Question: How does a ticket seller, a ticket collector, and a program vendor at a National Tourist attraction in Greece affect Policing in England and Wales?
Answer: I will tell you at the end of this
article ... please bear with me!
The difficulties in the
European Economy will continue to overshadow the UK Economy as a whole, and
from our point of view the Public Sector, where as cuts bite deeper, and
colleagues and roles evaporate around us you may wonder when it will stop. When
will there be some form of review, taking stock, monitoring of progress of the
impact so far?
Sadly in a Policing
context, I have to tell you that you have not seen anything yet.
The impact of Winsor 1 is
still filtering through a punch drunk and demoralised service, Winsor 2 is in
the wings still waiting for the Police Arbitration Tribunal to consider the
views from the Official and Staff sides, and the Home Secretary has just made a
statement appearing to accept most of the Hutton recommendations on Police
Pensions.
Closer to home here in GMP
PMIT 2 is on the horizon bearing down on how CID, Neighbourhood Officers and a
host of Divisional Squads can work together in the future with less resources
and a greater workload.
Will it be just another
form of Government think tank, but with the added bonus of control of the
subject matter - using real world Policing as some form of Policing War game to
try out radical (Bizzarre ?) new and not so new ideas conjured up by academics
and ACPO? The game plan being to
ultimately save money and finally drive home all the ideological wish list
first postulated for Policing by the Sheehy review a number of years ago, which
a fresh faced David Cameron was part of by coincidence early in his political
career.
This would also be the
same ACPO remember who broadly welcome most of Winsor`s ideas, and who in
certain quarters positively relish the prospect of compulsory severance for
Police Officers to save money from budgets.
Do you detect a note of
cynicism here in the tone of my article? Having just reached 27 years service
as a Police Officer, all of it in front line roles one way or another, I think
I can safely say that contrary to Winsor`s belief that the cumulative changes
in Policing will bring about well motivated and effective Police Officers,
somehow I just don`t see it personally. Morale
does not appear very high locally and nationally to me now, never mind in the
utopian post Winsor and Hutton apocalypse ... But I digress.
In my time I have seen the
good times when overtime was plentiful, and there was money for shiny kit and
equipment, and conversely the lean times when overtime was a distant memory and
even to get a new set of epaulettes from stores required the signature of a
Chief Inspector and a well reasoned argument, usually on paper, why they were
needed and there was no life left in the original set issued just before going
to training school for the first time.
I am not naive enough to
think that the Police Service has not been to a degree wasteful and inefficient
at times, however compared to other branches of the Public Sector we are a
positive beacon of efficiency! You may have noticed that despite being ring fenced
for budgets, the Health Service lately relies more and more on a Police Service
looking down the barrel of 20% cuts.
Increasing calls for
assistance with mental health issues, and first response when the nearest
ambulance can be a town and a half away don`t even press my irony buttons
anymore, but do exasperate me.
Those working in Education
facing 8% budget cuts are hurting from
the impact but coping, although again there is anger amongst this workforce too
over changes to their pensions and conditions.
The real winner at the end
of this current spending round will be overseas aid and development, as
more money will be spent on this in real
terms than on Policing and the security of our country`s citizens. Just to be
clear, I believe that overseas aid is a good thing but a perspective needs to
be taken about where it fits into the other issues faced by this country.
Sadly policing does not
appear to readily register on the public psyche. Currently, up to the point when they actually
need a Police Officer, the fact that a 20% budget cut kicking has been imposed
on the service with the other measures in Winsor and Hutton will not register
as a reason to change voting intentions. The real power to change or influence
rests with local MP`s.
It is perceived as old hat
for the Federation to ask you to contact your MP`s and let them feel the pain
from your perspective, but this is a truism. Many MP`s in an unpopular
coalition will be looking nervously over their shoulder at the next election in
2015, the year incidentally that the proposed changes to the Police Pension
schemes is destined to take place. Please maintain the pressure on your members
of parliament to see what this all means in reality for Policing in England and
Wales and the effect on you the backbone of the service.
I mentioned Europe earlier
for a reason. Anybody who knows me will tell you that I do harbour certain euro
sceptic thoughts at times personally. Like it or not I do recognise however
that our nation`s fate, prosperity, and future are inextricably linked with our
European partners.
