The past present and the Future

I left School in 1979 aged 16 with Six GCSE`s and a CSE grade 1.

I was fed up with the educational environment and wanted to earn some money so that I could buy and run a car when I passed my driving test the following year. Fortunately I lived with mum and dad and had no debts, so aged 17 and a bit I passed my car test and bought my first car, a  Ford Escort Mk 1 which cost me £150 quid from a mate in work who had upgraded to a Cortina.

I financed and ran this car by taking a job as a Laboratory technician with Richardson Merrell (Vicks) in Skelmersdale where I lived then,  and made my living testing cough drops (seen one and you`ve seen them all!), and amongst other things vapour rub, Milton fluid and Nappy sterilising powder...Oh the glamour! The work did not involve shifts though and was regular days apart from occasional overtime at the weekend –Double time after 12 on Saturday, and all day Sunday.

I stuck this job for six years and my salary went from £1995 quid a year to about £2500 in that time. My colleagues were all of a similar age and predominantly none of us could really afford to leave home and get our own place as the money was frankly terrible, but it was steady work and there was a recession so we all toughed it out, though the work was repetitive and did not challenge us at all..

I was a member of Unison in this period and vividly remember once standing around a brazier outside the factory with my colleagues, burning broken pallets and not being paid whilst a point of principle was hotly disputed between management and staff. This was the eighties remember and industrial relations were frequently settled like this in the big car firms, and state owned Public Services and the like.

Young as we were, we all craved excitement away from the world of cough drops and flu products with its production line mentality, and in due course Steve joined Lancashire Constabulary, Kelvin went to Merseyside, and I joined GMP just after in September 1985.

I remember my first years salary was about £4000 in the Police, a fortune compared to what I had earned previously, and I was able to get a mortgage on a house , and move in with my Girlfriend in 1986, having saved enough for the deposit and legal fees.

You may wonder where I am going with this and what the relevance is of all my employment history back then?...Well fast forward to 2013 and contrast this with any new recruit to Her Majesty`s Police service under the terms of the Windsor reforms;

Starting salary £19000...... A fortune?  I think not !

If I was joining in 2013 onwards, as a new recruit I would need a foundation degree in policing at my own expense probably, with the associated student debt. Could I save the deposit on a mortgage to purchase a house, or a reasonable  car or afford to live away from mum and dad?... Probably not.

PCSO`s currently in service earn far more than that !

These changes will allegedly professionalise the Police Service and attract the brightest and the best to a world of shifts, personal danger, target culture and restrictions on personal life. Oh and did I mention that opportunities for promotion and advancement will be few and far between, and compulsory severance in lean times will possibly be hanging like a guillotine above the head of your career?

I have been fortunate to serve My 27 and a bit years in what I consider to be the halcyon days of Policing.

Would I do it all again?               

Yes, in a heartbeat.... This `Job` has made me who I am, defined my character and my place in the world. I have been proud to put on the uniform and serve the public. It is a job like no other  and I have met and served alongside some incredible people. In fact you should all take a bow !

The greatest thief takers I ever met had no real qualifications, although some had degrees and other paper achievements. Some of the finest Police leaders I ever served under started life on Council estates and understood communities and local People. They did not join at a higher rank under direct entry schemes, they worked their way up through the ranks and understood how all the gears of Policing meshed together.

Winsor himself is now Chief HMIC with no background in Policing like the previous incumbents. History will judge whether by this move the Home secretary just metaphorically traded down from a BMW to a Corsa...

2012 has seen the appointment of Police Crime Commissioners in a move which received a ringing round of apathy from the general public...With a mandate of less that a sixth of the electorate in most cases these mandarins will have a powerful say in how our communities are both Policed and how that is financed. Again these PCC`s are predominantly ignorant and inexperienced in policing matters hitherto. Some are looking to join up locally with the national agenda to privatise swathes of Police business to save money and in the name of efficiency.

Do you detect a theme here? As Peter Kay onc e said “ Its the future!”...Never mind that having gained some Prison contracts certain private firms have recently lost them through inefficiency and being unable to achieve the projected cost savings on the contracts.

In January 2013 members of the Police Federation will be balloted on the question of seeking Industrial Rights. This is an important issue and I urge you all to thoroughly acquaint yourselves with what this will mean in reality and how this process will effectively be pursued, and over what timescales.

Please make a valued judgement on this issue and do not vote without full appreciation of both sides of this coin. The choice is yours and I will respect your wishes as your representative however I can tell you it will be no easy choice to stand around a brazier again even if it is fuelled old GMP Forms or by red tape and beauraucracy!

Stay safe and be careful Out There.

Ian Campbell