Can’t Sleep, Clowns Will Eat Me!
October 28, 2007 by inspectorgadget
In Ruraltown, the Respose officers regularly attend domestic incidents on the ‘affordable housing’ estates. A knife is often mentioned. This is because there either is a knife, or the caller thinks the police will arrive more quickly if they mention a knife.
If I deploy a shield team and wait for the only non-compliance dog in the force at night every time an edged weapon is mentioned, the policing of the whole County would grind to a halt. So I have to agree to a double-crew going to assess. Either me or the Sergeant will also head over to the address, usually both.
We can always play chess on the side if we get bored.
Depending on what is happening when the call comes in, we could be sixty miles away. That’s a long time, even on blues & two’s, using F Division’s country lanes.
If there really is a knife wielding maniac in the house, which there quite often is, I have to try and scrape together a shield team from the few dozen officers on duty in F and G Division. This is a long process. The officers must be extracted from the emergencies they are attending themselves, report to the police station, get their kit on and travel to the RV point.
F Division alone is more than 200 square miles, and this can happen in any part of it.
During this time, unarmed Response officers will try and contain the maniac using the short-shields in their vehicle (if there are any, which is another story) a foot or so of aluminum stick and a 50g tin of pepper.
“Stab me and I’ll make you sneeze a bit”
Having said that, it’s amazing how quickly we can get our MAST officers into a house if we really need to. Nine times out of ten we can resolve these incidents with the minimum of fuss. But that’s by the grace of God and a prevailing wind. And we know it. And so do the criminals.
In this case, James Santrey tried to stab PC Dameon Shaw six times with a kitchen knife. The CPS later bargained this down to an attempt GBH and Affray (my sources tell me he was arrested on suspicion of ‘attempted murder’ at the time). Santrey pleaded guilty and received a 24 month suspended sentence.
I’m prepared to take risks. I’m prepared to manage risk. I’m even prepared to ask other people to take risks, although not risks I wouldn’t take myself. What I think I am getting increasing unhappy about doing, is taking/asking others to take risks which could clearly have been easily avoided by the Courts doing a decent job in the first place.
Paramedics and Technicians are also at risk.
By this I mean sending messages, providing and enforcing non-negotiable boundaries for those who threaten or use weapons against others including emergency service workers.
In the meantime, I can’t sleep. I’m afraid the clowns will eat me.
[IMG]http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e99/Stan_Still/Mood/Clownseat.jpg[/IMG]
Have a badge!
Boss,
Is that a Simpsons quote?!
For ANY assault on Emergency crews we should be talking Jail time. For a minor scrape, I reckon a week inside whereas the shameful event described it should have been LIFE.
Try again
Have a badge!
WordPress clearly don’t do embedded links
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e99/Stan_Still/Mood/Clownseat.jpg
Try this
I’ve got to say, i admire what you guys do in dangerous circumstances. It must be galling to say the least when scumbags like the chavtastic tosser you mentioned very early get away with murder.
I have a serious question for you and all your policeman (policeperson?) colleagues though. I’ve spent sometime in the states and i’ve noticed that even the security guards have guns there. Would you feel safer having a shooter and would you want one? I ask, just given the situations you’ve mentioned it might merit it.
Firearms alone are not the answer to dealing with an offender with an edged weapon; Our badguys actually have a lot of trust in us and will act up at the sight of a drawn firearm because they have a very good idea of what it would actually take for us to ventilate their hides. An officer with a Taser backed up by an officer with a firearm will cover off all eventualities. Again our badguys might act up at the sight of a gun, but they know we will Taser them without hesitation if they provide any threat to us whatsoever.
The nice bit is that word gets around quick that the Taser isn’t a lot of fun, and there is no criminal style dignity or ’saving face’ with it as there is in acting up for a gun or putting up a good fight. The red dot on the chest will more often than not bring quick compliance.
The call of the blade to get the quicker response, just ahead of domestic disputes with diversity overtones.
