Monthly Archive for May, 2009

Luxury

Published on May 31, 2009 in Other Stuff. Closed

written by 200 from 200 Weeks

There are some days you just don’t need work. Today was just such a day, in fact I don’t think I thought of work all day until I came to do my usual daily post just now.

I spent the day standing in the sun watching a load of cars I could never possibly afford to drive around a bit of tarmac in seemingly endless circles. It was loud, it was hot, I have aching shoulders from wearing a rucksack all day, my feet are crying out for iced water, but it was bloody fantastic.

Then, when I got home, I luxuriated in the bliss of a cool shower (I’m not brave enough to do cold showers) before spending the evening with my lovely family in our favourite restaurant. For the first time in ages we had a bottle of wine & the kids got to order whatever they wanted, including extras (read fries). And I ended the meal with the biggest glass of ice cream, chocolate sauce & cream I’ve had in a pretty long time.

My wife turned to me as we waited for the main course & said “Isn’t it great to go out for a meal & not have to worry what it’s costing”, and she was right.

Sometimes life is really great.

The original post can be found http://200weeks.police999.com/archives/1615

Everybody’s got to learn sometime.

Published on May 31, 2009 in 1. Closed

written by inspectorgadget from POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG

The other night we had some real grief. A clearly disturbed woman was on the line to one of our operators whilst attaching a rope to her neck, and attempting to hang herself from a tree in her garden.

We were getting this as a live commentary over the radio. My hands were shaking on the steering wheel. Thank the Lord I was on my own at this point.

Patrols went but couldn’t find the exact location in the dark. I requested an emergency live cell trace on the number (she was on a mobile) and the operator could hear a child in the background.

The whole of F Division night duty went to this call. And that’s not saying much. For what it’s worth, we were all there. She was found and the circumstances turned out not to be as first described. But that happens so often.

Take the keys to one of these, and get there as soon as!

A fantastic crew Ruralshire NHS Ambulance Trust helped while police officers arranged a mental health assessment. I then had to review a Police Protection Order for the child who had seen all this.

This call caused me (and everyone else) a lot of stress. During the search, when you can hear it all going on and you can’t seem to get there quick enough. And later over the child.

I know that I usually treat policing as a bit of a joke, or an opportunity to be cynical about the bureaucracy nonsense. Perhaps it’s a defence mechanism.

This was a major ‘wake up call’ for me. How do you ‘come down’ after that? There isn’t a government performance target or league table for it.

As they say; everybody’s got to learn sometime.

First published in May 2007; reproduced here as a mark of respect to one of the attending officers who retires this week after 30 years service. The photo was taken in the F Div parking yard, of genuine Ruralshire police vehicles we use every day.

The original post can be found http://inspectorgadget.wordpress.com/2009/05/31/everybody%e2%80%99s-got-to-learn-sometime/

Just fill this in, leave it on my desk

Published on May 30, 2009 in The Job - Experience and The Job - General. Closed

written by 200 from 200 Weeks

There was a time when people you worked with knew what you were like. They knew whether you were good at your job or not, what your strengths & your weaknesses were. They knew how you worked, & if they were your supervisor, they knew how well you worked.

This went by the board some time ago; they introduced what they now call PDRs, or Performance Development Reviews. This replaced the need for supervisors to write about you, with an evidence-based approach in which you had to show them that you had the required skills for the role. You had to do all the work all of a sudden, then present it to the supervisor. Appraisals were done away with. Now nobody knows who does what unless it’s written down by the person doing it. Nothing is personal any more, it’s all done by proforma.

Theres more but that’s just a basic summary to get me to the point I want to make in todays blog entry.

I got asked to fill in a form this week. The management have finally cottoned on to the fact that there is a high level of stress in the control room. The fact that they have caused most of it by the way they staff the place has probably slipped seemelessly by their glass walled offices.

So I got asked to fill in a form which is designed to measure how much stress I’m under. This, of course, will not measure my stress level in any meaningful way. I am limited to answering the exact questions they ask. “Do your colleagues value your contributions?” Agree Strongly/ Agree/ Neither Agree nor Disagree/ Disagree/ Strongly Disagree.

