This is the official blog of ex-Sgt Ellie Bloggs. I was a real live police constable then sergeant for twelve years, on the real live front line of England. I'm now a real live non-police person. All the facts I recount are true, and are not secrets. If they don't want me blogging about it, they shouldn't do it. PS If you don't pay tax, you don't (or didn't) pay my salary.


(All proceeds from Google Ads will be donated to the Police Roll of Honour Trust)

Monday, July 26, 2010

Music to a Blogger's Ears

Several years ago Nick Herbert MP's office contacted me for some views on needed reforms to the police. I understand his office contacted dozens more officers, serving, non-serving, anonymous and named. At the time, the Conservative paper produced resonated with many serving officers, but was meaningless because the party was not in power.

Now they are in power, and have released some serious plans for the police. Some quotes from the Home Office paper, which by some amazing coincidence appears to have been named after this blog...
  • "We will abolish Police Authorities."
  • "We will transfer power back to the people – by introducing directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners."
  • "We will do away with central targets."
  • "Police officers should be crime fighters, not form writers."
  • "The Government... will have no role in telling the police how to do their job"
  • "The service itself needs to examine its internal processes and doctrine which can lead to unnecessary bureaucracy. Action needs to be taken to challenge the culture of risk aversion that has developed in policing. Officers all too often collect information just in case it is needed rather than applying a common sense approach. This culture change will need to be supported and embedded by chief officers..."
  • "[The CJS]* cannot go on being a system where half of the police say they would speak critically of it."
It's all good stuff, although we have heard some of it before. The difference now is that things HAVE to change, because there isn't any money to keep doing it the way we have been.

If all goes to plan, perhaps I can hang up my blogging boots in 2012.

Then again, there's nothing in Theresa May's paper that addresses how two youths who happy-slapped an old man to death may be walking free from prison in under a year.

The pair were also convicted of other attacks which could have ended the same way.

The little figure by the railings is the victim's three-year-old granddaughter, who remains traumatised.





Perhaps I won't ditch the boots just yet.



* Criminal Justice System

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Diary of an On-Call Girl' is available in some bookstores and online.

13 Comments:

Anonymous Bill said...

"The service itself needs to examine its internal processes and doctrine which can lead to unnecessary bureaucracy."

Can you trust Chief Superintendent Three-Years-to-my-Pension-so-no-Rocking-the-Boat-Twenty-Seven-Years-and–Counting-Service, to take a fair and impartial view on the forces internal processes and doctrines?

I'm up for this once we have local taxation to bring about local accountability.

I don't know about your force but once we've had our pension chat we're onto public perception and how it's all smoke and mirrors.

26 July, 2010 20:07

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Happy Slapped to death? Surely they simply murdered him? Happy slapping somehow doesn't make it seem as it is. Scum (not you).

27 July, 2010 07:40

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The happy-slapping story is awful, with a child witnessing the whole thing. That sort of thing really bothers me, and deserves a good long time in jail for the offenders.

27 July, 2010 08:56

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Has nothing been said about the Criminal Justice System and the lack of sentences that people get.......... ohhhhhhh i forgot they want more Community Resolutions and not Prison time, just what people want......... NOT.

SWCopper

27 July, 2010 16:19

 
Anonymous mark said...

What does not help your cause is the fact that the police can kill MOPS and not be held in any way acountable as the case of Mr Tomlinson has proven once again.....
If any cop had been treated like that by a MOP he/she would have gone to court held on remand and all the rest and WELL you know it.
Stories????? no story sweety the man died killed by a cop who will not see the inside of a court room are we taking that on board yet???? what will help your cause is cops treated like the rest of us when a person dies....
Or would you like a few more R Moats knocking about?????

27 July, 2010 23:10

 
Anonymous mark said...

Ian Tomlinson???? hang your police head in shame,,,,,you are a disgrace, worse you and your kind are above the law.

28 July, 2010 00:24

 
Anonymous mark said...

i dont think i will get that approval,,,dont want to upset your killer nazi mates now do we,,, police scum just scum,,,,..

28 July, 2010 00:25

 
Anonymous Drugsblogger said...

Hmmm,

Directly elected police commissioners? Two words to that: Nick Griffin. Would you want a neo-fascist running a police service? The problem with elected commissioners is that a)Brits are notoriously uninterested in voting for stuff unless they feel it's very important, so it opens the door for entryists with an unpleasant agenda like NG. b) Police authorities already consist of a majority of elected local councillors and are threfore democratically accountable and required to be apolitical in their PA activities, i.e. representing everyone not just their own policital views. So PA's are already democratic.

Plus it is quite a good idea that organisations such as the police or the army/airforce/navy/health service etc which can remove freedom and in some circs take life answer to the civilians. Otherwise police state here we come.

28 July, 2010 14:08

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Quite what the decent people of this country did, to deserve the power hungry ego maniac political creed that has been inflicted upon us, I would very much like to know.

The Tories appear to have some quite dangerous ideas and policies, not helped by the LibDems love affair with all things EU - very misguided.
The coalition is in danger of making the Blair/Brown mess a whole lot worse.

I agree with you Drugsblogger!

29 July, 2010 03:20

 
Blogger JuliaM said...

"Would you want a neo-fascist running a police service? "

Would we notice the difference?

01 August, 2010 07:51

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I doubt the problem is about a risk averse culture - it's more to do with self-interest. We want our cops to have more real power to sort criminals out and keep them away from us - and - we want cops to be properly accountable if they abuse their power. This kind of 'opposition' reaches across the CJS. I'd want capital punishment if our system was fair - it's often not.
I don't believe any of the rhetoric - we've seen it all before and much of it has been discredited - think of all the uses of the term 'community' and see how vague it always is. Copperfield is broadly right -modernise on a better working model.
Sorry to be anon - bx issue - allcoppedout

02 August, 2010 01:14

 
Anonymous Drugsblogger said...

Difference from what?

If you mean difference from how things are now, then yes.

1. Police ordered to herd up anyone who doesn't conform to Griffin's warped view of society .e.g. blacks, jews, muslims, gypsies the mentally ill and learning disabled and deporting the lot (at best) or gassing them (at worst).

2. Appointing senior (and other ranks) officers who only conform to BNP approved types. So not many women and 0 gays, muslims - see above. So not a police service that reflects the society it serves.

3. Need I go on? Except to say that Griffin's way is how Hitler got started - entryism, by undermining democracy, getting voted in then declaring himself dictator for life.

4. Cheers! Anonymous.

02 August, 2010 16:16

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

We were getting very close to a dictatorship under Brown, and his corruption of ACPO lives on, unchanged. I suspect that Theresa May has had a smoke and mirrors job done on her recently, because she's just announced an "opt in" to more EU police powers over the allegedly "free citizens" of this country. Bad news for the people, and more EU Big Brother abuses of power by the side door. BIG MISTAKE

I am disappointed in the ConDem coalition, because they are no different to the last government. They say one thing and then do the opposite. U turns a-plenty recently. Cameron truly IS the "Heir to Blair", not listening, not taking notice when he needs to, and a BAD OMEN for the future of this country, sadly.
It makes me want to weep, and certainly not tears of deep joy....

What an almighty screw up......

ALLCOPPEDOUT - "someone" appears to be blocking my access to your blog since late Sunday night!
M

Cheers to you too Drugsblogger....
Is there any sort of treatment that can make politicians sane?

03 August, 2010 05:24

 

Post a Comment

<< Home

 

View My Stats
eXTReMe Tracker