Stan - your html code is wrong - try this.
Gadget
the bounderies you speak of are yours because you can see, feel and smell them. What would have happned in the naughty 1970’s is that he would have been given a shooing , this would have been the tangible reminder not ot pull knives on the Police,clearly we can’t have that , however we look to the courts to see that justice is done .The courts play fast and loose with danger becuase they don’t see, hear , smell
when the link between wrong doing and fear of outcome is broken ,then our safety is eroded
As a JP I do try to back the police in incidents like the one you describe but if the CPS under-charge, there is b@:(*&^r all I can do. I have had this debate with them and they admit, unashamedly, that they will go to the lowest level to get a guilty plea in the magistrates’ court, rather than a crown court trial. And they admit this is both cost and competence based. They don’t have the money and they don’t have the staff. If the CPS spent a little less on their own facilities and thought about their primary purpose, some who ought to be behind bars would be…
OK, I have posted this on the police forum, so go check it out. Why did the officers bother going into the bathroom with the lad? Why not park up outside, have a couple of big lads with full shields at the bathroom door, and then sit, drink tea, and eat chips. The lad would have got bored / hungry / sleepy soon enough.
Barging in on a tide of testosterone just risks officers lives, and doesn’t do the lad any favours either.
In response to cookie monster I would say that we need more firearms deployable units on each team as there is a definate need but without a doubt we should all have taser. Yes, some people have died and spurious links have been made to being shot with taser, the fact that all were drunk or high is seemingly irrelevant. CS has melted people’s faces and batons break bones and skin, and a head strike can kill so we’re not exactly armed with tickle sticks already, it would just been nice to have more reaction distance than the length of my right leg.
As for the issue with paramedics and firefighters being attacked, it always makes me angry to see a paramedic in a stab vest. To think that things have gotten that bad that someone who’s sole job is to hold the pieces together for long enough to let a doctor stitch them up is seriously wrong. And the worse thing is people have still got no clue what is going on around them!! They will bitch and moan about me not taking their greed induced theft seriously, especially after I’ve just been sitting at a gbh victims bedside or trying to control the scene of an RTA, all because they think it is their right to and that I am not allowed to prioritise my time to the people who actually need it.
I have only ever needed an ambulance once in my life and thanks to the 18 hours of memory loss I can’t even remember it. I sincerely hope that I never need one again but there are people who call them for cut fingers, or attack the crews because they are angry or pissed and think they have a right to because they pay taxes (or say they do but are benefit scrounging jobless bastards)
I can understand people who hate us, some even have good reasons, but not paramedics and firefighters, or nurses for that matter. Area was spot on when he said that in the 70’s they would have got the kicking of a lifetime, and god help them if they tried to stab a nurse or a paramedic because no one else would have helped them. When I was a kid the RMP’s were known to give some of the gobby teenagers a smack or two, especially if whatever they had done offended or upset the locals and made the army look bad, there is just nothing like that now.
On a night duty a few months ago a call for urgent assistance to a fast response LAS crew went out over the mainset (like the traffic channel in counties) but it was in an outer borough that had no units to deal, their weren’t even any arv’s to go to it. We were the only unit on our division at the time and even though putting up for the job twice we were instructed to stay put as there was no one else to cover our ground. The control room contacted our inspector after we went anyway (GPS tracking is great) and we were ordered back the nick for a little chat.
No one went in the end. The next night duty I read in the Metro on the way in that a paramedic had been attacked with a pickaxe handle at a domestic he attended, the area and time were about right and I felt physically sick. When I showed the paper to the driver he didn’t say anything for a few hours, he was as livid as I was that the biggest force in the country couldn’t put out one unit to assist a paramedic.
This country is completely screwed, and I bloody hate clowns.
rant over, I’m going to the gym.