There are, of course, many such anodyne, airey-fairey, non-specific examples of questions. Nowhere do I see questions like “How often do you have to work on your own under high pressure situations?” “Can you get the leave you are entitled to, when you want it?” “How often do you have to work for 7 or 8 hours at a stretch without a break?”

They will gather in the forms & some bean counter will analyse the to determine how much stress I am under. They will see that I am not under much stress at all. Nobody will come and ask me what I think about stress in the control room. None of the bosses will come & sit with me for a busy late turn to see first-hand the stresses placed on me.

They will look over their forms & know the cost of everything & the value of nothing.

The original post can be found http://200weeks.police999.com/archives/1612

THE POLICING PLEDGE

Published on May 30, 2009 in Uncategorized. Closed

written by PC COPPERFIELD from The Policeman's Blog

Here's a link to the policing pledge.

Pretty fantastic I think you'll agree.

Anyway, with budgets coming under pressure everywhere and forces being reduced to a bare minimum number of crime auditors, news reaches me from Lancashire Constabulary about an internal marketing campaign to 'get everyone on board' and 'singing from the same hymn sheet'.

Here it is:

Here's a poster!!:

Lancashire Constabulary also have an internal message board for those with no interest in further career progression. Here's a selection of rather po-faced messages of lack of support. I've highlighted the best post, about half way down:

Policing Pledge versus Chocolate ????
Whoever designed the current "Policing Pledge" advert/campaign really should reconsider the whole thing. Trying to emulate a well known chocolate bar is not very sensible in this day and age of healthy eating... and to offer a month’s supply of chocolate as some kind of incentive to embrace the pledge is an insult to those people who:

Want to maintain a healthy eating approach
Diabetics
Any other person who has no interest in chocolate whatsoever.

If this was aimed at children I could see the adverts comparison aims... but we are not so why use this style?

I totally agree. It’s like pumping the smell of fish and chips through a dieter’s club. It’d be interesting to see if the sale of “Wispa” bars or chocolate in general has increased over the last week or so.

I fully agree with these comments. If you want to bribe people into reading the policing pledge then you should not be offering chocolate. This appears to be against all the health advice we are given. What are you going to offer next alcohol and cigarettes?

It would also concern me that you are close to breaching copyright.

Whoever thought this up should take more care for future campaigns and adopt a more professional approach.

Also what has the cost been to produce all these posters etc. not to mention the cost in staff time to put them up?

I saw two support staff that I didn't recognise, so I assume they were from HQ, putting up the 15+ (!!!) posters in my station.

Surely the Intranet was set up to be used for such purposes, to save money on posters and other "publicity" material which probably have a questionable relevance.

What worthwhile initiatives that would actually benefit the public of Lancashire could use the monies that have been wasted on this "awareness campaign"?

I agree with the previous post and wonder what reaction we will get from other partner agencies who visit our stations when they see what is basically a very "childish" campaign.

Subjects that are far more important like MOPI get no posters. Where's the logic in that?

Additionally has the Constabulary checked copyright issues because it would be tragic if they got sued by a leading confectionary manufacturer for breach of copyright?

But I love chocolate.....

I thought I should reply on behalf of the department who has thought up, produced and delivered this campaign across the force. There are a number of issues raised, and I would like to address them:

You are right to be 'concerned' about copyright - we certainly were and that is why we checked our legal position. Just so you are aware, there is no legal case for copyright in this case as the campaign is internally focused and we are not making any monetary gain from the 'adverts'. Even if this was 'external' we would have to be taking a market share from Cadbury and quite clearly as selling chocolate isn't our primary concern, then we wouldn't be. There may be an increase in chocolate purchases across the force though!

Secondly, this campaign was designed to get people talking and to raise the profile of the Policing Pledge across ALL staff. I am certainly pleased that we have succeeded.

We often get criticised for churning out the same old corporate stuff from HQ, so when we stray away from the norm to try and get some attention on an issue that is vitally important for the force, I am disappointed that some people can't support this approach.

I don't think the campaign is childish or unprofessional in any way - I am in my 30's and love chocolate (people who know me will totally understand that!) but I don't eat it every day as I do have an element of self control. It is a bit of fun to get people involved – you can take or leave the chocolate, but please do look at the Pledge.

