to think a serving police officer should not have a conviction for D V

[glasgowsteven]

www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/cop-jailed-beating-wife-gets-2974444

Self explanatory really

100k in wages, still entitled to a pension, and in law, still a police officer

Compos how many have you met?
In what situation have you met them?
Just curious?

I guess police officers become cynical because they do tend to see the worst of people. Friend of ours who gave up a job as a web editor to join the police certainly changed - he started to divide people into (his words) 'scum' and 'not scum'. He saw his job as protecting the 'not scum' from the 'scum'.

Back to the case in point - it may well be a procedural irregularity in the disciplinary process but the newspaper is correct that this officer is a violent criminal who has been re-instated as a serving officer. That is outrageous.

Any officer who commits a serious crime, especially of violence, should be sacked immediately - the procedure should be quite straightforward. It is ridiculous to have criminals employed to uphold the law, and thugs given power over vulnerable people.

Presumably there should be some discretion for low-level lawbreaking such as speeding fines that put points on your licence - not desirable but something that should be considered or lead to disciplinary action rather than automatic dismissal.

There is a call to the police every minute of the day on average.

The number of reported/studied domestic abuse (both physical and non physical) is widely stated as 1 in 4 I although many believe that figure to be higher as many cases go unreported/undisclosed.

Some more figures:

www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic-violence-articles.asp?section=00010001002200410001&itemid=1280&itemTitle=Statistics%3A+how+common+is+domestic+violence

Composhat - thanks for that. Glad to know what high regard you hold me in. Do you have any deeper analysis of my personality based entirely on my job?

Do you define the personalities of the majority of doctors, civic engineers, retail assistants, admin clerks and librarians by their jobs?

Tell me, how many coppers and ex-coppers do you know?

cake worked with about 20 odd ex-coppers over the course of 5 years. Due to the nature of the site it would be supplemented by serving coppers at certain parts of the year.

As I said upthread I don't think all coppers are like that and perhaps security work disproportionately attracts the little Hitler faction within the police as they still get to wear a uniform, play at being plastic coppers and get their kicks from making people's lives needlessly unpleasant.

Hissy - if the general train of thought here was that out of tens of thousands of people employed in a profession there will inevitably be rotten apples I would agree.

What riles me is the general consensus appears to be that, until I prove otherwise, it is assumed that I am an authoritarian, egotistical thug with a power complex.

Security work? Enforcing rules decided upon by someone else? So what didn't you like? They had to make sure people stuck to rules but you didn't want to?

Shiny - I don't think anyone is saying that, I think they are saying that some careers attract bullies by the nature of the job. Not just the police but social care, for instance - those people working in Winterbourne View knew they could get away with assaulting and mis-treating people with learning disabilities.

Doesn't mean all carers are abusers, just that if you are that way inclined, you might seek out work that gives you vulnerable people to exploit. So there may well be more bullies attracted to the police or social care than, I dunno, accountancy. There will still be a huge majority of police officers and carers who are normal people who wouldn't dream of abusing their power. But some people will be drawn to those careers for the wrong reason.

This is really shocking.

Scottish police operate under a totally different law to England an Wales but even so i can't believe a police officer with a conviction for DV, or anything, can remain in post. It certainly wouldn't happen in my force, i know of several officers that have been dismissed for DV

Some people in the police force are pricks. But they are pricks because that is that is their personality, not because they wear a uniform.

Of course, if you have had an encounter which you didn't like the result then you may consider them pricks. Doesn't mean they are all abusive wife beaters.

The police hate officer like the on that this article is about. Almost every officer I have met that is like that ends up being put out the job, they don't last forever and professional standards will be gunning for them.

And yes, some of the people that phone the police and "pay their wages" are arseholes. I'm not talking about domestic violence incidents, but generally speaking some of them are!

It's not assumed, but it IS a possibility that there would be more people that WOULD feel comfortable asserting their 'power' in some professions than in a group of Accountants for example.

You do a great job, that MOST of us couldn't ever do. You get to see the worst of things, the worst moments in people's lives. You get to arrive at the accidents BEFORE the Ambulances, you get to do the knocks on the doors.

I get why you get riled. I really do. I get riled when I see DV victims portrayed as stupid chavvy women that have no hope of helping themselves, no brains and are not worth helping. Stereotyping is crap and harms everyone.

What has to be done is that all sections of society need to understand that there are dysfunctional and aggressive people in all walks of life and no matter their level, violence/abuse against others won't be tolerated. We've come a long way in our lifetimes, but still have far to go.

