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.


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Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Cut Pay, Cut Regulation


What this actually means is that NEW police officers must accept cuts to their pay, if they want to become police officers.  Current officers do not need to do any such thing, as quite frankly it isn't the place of a front-line police officer to express any interest whatsoever in how many jobs are lost.  There will not be police officer redundancies on the front-line, the cuts will come through natural wastage and lack of recruitment.  Where the cuts will have effect is in the quality of recruit, as less applicants are attracted by the pension and pay.

No doubt police chiefs are happy to jump on Theresa May's bandwagon to save their jobs, as they fight to agree how much money can be saved by cutting overtime and bonus payments for things like bank holiday work or jobs with more responsibility.  But the generous overtime and bonuses some officers get is in direct compensation for two fundamental regulations that we adhere to:
  • We can be prosecuted criminally for neglect of duty.
  • We must work the days and hours we are told to, according to operational need.
Blandshire Constabulary could not function without overtime: most of my colleagues do not particularly want the money at the moment, they'd rather go home on time.  But the need for overtime to cover essential police tasks is daily.

Few of us who live in Britain would disagree with another fundamental principle: that people should not be forced to work without pay, and the more inconvenient/difficult/distressing the work, the more they should be compensated.

It seems there is a choice looming: cut our pay, and cut the regulation forcing us to work against our will, in conditions that most of us would not choose.  Alternatively, leave us alone, and we'll bust a gut to do our job, and take home a healthy pocketful of cash in return.  If the Home Office goes with the former, I'd like to get a peek at the duty roster in London for July and August 2012.

 

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

14 Comments:

Anonymous A Polis Man said...

1st To say well said

02 March, 2011 20:26

 
Blogger Maturecheese said...

If you stop arresting people for nonsense that would have been ignored years ago you might save some money. Quite frankly the way the Police Force (service) is these days, I doubt you will get much sympathy from the public. The public you are supposed to serve and Police with their consent. The same public, on the whole law abiding, that most of you have severely pissed off these last few years.

02 March, 2011 22:09

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maturecheese;
Take your Daily Mail diatribe elsewhere. You have no clue, do you?
Idiot.

02 March, 2011 23:28

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Undoubtedly the really harsh stuff will come in after the expensive sports day next year.
If they want to treat us as employees with a modern system of management etc we should not have to ask permission to live in a particular location, our spouses should not be restricted from certain employment and we should be able to work any second job we like just like trumpton.

02 March, 2011 23:49

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"we'll bust a gut to do our job"
HA HA HA HA!
What bollox.

03 March, 2011 06:14

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This whole issue is based upon the politicians and the public’s lack of understanding about the complexity of our role e.g. do they know that we are the ONLY mental health provision (if you can call it that) in the county after 4.00 pm? Do they know about PPO’s? Do they know about ViSOR and JIGSAW?

It’s like pretending that you can run an airline with just the cabin crew and pilots.

Clueless, just like the people above who judge the 140,000 successful interactions with the public each day on the one or two which go bent.

03 March, 2011 07:48

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh, and also, if they are prepared to sack soldiers on the front line, they won’t even think twice about doing our legs. If the law says they can’t make us redundant, they will simply change the law.

03 March, 2011 07:49

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Now the Daily Wail is on about SSP's and CRTP. Can we assume that CC's around the country will also lose their substantial bonuses? Or is that me being foolishly optimistic?

03 March, 2011 08:16

 
Blogger Joker said...

Another call for police officers to think about patrolling solo:

http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/news/Police-officers-urged-patrol/article-3287874-detail/article.html

03 March, 2011 11:21

 
Anonymous shijuro said...

Just for the record:

1. I don’t get Special Priority Payment… (I work shifts though…)

2. I don’t get Comp related performance pay (despite commendations and doing the work of two officers), my old Insp-who hated me- said, ‘you don’t deserve it…’

3. I don’t get overtime. Period.

4. I don’t have refs breaks… I eat at my desk when I can. I do this as a point of principle, the civvies don’t get paid for their breaks-so I always make sure they go first… that means I don’t get one.

5. I work 9-hour and 10-hour shifts for 6-days a week-equating to a 48-58 hour week…

6. 24-days off a year annual.

7.I will be working xmas day/boxing/new years eve/day this year…

8. I cant use free public transport to get to work, it don’t run when I need it shifts heh?…

9. I have never received 1-penny in overtime for taking a ‘phone call outside of work (when I was a sex offender manager it was daily when we had a scary case on)…

10. I have never seen or known anyone that earns £50, 000 in OT a year (sounds like a dip/protection dude to me… talk about boomerangs).

11. My pension forecast (at 52) is: £45000 lump sum and £1000 per month… not a massive amount- (but more than my dad!) I wont be able to retire on it, I will need another job -hence the teacher training…

12. I have been assaulted many times trying to help people, once my injury needed an operation and 5-weeks off.

03 March, 2011 12:43

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If the proposed cuts go ahead, i will be in debt each month for the privilege of going to work. Sadly i have been brought up with morals and will work for a living.

I am more sympathetic to anti-capitalists now. We maintain the status quo so the captains of banks and industries can play with their wealth. I maintain my oath of allegiance until i retire, but my heart says i am supporting a rotten system.

03 March, 2011 14:42

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

calling people idiots because you do not agree with them may be the point he is trying to make

07 March, 2011 00:11

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The police need to get into the real world. Where else are you guaranteed a job for life (or at least 30 years anyway), year on year inflation meeting (and plus) pay rises and a final salary pension, loads of overtime and other benefits. The fact is that the private sector has been subsidising huge public sector waste for years. Finally the gravy train has run to a halt thank God. If being a copper is such a bad deal why not get out and do something else? The current response of the police is typical public sector me, me, me arrogance. Oh yes, you agree to cuts as long as it's not you affected. If we lose a few thousand officers and back office staff will anyone notice any difference? 2 personal examples. My lad was assaulted in broad daylight in an unprovoked attack. He had witnesses all prepared to stand up. It took me 3 visits to the police station to get it looked at. It would have been 4 had I not refused to leave until I got some action. Second, my car was backed into (while I was in it) and the driver cleared off. When I reported it the police were more interested in how I had found out that the driver had no insurance than with the alleged offence. Again, it took a complaint to get it resolved. If you want public support start supporting the public.

08 March, 2011 20:34

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This year I will earn £65k basic and around £15k in bonuses. I get a company car and 30 days holiday (+ Bank Holidays) and an all expenses paid trip to the US for a 'conference'. Beats being a copper I can tell you.

15 March, 2011 21:21

 

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