Single crewing and overtime

This week the government announced yet another foray into meddling with the Police.

Apparently Police forces are spending too much money on overtime and not sending officers out by themselves which is 'wasteful.' I scoffed at this as I signed my shifts requests for painting of second houses, moat cleaning and one officer who employed his son to take statements for him.

Poshshire has a 'single crewing policy' already. Basically early and late shifts officers are out by themselves and on nights were meant to be double crewed. Unofficially I try and supplement this (numbers permitting) with a number of double crewed cars all the time.

Certain jobs a single crewed officer can turn up and deal with. For example an overnight burglary where one statement needs taking.

Other jobs need two or even three officers.

A simple shoplifter for example needs two officers to transport. Understandably when driving you don't want a violent person behind you, depending on their age, sex and mental/medical state you don't want any false allegations made against you or anything to happen to the prisoner. Each of the witnesses to the shoplifting needs a statement taken otherwise CPS will bail the person and ask you to get them anyway. CCTV needs to be seized and viewed and your own statement done detailing what you saw, this is especially important as most shop staff don't know how to use the CCTV system to burn of a disk for you and the only person with the key to the hard drive lives four hours away and may be in in a week Tuesday. Then we have seizing stolen items and booking them in. Thats ok for Mrs Miggins who has stolen a bottle of perfume. When you get a prolific shoplifter your talking multiple items from multiple shops all that need seizing and bagging, statements from each shop to establish ownership plus a house search which may throw up more items.

Forces have had to publish a 'green paper' as well on their recycling schemes and use of fleet. Recently Hampshire Police rolled out an 'electric car' for non response duties for neighbourhood officers that cost 99p to 'fill up.' You single crew a car and you need more cars which you buy an run, how is that 'green?'

Then theres the public perception. One violent person needs three or four officers to deal with them effectively in order to control them with minimum risk to the person being arrested and the officers, this includes keeping the inevitable 'helpers' away from officers. MOPs see four cars turn up and its 'police brutality' and 'overkill.'

Still think that single crewing is a good idea?

Overtime is always an issue for Police. Inspectors and above DONT get overtime. Yes you heard me right. Instead they get Time Off In Lieu (TOIL) in effect extra leave that they cant take as there is no one else to cover for them.

Sgts and Constables still get overtime. Again not many people know that we have to do half an hour for FREE or 'for the queen' as its known before we can claim overtime. Most of us turn up half an hour early anyway to be ready to deploy on time and wade through the 'helpful' emails from members of Police staff so we can assist them in doing their jobs. So effectively people do an hour of overtime before we can claim. Stretch this further you can claim in 15 minute increments but no one does they wait until you have done half an hour. Therefore you will usually have done an hour and a half of overtime before you claim half an hours worth. Can you imagine other professions doing this?

The most you can be paid in overtime is double time, and the lowest time and a third. Without quoting complicated regulations basically the less notice you have that you are required to work the more money you get.

As staffing levels are so low that forces struggle to cover immediate grade calls how are you meant to get extra staff for large spontaneous incidents like murders, floods, serious crashes and large outbreaks of disorder? You get people that are on days off and pay them overtime and get mutual aid from other nearby forces. Yes its expensive but what else can you do? We cant not deal with calls for help or tell you to go to the next force along.

Funnily enough the crewing and overtime are linked. More cars, fuel and maintenance means a bugger budget which has to come from somewhere. And an officer driving 45 minutes from another area to get a statement for your shoplifting job rather than your crew mate doing it all adds up.

Funnily enough when a 'major incident' happens you cant send officers home. They don't do it for the overtime they do it as they want to be there and want to help. Maybe the blitz spirit isn't dead maybe its just been pushed underground under the weight of political correctness and the blame culture.....

P.S. I've just checked other blogs I follow before posting and note that Insp Gadget has posted a similar blog reference single crewing. Funny isnt it were both different ranks, both in different forces and both in 'response' roles and have similar issues. Who do YOU believe? Us or the government?

Got your number!

As I have mentioned before I really enjoy doing foot patrol in town centres. It makes a change from dealing with people that are offenders or victims and I get to meet 'normal' albeit drunk MOPs. Its one of the rare occasions when I get most of my shift in one place and if policed proactively we can stop most problems in the town before it gets out of hand.

Last week I was with a female PC who has just completed her ten weeks tutorship on foot in the town on a Saturday night.

