S style policing... you get what you pay for! As for staying out of politics, in general, police officers are non political. It is against the Discipline Code for an officer to belong to a Trade Union, for that very reason. That is why officers rely on their Federation to put their point of view. We are however at the behest of Politicians.
Over the years I saw many improvements in the quality and style of policing. There were huge improvements in the quality of officers, and what I didn't say in my last post is "I still work in the policing environment, with and around serving officers. I have seen first hand the effect on morale. We are struggling even now to resource incidents as they come in.. how much worse do you think it will get with these cuts and "reforms". I can say that if the reforms were valid and not just with a view to saving money, the Federation would whole heartedly support them. As they always have. But they are not! The Government have appointed puppet managers to the top ranks, who are only there to do the governments bidding and save money. As for wanting a monopoly, that's not really fair. The laws of the land created the monopoly. Would you really want any other "company" to enforce legislation, just think of the "clampers" At least Police Officers are accountable.
In five years time, when these changes have completely altered the face of policing in this country, it will be too late. Ever wonder why various security companies are interested in bidding for involvement in Policing?Just look at who the upper echelons of those companies are. Past Senior Officers from the Police Service, who see a way to make a quick profit, not improve a Public Service. That is why they should be resisted and put to the vote in a referendum.

ght478 wrote:
....and the end result will be G4S style policing... you get what you pay for! As for staying out of politics, in general, police officers are non political. It is against the Discipline Code for an officer to belong to a Trade Union, for that very reason. That is why officers rely on their Federation to put their point of view. We are however at the behest of Politicians.
Over the years I saw many improvements in the quality and style of policing. There were huge improvements in the quality of officers, and what I didn't say in my last post is "I still work in the policing environment, with and around serving officers. I have seen first hand the effect on morale. We are struggling even now to resource incidents as they come in.. how much worse do you think it will get with these cuts and "reforms". I can say that if the reforms were valid and not just with a view to saving money, the Federation would whole heartedly support them. As they always have. But they are not! The Government have appointed puppet managers to the top ranks, who are only there to do the governments bidding and save money. As for wanting a monopoly, that's not really fair. The laws of the land created the monopoly. Would you really want any other "company" to enforce legislation, just think of the "clampers" At least Police Officers are accountable.
In five years time, when these changes have completely altered the face of policing in this country, it will be too late. Ever wonder why various security companies are interested in bidding for involvement in Policing?Just look at who the upper echelons of those companies are. Past Senior Officers from the Police Service, who see a way to make a quick profit, not improve a Public Service. That is why they should be resisted and put to the vote in a referendum.

I am in the Armed Forces and cannot (and will never) strike, we cannot join Trade Unions, nor do we have a quasi-trade union like the Federation. We serve the nation, we do not criticise the Government in public, we do not behave in a boorish way when Government ministers address us, we have had huge redundancies and many parts have been successfully privatised (both front-line and support). We embrace change and always want to do better with fewer resources. I hope we set a better example than some other “so called servants of the people”!

piran wrote:

ght478 wrote: ....and the end result will be G4S style policing... you get what you pay for! As for staying out of politics, in general, police officers are non political. It is against the Discipline Code for an officer to belong to a Trade Union, for that very reason. That is why officers rely on their Federation to put their point of view. We are however at the behest of Politicians. Over the years I saw many improvements in the quality and style of policing. There were huge improvements in the quality of officers, and what I didn't say in my last post is "I still work in the policing environment, with and around serving officers. I have seen first hand the effect on morale. We are struggling even now to resource incidents as they come in.. how much worse do you think it will get with these cuts and "reforms". I can say that if the reforms were valid and not just with a view to saving money, the Federation would whole heartedly support them. As they always have. But they are not! The Government have appointed puppet managers to the top ranks, who are only there to do the governments bidding and save money. As for wanting a monopoly, that's not really fair. The laws of the land created the monopoly. Would you really want any other "company" to enforce legislation, just think of the "clampers" At least Police Officers are accountable. In five years time, when these changes have completely altered the face of policing in this country, it will be too late. Ever wonder why various security companies are interested in bidding for involvement in Policing?Just look at who the upper echelons of those companies are. Past Senior Officers from the Police Service, who see a way to make a quick profit, not improve a Public Service. That is why they should be resisted and put to the vote in a referendum.

I am in the Armed Forces and cannot (and will never) strike, we cannot join Trade Unions, nor do we have a quasi-trade union like the Federation. We serve the nation, we do not criticise the Government in public, we do not behave in a boorish way when Government ministers address us, we have had huge redundancies and many parts have been successfully privatised (both front-line and support). We embrace change and always want to do better with fewer resources. I hope we set a better example than some other “so called servants of the people”!

The problem is Piran, how far does one have to be pushed before they stop "bending over and taking it" so-to-speak? The armed Forces, as are the Police are resorting to more privately contracted resource which in my opinion is NOT the way to go for Defence and Justice.

You are right to say "We embrace change and always want to do better with fewer resources", but when we think the Armed Forces in Iraq and Aghan etc, I think the biggest rub is where you have unqualified civil servants interfering in operational duties.

Look at how many Whitehall press Officers were attached to operational units in Iraq, to ensure that the "right message was being delivered", the amount of procurement cockups and wastage when our chaps are lacking basic equipment etc.

The Police in this case were already suffering from considerable Political pressure, now, with yet another Quango, their political independence will be challenged further in my opinion.

As for

If the Home Secretary has made an incompetent appointment, then it shows the competency of the Home Secretary. And who, not singular, made the appointment of the Home Secretary?

rushma wrote:
If the Home Secretary has made an incompetent appointment, then it shows the competency of the Home Secretary. And who, not singular, made the appointment of the Home Secretary?

Who said "the Home Secretary has made an incompetent appointment". I think it is innovative and a good way forward

I agree with Piran, for the most part the police service as a whole does a very sub par job, They seem to prefer to concentrate on the money making or easy targets and are hopeless at catching proper criminals, if they spent more of their time and effort catching burglars, drug dealers and violent thugs rather than issuing speeding tickets and policing peoples use seatbelts etc we would have a much better community. About time someone from outside of the police was brought in to shake them up a bit.