Let me explain, it has a
lot to do with the so called `Butterfly
effect`, where what happens in one nation directly or indirectly affects every
other nation to a lesser or greater extent. By a great coincidence I have
literally just returned from a week`s holiday in the Greek Islands, booked at
the last minute when I realised we could just about squeeze the finances to
make it happen.
Since my last sojourn to
Greece in 2005 the cost of everything has risen dramatically, except wages of
course which have been squeezed, and unemployment has started to rise as
austerity measures demanded by the European Central Bank in exchange for
funding start to take effect. My hotel for example was nowhere near full, and
local bars, shops and restaurants were to all intents and purposes empty. Greeks
themselves have simply stopped spending in these places as money becomes short
in supply and costs increase.
Greece has always had a
cash in hand culture operating parallel to the normal state running of the
economy to collect taxes and spend on infrastructure we were told by one bar
owner, this is all very well but was sustained on borrowing by the state, great
in the good times but not when it needed paying back.
State pensions in Greece
have been generous I was told together with other social provisions for its
citizens, and to pay for all this tax receipts and income are shockingly low
for an advanced European nation. The public sector in Greece is a huge employer
and consequently takes some feeding fiscally, and compared to our own is vastly
inefficient.
Many economists and
intellectuals think that Greece is a basket case, the reality is though that
other nations are rocking too, such as Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland, and
in terms of growth or likely growth for the foreseeable future, the UK too.
What has all this got to
do with policing you may ask, and why are you wasting time on it in this
article ?
The answer is simple and
in order to reinforce my point I will bring you back to the question I posed at
the beginning shortly. However let’s
recap on what has been said so far thus;
·
Colleagues and roles around us are evaporating
as 20% cuts begin to bite.
·
The Public care less about Policing than
Education or Health until they actually need us.
·
Cutting Policing budgets is unlikely to change
voting habits amongst the wider public, but you, dear reader, have the
opportunity to influence the decision makers through your local MP’s.
·
Like it or not, the fortunes of the UK are
inextricably linked to the European Union.
·
Changes in working practices in the Police
Service and setting up a college of Policing will be more about saving money in
the long run rather than applying excellence across the sphere of
Policing. This will be even more so when
combined with the Privatisation Agenda, in my humble opinion.
With me so far? Good.
Let’s continue.
The UK Economy will only
improve in line with that of our European trading partners and their economic
actions will affect our own. We are a
net contributor in this country to both the European Central Bank and the
International Monetary Fund. It is your
taxes, and mine, that will be drawn upon to keep afloat the less fiscally
fortunate countries in the EU as I stated above, and this will obviously affect
how money is spent in this country, particularly on the public sector by this
and any other Government.
I understand the necessity
to trim the public purse here in the UK.
Pension Reform?
I don’t like it
particularly in its current guise, but I get the big picture. Job losses in the public sector to save the
public purse? Again, I don’t like it,
but I do get the picture.
What I do get affronted by
is the lack of leadership and a sense of a plan to tackle the big economic
issues across European borders by Politicians of all hues in all countries. Trimming a few million here and there from
Police budgets whilst wasting billions across the Eurozone only makes limited
sense.
This all brings me back to
the question I posed at the beginning of this piece:-
Question: How
does a ticket seller, a ticket collector and a programme vendor at a tourist
destination in Greece affect Policing in England and Wales?
Answer: At
this particular venue these three persons were sat within yards of each other
at what is a state owned attraction. If
you multiply this state of affairs around the Eurozone and factor in how this
is paid for, and who by ultimately, you see how this affects both the UK and
its Policing.
Waste in the Police
Service? Hardly any when you compare the
fact that three people were being employed to do the job of one at this state
owned tourist site.
That is why for the
foreseeable things won’t be getting better in Policing.
Until Politicians agree on
a strategy for growth which tackles real inefficiencies and waste in the
Eurozone, then you, I and the public will continue to get less from less in
Policing, wider public services and the economy in general, what you will get
is a cutting agenda to save money dressed up as progress and professionalising
the Police Service.
That, dear reader, is not
just a Greek tragedy, but ours too.
Stay safe and be careful
out there.
Ian Campbell
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