In the time honoured fashion we were proceeding in a northerly direction when we espied a gentlemen who had imbibed too much intoxicating liquor, was unsteady on his feet, his speech was slurred and his eyes were glazed. I formed the opinion that he was drunk. As he was obstructing the queens highway we approached the male who charmingly greeted my colleague with "COR UR FIT, U CAN ARREST ME N E TIME!" (written as spoken) and then tried to cuddle her. She fended him off and told him to go home. He staggered away, then shuffled back to say "CAN I HAVE UR NUMBER?" offering her a damp piece of torn rizla packet with a phone number on. Funnily enough she declined. He then lurched away towards a kebab shop. Just as she was explaining to me she felt really uncomfortable and didn't know what to do in those situations Romeo returned declaring loudly "CAN I JUS SAY THAT UR GORGEOUS AND I REALLY FANCY YOU?" My colleague was speechless and turning a nice shade of red. I stepped into assist saying "THANK YOU VERY MUCH SIR, IM FLATTERED BUT DONT THINK MY WIFE WOULD APPROVE!" Romeos mouth hung open and he stomped off muttering "NO NOT YOU!" never to be seen again. If any of you are serving officers let me know if this one works for you.

Many moons ago when I was still a PC and PCSO's had just been introduced I was on foot in yet another town centre when a man walked past with his girlfriend stage whispering to her. "THEY ARE NOT REAL POLICE THEY ARE THOSE SPECIAL COMMUNITY THINGIES....." Always keen to build relationships with sections of the community I stopped them and explained I was a 'regular' officer and they differences between regulars, Specials and PCSO's. I then asked the male what he did for a living. He replied "IM A RETAINED FIREFIGHTER." Quick as a flash I replied "OH NOT A REAL FIREFIGHTER THEN?" And walked away giggling to myself, Police 1 Fire service 0.....

Officer down PC Bill Barker

RIP PC Bill Barker who died doing the job he loved. My thoughts are with your family and colleagues.

Walk easily on heavens streets Bill you've done your time in hell.

Lions led by donkeys

Due to passing a recent exam I’ve been doing a bit of ‘acting’ and no I don’t mean wearing greasepaint and fluffing my lines I mean performing the role of a higher rank.

For those members of parliament that are worried about the burden of this on the public purse I have to do approximately two weeks worth of acting duties before I receive any extra pay. This is in addition to the half hour ‘for the queen’ that all officers have to do before you can claim overtime.

Acting up was a bit of any eye opener for me and confused many of the people I work with. I was called ‘Sir’, ‘Sarge’, ‘Sirsarge’, ‘Sire’, ‘Serge’ and ‘you’ve got something funny on your shoulders’ as well as other terms I wont reproduce here.

Different forces use Inspectors differently. In mine out of office hours the ‘response Inspector’ is responsible for running a quarter of the force, custody reviews and all incidents from MISPERs (missing persons), serious crashes and assaults and any ‘hate’ incidents as well as complaints.

This meant for the first time in about three years I didn’t leave the station for a whole day. Instead I was handcuffed to desk with a computer and phone and a long chain that had just enough reach for me to go to custody.

I’m sure with a bit of practice the same as when I went from PC to PS I could do the various jobs much quicker and get out and about again and feel the streets under my boots/tyres depending on my mode of transport.

This also meant that people I had previously called ‘Sir’ or ‘Maam’ I was now calling by their first names and able to be a bit more frank with them instead of just grinning and bearing it.

I can see now why from Inspector upwards in the Police you don’t see many higher ranking people out and about on the street. They have an increased administration burden and if you are so inclined you can take advantage of it and make sure you never leave the office. Recently I’ve seen an Inspector control a firearms incident from the office. Quite how they thought they ‘managed’ it I'm not sure but from my vantage point hiding behind a brick wall I can say it was not done effectively.

It made me think. Do I want to get promoted? I like being a Sgt you have a good compromise of power and ability to influence things with still being out on the streets and being able to make life more bearable for your troops. At least if I get promoted I can try and influence things from a higher level and try and shame other similar ranked ‘office dwellers’ into coming out on the streets.

Such people are affectionately referred to as ‘B.O.N.G.O.s’ in Police parlance. This isn’t a racist term it stands for Books. On. Never .Goes. Out. You can generally spot such Police officers as they are wearing shoes and not boots. Don’t have a stab vest or belt kit and if they do it will be all shiny and new and worn back to front and upside down. And will have ‘forgotten’ their pocket notebook so they cant take any details at an incident and be called to court.

It reminds me off the Blackadder goes forth sketch where General Meltchitt reminds Blackadder and George that he and Captain Darling are behind him when he ‘goes over the top’ and Blackadder mutters about them being miles behind him.