As I understand it this is employment appeal process he initiated,he was originally sacked
He Appealed and remained on pay (as is policy) pending further investigation
He is still suspended not active,but on full pay.i completely see this is incingruent with zero tolerance message

As an aside,I think vast majority police hard working,much maligned and under lots of pressure. And they log off end of shift go asda,see the kids,all the stuff we all do really

blacknose

I have never met you so I can't comment, please dont twist my words. I am speaking from my own experience of individual cops and ex-cops, so please don't twist my words and make it all about you.

But given the numerous corruption, racism, incompetence and brutality cases and the subsequent cover up attempts stretching from Hillsborough to the back handers paid by New International to serving officers this year, arw you really surprised that some of your colleagues (not the handful of bad apples) are held in contempt by law abiding citizens.

This doesn't surprise me in the slightest - there is a reason they are drawn to the job

I have no words polite enough to respond to this shit

Reason they are drawn to the job?yes it's called vocation,desire to be in public service
It's not the t&c Dreadful hours,average pay for most serving officers,but an overall desire to be in public service
My association with police is professional,and I've found them to be overall professional,motivated and doing a often thankless role

Scottish, thankyou for your post. It's a shame more people can't seem to comprehend that the overwhelming majority of officers join up to fight crime and help people. Of course there are bad apples - as with any job. The difference is that there is very little margin for "unacceptable standards of behaviour" when you are police. People expect a cross between sergeant angel in hot fuzz, dixon of dock green and mother teresa. They forget that police officers are human, just like everyone else.

Yes its shame such an important professional role is maligned and misunderstood
But if you read the opinion on mn,all public service is a doss,eating biscuits,gold plated pension
As I said I think a lot of people don't understand compartmentalisation,you see things in professional mode and you need to process and compartmentalise. End of day log off,go asda,switch modes.

What proportion of the thousands of incidents the police will deal with across the country today will involve brutality, corruption etc, Compo? 1%? They are exceptional, that's why they get reported.

Hillsborough cover up? Very senior officers, not the ordinary PCs you are criticising.

Hissy, does accountancy automatically attract people who are interested in tax evasion, fraud and money laundering?

How about the officers who fingered Andrew Mitchell? They weren't senior coppers. They just thought they'd get away with downright lies.

I'm sure there are plenty of good coppers - I know three off the top of my head who I'm sure are decent people - but there are more than a few bad apples. Look at the Met's rape unit, Sapphire. That kind of wrongdoing would be impossible unless the officers concerned knew other colleagues would at the very least turn a blind eye.

No Shiny, I don't think so. But Accountancy WILL attract different people to a more lively occupation. There will be arseholes that are accountants too though.

I'm not attacking you love, please don't have a go at me eh?

All professional roles have huge responsibility,imbue a expectation to do right thing
In professional role there is scope for malpractice,and misconduct
That's why there are professional regulatory bodies to to impose sanction. Professionals who have breached professional codes inc Pharmacists,doctors,teachers,nurses,social workers,dentists,accountants,solicitor,architects,police,...in fact from any role they're will unfortunately be this's who breach professional standards

It would be foolish to ignore the more depressing facts of cover ups (hillsborough) and the news international scandals. But let's have a bit of balance, hillsborough was over twenty years ago and as horrific as it was, it cannot be changed now. The important thing is to ensure the truth is told and to ensure history recognises the truth. News international?? Well they've never knocked on my door for a story! And quite frankly I'm not sure i have any news of interest to them. It was as has been stated before a very small minority who I'm sure will be in a dock some time soon. Politically when you are trying to push through massive reforms which may sway public opinion against you, much easier to do that alongside a bad news story against the organisation you are focusing on. Any day now you will see an increase in stories about corrupt nursing practice and incompetent teachers and oh!

The cover-up re. Hillsborough was still/is still going on. Some of the senior officers involved still held important positions such as chief constable. The incompetent/negligent emergency response is still not admitted and accounted for.

You can't say it is ancient history and has no relevance today.

I didn't say it was irrelevant, I said the important thing is the truth must be told and I believe it will. But as the story that started this thread demonstrates protocols must be followed to be fair to all involved. Rushing through an investigation merely leads to mistakes being made. Hillsborough is being investigated and will be for several years to come and yes there are senior officers who I'm sure will be held to task. But they are the minority.

blacknose I find ypur complacency astonishing. Whist such flagrant abuse of power is not routine even if it is 1% you are guessing at, that is still a huge proportion of people falsely arrested, beaten up, harassed, lied about, by some of your fellow officers. Along with all those who turn a blind eye or close ranks.

I also find it difficult to accepy that those who have a lust for power will be drawn to the police. Just as predatory paedophiles will be drawn to jobs where they hae unfettered sccess to children in care homes or schools (thay does not on anyway imply all teachers and care workers are paedophiles) so bullies will be drawn to kob roles where yhey can have power over others, one of those roles that gives them thst opportunity is a police officer.