Something really strange happened the other day, when our SMT leader addressed the juniors. He actually stated that alot of the force policy was an absolute waste of time. I couldn't believe it, he was actually agreeing with everything that police bloggers post on, well alot of it. He stated that central dispatch was never going to work, there are too many slackers within our ranks who go unchallenged and alot of performance indicators are crap. I found myself sat there just nodding in agreement, extraordinary stuff.
The common sense indicator is crime reduction meaning less victims and that's what he wants. He was big on personal responsibility and leadership, and I must post that he practices what he preaches. You never know where he is going to pop up, and he has visited the custody suite, prisoner attached on a few occasions. I have not heard the word "leadership" used by a senior manager for several years and have rarely seen it in action. Of course he is an ex squaddie so is used to making decisions the military way. Problem solved - sod the policy.
It really was a Back to Basics sort of address, where we should go back to what we used to do 20 years ago, but with the public/victim as our focus. He expected Joe Slag to be treated properly, but to know who was running the streets. Sgt Major Stressed is all for this - and I returned to impart leadership into my Spartan team of one constable and a couple of police staff. Unfortunately the truth is, they're not like police officers of day's gone by.
I've posted previously about the lack of ex forces coming into the police. Maybe we need to go Back to Basics on recruitment, because I'm not seeing much talent or people with any presence coming in at the moment. Come to think of it, why is it that a large proportion of police bloggers and posters are ex forces or brats? Is it because they have more common sense and ingrained skills and can see where modern policing is often so wrong in it's delivery?
12 comments:
I agree with your sentiments mate, ex-forces myself. Understand about discipline and rank structure and the need to just get the job done irrespective of opinions and feelings.
However......I don't think that the management teams, yooman rights groups and the public in general would agree with us. It might mean that the police force, sorry, service may become effective again due to having people serving who have a sense of duty and the commitment to just get the job done. The average 22 year old student officer I'm afraid has neither. There are exceptions and I fortunately have the priveledge of working with a few of them.
BTW check the e-mail I sent you.
Is he a member of SMT who sees a wind change coming and is getting their opinions in first or is he nearing the end of his time and can relax and say what they think? Not many mavericks in between these days.
I would prefer the handle 'dependent' rather than 'brat', but point taken!
Confused
Ex RAF - there's one
Dibble
Done my research - Yeah fair point but I think he is the real deal. A breath of fresh air and definately a maverick but gets the results.
Noddy
Are you pleading to being a brat/dependant? Up the blues
Then there's Gadget obviously and Metcountymountie is a brat I think.
soc
I fess up to being a RAF brat!
Noddy
He looks like a true hero with "LEADER" stamped all over him. The values must be passed on.
by brat/dependent do you mean people whose parents were in the forces?
Anon
Sorry to leave some out
if you lived in MQ you were a Pad and your offspring were known as Brats. slang terms understood by those in forces.
SOC
Too many OMQ's to mention!
I agree with you soc. In my service (ambo) too many people coming in with little life experience.
Need real leaders not course assessed/target led leaders!
ex forces myself and can see the attitudes (some bad) of ex squaddies who are allowed to slack. But in the main ex forces are better at getting the job done.
i'm a brat and in my completly biased opinion ex forces are generally better, not to say people who havnt been in the forces arnt any good but maybe the ones who are good would have joined up if the hadnt joined the police. Maybe its the mindset as well as the training of people who are ex forces.
Thanks to all, an interesting insight. SOC
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