Got to go the whistle is blowing and I need to find my stick/baton, wouldn’t want to face a machine gun without it…..

The Duty Sgt unmasked!!!

The Duty Sgt has been unmasked! That's the problem working with Police officers. The half decent ones are all naturally suspicious people who dig at things were not happy with until we get answers.

An ex colleague who I joined the job with from my previous force contacted me the other day to say how much he liked my blog. We irregularly keep in contact and looking back I realised that the updates I had given him on my own life matched my blog and having known me for a few years he made the connection. Luckily I trust him and he has assured me he will keep it under his hat (along with his lunch if you read my previous post.) I did chuckle though as one of his reasons for keeping quiet is that he is embarrassed that he reads Police blogs in his own time.

It did make me think though, I read Police blogs as I like to see that its not just me in my force or even British Police officers that have the same problems. From feedback I know that a few serving officers from the UK and abroad read this as well as ex officers (enjoy your pension you deserve it!) read my blog.

Can I ask readers to reply and let me know why you read my blog? And as for 'Tony Robinson' my ex colleague thank you for your kind comments and friendship.

As an aside please remember the fallen at 11 o'clock. It dosent cost you anything and only takes two minutes.

Field Tester

After my recent blog about Police kit I was approached by Magnum and asked to field test a new pair of boots the Magnum Elite Force 8.0.

Usually I wear a standard pair of Magnum 'classics.' I have had my new boots for a few weeks now and must say my initial reaction is good. They were comfortable right out of the box and didn't need 'wearing in.' I do a mix of foot patrol work and driving for long periods of time and have had no issues so far.

With the recent change in the weather I will wait and conduct a full review after another month or so and let you know if the ion mask technology does what it says on the box and protects your feet from the full rigours of the British weather, drunks being sick on them and traipsing around muddy fields looking for MISPERs.

The site address is http://global.magnumboots.com/ion-mask/ and more importantly if you look in the bottom right hand corner Magnum are after other field testers. Go on fill your boots!

Myths and Legends

Although I might fondly imagine myself fighting the forces of evil whilst on patrol in the early hours of the morning with my trusty steed (car) and sword (baton) on my hip and shield (um er shield) in the boot I am not a knight and therefore not part of myth and legend.

Which is why I always find it highly amusing that when dealing with MOPs people always quote obscure things that their mate told them down the pub at me or things that seemingly have been passed down from generation to generation when dealing with the Police. Hopefully this post will debunk a few myths and if nothing else make a few people smile.

First and foremost pregnant ladies cant ask to use my custodian helmet (pointy hat as in the photo) to go to the toilet in and I am not obliged to let them do it. And I don't keep my lunch under it when on foot patrol.

Yes you can be arrested by one officer by themselves in England there doesn't need to be two of us together to do it. All I need is reasonable grounds to suspect you have committed an offence. And I don't need to be 'on duty' to arrest someone I have full Police powers when off duty although some are only available to officers in uniform I am not in the habit of wearing this on days off.

Swearing and shouting in the street IS an offence irrespective of who you are doing it at. You don't need to be warned to be arrested for it.

I don't need a warrant to enter your house depending on the circumstances I can use different powers under different acts.

Committing parking offences whilst leaving your hazard lights on and/or your small child in the car does not provide an exemption.

I don't need to be wearing my hat in order to breath test you. Sucking on copper coins, eating bits of tissue paper and sucking instead of blowing into the tube don't effect the breath test machines and you WILL be arrested regardless.

Listening to your answerphone messages, texting or calling your best mate who is upset are not legal exemptions to using your mobile phone whilst driving.

Currently cannabis is still illegal and you cant claim your are conducting your own medical experiments into pain relief.

You always need insurance cover for your car, it doesn't matter if you have just purchased it or you don't need it in your country you do when you are in the UK. The law did change a few years ago and Police can now '165' your car that means we seize it and crush it if you don't pay to get it back if you drive with no insurance or licence.

One I hate the most is passing small children throwing tantrums in the street. Parents always say "IF YOU DON'T STOP MISBEHAVING THE POLICEMAN WILL LOCK YOU UP." No wonder some small children are afraid of us!

Most Police cars now have data recorders in them that record speed, what lights were in use and a whole host of other complicated data. Although I am aware of a few highly publicised cases we don't use the lights and sirens to get home early or because we are late for lunch.

And despite what a young new in service PC did last week on my rota I wont post my warrant card through the letter box to you if you are elderly and don't believe I am a Police officer despite the uniform and marked car. And if the officer does do this please dont try and eat it!