The staff in our department are professional, specially trained graphic designers, marketers and communicators who take great pride in what they produce. They have been recognised outside the force for their work so I am quite comfortable that they have delivered an extremely professional campaign.

We felt it important to ask our own staff to come into division to put these posters up as we appreciate just how busy life is out there (I was out in division for 10 years until I came to HQ, so I like to think I haven't lost touch with reality completely).

Finally, the campaign has the support of the Chief Constable and the Police Authority and other organisations that have visited HQ in the last couple of days have actually asked to take samples back as good practice to their forces.

We are trying to support you, not work against you. Love it or loathe it, you are talking about it so we are quite happy with that.

Here, here!!

I thought it made a refreshing change, as the Constabulary is often thought of as stuffy with no sense of humour/fun (plus I love chocolate and still manage to lead a healthy lifestyle!!!)

I think that the campaign is highly creative and eye-catching. The posters look as if they have no bearing on police work, so staff seem drawn to them, which I guess is their intended purpose. Had it been the same old staid posters or leaflets, then they probably would have become as invisible as every other campaign literature has become. Love it or hate it, it seems to have even got the cynics talking about the 'Policing Pledge', so something must be working! As for the health benefits of chocolate, one can choose not to eat it, but I believe it does allow a release of endorphins. Conversely, you could always walk around your local supermarket getting into a fit of rhetoric about the masses of foodstuff as well as chocolate that lead to an unhealthy lifestyle. Doner kebabs or fruit, surely it's all about the 'Policing Pledge'.

It might be an idea to do a survey in due course as to how many people actually digested the Policing Pledge, and how many just digested a bar of chocolate!!

************** BEST COMMENT ********************
This is not a bribe, it's a great way to promote a fantastic and important performance initiative. It's just the sort of fun thing I joined the job for. I'm very impressed with the pledge and having told my wife all about it, she too is very interested and pleased with the whole thing. I suspect she'll be attending our local PACT meeting shortly for the first time ever to hear from our Community Beat Manager just what it will mean to us at a local level. This campaign certainly works for me. Viva la pledge, viva la chocolate. Operationalising the pledge will be hard work, but no one ever said it couldn't be fun too. I hope the next campaign will imitate Kentucky Fried Chicken, that'll whet my appetite for what could have been a very dry and boring subject even further. The Home Office have clearly put their best brains behind this. They are to be congratulated on their intuitive and well-researched, and very driven approach.

“If this is a success then it must have reached its target audience” Sorry, I did not realise I'm a chocolate eating 9 y/o with an IQ less than my shoe size. What Government sponsored initiative will we be tackling next in this vein?

"…this campaign was designed to get people talking and to raise the profile of the Policing Pledge across ALL staff. I am certainly pleased that we have succeeded"

But has it? It has certainly got people talking about the Pledge, but the content?

"We often get criticised for churning out the same old corporate stuff from HQ, so when we stray away from the norm to try and get some attention on an issue that is vitally important for the force, I am disappointed that some people can't support this approach."

So hasn't the 'norm' passed the different messages on throughout the years?

"I don't think the campaign is childish or unprofessional in any way - I am in my 30's and love chocolate (people who know me will totally understand that!) but I don't eat it every day as I do have an element of self control. It is a bit of fun to get people involved – you can take or leave the chocolate, but please do look at the Pledge."

I feel it is. Everything about the design from the logo, phrases used, type of pictures is reminiscent of 'spoof' adverts you sometimes see in student 'rag mags' and the like.

“The staff in our department are professional, specially trained graphic designers, marketers and communicators who take great pride in what they produce. They have been recognised outside the force for their work“
Yes, it is very well presented and executed and congratulations to the designers, but is it relevant and necessary in an environment such as ours? Tesco, Sainsburys or Asda maybe, but in a police station? No.

“We felt it important to ask our own staff to come into division to put these posters up as we appreciate just how busy life is out there (I was out in division for 10 years until I came to HQ, so I like to think I haven't lost touch with reality completely).”

Maybe a survey of staff within Divisions should be taken about the campaign?

“Finally, the campaign has the support of the Chief Constable and the Police Authority and other organisations that have visited HQ in the last couple of days have actually asked to take samples back as good practice to their forces.”

