observer Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 Seems community policing powers are being taken up by a growing number of Local Council Staff - interesting; seems the have the right to demand your name and address and issue on the spot fines! Errm, well, I guess they'll encounter quite a few folk named "Mickey Mouse"; as they walk away - well what are they going to do then?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted August 28, 2008 Report Share Posted August 28, 2008 The way I see it is that there is too much crime. Because there is too much crime we need many more people to detect the crimes and enforce the law (and to catch speeding motorists and escort kiddie fiddlers through airports) Because of this more coppers are needed; but because they only have to work for 30 years, we are now funding two police forces in effect; there is the current one and the retired one the latter being filled with perfectly able bodied souls who go off and find another career for the twenty or so years they have left in their working lives after their police career is over. So we have a dilema; we need more and more police; but the public would never like having to pay double the amount of tax to fund it all and so we get the PCSO's and the new STASI (as it has been nicknamed); an organisation of busybodies who are constantly spying on their fellow citizens in order to please their masters We are; as a nation, taxed to capacity and cannot or will not pay any more towards the governments waste.... this is the only answer it seems.... unless of course we make the cops work until a proper retirement age and use their pensions as a wage instead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted August 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2008 There is something in what your saying, though the police may not agree! The problem with using "gash hands" for these tasks, is that they carry no aura of authority (not that many of our hobbit police do nowadays!); they simply won't be taken seriously and are quite likely to be on the receiving end of a knuckle butty. What is required is a multi-tiered Police Service, with new recruits being hired on a new conditions of service basis IE; 20 years with the State (FBI OR Riot) Police, then 20 years with a Regional (Highway Patrol) Police or Local (Town Sheriff type) Police Service; thus carrying there training and natural authority onto the lower tier. Sorted! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie Posted August 28, 2008 Report Share Posted August 28, 2008 but because they only have to work for 30 years, we are now funding two police forces in effect; there is the current one and the retired one the latter being filled with perfectly able bodied souls who go off and find another career for the twenty or so years they have left in their working lives after their police career is over. unless of course we make the cops work until a proper retirement age and use their pensions as a wage instead Not sure where you get 30 years from Police have to work for 35 years and can only draw their pension from 55 years, so I can't imagine many working for another 20. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted August 28, 2008 Report Share Posted August 28, 2008 Well Wolfie.... Up until 2006, a person could join the Police at the age of 18 1/2 and retire after 30 years at an age of 48 1/2 on 2/3 their final salary as a pension; payable immediately. With 25 years service, they are eligable to retire at 50 on 2/3 final salary payable immediately. Less than 25 years service means they can draw 2/3 final salary but draw full pension after the age of 55. They are eligable to draw their pension after 60 if leaving with less than 25 years service and before compulsory retirement age. The new rules which were introduced in 2006 (so will hardly be of any impact for a few years yet and were introduced for anyone joining after the implementation date on 6th April. These state that they must now serve 35 years before they can get maximum pension and that they can only start drawing it after the age of 55. So either way; if someone joins at 20, they will be drawing a pension at least 10 years earlier than the rest of us and 13 years less than anyone in the private sector when the retirement age rises to 68. The Police used to pay 11% of salary into the pension scheme but this has been reduced to 9% from 2006 So there you have it.... straight from the comparison pdf from one of the Police Forces. My next door neighbour is a copper who retires in 4 years at the ripe old age of 48 and will be on a full pension from that date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted August 28, 2008 Report Share Posted August 28, 2008 In answer to the original question. Community Police Officers tend to be classed as a joke by a lot of people not only by the less law abiding citizens and youth of today. They have become somewhat steroetyped because they have not been given any real powers and the fact that anyone can become one with minimal training doesn't help. Rather than having Local Council Staff acting as police (which is absolutely ridiculous as who would take any notice of them ) perhaps we should have more CSO's for general day to day work but they should be trained to a much higher level and be given more responsibility and powers to actually do something other that issue parking tickets and walk the streets in smart uniforms By the way what ever happened to being able to ring your local police station to report something within 100 hundred yards of them...... in the old days you rang your local station and a bobby would be on the scene in minutes but now your call gets diverted to Chester where they don't have a clue where you are talking about and by the time they figure it out and forward it to 'wherever' it's too blummin late anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted