The Rules of Blah

As I mentioned yesterday – there are many unwritten rules in Policing and one of these is the Rules of Blah. I first heard of these quite a few years back, but only managed to find one online reference to them in one of my Recommended Reading blogs – Area Trace No Search

So, for the uninformed or for those who had simply forgotten, here they are in all their glory. Please read and inwardly digest…

Rules Of Blah:

Probationary Bronze Card 0 – 2 years service

1. NO BLAH WHATSOEVER

Bronze Card 2 – 4 years service

1. All Blah to be limited to no more than 30 minutes per tour of duty
2. Must consult a Platinum Cardholder about Blah content before addressing the public arena
3. All Blah to be factual and witnessing officer to be present during presentation.
4. Any Blah from a previously worked division to be supported by MG11 [Statement] from witnessing officer/s
5. Must accept all belittling and ridicule of their Blah efforts in good spirit
6. Under no circumstances to Blah to probationary constables unless supervised by a Platinum Cardholder

Silver Card 4 – 10 years service 

1. Unlimited Blah when supervised by Platinum or Gold cardholders
2. Unsupervised Blah when in company of junior officers – subject to a strict enforcement of no more than an audience of four (4) other officers – none of whom are allowed to hold probationer status
3. May only Blah about any incident attended in company of a senior card holder after that officer has first declined the opportunity to do so or considers the Blah factor to be beneath his exclusive position.

Gold Card 10 – 15 years service 

1. Unlimited Blah during any tour of duty
2. All Blah must be factually based, but subject to generous poetic license
3. May be challenged by Platinum cardholders only
4. Any non divisional Blah to be supported by a witnessing officer.

Platinum Card 15 – 30 years service 

Officers in the above category are permitted:

1. Unlimited Blah during any tour of duty
2. The right to tell outrageous tall stories and swing the blue lamp without challenge – even if it’s obvious they are lies or physically impossible.
3. However, all the above are obliged to mention the miner’s strike, the Brixton/Tottenham Riots or any major act of terrorism or civil unrest and imply they played a pivotal role for which they are entitled to humble acclaim

Blurring the Thin Blue Line

I think that I am in a majority when I say that there are still too few Police Officers on the streets of England and Wales to do the job expected of us in safety and with efficiency. There are a number of solutions to this problem, but Avon and Somerset Chief Constable, Nick Gargan, is being reportedly asked to consider one of the most controversial changes to the structure of Policing since the introduction of PCSO’s more than a decade ago. That question is whether he should give his authority for PCSOs in the county the power to arrest offenders alongside their Officer colleagues.

The question has apparently been asked by Avon and Somerset PCC Sue Mountstevens and is one that would give some cause for concern about the degree to which the line separating PCSO and PC should be blurred. Whilst this power has been in existence since 2007, it has only (to my knowledge) been utilised within the British Transport Police.
Alongside this decision there would also have to be a review of the equipment provided and routinely carried by PCSOs. A power of arrest without the appropriate PPE would certainly be a recipe for disaster. So what is the solution – hand-cuffs, incapacitant spray and batons for all….?

Predictably, and with some degree of justification, the Police Federation has voiced its concerns over these proposed changes.

I am a firm advocate of the PCSO role in its current format. These officers have the time and skills to do work that wouldn’t get done properly – if at all, if it were added to the workload of officers on response teams. Their work may not always as glamorous and high profile as the blaze-of-glory stories of Policing recounted by those who have earned the right under the ‘rules of blah’. But it is often the work which has a more lasting effect. They are the anti-biotic that underpins (and normally outlasts) the sticking plasters dished out by the response team.

In my opinion, the minute Police forces start giving the powers of a Police Officer to their PCSO’s they will find themselves filling the gaps that currently exist in the demands placed on the response teams. I have already seen an increased reliance on the Special Constabulary and increased recruiting to their ranks while PC recruiting remains almost non-existent. The closer a PCSO gets to performing the role of  a Police Officer, the more they will be treated as such, and the more they will find themselves abstracted from their primary role. There is a real potential for that two tier Policing, that those in power denied would ever exist when the PCSO role was created, to become a reality.

NB: The ‘Rules of Blah’ are to be explained in tomorrow’s post. I have had a copy of these in my drawer for years but will supply them in online form – credited to one of my colleagues who published them back in 2010…

Another Officer Assaulted due to ‘Appropriate’ Staffing

Police Oracle today reported the story of an officer badly injured as a result of being repeatedly struck with part of his own PPE after attending an incident outside a pub in Rotherham last year.

Michael Dolan (49) felled PC Glen Hill, whilst reportedly drunk and on steroids, after the officer attended the incident single-crewed in November. PC Hill was knocked to the ground and then, whilst lying helpless, was beaten around the head approximately 30 times by Dolan, who had taken possession of the officers canister of CS spray. The officer received a deep laceration to his head and required treatment in hospital for his injuries. Dolan subsequently admitted an offence of GBH and was sentenced to 32 months in prison – meaning he will be likely to serve well under a year and a half.

The circumstances leading up to the assault are echoed throughout many counties on a daily basis and have left officers again questioning the rationale behind single-crewing policies. 

