Trust our Public Institutions?
By Chief Superintendent Gavin Thomas In recent times we have seen across our society what can be argued as a degradation of institutions we have traditionally trusted as part of our fabric in society and to whom we rely on, particularly in public service; health , judiciary, politicians, teachers, to name a few. The current [...]
A College for All
by Chief Superintendent Irene Curtis, President Elect This week saw an historic moment for the police service of England and Wales as its first professional body formally came into existence. At the present time it could be argued that, when looking at it from a national perspective, the service is pulling in several different directions [...]
How Social the Media? My Twitter Thoughts and Learning from 2012
by Superintendent Simon Nelson, Sussex Police I first need to point out that the following perspective is my own and might not necessarily reflect those of my organisation or service – wait – hold on a minute – whether I like or not, I’m identifiable as a police officer and anything I say is likely [...]
Living What We Believe
by Chief Superintendent Derek Barnett, President As the seconds counted down on New Years Eve this year I was surrounded by thousands of happy people gathered outside of the Town Hall in Manchester. Each of us no doubt would have had our own thoughts, hopes, fears and aspirations for the year ahead and perhaps reflections [...]
From Tragedy comes Strength
This has been the saddest week of my 27 year career in the police service, and yet as the week draws to an end, I feel that the service is actually stronger than ever. PC Keith Blakelock was killed on 6 October 1985, less than one month after I joined, and I still recall reading [...]
Playing Safe?
As a regular user of Twitter and a former Head of Professional Standards, I have become increasingly concerned with comments from a number of serving police officers, whether anonymous or clearly identifiable, expressing through tweets or blogs what could be perceived as either ‘political’ views or comments that ‘cross the line’ in terms of the [...]
Above All, Hope
Yesterday, I took annual leave and travelled to London to stand alongside the 35 000 police officers and supporters from the Police Federation exercising their democratic right to have a say about the future of policing. Before, during the day and afterwards, I experienced mixed emotions of disappointment, pride, frustration and hope. Disappointment that there [...]
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
The MacPherson Report looking in to the circumstances and investigation of the murder of Stephen Lawrence was a major landmark in policing and no-one in policing over the last thirty years would suggest otherwise. Lord MacPherson made seventy recommendations many, but not all of which, were aimed at improving policing, in particular in relation to [...]
Fat Bottomed Cops
Maybe it was just coincidence, but as I took the phone call to tell me the Winsor Report was to be published this week, playing on the radio was the Queen song, Fat Bottomed Girls. Listening to the radio and watching TV yesterday, and reading the newspapers this morning, you could be forgiven for thinking [...]
The Case of the Missing Shoes
Many years ago as a young detective constable I investigated the case of burglary at a well established and successful local town centre shoe shop where it was reported that a large number of shoes had been stolen. Pretty routine you may say, other than for the fact that the offender had stolen only the [...]
