Supervision

I sit at home and sometimes, you can’t help it, ponder the events of the day.

I frequently attend incidents where the “bigger picture” has to be viewed. I am talking about scenes, prisoner watches at hospitals and the inevitable constant obs at police jails. All of these things are considered. I arrive at a job, there is clearly a scene and it needs to be preserved. If the offender is arrested it is worthwhile otherwise all you are recovering is frequently the blood of the “victim” (note adherence to the victim charter there). However there is a gut wrenching, sphincter snapping clap that echoes throughout Notgreatside at every occasion where somebody is even slightly hurt.Common sense does never prevail therefore and the echo of the sphincter results in a scene etc. How many rolls of scene tape we must go through actually scares me. Incidentally when a scene is taped off and there is an officer stood preventing people access how many people come up and ask if it OK for them to walk through it or just ignore it altogether? “Can I just walk through as I need to go to the offy?” Errm No! They still ask though. Would I put tape round that says “POLICE CRIME SCENE DO NOT ENTER” if it was ok to walk through?

Anyway after numerous stints of acting despite never even sitting the exam never mind passing it. I now find myself in the position of having supervision who have less time in than me or have been so far removed from front line policing they are a bloody liability! They have obviously read the books and passed the exam, they are still at the T/Sgt stage and still haven’t a clue about anything. One of them can’t work past x o’clock in the morning due to sleep problems. I sometimes struggle to sleep on nights but don’t complain, why is he a Sgt on a 24/7 response block? The other one, well, is generally never there due to courses but is quite effective when in work. In other words the burden frequently falls on my shoulders.

In my former life in the RAF I was promoted to the rank of Sgt and after passing what was called General Service Training courses on two occasions, four weeks in the classroom/field (one to Corporal then the next to Sgt) I actually learned how to lead/look after staff. Welfare, food, drink and toilet breaks are essential. They are not just to be accommodated when convenient. To the best of my knowledge I never had to order anyone to do a menial task, there was always a request and due to the fact I would also do the rubbish jobs when required my staff just did it. There were frequent instances where I had to just ask people to do jobs and they would. If my shift heard me say this or that needs doing NOW I wouldn’t have to order anyone they would just do it I would not do it unless necessary. End result the job got done and people had respect for the rank because:

a) you had earned it and got the t-shirt.

b) you treated them properly.

Moving on a decade or so and I find myself in another uniformed role which is supposedly disciplined.However there is a distinct lack of leadership. From a purely personal point of view being deposited at a crime scene at 23:00 and not being relieved until well past 07:00 is not acceptable. Never mind the weather or the availability of facilities this is clearly not right. (Haven't done that for years but still remember). I would even push it to possibly be a contravention of yooman rights but will stand corrected on that one. When I wear the mantle I always remember try to remember the fundamentals of it. While we lucky ones who get to whizz around in fast cars frequently never get a break it is significantly better than standing on a cold wet scene with nowhere to have a pee! Frequently in the full view of the press and numerous other members of the public. This ignominious role frequently falls to the junior officers on the block. I did it but thankfully with Sergeants who gave a toss. There was always a break for a brew and another one for your scoff. I try to follow their example. That was not that long ago, only 9 years. Those people have either moved on or retired. The sorry replacements are not up to the job or just don’t care. I know from my own experience that once a commitment is covered then the welfare of the staff doing it takes second place despite my urgings. On numerous occasions I have taken flasks of hot water and maxpax out to scenes etc when I have pointed out the requirement to my “superiors”. I wonder why so many student officers are leaving before their 2 years is up. These same people are scared of making decisions and as such will always take the “cover your arse” position instead of following the advice of an experienced officer or frequently, the position dictated by common sense. It really concerns me that these people are responsible for so much. It really isn’t hard to put yourself in the position of someone dying for a pee being surrounded by Sky Poos reporters and cameramen doing the “really need a pee/poo dance”. For heaven's sake one female student officer ended up in hospital with a severe kidney infection due to holding her bladder for 10 hours. Why can I see the basic needs and do my utmost to accomodate these whereas those with stripes can't. I point out with apologies that I.G. and other supervisors who post probably do give a stuff which is why their staff get on with the job. These people obviously have common sense whereas a lot of supervisors just complete the advisory staff management course, take no notice of it and get on with their next promotion. How that differs from my man management training.

I could go on for ever pointing out the failings of supervision, the lack of balls oops, courage for the diverse, the futile allocation of insolvable crime reports, the basic requirements of staff as highlighted above and above all else the absence of leadership. This goes beyond immediate supervisors right to the top echelons of “management”. When will the government realise that the police is not a business and does not need managers, what it needs are some leaders who will enforce the laws and policies that direct their staff and not worry about this. Perhaps that way we can just get on with the job whilst still being held accountable, and not be the excuse for the political clusterfucks that we are now.

This post comes from despair about what we are becoming and also from hearing the results about who has passed the OSPRE exam and who hasn't. 22 year old just, and he has passed? How is he going to lead?

I haven't got the spare time at home to study at the moment hence the reason I am not one of the happy or sad candidates.