Chief Superintendent for Rotherham, Jason Harwin, is quoted in the article as stating that staffing levels on the night of the incident were appropriate and described the incident as ‘regrettable’. He followed this comment by reminding everyone that ‘Policing does have its risks’.

In some respects I agree with this statement. Policing does have its risks but I firmly believe that it is the responsibility of Senior Managers like Chief Superintendent Harwin to stand up for the right of his officers to complete their duty without these kinds of ‘regrettable’ incidents. If he considers that the level of staffing is justified (taking into account the high chance of deployment to, or simply coming across, incidents of this type) then the consequences of that decision – in this case an officer having his head split open – must, by definition, also be considered acceptable.

They are clearly NOT! 

Those that would brush off this incident saying that the officer failed to assess the risks properly should understand that the very reason most become a Police Officer is to step toward those in need of help. Expecting us to just sit in the nick or stand nearby and watch, is not realistic. That’s not what we do… 

I know, all too well, the counter-argument to this situation. I know that those in control of the purse strings will say that there are times of night when having two officers ‘doing nothing’ together in the same car is unproductive. They will say that in these times of tight budgets and public non-confidence then twice the cars means twice the work and twice the visibility. From the safe side of the office table this may be true, but what it actually means is that officers spend the night following each-other around to jobs, burning twice the diesel because they all know that even the most routine call can turn into something tragic. Any job that involves a pub, a road, a domestic or a prisoner will need more than one officer to deal with it. The vast majority of what we now deal with on the response teams fall under one of these headings, so why not accept that the safety of officers is more important than saving a few quid in salaries only to spend a fair chunk of it on extra cars and fuel.

Budgets are a necessary evil in these times but, in my mind, the cost of an injured officer is far higher.

Vocation vs Internal Application

Today I was asked this simple question:

Has the PLC changed the reason many apply to become a Special or PCSO?

Better qualified officers and a more efficient and productive recruitment process are a must-have in the new age of Policing on the cheap a budget. We should rightly look to cut unnecessary spending and streamline expensive processes to make them fit more into the current financial picture.

What we should not do, however, is engage in a process that can ultimately damage the quality of those on the streets and the confidence of the public in those that wear the uniform.

A recent trend in many forces is to take on increased numbers of Special Constables and PCSO’s compared to Regulars. As the Army increase their Territorial compliment and cut the number of full time paid soldiers, so the balance shifts within the Policing world. Historically, the roll of Special Constable has been seen as one that leads some into full time Policing, but for most it is a vocation. This was almost exclusively the case for the PCSO too…until recently.

With virtually no Police Officer recruitment planned for external applicants until 2013 in most parts of England and Wales, the PLC qualification – to be replaced by the NPIA sanctioned Policing Knowledge Certificate (CKP) next year in the Met (and no doubt other forces) – has caused a definite change to the motivation behind applications to many forces in respect of non-Police Officer posts. I know of many people who have joined forces (particularly the Met and Surrey) as a Special or a PCSO with no intention of doing anything other than gaining access to the PLC and moving on to the internal recruitment process as soon as possible. This option is made more attractive by the fact that many of the forces who ask for the PLC qualification, also offer a discount or interest free loan to existing staff. Some would not be able to fund the course without that help…

You might ask what my issue is with this. Surely these applicants are just exploiting a loophole in order to get access to their chosen career.

That may be the case, but my concern is that for many of those (particularly the PCSO’s) who would previously joined to do the role they applied for, the carrot of internal recruitment will mean they have little or no interest in anything other than getting their hands on the qualification and moving to where they actually want to be. As a result of this, recruitment processes in those forces that use the PLC are now flooded with people who are applying for, and potentially getting, a job they don’t even want to do. Neighbourhood offices risk being crammed with PCSO’s studying for their PLC rather than looking after their neighbourhood!*

With the CKP replacing the PLC and becoming nationally recognised from April 2013, there is no guarantee that the PLC will be worth a bean by the time many get through the course. Should this happen, and potential recruits then have to take the CKP at a cost of up to £1000, many could end up stuck in their ‘gateway’ role for longer than they anticipated. What happens to their motivation then….

My view is that the role of the PCSO is becoming diluted by this situation. Specials are less so as the roles are similar in many respects. I think that the clear definition should be returned before a PCSO post becomes more of a Police apprenticeship with discounted college courses thrown in.

I believe that those forces that are recruiting internally should allow external candidates to stand alongside their internal counterparts. It is hugely short sighted to believe that it is those within the organisation who are, without reservation, the best candidates for Police Officer posts. Whilst I agree with assisted learning within any organisation, I do not agree with the culture that the PLC funding has created and that which the CKP will inherit. Those that do vocational roles such as PCSO should be those that have their heart and soul in the job…not a revision book.

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*Before I get thrown to the wolves…. I know that there are many exceptional Specials and PCSO’s out there who do their role exactly as was intended when it was created. I also know there are many that would never consider crossing to the dark side and joining the ‘regulars’, but there are many that would and it is these to which this post relates.

If only…

If only the judicial system in England and Wales could take on some of the values demonstrated by their American counterparts…

This video cropped up on my radar today and illustrates beautifully how we should treat those that fail to acknowledge that they should be accountable for their actions. Have a watch and see if you share the unstoppable grin that invaded my face during the last quarter of the video.