Colleagues with 5 working days left before I retire I commend you to read our conference ezine
VOTE FOR CHANGE
This comes on the back of successive issues at Bradford which let down all those fans of all ages who gave their hard earned cash to try and save a club.
It comes on the back of Neil Hudgell’s comments which resonate with Richard Whiting
And if this hasn’t convinced you the how about Richard Agar’s issue?
Please vote for change
Can the Association of Police & Crime Commissioners please answer?
We are currently seeing a number of PCCs planning to raise the council tax precept by 1.99% to help address the financial black hole policing faces.
None, as far as I am aware have seen it necessary to go for a higher rise which would then trigger a public referendum where perhaps the turnout would be higher than it was for the 2012 PCC elections.
But what would also be interesting would be if the Association of PCCs published by force the following:
1. By force the level of reserves passed by each police authority to each PCC,
2. By force the level of those reserves held by each PCC as at 31-1-2014,
3. By force the level of reserves each PCC is forecasting they will have in 2016.
Only then perhaps can we have a meaningful debate about whether we are destined to become a hollow force as this recent cartoon from Police Oracle suggests.
How will Home Secretary’s impending decision affect your views?
In December we were advised that the Police Arbitration Tribunal had made their decision on compulsory severance and on restricted officers. As yet the Home Secretary has not listed a debate on the floor of House of Commons to achieve parliamentary consensus on the issues, nor has she ratified the PAT decision.
And whilst awaiting the decision the National Audit Office have raised concerns over insufficient checks on PCCs. And PCCs are not publishing what they should be.
Against this backdrop, and to benchmark against our 2012/13 findings, we are once again surveying our members about their Health & Wellbeing
We seek the views of our members to help us better represent them and to ensure all parties appreciate the effects of local and national police reform on those delivering the service to the public. Perhaps moving forwards the reformers will run the survey themselves to assess the short-medium-long term impacts on police efficacy and efficiency of their reforms.
Till then we need to know against this backdrop do our members agree with their colleagues so far in relation to attendance management?
Crime – just asking
It would be true to say 2013 has not been a great year for policing.
But if crime figures aren’t credible will those who locally & nationally who have used them as indicator of success of their policies now reassess / tweek their policies?
Given this and this but not forgetting this.
And let’s also reflect on things like this and this with last but not least this
We raised this as a branch board some time ago but even now itis an area of contention
Let’s hope however it is resolved by the Home Affairs Cttee &the Public Accounts Cttee there is a recognition that policing is about much more than crime, that cuts can & do affect the quality of service and that our primary goal is to provide the best possible service to the public irrespective of political hue or media hyperbole.
REFLECTIONS ON THE FIRST YEAR OF POLICE & CRIME COMMISSIONERS
It is now months since the government delivered a master class in how not to run an election. An election which failed to ignite interest from the public. An election which resulted in a national average turn out of 14.9% and some getting less.
So not an auspicious start. Particularly given that research shows the elections cost £75m for some 5.3m votes equating to a cost of around £14 per vote or more.
Or viewed another way it was a success because at least a third of the positions went to those not belonging to the 2 main political parties and instead classed as independent. Independent candidates won 29% of the positions, Labour won 32% and the Conservatives won 39%.It could be argued that the independents offer a body of pluralist thought and challenge outside the party structures.
A year after the election the BBC ran the headline ‘One in three unaware’ of police and crime commissioner’
But they did run this helpful Q&A
Stories like this show the depth of the challenge.
But since the elections many PCCs have sought to become high profile. Nationally we have seen PCCs go head to head with their Chief Constables. One lost a legal challenge to a suspension, one was successful in removing his Chief Constable. We’ve seen allegations over expenses and cronyism.
And we’ve seen little acknowledgement of the achievements of Police Authorities and the Police Committees they themselves replaced.
It was disappointing to see that the anniversary statement of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners made no mention of the efforts and dedication at time of adversity of police officers, police staff, specials and volunteers to deliver a policing service across the country.