And “fast response crew” isn’t a crew, it’s one defenceless paramedic on their own. Sometimes it’d be nice to just leave people to kill each other without having to intervene……
Anyway, writing to say, I think I’ve got a non-compliant dog. Anytime you want to borrow an elderly lurcher with selective deafness and failing eyesight, give me a call!!
Metcountymounty, we’re just finishing off editing Stuart Gray’s book, Life And Death On The Street - A Paramedic’s Diary (Stuart is an LAS paramedic) and I’ve just been reading a passage in his book where he makes exactly this point: what kind of decadent, sick society have we become where people whose only purpose is to save lives get attacked on the job?
He says this about the cops: “The police are our best friends, bar none. The Met police and BTP are on our side and watching our backs and keeping us safe. (And they also make excellent drip stands.) Closely followed by the men and women of the Fire Service. God bless you, we love you all.”
On topic - re the lunatic with the knife, if only this story were actually unbelievable Gadget!
I share the despair
I want Taser! Not a Firearm but Taser! They should be issued to at least every response Officer if not everyone who draws Pepper / CS. I have lost count of the times where i wouldn’t have had to risk my life against a guy with knife, bottle, club if i had taser.
Its not always possible to back off, run away and wait for back up and i then have very few options that will work except an equal or greater display of (controlled) violence which is sometimes the only choice!
Taser is another choice and a much less violent or lethal one that clubbing someone with my issue lump of metal as well as increasing my chances of not getting hurt.
NB: My ability to defend myself comes from my huge 6 hours per year of Ninja skills training that the force gives me to cover everything from spray, cuffs, batons, arms locks and bruce lee moves. So as you can imagine calling me trained in self defence is like calling me trained in foreign languages after i met a Frenchman in a pub once.
British Police are increasingly out of physical condition, under trained in physical preservation of oneself never mind others, unequipped with the right tools (taser) to do the jobs they are sent to whilst being at greater risk of being assaulted than ever (probably because their are no proper penalties for doing so or CPS let the defendant plea bargain Assault Police charges away in exchange for guilty pleas on other charges which has happened to every bobby i know at least once)
I think the time is fast arriving in england when you should all be armed with taser and firearm.
It is far better to have the required tools with you and not use them than need them and not have them.
Dan, could you keep us posted on the paramedics book? I know this is a Police blog but we’re all one big happy dysfunctional family and it’ll be nice to see how their perspective ties with ours - or not as the case may be.
I think I can speak for everyone here when I say that we LOVE paramedics - especially LAS, you guys rock - and we will always try break every rule in the book to help you guys out when we can (having had a number of bollockings for doing so in the past), especially if it means someone in greens might be having their own trip to A&E if we don’t. If we could pick you up and stick you in our pockets to keep you safer then we would.
Notellin, couldn’t agree more, youtube proves that the red dot on the chest does indeed (let alone the 50k volts) take the wind out of a lot of fights. If it means I can annoy commuters on the train home with my well earned snoring, instead of having someone I work with wake up my wife, then it can only be a good thing.
I am the owner of a 6′2″ 19 year old Herbert
who is drifting from one deadend job to another
I have said to him on many occasions “join the Police force son”
Do you think this is sound advice?
With hindsight would you still join or would you take a different
path
Dan, I think you can safely tell your Paramedic that as police officers we regard them as the best, bar none. I will always, always go to assist them at the slightest hint of trouble and damn the orders (luckily in my part of the world the only orders would be “get there and help, NOW!”), and would not hesitate to go in harm’s way to look after our paramedics, it’s that simple. Top people, blacker sense of humour than us, and some of them make a half decent cuppa too when you invade their station at 3AM on nights!
And yet the innocent suffer:
http://iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100localnews/tm_headline=inferno-mum-was-victim-of-young-thugs%26method=full%26objectid=20025147%26page=2%26siteid=50003-name_page.htm
A MOTHER who apparently murdered her disabled daughter and killed herself by setting fire to their car had reported incidents of antisocial behaviour to police before her death.
