POLICE PAY – IS IT FAIR
No matter which direction anybody chooses to look someone is having a pop at the police service. Generally the law-abiding public at large is mainly supportive of the police service. If comments on police ‘blogs’ are anything to go by then this appears to be the case and we blogger’s thank you for your support. I just wish that we were able to repay that support by providing you with the service that you deserve. Our current government (I use ‘government’ in its loosest possible context) have been very manipulative of the police service over their reign in office, more than you can ever know. This has been to the detriment of crime and disorder which continues to rise. Sadly, I do not think if ‘hug a hoody Cameron’ was in power we would fair any better and as for the Lib Dems, who? This has all been a ploy to soften up the police service so that public sympathy is a thing of the past and public support is a distant memory. Why I hear you ask?
It’s simple. The police service is an expensive commodity, more so, since a lot of investment over Labour’s reign has been spent on additional tiers of unnecessary management such as ‘Human Resources’, statisticians, media officers and extra ‘support staff’ to free front line officers time – which have not worked incidentally. The simple fact is this extra money has not been spent on policing – i.e. fully sworn omni-competent police constables, professionals, that the public could rely on in ANY situation. It has been wasted on the latest whims of Whitehall who only respond to popularity polls and statistics.
The government’s sole aim currently is to reduce the policing cost and as we slowly move to two tier policing via PCSO’s and HATO’s the public will hardly notice the age old tradition of policing by consent disappearing into the darkness. Currently police pay is being attacked relentlessly by this government which has even started interfering with the democratic process of how police pay is negotiated. We have no right to strike, we have restrictions on our private lives, we are more accountable than MP’s themselves so please do not tell us we do not deserve a consistent formula and fair process to work out our pay. Sir Clive Booth, a staunch Labour supporter has shamed himself with a report that is so one sided as to not be worth the paper it is written on. With an increased terrorism threat, rising crime and the uncertain times we live in, fair pay is one battle the police service should not be fighting. A de-motivated police service is a dangerous precedent to set against a highly motivated criminal fraternity. Take the time to find out more here and here.
April 24, 2007 at 9:55 pm
I am a civil servant in a job that does not allow me the luxury of industrial action. We have access to a union (the PCS) but because we have a no strike agreement there is little point. We take the crap we are given under this government because we are all mortgage and pension slaves and for no other reason.I used to get a sense of job satisfaction from what I did but the abuse at the hands of this government has killed that.
April 25, 2007 at 7:34 pm
yes, same here. our right to strike was sold years ago in an agreement between the federation and the govenment.
so the federation can only “write sternly worded letters to the govenment expressing disgust at the low pay of police officers”
ooh sternly worded letters……that must have the home officers quaking in their boots. im sure the fed bosses who ‘represent’ the rank and file officers dont have to worry about their fat pay packets at the end of the month.
i dont believe in unions and have never been kean on the power they hold over companies (just look at the working practises in the USA) and how they can blackmail companies into agreeing to what ever they demand. But, when the government start shafting the police service like they are beginning to then perhaps the only option is to behave like the unions.
The emergency services cannot go on strike. That would create anarchy everywhere and that cant be allowed to happen. I, like many police officers have done have taken a vow to protect the public but when the government are forcing the changes upon an already heavily demoralised police forces nationwide then what is the only option?
i hope it never happens
April 25, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Remember, of the emergency services it is only the Police that can not strike.
April 25, 2007 at 10:01 pm
You missed out how Police officers have to undertake dangerous and unpleasant tasks that MP’s will never have to face.
I am about to apply to join my local force, and i don’t expect to get rich. But i do want a fair days pay for a fair days work.
April 26, 2007 at 9:58 am
In addition I saw on Sky News a short time ago that police officers have a 5 in 6 chance of being assaulted, and that one of us is assaulted every three hours, every day. There really needs to be some rebalancing of power because this is unacceptable. Add onto this that the pillocks in power want to reduce our pay to save a few quid which will no doubt re-appear in MP expenses – what is the incentive for someone to join. Police reform is not working, loony left liberal policy is to blame for an 8% increase in robbery offences during the last quarter of 2006. We can thank McPherson for that little gem. As has been said, a fair days pay for the risk, strife, accountability, relibility and personal restrictions on private life is not too much to ask. Is it? We are police officers 24/7, whereas politicians are part time all the time and they get twice the salary I do.
April 26, 2007 at 5:42 pm
No, it bloody well isn’t.
I think our pay should have a big increase.
The vast majority of everyday decisions that we make, can have such a huge impact further down the line.
Response cops do face situations everyday, regularly, that would have many people avoiding due to the potential danger.
Besides, my mother in law always tells me that cops don’t get paid enough. I’d never argue with her – ever !!
April 29, 2007 at 2:29 pm
if the government get their way we will soon a multi teared pay system for police officers, with some officers being paid more for doing certain roles. Whilst i dont agree that those officers who choose to hide behind a desk pushing their paperwork from one end a desk to the other should be paid more than those front line officers who on a daily basis put their lives on the line i think that if this goes ahead your going to have a lot of angry and pissed off police officers, and resentment will be aimed at their colleagues. This job is hard enough and we have enough enemys in this country without having ‘an enemy within’.
this government have well and truly fucked up this once great nation and now they are getting their overpaid chubbly little fingers into our once great police force.
time to follow my friends to Oz i think. Who’s coming?
