Taking The Strain

My daughter was coming home the other week on a train. There were a group of rowdy youths, under 16's, drinking and generally being arses. One of them started to pick on a passenger and this quickly escalated into a "situation". The yobbo takes his belt off and threatens the passenger with death by shanking. He didn't have a knife, or at least didn't produce one. Unfortunately for him, he bit off more than he could chew and the passenger ended up chasing him down the train.

At this point my daughter gets up and tries to split them up. She's not stupid and stands back as the passenger smacks the yobbo a few times before getting between them, telling him it's not worth it. Fortunately they were all off at the next stop and she could return to her seat. She recited this, slightly pissed off that everybody else was sat in their seats hardly daring to look up from their papers.

I was slightly surprised myself. Was this the same shy girl, who would have cried her eyes out in the same situation a year ago? It's down to military training and discipline. She's just back from 3 weeks of field exercises with the US Rangers and they've sent back a self assertive monster.

I can't really blame anybody else for not getting involved, it's a personal choice, but letting a girl sort out a fracas by herself, come on !!

Yet again there's been another example of a good Samaritan getting involved, and paying with his life. We should all salute people like Frank McGarahan . The best our elected leaders can manage is to advise us to jump up and down.

I'm glad my daughter didn't listen to Tony McNulty the police minister. She's been brought up to recognise right and wrong and acted correctly. She's an occasional reader having "busted" me months ago, and I'm proud of her.

The family of Mr McGarahan should grieve and then be proud too.

Not My Best Friend

I don’t know why it is, but I’ve never liked dogs. There’s something about them and I think the feelings mutual. It might stem from when I played football on Sunday’s and slid into their mess on a regular basis on the park pitch. They are of course clever creatures, detecting my dislike and expressing theirs in return.

One of my first encounters with dogs was as a keen probationer. I’d found a couple of untaxed cars and having completed a check knocked on a front door to speak to the owner. This duly opened and I saw two dogs bound down the hallway towards me, a Collie and an Alsatian. What do you do? I think just stay still you’ll be all right. Wrong decision, the Collie sinks it’s teeth into my thigh.

The owner is very apologetic and promises to get her cars taxed. I return limping to the station to examine the damage. I’ve got a couple of puncture wounds and have to get a tetanus injection in my backside. Amuses the team no end, still the nurse was nice.

I started to get a complex a couple of years later, when policing a big event. We were chasing skinheads around who were having a thing with the Anti Nazi League. Police dogs were deployed as we put a cordon in. They were snarling and the police line began to move forwards, except me. A police dog had hold of my trouser leg and then shakes his head ripping the bottom so a large lump of cloth is flapping around. By way of explanation the handler says that they train the dog to grip using old police uniform, so it probably took a liking to the serge.

It didn’t get any better when the same day chasing after the BNP, a vagrants dog came chasing after me, perhaps they too are trained on the police serge, or was the flapping trouser leg that tempted him.

Of course things appear to have worsened over the years. I bumped into an old colleague at another station. He was good old bill and I asked what he was doing with himself. "Oh I’m the licensing officer". I raised an eyebrow, slightly confused. "You haven’t heard have you?", he says and pulls up his sleeve to reveal a disfigured and scarred forearm. He tells the story of how a Pit Bull locked onto his arm and had to be prised off a couple of years previously.

So that’s how it is nowadays. Dogs are used as weapons or at the very least a deterrent by youths and drug dealers. If it’s vicious you will not find me anywhere near a dog. Only last year I tried to seize a dog from a known drug dealer. I kept my distance but he still let it off the collar and it came towards me. I had to take evasive action leaping over a 4 foot high wall. I just had the picture of my mate’s forearm in my head.

We eventually got that one seized and it sat on “doggy death row” all year, pending a court case. We executed a warrant at the same dealers address a few months later and seized a pure bred American Pit Bull. It was massive but nobody claimed ownership so it too met a suitable end. Now there are suspect dogs everywhere. You don’t see the pure bred ones like above. They tend to be mixed Pit Bull and mastiff types. When seized they go off to secret kennels and the cost is about £10 - £15 a day in storage, whilst the matter is investigated. I believe we have almost reached capacity in my force area.

You can't get the dog destroyed unless the court orders it or the owner signs a disclaimer. So we are now in the position where we will seize a dog and return it, on condition that it's chipped, muzzled and kept on a lead at all times. Is Joe Slag really going to comply? I think not. It's time for some common sense - sign the disclaimer or we prosecute and Joe Slag has to pay all storage fees on conclusion. In any event the process needs to be simplified.

Mind Reading

Did you see it on TV last night? Traffic Cops on BBC catch it on the BBCiplayer. This is a reality show, usually the same mundane policing stuff.

