It’s all going horribly wrong SHOCK!

I started this Blog in 2006. Since then, we have been saying the same things over and over again.

1. Prison works if the sentence served is long and austere. Everything else is seen as a sign of weakness.

2. There are not enough police on emergency response teams, and those teams are seen as the bottom of the heap.

3. I do this anonymously because the establishment will do anything to hide these facts.

Now, after six years,  established national media coverage, (nearly) two books, 8.6 million hits and some recognition by senior officers and politicians, we have three stories (well, four actually) which show that precisely nothing has been achieved at all in these areas of concern.

Let me summarise.

1. Prison sentencing, or rather the lack of it.

Two thugs involved in an attack on an innocent man in the street which put him in hospital for a month were spared prison after telling a judge they were sorry for their actions.

Emerging from court, Daniel Chrapkowski gleefully punched the air with both hands and danced on the steps, while his accomplice Thomas Lane made an obscene gesture and squared up to reporters and photographers.

Joseph O’Reilly, the victim,  was repeatedly punched and kicked in the face and stomach for asking the offenders to stop throwing bins around in the street. He spent more than 40 hours undergoing X-rays and scans as well as emergency treatment for his injuries.

He suffered a badly fractured jaw and a bleed on the brain, and was forced to have a metal plate fitted into his face.

2. Response team numbers, or rather the lack of them.

The chair of Greater Manchester Police Federation has said force officers are “working well beyond maintainable limits”.

“Officers are working well beyond maintainable limits and they cannot sustain this pressure much longer,” he said.

“Response teams are barely able to function on a normal day and then when an incident occurs they are stretched well beyond capacity.”

“Officers are seeing their numbers depleted and, despite what some local commanders may tell force command, things are starting to come apart.”

3. Twitter, Facebook and Blogs.

AN outspoken Dorset Police officer faces disciplinary action after tweeting about cuts.

PC Nick Manning blasted Tory minster Theresa May, his senior officers, a lack of manpower, and the focus of resources on Bournemouth. He told his followers he had been given a ‘Regulation 14’ notice – a notice he is under investigation for possible misconduct.

This is one of his tweets from October 14th 2011.

• Last 3 nights in North Dorset 3 cops covering everything north of the A31, the public here should have #noconfidenceintheresamay.

A controversial 2009 Times article “outing” an anonymous police blogger called Nightjack was based on material obtained by email hacking, it has emerged in evidence to the Leveson inquiry.

Times editor James Harding told the inquiry on Tuesday he had disciplined the reporter involved for accessing the email account by giving him a written warning.

What does all this mean for us? Those of us who write, publish and comment on this Blog? Those who cover our stories in the media, those who publish the books and probably most of all the (literally) hundreds of thousands who silently read the thing?

What these stories show in sharp relief is that we are right. We have always been right. Right about the thugs laughing at the system, right about numbers and right to remain anonymous. We are not right about these things because we are better or more clever than anyone else. We are right about these things because, gulp, we are practitioners who see this stuff every working day (and night) of our lives. Simple really.

And the politicians know it. Witness the long sentences given out to the retail-rioters last summer. Witness the sudden requirement for large police numbers on the streets. They know. They just don’t want to pay to protect you when there is money to be spent on wild and unnecessary foreign adventures, city bonus payments, overseas aid and people running very fast around a track.

This November, you will have the chance to vote for your very own police commissioner. It might be important that you know what is actually going on, instead of what you are told is going on. Please keep reading this and other unofficial police publications. Choose the ones they want to close, that way you know you are getting the best information.

Gadget Note: I hope readers now understand why I do not have an email account or mobile telephone number associated with this Blog, why I post from portable equipment using multiple IP addresses and why I leave spoilers about my location and personal life on the Blog. Nearly 100 years ago, and again in the 1940′s, in common with probably most of you reading this, Gadgets from Ruralshire stood post and dug trenches in France and Northern Germany to protect our freedom. Last time I checked in with my Grandfather this included free speech.

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