Surfer bob
April 30, 2007 at 10:54 am
If it is true as you say that there are plans to make you a multi tier payed service you must resist this at all costs. Bear in mind that the mortgage you have is assessed on what you are earning at this time. You may only be an assault/injury away from having to take up a desk job which at the moment will not have a great financial impact on you. If you are multi tiered it could be catastrophic for you financially.
April 30, 2007 at 5:06 pm
Another excellent blog – by the way; it’s the Sgts who are loaded!!!
April 30, 2007 at 6:27 pm
In response to anonymous on 25 April at 20.54
Please get your facts right, The Federation has never sold the right to strike because Police Officers have never had it!!
Although you are perfectly correct in your assertion that the federation has only ever had the power of persuasion available to it.
I would have thought that attacking the only representatve body you have, whilst this current government is lining the service up for the biggest kicking it has ever had, would only encourage such a goverment to go even more radical, as, seemingly the federation appears to have little support from its members!!
The arguement that the Police are a special case in respect of pay,(accepted by all inquiries into the service since 1919) due to the restrictions on our private lives, inability to strike, unable to join a union, unable to active part in politics et. etc. Is very much eroded when there are calls from ourselves to have the same freedoms and rights as all other workers.
If you are not aware what this government (ably assisted by ACPO and Police Authorities) has lined up for you, check out the National Feds Website.
April 30, 2007 at 9:04 pm
Further response to anonymous on 25 April at 20.54.
The right to strike dissapeared long ago, as you would see if you looked at the federation web site.
“The Federation was established by the Police Act in 1919, following a strike in London, when almost every constable and sergeant in the Metropolitan Police refused to go on duty. They were demanding a big pay increase, a widows’ pension, the recognition of their illegal trade union, and the reinstatement of those who had been sacked for their union activities.
The Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, gave in to the strikers on pay, but within months the Police Union was smashed and the Police Federation of England and Wales was established.
Since that time, police officers have been prohibited from striking by statute, the most recent being the Police Act 1996. It is not a union, but has a statutory responsibility to represent its members, that is all officers below the rank of Superintendant, in all matters affecting their welfare and efficiency”.
They do indeed work by persuasion which, as you have pointed out is not always the most effective of tools when dealing with a government armed with a ‘machete’.
The most effective tool is locl federation reps. doing a good job locally and getting the rank and file behind them. If you are a serving officer and your rep. is not doing this then stand up, be counted and at this years ‘triennial’ ellections get them voted out and take their place. Put your money where your mouth is.
Emergency services can strike by the way, I have covered both fire disputes and ambulance disputes.
Striking is not the answer but there is more than one way to skin a cat as the saying goes that can be just as effective. Sorry to any animal lovers that may be reading!
April 30, 2007 at 9:27 pm
As a patrol Sgt, tell my officers to work to rule, don’t run around like blue arse flies, which the SMT would like and demand. I tell them to attend an incident and see it through. Stop going from job to job to job and then next week, find no time to retrace your steps and try and investigate, whilst the SMT are telling you to run around again. Alot of stress.
If there is no descent pay deal, then I would re-iterate this tenfold.
The Gov’ and SMT have sh** on the routine patrol officer for too long now, time to pay back.
“Bad boys, bad boys, what you gonna do, when they get fed up of coming for you”.
April 30, 2007 at 10:36 pm
The police losing the right to strike suggests to me that even the powers that be can see how FUNDAMENTAL to our society Police Officers are. Maybe it’s time the Government started to treat them as such.
May 1, 2007 at 8:37 pm
pcsw:
Re your comment on Big fella in Blue:
I don’t quite understand why you said “If you choose to leave 11 hours between shifts.”
It is not a matter of choice, it is the law, you should all have 11 hrs between shifts.Therefore all of you on that particular shift would all leave at the same time.
The other comment about ending up with the “crapiets shifts patterns and no weekends off”
No, again, the law states you have to have days off. That does include weekends.
Anyway, did you notice that we both left a comment on his blogsite at exactly the same time?
May 1, 2007 at 9:12 pm
Police pay and its negotiating framework is about to be disembowelled for the benefit of trendy ‘modernisation’. We all know that the real reason is saving money under the guise of efficiency and ‘modernisation’. Make no mistake we are about to enter the shafting season and any amount of tolerance or negotiating and cooperation is only just the first step to make our negotiating system a worthless piece of trash and the Federation completely powerless. The Government and their lackies will make every effort to look make out we are being unreasonable, greedy and only out for our own gains. Shame we can’t have some of the pay awards the MP’s have awarded themselves over the years. The never ending search for targets seem to forget that we don’t sell anything, inspite of business plans, ‘customer focus’ and whatever business terminology has been foisted into us over the years. We are service providers not a manufacturing industry yet we are treated like we are some profit making enterprise. We have to be flexible enough to respond and react to the daily demands we face without the restrictive practices that blight our working environment. At the same time there is not enough of us to go around, every problem is deemed to be a Police problem and we haven’t even got onto the smoking ban yet.
Think about becoming an MP, some of the perks and allowances seem OK.
May 3, 2007 at 9:08 am
Annette
just checked on the working time directives. i was over the moon when i realised my force was breaking the rules/ regs but cried when i saw the list of companies that are exempt.
ie those providing 24 hour shift cover.
bunch of arse.now i hate the EU as well.
May 3, 2007 at 7:23 pm
I like the way people slow down when they see the HATO’s and then proceed to belt past a mach ten when they realise they aren’t traffic plod and can’t do anything about it. It backfired for somewhen today when they did this and found an unmarked traffic car in front of the HATO’s.
Brilliant fun, you should have seen the guys face ;-p