Last nights was a copper shocker. Two Swedish sisters stopped walking on the motorway before running into the traffic and getting wiped out. The one who was not seriously injured then gets up, thumps the female officer before running into the other carriageway. This caused a 15 mile tailback as the motorway was closed for 2 hours. Much inconvenience to thousands and the punishment? a day served when she appeared in court for hitting the officer.

They followed this up with two immigrants from Iran again wandering on the motorway. They had it appeared, been dumped out of the back of a lorry. In our modern Britain we don't arrest illegal entrants any more. They get advised to go to Liverpool or London to register. Of course these two didn't.

There was a Czech citizen driving on his international licence. He was insured but had been economical with the truth with his insurance company, saying he held a full UK licence. The cop rang the company who were still happy to cover him. So he too was sent on his way. All this after the expense of an interpreter.

Then a chap from Estonia speeding at 112 mph - uninsured with no licence and still over the drink drive limit after consuming a litre of vodka the night before. He was less grief as he spoke fluent English.

Then another chap who gave false particulars. He turned out to be an overstayer, who'd gone undetected for 10 years. Another no insurance job and don't ask if he was deported. The Home Office wouldn't say.

I'm not going to say anything, because I think I know what you're thinking.

You got FAITH?

Our Georgie has caused outrage again with his recent arrest for possession of crack when searched in a public toilet near Hampstead Heath. For this he received a caution. And the outrage is over what exactly? If charged to court I doubt if he'd got more than £200 fine for possession of Class A. This is the reality of our world today. There is little deterrent for the drug user.

I'm rather disappointed with him. I went to one of his concerts on his last tour and this boy can sing. Why would he want to risk his voice by taking crack cocaine. Young Miss Winehouse is not exactly a glowing advert for this type of drug, he should know better.

Now I'm not for making examples of celebrities, they should be treated the same as everybody else. The days when Mick Jagger got 3 months for possession of drugs are long gone. It does however reinforce the message that you can take drugs and nothing will happen to you.

I used to go to some high powered partnership conferences, where the great and the good mingled. We are talking influential people who can make big changes happen. Nearly always I would get asked my views on legalising drugs. I think over the last 10 years the punishments have been so downgraded that they've almost got what they wanted. They would invariably conclude with "How much is a Henry nowadays?" Yeah they've all smoked themselves and can't see no wrong in it.

As a street cop, I've always been against the cannabis experiment. I can see the wrong in it and I'm in no doubt it's a gateway drug. All these teenagers stoned on skunk are numbing their brains and a percentage of them will progress up the drugs chain. I could show you the ones who were cocky teenagers always spliffing up, who are now on their arses due to crack and heroin. I preached to them when they were younger and I don't feel smug when they tell me I was right.

So we have the ridiculous situation where you can smoke cannabis in the street and get a warning, but if you smoke a cigarette in the pub you can get a penalty ticket from the local authority.

Now I'll be controversial. I would have no problem with heroin addicts being given their dose in controlled circumstances. I think the methadone substitute hasn't worked and nearly all addicts still use when on it. If some would be steered away from committing crime then medicinal heroin should be prescribed.

I can't see us doing policing operations targeting users, we hardly target the dealers as it is. They do this in the USA. I saw this tactic on a cop show where a cop posed as a dealer, and users approached and tried to buy drugs before a door opened and the user was yanked in and arrested. They were getting 100+ at a time on this sting. It could never happen here with all our bureaucracy and form filling.

* HENRY = Henry the eighth or 1/8 oz of drugs

Above clip shows reverse sting used to target users in the states and clean up neighbourhoods.

And Finally

The Police Federation has woken up and will seek the right for police officers to take industrial action. I'm really quite saddened it's come to this but there is little other option, now that the government is looking to do away with the Police Negotiating Board (PNB).

It's not greed people - we just want the existing agreement that's lasted since 1977 (until last year) to continue.

It puts each and every one of us in quite a position. I never became a police officer for the money. The money and allowances were OK but it really was a vocation for me. So why did I join?

I think it goes back till when I was just 16 and working in the big city. I was a naive lad and spent alot of time in and around what is and has always been a dodgy area. One day I was passing through a busy underpass. There was a scruffy bloke having some sort of altercation with a smartly dressed middle aged man. I don't know exactly what was going on but the middle aged bloke shouted "Somebody help me". There were dozens of people walking by, as the pass was connected to a train station. I stopped to see what was going on. I observed for several minutes and didn't know what to do, I was only a kid. Everybody ignored this bloke and kept on walking with their heads down. Eventually I too drifted away. Now, it might have been some over aggressive begging but this event worried me greatly. I should have intervened.

Obviously I needed to toughen up and would have been too immature to be a policeman. I'd been told that unless you were a police cadet you needn't apply until you were in your twenties. So a couple of years later I joined the army, always intending to apply for the police force. This was the best thing I could have done. When I left I was mature and grounded and able to deal with anything and anyone. I wouldn't walk away again.