It would be interesting to see the feedback from the operational officers within the respective forces if and when they are used.

“We are trying to support you, not work against you. Love it or loathe it, you are talking about it so we are quite happy with that.”

I'm sure the rest of the Constabulary realise that, while the Constabulary may be talking ABOUT the Pledge (or the Pledge advertising campaign) are they talking about the content?

I have read the Policing Pledge as per instruction but I did print it out for the sole purpose of answering the questions for the competition, however I would like to know the definition of a month's chocolate because by my consumption, that's a high value prize.

Surely the constabulary could spend tax payers’ money better than wasting it on silly signs and advertising. Are we not supposed to be encouraging a healthy work force not a group of roly polys?

The "Chocolate Bar" Pledge
I'm sick and tired of seeing these damn chocolate bars all over the police station. I'm desperately trying to lose a bit of weight and have a soft spot for the Wispa Bar. Subliminal promises of chocolate are just not fair!!!!

Personally I think it should have been a can of polish on the promotional material... with the tagline "policing pledge... 10 steps for a polished performance"... God I’m in the wrong job !

What I find abhorrent is the fact that the Constabulary spends money on designing/printing a huge number of unnecessary and expensive posters, yet they won't contribute a single penny to the health and welfare of retired police dogs when they need veterinary treatment.

I have already had my say on this subject but then things got worse on Thursday when Pop-Ups started appearing every time I clicked on Sherlock. I thought I had gone onto one of those websites (you know the ones) by mistake.

As a said last time this is an unprofessional campaign and you have just proved it. It may have people talking but not about the pledge.

I would have loved to have been in the meeting when this campaign was green lighted. Despite the generally negative reception this will be a "huge success" as everything in this organisation is...

Fair point, I have some friends who worked on the Cadbury's Wispa campaign they would be a tad upset to see this somewhat blatant rip off

Can’t agree more - I’m constantly in and out of Sherlock and I’m getting these 'pop-ups' all the time. They're getting in the way.

If this were my personal computer I’d be upgrading my software to block them!

PLEASE someone tell me how to stop them.

Pledge and pop ups
Sorry, but these new 'pop ups' are really beginning to grate - we get it!

Insult to intelligence choc bribe
I agree with all the comments so far and have emailed media and marketing about this annoying pop up as follows:-

Please remove this extremely annoying pop-up as it’s stopping me from doing my job! I find it an insult to my intelligence to constantly see this appear each time I open a window. It’s bad enough seeing it on the front page and having banners about it in our work place. We don’t need to be offered unhealthy confectionery as an incentive to work hard and give good service to the public.

Thanks for your comments about the 'pop up' - we have had a number of complaints about it and are making steps with ICT to stop them today. So, please bear with us, as soon as we can stop them we will!

The original post can be found http://coppersblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/policing-pledge.html

Seals & Crofts

Published on May 30, 2009 in alcohol, carrier, police cars, relief, summer and sun. Closed

written by Area Trace No Search from Area Trace No Search

This has been a semi regular post to write recently. Another post apologising for my lack of them.
This is partly to do with a recent huge amount of Aid requirements, meaning spending very long periods of time in the back of a public order carrier.

It is also partly due to the fact that recently I have been doing courses. Courses that have the potential to (hopefully) make me some money and get to do some more interesting Policing type things. Although I've no plans to leave response team at the moment - I like my days off too much.

More important than either of those is the fact that I am actually quite enjoying work at the moment. A lot of my blog posts (as per the norm for Police blogs) are inspired by moaning. By bad shifts, by not enough time off, by crap from above.
All this and more is still happening.
But.
Sometimes in this job you just go through purple patches, and I am tentatively having one at the moment. The bad shifts keep coming, the crap keeps coming down and the calls don't stop.
But.
I am being left alone to play at work by my direct supervisors, I've got some more interesting things to do, and of course it's sunny.

And now I bring myself to the most pertinent point in my lack of posts.
It's sunny, and recently I have rediscovered the joy of making the most of my rest days. I've made new friends, strengthened friendships with acquaintances, and got closer to previously already close friends. I'm a lucky man. Barbecues, food, drink and company make the joys of the internets pale in comparison.

Must try harder.

