The police have had enough of this government treating them with contempt

[noblegiraffe]

The Police Federation of England and Wales have written a scorching letter to Boris Johnson and Priti Patel after they asked for some police officers who have been injured in the pandemic to be rounded up and sent to a drinks reception at Downing Street.

The letter complains about lack of PPE, lack of priority vaccination, the pay freeze, changing covid rules without consultation, confusing regulations, finding out information via newspaper columns and basically being treated with contempt by the government.

They say the relationship between government and the police has completely broken down and needs an urgent reset.

twitter.com/omz2468/status/1420034369725550592?s=21

The national headteachers' unions sent a very similar letter to Gavin Williamson and Johnson recently so I'm feeling a lot of solidarity with this message.

Whilst more money than ever is being funnelled to the rich, sanctions have been reintroduced if UC claimants don't attend mandatory job search reviews at JCPs

Agree they've been treated with contempt.

Priti Patel treats everyone with contempt so she was the worst person to are Home Secretary. Compounded even more so by expecting the police to enforce laws they weren't given clear guidance or even any warning about.

All key workers / Public sector workers have been hailed hero's during this pandemic but as soon as they aren't needed for PR anymore they'll be back to underpaid and unappreciated and once again unrecognised for what they do.

Even at the unveiling of the memorial BJ managed to draw unnecessary attention to himself because the twat can't even put up an umbrella.

Coppers look after themselves and have their own agenda. Can't say I feel any particular solidarity with them as they've done little to invite it.

@LobotomisedIceSkatingFan

The entry requirements and psychological evaluations of the UK aren't even keen enough to keep out morons, incels, sexual predators, and murderers. The starting salary is pretty generous. Their hardships aren't my biggest concern at the mo. I've encountered many police officers, and 'know' five police officers. Two are excellent; one is probably an adequate police officer, but I wouldn't holiday with him (or even get into a lift with him, ideally); two should be behind bars.

Do you judge other professions in the same way or just the police? Just because you apparently know three who are only adequate or shouldn't be police officers it doesn't mean the other 122,997 officers are bad.

Oh, ffs . . .

@noblegiraffe

I don't think you get a better quality workforce by treating them with contempt and I don't think you get a better service by cutting the workforce - since 2010 the conservatives have cut police numbers by about 20,000.

Exactly, most of the things people complain about around the police are due to lack of funding and lack of officers. Individual officers aren't sat thinking "Nah, I'll not bother attending that burglary I've been told to, I'd rather eat me donuts!" Well, I guess some would, but then better screening, training and ongoing accountability would help weed the bad ones out - but there's no budget for that.

As with all public services, in fact, all services, if they're not invested in then they will flounder, and while we keep blaming the people out there doing the job as individuals, rather than recognising that the failings come from higher up and feed down, nothing will change because the ones out there doing the actual job can't change funding, or protocol or anything like that, they can work within them or get another job.

@QuentinBunbury

mercy the police don't make the rules, they enforce them. That's their job. If the rules are badly thought out and written down, it's not surprising mistakes get made in applying them. Blame the government for covid rules, not the police.

But that's been shown time and time again to not be the case.

My local police force the first day of the first lockdown were genuinely in Sainsburys car park checking carrier bags and telling people off if they thought the contents weren't essential. People think I'm making this up but it's true. Admittedly it was only 2 officers but they still thought this was fine.

Then at a later more relaxed lock down a Chief Superintendent on the local news said he didn't feel people could travel from x local city to x seaside town (a distance of 30 miles). He said officers would fine anyone doing so. The news person tried pointing out that legally it was allowed and that Michael Gove had been on the news that morning saying anything which was a daytrip was fine.

I don't think that's a mistake in applying the rules. I think that's making their own rules up.

The guidelines that the police were expected to enforce was essential travel only, with no specifics of what that means. So not surprising interpretations were different. That's what I mean. The government should have done more to specify what essential/non-essential meant at that time

@PinkSparklyPussyCat Of course not but that will have damaged community relations which will affect the support they get off the public.

There are some very good ppl in the force but fining ppl for having a cup of tea at a friends while Cummings did "nothing wrong" was always going to have the consequences of damaging community relations and affecting any support they may or may not get from the public.

A chief constable stood in front of a news crew and explicitly said about checking shopping baskets for "non essential" items.

Stop and search is a stick to beat police with - accusations of racism and bias - imv it suits the Gov to let the police take the flak whilst they do b all about drug dealing/ drug taking in the cities. If they brought in half decent social policies to reduce drug taking stop and search could be used much less instead of itbeing the sole resource.

@QuentinBunbury

The guidelines that the police were expected to enforce was essential travel only, with no specifics of what that means. So not surprising interpretations were different. That's what I mean. The government should have done more to specify what essential/non-essential meant at that time

Agree.

The devolved nations managed to do it (5 Mike radios usually) and I'm sure even Boris can count to 5 and be clearer.

@Blessex

I lost a lot of respect for the police at the Sarah Everard vigil. Oh and the WA messages sent between the police when that happened. Oh and her being killed by a policeman.

Really? You lost respect for the police because of one bad egg? You can't tarnish a whole force because of the murder. There are plenty of murderous nurses and consultants who have committed horrendous crimes. Do you tarnish the whole NHS? 🤦‍♀️

One bad egg... it wasn’t one bad egg who policed that vigil... it was his fucking bully boy gang making sure women didn’t get any funny ideas about objecting to the disgracefully high rate at which women are raped and murdered

ACAB

Because if you stay once you know how corrupt it is you are as complicit as the rest

ACAB…..

Pathetic.

@Onthedowns it wasn’t one person who policed the vigil. I was there. There was absolutely no need for what happened.

@Harrydresdenssidekick my husband is a police officer, some times there are so few officers on there is no one to attend. The stories he tells me are awful, no support and no help. I think if people realised how bad it was they'd understand they don't attend because they can't 🤷🏼‍♀️

But hey ho he got a badge pin for working through the pandemic 🙄

And by the way. I am as optimistic, forgiving and law abiding as they come. But there was no need for what happened there and it made me sad.

But then why were there vans and vans of police arriving for the Sarah Everard vigil. Vans of them.

ACAB

Oh grow up. How pathetic can you get?

When you’ve been punched in the face by a
police officer and seen your friends beaten and hurt then you can call me pathetic... when you’ve seen riot vans rock up to a peaceful site and then been the medic patching your peaceful mates and their kids up... then and only then will I give a fuck what you think

Until you’ve been on the brutal end of it you can shove your meaningless insults back in your gaping mouth where they belong

ACAB because being a cop is a choice you make every time you show up.
As long as some chooses to align themselves this way I will judge them accordingly

You seem to have been rather 'unlucky' there @HerrenaHarridan.

I don't really care what you think and I still think anyone who spouts the 'ACAB' crap is pathetic. It's just a shame that you're unable to differentiate between good and bad.

@HerrenaHarridan So every single police officer is a “bastard”? Every last one of them?

Yes my husband is a shit- a policeman who finds suicidal people and saves their lives or, like last week cuts down a man who had hung himself, administered CPR but couldn't help him and then has to carry on his business. Yup, they are all brutal 🙄

Once again those in power have got us plebs bickering with each other , today it is "the police" who are the target, last week it was "migrants", last month it was "covidiots".

The divide and rule method of Government really is working for them.