The bodies of 38-year-old Fiona Ann Pilkington and her 18-year-old daughter Francesca Hardwick, were discovered in the burning vehicle in a lay-by on the A47 close to Earl Shilton, near Hinckley, on Tuesday night.
Police confirmed that anti-social behaviour was a problem near their home, in Bardon Road at nearby Barwell, and that the family had reported several incidents to police.
One theory being investigated by police is that Ms Pilkington was pushed to the brink by yobs who had abused her and pelted her home with stones.
Friend and neighbour Ann Jones said she believed Ms Pilkington had taken her own life and that of her 18-year-old daughter because she had “had enough” of being harassed by local youths.
Neighbours said stones were often thrown at the family’s windows and eggs at the house.
Mrs Jones, aged 55, claimed: “If the police had done their job she would still have been here.
“I think she did this because of all the hassle she was getting.
“There was nobody there to help her. The police should have done more.”
Mrs Jones, who said she had known Ms Pilkington for 10 years, said she was shocked at what had happened.
“She must have been so low,” she said.
“She would not have done that if she was not really down.
“She was a wonderful person - the best. She was a really good mother and always put her children first.
“I’m gutted. I’ve lost a friend, a very good friend.”
Mrs Jones said she last saw Ms Pilkington on Tuesday, when they had been laughing and joking together.
A police spokeswoman said three people had been arrested and one charged this week in connection with antisocial behaviour in the Bardon Road area.
But she added: “While we can confirm that Fiona Pilkington had reported several incidents of anti-social behaviour to the police, we must stress that there is no connection between those arrests and Fiona or Francesca, or indeed the investigation into their deaths.
“Tackling antisocial behaviour is a priority for the beat which covers Bardon Road and we police the area with this very much in mind.”
According to some reports, the mother and daughter had been tormented by youngsters in the area, throwing stones at them and calling them names.
Francesca, known to her family as Frankie, suffered from severe learning difficulties. Frankie had a smile for everyone
FRANKIE had been a pupil at Dorothy Goodman School, Hinckley, which caters for students with severe learning difficulties, for 14 years.
The head of the school, Tony Smith, paid tribute to a “friendly and kind” pupil.
In a statement, he said: “She was friendly and kind, always had a smile on her face, and she was always keen to help others.
“Frankie was well liked by all staff and students and she contributed a great deal to the life and work of the school.
“We are deeply saddened by what has occurred and we will miss her greatly.
“Our thoughts are with her family at this time.
“During the first week back at school after half-term we will be arranging a celebration of her life, and we will be remembering all the wonderful work that she did whilst she was with us.”
Superintendent Rachel Swann, of Leicestershire Police, said in a statement: “Clearly, when a tragedy of this nature occurs, anyone who knew the family or had contact with them will naturally ask questions of themselves.
“As a force, we are asking questions of ourselves by reviewing the incidents Fiona reported to us.
“We work closely with the council to tackle anti-social behaviour and they too are reviewing the incidents reported by this family.
“We will of course take any necessary action highlighted when those reviews are complete.”
NEIGHBOURS approached by the Coventry Telegraph yesterday said the Bardon Road area was notorious for antisocial behaviour.
One man, who did not want to give his name for fear of reprisals, said: “It is bad around here.
“We have problems and we try to handle it, but you have to keep calm because you don’t want a brick through your window. It is a real tragedy about Fiona and Frankie.”
Another neighbour was too afraid to speak. “Sorry - but I dare not make any comment,” he said.
The Telegraph approached four teenagers who were hanging around outside a shop off Bardon Road.
One of them, a boy aged about 14, said: “Yeah, it’s bad round here. We had a shooting at the chippy not long ago.”
Then, in a spontaneous show of bravado, he pulled out a disposable cigarette lighter from his pocket and lunged mockingly at his pal’s neck, shouting: “I’m gonna stab ya, I’m gonna stab ya.”