The original post can be found http://areatracenosearch.blogspot.com/2009/05/seals-crofts.html

Leading by example

Published on May 30, 2009 in Heat, Mark Rowley, Police Review, Starbucks and Surrey Police. Closed

written by The Duty Sgt from The Duty Sgt

As an officer and a supervisor I try and lead by example. If I'm parking on double yellow lines whilst I pop into Starbucks how can I deal with MOPS who do the same? And if my uniform is unironed or dirty how can i tell one of my officers off if theirs is not up to scratch?

Mark Rowley the Chief Constable of Surrey Police is in the news this week as he is fighting the government against budget cuts that have been set on the force by 'capping' the amount of money the force can receive from council tax payments. This will lead to the loss of 35 Police officers and 15 Police staff members. The force is going to the high court to seek a judicial review of the decision. Whilst he may have done himself out of a job as a senior officer at the Met its nice to see a senior officer sticking his head above the parapet and 'leading by example.' Most (but not all) Sgts and Inspectors seem to do this on a daily basis attending jobs, checking on welfare of officers off sick and stuck on the inevitable scene guard or road closure. But very rarely do senior officers attend such incidents or come out on the ground to see the effect their latest directive/flurry of emails is having on the people at the coalface. I find this odd as all Police officers have had to do at least two years as a PC before they can go for promotion, but people seem to very quickly forget what it was like.

I am a regular reader of a magazine called 'Police Review' which is a bit like Heat magazine for Police with current trends, jobs and stories. One of the ideas that is currently being mooted alongside articles which help you decide what stab vest is in fashion this season is the concept of 'parachuting' people into the Police as Inspectors. An 'officer' class similar to that in the armed forces. I am against this, if someone has never stood bored on a cordon telling numerous people that they cannot get past and not gone to the same address for the third time that day for non existent problems or to deal with problems that are not a Police matter how can you manage those that have? It works in the armed forces as they have far more ranks and people between the soldier/PC on the ground and the commissioned officer/Inspector. (six in fact compared to one in the Police) As I have said senior officers are not perfect but there is the odd flash of brilliance, if the new system is adopted I can see there being even less senior officers like Chief Constable Mark Rowley and that would be a sad day for the Police in this country.

The original post can be found http://thedutysgt.blogspot.com/2009/05/leading-by-example.html

Another poster

Published on May 30, 2009 in Uncategorized. Closed

written by Sgt. Custerd from The Sarge's Desktop

Sums up my feelings about motivational posters. My thanks again to despair inc. .

Which ones are pinned up in your nick?

And who has 'made the best alteration'? (Because grafitti is criminal damage, and a crime, so therefore wrong.)

Report back.

The original post can be found http://ukpolicesergeant.blogspot.com/2009/05/another-poster.html

Beautiful Day

Published on May 30, 2009 in Uncategorized. Closed

written by Stressed Out Cop from Stressed Out Cop

The sun is shining and the rich green from the garden is a sight to behold, with the gentle swaying of the trees from a touching breeze. I'm off to a wedding and the happy couple are indeed blessed with good weather.

But why oh why is is it this day of all days? FA Cup final !!

Come on the real blues and make it a special day for me too.

Thank God for my Sky Plus Box.

Did Jose really invent it?

The original post can be found http://stressedoutcop.blogspot.com/2009/05/beautiful-day.html

The Art of leading men (and women).

Published on May 30, 2009 in Uncategorized. Closed

written by Sgt. Custerd from The Sarge's Desktop

Since I have been in the police -there have been many changes, in fact the obsessive tinkering by Nu Labour meant that the rate of change increased rapidly after 1997, to the extent that 'change' itself is now seen as a four letter word.

'Shit, wank or toss' being the ones that fit most situations.

One of the changes brought in is an emphasis on 'leadership' (meaning management) and the role of being a 'leader' (meaning being a manager).

Go into any UK police force, and I would be surprised not to find posters, leaflets, online resources, training courses, and enormous volumes of hot air all about this 'leadership' thing.

This is something that has come in on the crest of the wave of introducing ideas and concepts from private industry (who else has 'customers','business partners','business cases' and so on) - I mean we are the public sector - monopoly suppliers of policing - there is no customer choice - I would argue that they are not customers as they have no choice and certainly aren't expected to pay... but that's a different rant.

