The numbers never lie – A possible reason for why police foot patrols are a rare sight today
“In an ideal world we would still be able to Police like Sir Robert Peel wanted all those years ago but as is blatantly obvious, we do not live in an ideal world.” Snapper takes issue with Peter Hitchens’ complaints about the number of police officers on the beat.
Incognito
“I could also obviously deny I am a Police Officer or tell people who doubt me that they’re correct but then that would mean I would struggle to engage or contribute freely with Police related discussions or debates and it would soon become apparent that I was lying, so for now, I remain anonymous.” Snapper explains why he blogs and tweets incognito.
Mind the gap
“There appears to have been an overwhelming sense within the mental health profession that the programme unfairly portrayed the mental health profession.
“As a police officer I watched the show and thought ‘Welcome to my Saturday night’.” Nathan Constable responds to Panorama’s programme on people being ‘locked-up for being mentally ill’.
The Mid Blue Line – a police perspective on public protests
Over the past week I have taken part in a live web-streamed debate on policing protests as part of the Sussex Police 10 Days Live event, which also prompted many other interesting and useful conversations on Twitter. There was a large amount of interest in the police role at demonstrations, a variety of perceptions and […]
A foot in both camps
Over the last few weeks I have enjoyed following @Northwestdoc. It has struck me that much of what Dr Holmes as said has rung true with what I have been saying and, coming from a medical professional, this really interested me. I wanted to know more so I asked Dr Holmes to write a guest […]
So who is in charge?!
Here’s what’s wrong with mental health care in the UK << he modestly claimed! No one is in charge of it – at all. It’s not a system – it’s a coincidence. You might want to pop the kettle on before you tackle this one! You’ve only got to follow the @Twitter feeds of a few MH trust Chief […]
Scrutiny and Police & Crime Commissioners
Police and Crime Commissioners are hugely powerful and have direct and sole control over multi-million pound budgets. Those of us who have closely followed the implementation and election of PCCs know this, but still many of the public don’t understand exactly what this role is. Awareness is growing, in part due to intense media scrutiny […]
Nobody told me there’d be days like this…
Disclosure schemes are being trialled allowing applicants to check their partner’s past for violence, how might they help address the issue of domestic abuse? This week in the news there have been calls to expand a pilot of a scheme under which applicants could be given advanced warning of their partner’s violent past. The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, […]
The birth of a police state: UK police to be granted sweeping new powers
“[W]hat will it take for the slumbering British public to awake?” Scriptonite Daily explains how we are losing our liberties.
The Parliamentary Hypocritical Oath
“…there is in fact very little in place to “police” MP’s in the same way all other sections of the public sector are “policed”. …They are “monitored” by a group of their peers with not a single impartial, independent person amongst them.” Snapper explains why it’s one rule for MPs, and another for those who work in the public sector.
The other way around
The ever wonderful and erudite @MentalHealthCop has written this superb blog as his statement to the Care Quality Commission ahead of their review of Emergency Mental Health Care. Michael really has covered just about everything that needs to be said but I have a few observations of my own. Broadly speaking these can be condensed into two […]
Working from seven to eleven every night…
Unpredictability is pretty much the only thing about police work that can be predicted with any certainty. Even the simplest ambitions for a shift get thrown out the window when you walk into the station and get told ‘such and such has happened, kit up and get on the carrier’. Such was the case this […]
If Bruce Keogh had been investigating police services…?
This morning, I spent some time reviewing the report just submitted by Professor Sir Bruce Keogh KBE, MD, DSc, FRCS, FRCP (National Medical Director, for the NHS in England) into 14 NHS Trusts that have been causing concern due to higher mortality ratios. His report (rather than the reporting of his report) deserves to be […]
Back to school
Two of the largest public institutions in the United Kingdom are taking a bit of a hammering at the moment. The NHS is currently having its performance culture dissected with clinical precision whilst the police are barely out of the news with stories of alleged cover-ups, inappropriate activity and general inadequacy and inefficiency coming out […]
You shall never speak of this
The revelations published by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism at the weekend are old news to many of us within our individual forces, but this latest article brings the problems caused by rapidly diminishing officer numbers on a national level into sharp focus. In recent years there has been a huge shift from crime fighting […]
The Chaos Spending Review
“It is a simple fact that by being brave enough to conquer just the three [issues here], in the medium to long term the savings to police budgets and society as a whole would be so great that we could all sit down in ten years time and wonder what all this fuss was about.” Constable Chaos offers an alternative solution to save money in policing.
One step forward - one step back?
Today, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary have published a joint report with the Care Quality Commission, Healthcare Inspectorate Wales and HM Inspectorate of Prisons into the use of police cells for persons detained under the Mental Health Act 1983. This matter has been subject to increasing scrutiny over recent years as there have been a number of […]
Decisions without due care and attention
In the news today is the plan to introduce on the spot fines for middle lane hoggers and tailgaters on the motorway. There is no doubt that those who choose to drive in such a way are a danger both to themselves and others. It is therefore justifiable and right that such drivers are challenged about […]
Bailing out
Today the BBC have made a report about the number of people that are held on police bail in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The report states that based on freedom of information requests (to which 34 of 44 forces replied to) there are currently over 57,000 people held on police bail. It goes on […]
Woolwich and the case against the Snoopers’ Charter!
“What we need isn’t the clumsy bludgeon of universal surveillance – we need the sharp rapier of targeted and intelligent surveillance.” Paul Bernal explains why the tragic and hideous events of Woolwich do not make the case for the Snoopers’ Charter - indeed, precisely the opposite.