Police have not ruled out the theory that Francesca and her mother were being bullied by youngsters in the area.
The force spokeswoman said: “We are investigating all lines of inquiry into their deaths.
“The circumstances are still being investigated and will be subject to a coroner’s inquest.”
IG, I don’t want to be patronising to you but don’t worry about taking risks or asking others. At least you and others are out there to take the risk and make that split second decision.
It is those who inhabit the fairy factory who should apologise. For they are NEVER on duty when the s*** hits the fan but sit at the club for those in the ‘hindsight club’ making those hard decisions of whether to have a Rich tea or chocolate digestive biscuit at the Monday morning ‘blame club’. They are the ones that should be ashamed of themselves.
Have I got this right?
The CPS won’t take financial risks, and play safe in the magistrates courts.
Leaving you lot to face more risks every shift?
Would they feel differently about it if they were quite literally at the ’sharp end’?
uphilldowndale
CPS aren’t paid to take risks, in fact they are completely risk averse with cases as their remit as measured by targets is to minimise the number of discontinuances at court which means cases abandoned or lost by the crown.
Now i agree with the notion that they should seek to reduce the number of cases the crown looses after all its my taxes, time and effort involved and i would be very happy if they improved their skills, admin, trial performance etc.
However CPS have clearly decided its too hard to improve itself and instead its just easier to play by other rules to reduce discontinuances or to put it another way artificially decrease the discontinuance rate in what could only be described as administrative corruption.
They do this by:
Not Charging as if they aren’t charged they don’t go to court and they cant be discontinued which is logical in a target driven culture. Obviously the morals don’t come into this and CPS will refrain from charging unless they are basically almost guaranteed a win except if the defendant just admits it as that’s not good enough on its own. They are supposed to operate 51% ideal whereby if the crown has better than 50% chance of winning they try but in practice its more like 75%+ level. To not charge they use the “Not in the Public’s Interest” excuse even though they wouldn’t know what that means. They also use the “Evidential Test” as well but their acceptable standard of evidence is as stated 75%+ rather than the standard it ideally should be.
Charging down to a much lower charge to keep it in the Mags or to work with a much lower standard of proof both of which help win. This is regardless of the offence for which the defendant is alleged to have committed.
Plea Bargaining with the defence on a very unofficial basis (as its not exactly within the rules) where they are offered a lower offence to plead guilty to instead of a trial for the actual offence for which they were charged.
Dual Charging is another technique whereby they lump the defendant with two charges one they will definitely win and one more iffy. That way regardless of what happens to a iffy charge they don’t get a discontinuance as they still win on the certain charge. I use this procedure to try and get CPS to charge more often as it appeals to their administrative corrupt minds. Although Dual charging often ends bad as the iffy one is usually plea bargained away.
NB: Charging down and Plea bargaining are often used together with the result that the suspect may be arrested for a S18 GBH say, charged with S20 Wounding and Plea Bargained down to a S47 ABH at the Mags. Now S47 and S20 carry the same penalty in theory but S47 probably will stay in the mags more than likely and will therefore be limited in penalty. So the guy who caves your skull in gets away with a poxy penalty as a result of the above. Obviously if the defendant is charged with more than one offence then one or more may be dropped which is same as not charging to grease the wheels of charging down and plea bargaining.
Now they cant be blamed for this corruption as its forced on them as a result their target culture. You could suggest that they should have more backbone to resist such administrative corruption but then you could win the lottery as well.
[...] Can’t Sleep, Clowns Will Eat Me! In Ruraltown, the Respose officers regularly attend domestic incidents on the ‘affordable housing’ […] [...]
Thanks notellin, that was just the sort of info I was hoping for.
So as always it boils down to the ‘mad dog chasing its own tail.’ (maybe it will collapse from exhaustion soon, or more worryingly, you folk will)
Depressing
I’ve had the CPS advise to issue a S5 POA fixed pen for an assault PC (the officer was pushed over, and had no injuries). This was because the offender was verbally abusive to the officer beforehand.