With the posters, also came the motivational ones, spreading like the ravings of benign vandals across corridors and noticeboards and even the occasional office. I hate these with a passion. Below is an example - albeit a satirical one, but it gets the point across:

(For more - I suggest you get over to despair inc. )

Sadly, with the obsession over leadership/management, comes the jargon/bullshit that goes with it. Renaming the 'Senior Management Team' to the 'Senior Leadership Team' is an obvious one, but it does nothing apart from saving a small amount of ink. It's still the same bunch. With all their quirks, obsessions and habits. And if you have a Chief Officer who has been bitten by the 'Leadership bug', then expect it all to come from the top down.

So this is how come Sgt Custerd goes on a training course on 'Managing Change and Improvement'. Or, two days of twaddle. Harsh, but 'management' as a subject is based on the loose academic principles of some very soft and squishy social sciences - often contributed to in large parts by US academics or business people, working in US industry and firms. (And for what US business can teach the world -think Union Carbide, GM, Lehman Brothers & Bernard Madoff - but that was an easy swipe..) I prefer my academic subjects underpinned by solid scientific laws, or else weighty chunks of philosophy. For an example, think Hobbes' Leviathan as opposed to the outpourings of the Harvard Business School, which mainly relies on 20th century studies of organisations. Sun Tzu and Macchiaveli would probably haved burned the place down, Adam Smith would have had them all making pins.

'Change' is many things - but management training will tell you it is inevitable, a good thing, that organisations thrive on change an so on. Experience tells me that 'change' is inevitable, poorly thought out, often unnecessary, implemented for personal and self-promotional reasons, prone to being reversed. It is also politically motivated, sometimes follows changes in society, and the adage 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' works an awful lot of the time.

So when being told that the police are resistant to change - it's a fair comment - combine shiftwork, stressful situations, real actual crises, unusual working practices - and I defy anyone to greet a change in legislation, or procedure, or working practices with open arms and a happy smile. Try working in the grimier end of life for years and then resist being cynical and sceptical, world-weary and 'seen it all before'.

So at the end of a two day input from some very earnest management trainers, I had switched off a little. I found it intensely patronising, simplistic, and all to often geared to the world of commerce. Parallels were made with BT and the Prison Service - one being in private industry - the other part-privatised, so the examples didn't really hold. And it's not like I don't manage change - just getting on with it with minimal grumbling and making new systems work is all it's about. Normal working practices go out of the window with a murder, riot or other serious incident, so you can't accuse police officers of not being dynamic or adaptable.

So does knowing John Kotter's 8 point model for successful change help me in the slightest? - it's clearly an obsession for modern management - for example, Google gives nearly 36 million hits for 'managing change'. There are plenty of books or courses available to help executives 'create coalitions', 'communicate', 'express a vision', 'empower' and so on - in fact, I've noticed that the language of 'management' and the language of counselling often have a shared vocabulary (is this significant I wonder...?) - but in the long run - does it really help?

I may be wrong, I may be in a minority of one, but people who talk like professional managers, with 'vision' and a 'mission' come across as massive wankers. Not necessarily bad, evil or stupid - quite the reverse, but very often as misguided, naive, and deluded, and certainly anyone who wants to 'link in' with me, as opposed to come and 'speak to' me has already got my hackles up.

Don't let the bastards grind you down.

Sgt C.

The original post can be found http://ukpolicesergeant.blogspot.com/2009/05/art-of-leading-men-and-women.html

Was it worth bothering?

Published on May 30, 2009 in Uncategorized. Closed

written by Constable Confused.com from Constableconfused.com

This quote is taken from the bloody application form that took me about 3 weeks to complete and evidence properly. The problem was my yearly development review has for the last few years been just enough to show that I was competent. To use it as a means to assist an application took considerably longer.

The quote reads:
" We are committed to the employment of people with disabilities and from ethnic minorities. There is a policy of guaranteed shortlisting of those applicants."

I am not disabled and am white British as well as being heterosexual.

Wonder if I will make it to the shortlist.

The original post can be found http://constableconfused.blogspot.com/2009/05/was-it-worth-bothering.html