August 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2008 Touch of the green eyed monster there Baz! Suggest you start with MPs if you want to moan about pensions etc. It's fairly simple DIZ; just adopt the US system and you get a LOCAL Police Service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted August 28, 2008 Report Share Posted August 28, 2008 Touch of the green eyed monster there Baz! Suggest you start with MPs if you want to moan about pensions etc. It's fairly simple DIZ; just adopt the US system and you get a LOCAL Police Service. Far from it Obs, I am more than set up for my retirement; only I have to fund it myself rather than rely on Joe public to do it for me. I just object to the waste of talent that goes with the 30 (or now 35) years service which means we are constantly paying to train coppers instead of using them to their full potential. Mind you, my dad always advised me to become a copper and I never listened... if I had, I would be retiring in 3 years!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Kennedy Posted August 29, 2008 Report Share Posted August 29, 2008 In answer to the question, no, and neither do I want police sitting in offices filling in forms.....in triplicate all day long. We have more than enough police, it is just that for much of the time they are wrongly utilised....and currently in the Met that includes fighting a discrimination claim. Reason for the edit: As Mrs Helen Jones MP highlighted my post in one of her newsletters, I've just noticed that I incorrectly spelt discrimination. A number of her Constituents have very kindly contacted me after reading her newsletter, and once I read the full post to them, they totally agreed with what I had said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted August 29, 2008 Report Share Posted August 29, 2008 with officers being issued with personal video surveillance cameras why can't they all be issued with them and then at the end of a shift the video could be watched by "retired" police officers and suitable transcripts made of any incidents that needed it. result would be more time on the streets for the beat officers and a possibly a more accurate description of incidents. any discrepancies could be then referred back to the video for clarification. bet the human rights brigade would have a field day with that one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted August 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2008 Seems we don't have many police of any description: saw a bloke today walking down the road with a pint in his hand, presumably going from one pub to the next - maybe he just wanted a smoke with his pint?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted August 30, 2008 Report Share Posted August 30, 2008 I think you will find he was probably on a Friday night pub crawl Obs but due to rising prices people can't afford to but a pint in every pub now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted August 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2008 Errm, thought the Council had made our streets alcohol free zones? Is that similar to the one they had years ago - Nuclear Free Zones - IE a meaningless gesture?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted August 31, 2008 Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 I was actually a joke Obs But now you mention alcohol free zones..... The main traffic lights in Stockton Heath have the 'you are entering and alcohol free zone........' warning signs on them. Makes me laugh everytime I see them... I presume they must mean the hatched area in the centre of the road crossing which is the only area where drinking on the streets does not take place every day/night in the summer months thanks to the pubs, bars and restaurants taking over the pavements Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted August 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 They seem to be catering for the smokers then; pity about the weather! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RENT-A-GOAT Posted September 7, 2008 Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 I'm not sure what's so "cheap" about CSO's - they start off on the same salary, if not more, as a regular Constable, and within 2-3 years most are earning more still. An expensive waste of time and a joke if you ask me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter T Posted September 7, 2008 Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 I disagree. PCSO's are doing a good job, in a similar manner as the old bobbies used to. They walk their patch and get to know the people on that patch and isolate the problem people. So maybe the knockers need to find out just what they do, before calling them. Just because they are not the same as the regular bobby, doesn't mean that they are a waste of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Kennedy Posted September 7, 2008 Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 And interestingly a number move on and actually become police officers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter T Posted September 7, 2008 Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 And they tend to have old-fashioned values and are not ham-strung by the PC crap. (Political Correct) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie Posted September 7, 2008 Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 I disagree.PCSO's are doing a good job, in a similar manner as the old bobbies used to. They walk their patch and get to know the people on that patch and isolate the problem people. So maybe the knockers need to find out just what they do, before calling them. Just because they are not the same as the regular bobby, doesn't mean that they are a waste of time. I totally agree Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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