“That’s a section 4, besides which 4 other officers have seen him push the poor old plod. ” I said to the colourfully cardiganed CPS prosecutor.
“It doesn’t say in the 5 officers statements that it was directed personally at the officer in question” she replies
“They all say he was looking at the officer?” I mutter
“Oh no it doesn’t” says the pantomime horse
“Oh yes it does, I’ve better things to be doing you know.” says the evil fascist.
“S5 fixed penalty please. NEXT!!”
I also had a woman who was assaulted so badly by her husband there was blood splatter up the walls, toilet and on the floor. This woman had multiple extensive bruising and a broken nose. The discolouration from the bruising lasted over 6 months. She suffered with guilt, insomnia, depression and financial problems as a result.
Can you guess what the CPS wanted to charge him with?
Common Assault by any chance?
I think that all front line police officers should be carrying tasers. The only reason they are not, is because of a very small risk to the scrotes that it will be used on. If only they cared as much for the officers that risk life and limb to protect the public.
I think it will only be a matter of time before the police are armed with something more substantial than a baton (that eventualy snaps when used too much or too hard) and cs spray.
At the end of the day, if someone dies from a taser shot, then the fault lies with them and not the officer who fires the taser. Actions and consequences and all that.
I am a prison officer and there is even talk of issueing those of us in YOI’s (15 to 1
with batons. Some of these ‘kids’ are massive, and with the numbers of them in for violent murders on the increase, it’s about time.
I also dont think they should be allowed to do weights while in jail. During one incident there was a lad who had three teams of three officers in relays for over half an hour to control him. A baton would have put him down much faster, with less risk to the officers involved.
The guy who stabbed the police officer 6 times, should have been banged up for a very long time, and not given a suspended sentance. To stabb someone 6 times shows the intent to kill that person. With the victim being a police officer, who cannot walk away, the sentance should have been life.
Correct Mr Gadget well done. You get to feel lost, frustrated and in despair as your prize. Errr… well done.
Id love to know what goes through the head of a CPS decision maker-not a lot I would imagine, perhaps what bottle of Rioja to have this evening.
Young lad having a drink with his work colleague in a pub is punched in the face by the ex boyfriend of his collegaue who thinks he is seeing her now-resulting in two plates(permanant) and jaw wiring to the poor lad.
Yes youve all guessed it S47 assault followed by community and rehabilitation order-this toe rag is a prolific violent offender who just walks away laughing-
Meanwhile I get a grilling about what Im doing about nighttime violence and how I have to reduce it on my patch- umm looking forward to another night shift again tonight.
I have posted on t his before on other topics and without going into detail i still find it amazing that whilst we have the IPCC to keep and eye on us CPS has no comparative agency to oversee them.
They have no oversight at all ad the general public has no avenue of complaint what so ever to take issue with the CPS.
CPS can and have in fact passed matters to the IPCC but should an Officer find professional issue with the CPS they are untouchable. They are completely accountable to no one. The DPP is meant to deal with such matters but since he’s one of them what do think the chances are of that?
QUIS CUSTODIET IPOS CUSTODES - Who watches the watchmen? Well the traditional answer is they watch over themselves and for the Police we do but with oversight and it works. The CPS have no such oversight and no established internal means of keeping watch over themselves and are therefore completely unaccountable to their employers the British Public. The CPS are in the same position as the Police were prior to advent of the inteneral D&C teams and the forerunner of the IPCC the PCA.
Tell me, how would you go about dealing with a CPS problem (excluding criminal conduct as we can just lock em up) , to whom would you turn and what could they do about it? Who ensures the professional conduct of the CPS?
When I was a Federation Rep, I used to tell the lads, “If you have a problem, I have one”. Why the hell don’t they do something about the CPS? Please don’t tell me they can’t, or that they do. ‘Cos I don’t hear them!