You see my dilemma, the police are now being taken for granted and pushed into a corner. We are playing for high stakes. I don't want to strike, it goes against everything I've worked for over the years. I am however incensed with this dishonest government, who have done a very good job in dismantling what was a good institution. The same thing is being done to the armed forces, where the military covenant has been ignored.

It is therefore time to make a stand. If we win the right to strike I will support the federation and walk, to stop our policing tradition being totally destroyed.

Solitude

I didn't know Mike TODD the Chief Constable of Manchester who was found dead in the mountains of Wales. I do however recognise that he was in need of help. If the account of his friend Tracy Clarke is to be believed then this tragedy was avoidable.

This man was a popular high achiever, but with flaws. It would appear that his situation was not unknown to his managers whilst in the Metropolitan Police. Of course hindsight is a wonderful thing, but why didn't somebody put an arm around this bloke and get him counselling. Yes Tracy Clarke mentioned it to him, but he thought it might be harmful to his career.

This macho weakness thing needs to be addressed by all police forces. The warning signs were all there with Mike Todd, the self driven "work" therapy, pushing himself harder. In reality at times he was falling apart.

I can identify with the mountains of Wales. Been there and done that one in the bad times. A truly breathtaking landscape, where you can find true solitude and do some "stress busting". I can name one force who sold off their facilities in North Wales, in the name of financial prudence. What a shame that they couldn't be used as a National Police Centre for team building.

If something positive is to come of this tragedy then it is to raise awareness of stress. I do hope the opportunity is not missed. Perhaps the former ACPO colleagues of Mike Todd could make this happen.

Is The Tide Slowly Turning?

Ian Johnston has spoken out at the Superintendents Annual Conference about the public's lack of confidence in policing at the moment. He states this needs to be addressed. In the speech presented as "targets have wrecked public confidence in policing" he says:

"Officers who are perceived in this way are sometimes less willing to use their judgement. Genuine mistakes made by officers and the good intentions of managers have resulted in more and more "just in case" measures, policies and procedures – and, heaven forbid, more doctrine. Many front line officers now adopt an approach of "if I don't make decisions I won't get it wrong". It is time that we conceded that adherence to rigid processes has resulted on occasions in officers hitting the target, but missing the point."

He joins some other senior officers who are finally showing some real leadership - in challenging our inept way way of policing in the 21st Century. Don't you just feel slightly encouraged that things might change soon.

Helen Newlove also spoke at the conference. This is the wife of Garry Newlove kicked to death by yobs last year. Our failure to tackle ongoing "low priority" anti social behaviour led to him bravely confronting a group of youths who then set about him. These are the people we should protect and indeed want to protect.

It's about time we all stood together and just got back to common sense policing. Forget the targets, ignore the broken justice system, let the next government sort it out. We have been acting like sheep blindly following the wrong path for too long now.

I've always liked Paul WELLER a modern day poet genius - He sums it up perfectly in this lyric.


You don't have to take this crap

You don't have to sit back and relax

You can actually try changing it

I know we've always been taught to rely

Upon those in authority -But you never know until you try

How things just might be -If we came together so strongly

Are you gonna try to make this work

Or spend your days down in the dirt

You see things can change -

Yes and walls can come tumbling down

21st Century Witch Hunts

The government has announced some pilot schemes whereby concerned parents will be able to access the records of individuals who come into contact with their children. This is to root out paedophiles and will only concentrate on sexual offences. They must see this as a popular policy with those who can't even spell paedophile correctly.

Under the new scheme, police will carry out two tests when approached by a concerned parent.

The first, within 24 hours, will examine the person's criminal history to see if police need to take immediate action.

A full risk assessment will follow, involving more detailed checks and should be completed within 10 days.

Question "Has Paul Gadd got Gary Glitter down as an alias on his PNC Record?" You see the potential problems with police intelligence and data.

At the same time they are putting an extra £60 Million into extra youth measures , which will include street based youth workers and ex gang members. Are these the same ex gang members who "were" involved in robberies, drugs and god knows what? I take it unless they have committed a sex offence parents won't be told about their previous crimes. Of course it's rather trendy to be an ex gang member and good on your C.V. when entering the lucrative world of public sector projects.

Also youth offending team officers will be placed in police stations to direct young offenders to the appropriate service. You can bet your mortgage that won't be Her Majesties Prison Service. The YOT person can no doubt sit reading a book along with the drugs intervention worker.

Don't worry we the police get a slice of the pie too, for extra school patrols and to impose youth curfews on communities. Don't get me wrong I'm all for preventative action - I just don't think the public sector is the best way to deliver it. There will be all sorts of targets and measures set.

Yet again the police are responsible for sorting alot of this out and finding staff to do it. Where will the blame lie if it all goes wrong?