Some PCCs have deputies others do not. Some appear to speak and act like Wonder Woman or Superman. But they are human and work extremely long hours.
So what happens to policing if one of those without a deputy can no longer be a PCC because of illness or an alternative career choice?
Policing is too important to be exposed to risk like this. After all we’ve seen some PCCs speak out about the inability of the police service to take any more cuts and the dangers of privatising the probation service. But much of this seems demarcated along party political lines.
If you use a search engine to find PCC successes you don’t find many tangible costed results. But it is certainly true that visibility has increased. Nationally it would be interesting to see the Association of PCCs publish work on exactly how many members of the public attended Police Authority meetings and exactly how many attend PCC public meetings.
PCCs have made a difference in the approach to anti social behaviour. PCCs have helped raise awareness of the problems faced by police in relation to mental health issues.
But if something will have a positive or negative impact on policing shouldn’t all PCCs regardless of political hue be working with their own Association of Police & Crime Commissioners to ensure the public have a voice?
The fact they don’t reflects the real flaw in the system. At present PCCs are in theory held accountable by the electorate. But they are also scrutinised by the Police & Crime Panels.
PCPs may be a good thing but across the country many members feel impotent and lacking in any real power.
We know PCCs work long hours and are learning about policing. But as they call for accountability and transparency in policing they must realise that there needs to likewise be reform of the arrangements for themselves.
The next 12months will no doubt be as interesting as the last as we approach a general election. We now need to all work together to imbed, tweak and improve the role and accountability of PCCs in policing.
A recent blog entitled PCCs: A year is a long time in politics gives due consideration to a variety of sources and in chief I concur with both the glad and sad positions taken by the author.
We need to build on the good work done by Police Authorities. We can build on the undoubted impetus provided for further good work by many of the PCCs and we can hopefully aim to get a turnout higher than those voting in X Factor when we have the next PCC elections.
But quite frankly this in my view is a step too far.
you can read an earlier version of this article here the comments from readers are interesting
What is prison for?
It would be very easy to say that such a policy is in the interests of all in order to make former prisoners valued members of society.
But is the real issue here the tension between what as a society we want to achieve and who’s interest is best served – the victim – the offender – society.
What is prison for?
Does the subject matter in the Times article warrant further debate in light of do articles like this and this add balance to the debate?
With concerns over the safety of prison officers, calls for a rethinkon our drugs policyand an increased privatisation in the criminal justice sector the debate over the real reason for prison and what success looks like and for whom will not be aided by calls for people to be economical with the truth about their past – will it?
Think tank influence – should we be concerned?
Another week, another headline from a think tank.
I have raised concerns before about the influence of think tanks given secrecy / lack of transparencyof some about their sources of funding
What are your views on the article re the influence of the Policy Exchange chairman?
What are your views on the blog re Tax Payers Alliance ?
Does this evoke memories of Mark Twain –
it’s not the figures lying it’s the liars figuring
Is this fact or fiction?
Do these articles point to the validity of this?
Are Police & Crime Panels a waste of time
According to this piece in Police Oracle. they are,
But before castigating or defending them how many people can answer:
1. I know who sits on my Police & Crime Panel?
2. I know how to contact my Police & Crime Panel?
3. I fully understand the role & limitations of the Police & Crime Panel?
As we approach the anniversary of the inaugural PCC elections can we gauge the success or failure of PCCs nationwide without specific recourse to the questions above?
Calling all leaders – will you answer the questions and take this challenge
(1) Where is the bigger picture that eludes so many of us – can you post a photo of it please on your Facebook page?
(2) If we are to be encourage to think outside the box will the box be redeployed or is it now redundant?
(3) When you square the circle will you please take a picture and post it in your Facebook page?
(4) Is this too close to the truth?
(5) Can you help eradicate these and ensure plain English becomes the norm?
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