Because everyone at the top is scared to shake ANY of the tree - it’s too precarious up there, and if they start disturbing other people’s nests then there’s a good chance it might come crashing down on them.
Off subject but do as he says, not as he does!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7069289.stm
ATNS that’s an excellent analogy!
The reporting of assaults in my service is confounded by our reporting system. Its an electronic reporting form with one zillion and one drop down boxes…where as before with the paper Incident report form it would take upto an hour to complete, now its sometimes impossible to complete it at all!
Its not “if” but its “WHEN” one of us ambulance peeps is going to get killed out on the job!
Stronger sentencing and a return to good old fashioned values…ie instead of being all nicey nicey to the scumbag who has just kicked seven colours of shit out of someone they should get the same.
These scumbags in our once great country have no fear of the courts and know that they can gob off or create tensions without being challenged. Whatever happened to “taking the consequences of your actions”?
Just to finish…we value the support from our mates in “Blue”.
An interesting off topic subject,
Police chiefs fear 5,000 jobs to be cut
Police forces are facing their biggest staffing crisis for a generation with up to 5,000 posts threatened by budget cuts.
Police chiefs fear budget cuts will have an impact on the number of front-line officers
Chief officers are braced for a big reduction in numbers in England and Wales despite unprecedented threats from terrorism and organised crime.
The financial brakes have been applied just as ministers want to extend neighbourhood policing teams around the country.
The Government believes there is scope for cutting back on office staff but front-line officers may have take over their duties because of the large amount of form-filling and red tape involved.
Rural and suburban forces will be hardest hit because big city forces get more Government money.
Smaller forces could be financed through higher council taxes but this will be resisted by local and national politicians.
Chief officers accused the Government of misleading the public with its claim that funding for the police was being maintained in “real terms” when the 2.7 per cent annual increase for the Home Office, announced by Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, in his Pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review for 2008-11 would lead to cuts.
Tim Brain, the Chief Constable of Gloucestershire and the spokesman on finance for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said the settlement “may not be sufficient to maintain the improvements seen in the police service over the last few years”.
“Nothing has changed our view that there will be losses of between 3,000 to 5,000 police posts, either officers or staff,” said Mr Brain.
“We are still concerned how much of the available funding will eventually be distributed to local forces as opposed to being retained by the Home Office for central initiatives.
“How much of the additional £220 million funding for counter-terrorism will be made available for forces, or will the funding be provided to the new Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism within the Home Office? ”
Police chiefs acknowledge that the service has expanded under Labour. There are more than 141,000 officers and up to 16,000 police community support officers (PCSOs), together with 80,000 police staff.
The threatened cuts come as Government-imposed bureaucracy shows no sign of decreasing and chiefs are under pressure to fulfil Home Office promises to boost local policing.
Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, has made it clear that neighbourhood policing, carried out by Pcs and PCSOs, is a key Government policy.
With this scheme, we should just give up and go home.
I’ve been thoroughly in sympathy with the police in these cases since 1989, when I had my own experience of domestic violence. My ex-husband, after trying to disembowel me with a 6″ knife, was charged with attempted murder. Both the Merseyside and Devon and Cornwall Police Forces were involved (character witnesses in both areas) and I afterwards estimated an absolute minimum of 200 hours of police time spent just in taking statements. (The DS working with me spent so much time in the hospital that the nurses joked about him being my ‘boyfriend’.
) End result? Plea-bargained down to wounding with intent, 2 years suspended, and 5 years of rent-free accommodation in flats much better than the pokey little bedsit he’d been occupying before. The really amusing bit was that, when the powers-that-be were about to release him from the bail hostel (while I was still in the hospital), they contacted me to ask whether I had any objection to them placing him in temporary accommodation just 1/4 mile away from my home! I suppose I ought to be grateful that some desk-jockey did at least think that maybe, just maybe, I might not want to be walking to the shops (still with an open 2″ hole in my side) past the front door of the person who’d tried to kill me.