“In my opinion the problem with the force is all about numbers.... to many reported crimes / things for frontline officers to deal with and not enough officers to do it !!

Its not uncommon for me to spend several hours A DAY filling out forms etc rather than being out on the streets !!
Thats not my choice but the forces vision of form filling !!!

The answer is VERY VERY simple, get more uniformed front line police officers..... Its not uncommon for me to come on duty and be the only one covering a large area (200 sqaure miles)

Yes there are support units about but rarely are they in the areas 'we' would like them to be and they are only interested in the 'glory boy' stuff not the run of the mill statement taking etc !!!!!”

“anyway getting back to last week when city councillors were praising the police, they really couldnt do enough, now they are in charge of watching you watching them its a different story,”

“"Your comments in regard to the community support officers and CPO¿s (is this police slang?) can only entrench my view that your arrogance and self-righteous indignation of these officers can only in time seal the fait of your organisation. "
sorry i have to agree with gene on this point,
these plastic police are doing nobody any favours,
they arent insured, they dont get the same backing as real police and they certainly dont have the power of real police,
(we wont even go into pensions because that would make you look real stupid).
kids who cause chaos are genuinely frightened of real police, they dont give a hoot about the plastic imitations that the council provide,”

“We take onboard Gene¿s comments below as he provides an apparent expertise in modern policing. Having read a number of articles in the National press Gene, much of the criticism is of your organisations senior management and not the hard work that is provided at grass roots. Before you consume yourself in your own self importance you must remember that you represent a public service and as a consequence, you are answerable to the general public.

Your comments in regard to the community support officers and CPO¿s (is this police slang?) can only entrench my view that your arrogance and self-righteous indignation of these officers can only in time seal the fait of your organisation. As a self professed retro policeman you may feel too important to have to deal with members of the public. I must say though, it is reassuring that we do see a uniformed officer on the street, that often has the time to spare and to talk to subservient members of the public like myself.

Remember Gene we are not all criminals and does it matter whether those who provide a service to the people of Nottinghamshire are community officers or Policeman?

The Human Rights element of your speech is lacking the academic analysis and it is for the very reasons that you have stated that Parliament felt it was necessary to limit the powers the police have. This will ensure that members of the general public can enjoy their civil liberties without oppression. This is characterised as being an arbitrary exercise of your power on a certain class of people that are inferior, Gene that is us, members of the general public.

The Human Rights act in general was designed to eradicate this oppression by giving a clear articulation of what limits that should be placed on your power¿s and that of the Police to control an individual or group of people.

Whilst other officers have noted that they are working at night I am sure that you are financially rewarded from the public purse. You may not be aware that we are influenced by a global recession and as such many jobs in the private sector are under threat. There are many people also working tonight who are relatively in low-paid service jobs

Now then Gene, cheer up, think about how you are going to commit yourself in taking your organisation forward. Alternatively you could consider your options and come and work in the private sector.”

“i think we need to call a truce here and sort things out,
the general public arnt interested in what the top brass think ,
its about time the public ie the people who pay for policing got a say in the running of the force,
we dont need no politicians or councillors with hidden agendas to tell us what our force should be,,,
for the people , by the people
nuff said,
it peeves me that a copper should have to fill in loads of forms for the cps, surely its not his/her job to do that, get the boys in blue back onto the beat where they belong, ,,,,,”

“gene hunt you talk a load of boll,acks,
overworked cop i can see your point of view , just remember you get paid for the overtime,
what would you do without it ?
how would you fund your dez res ?
how would we fund all your mates who fall out of police vans, call in sick because they cant take the pace, etc etc,
look at it from our tax paying point of view,then argue your corner and maybe a lot of sympathy and condolence would come your way,”

“By the way, I 'predict' many more training courses, a few new colouful leaflets attached to payslips, a sternly worded email, and even a new piece of management rhetoric.
More cops and a real change for the better is much more expensive; and I can already see those holding the purse strings backing towads the door.
We'll see (and I 'm not psychic).”

“I knackered and I AM a cop in Nottingham. I'm already at work while almost all the public are still in bed and often finish (almost always) three to five hours after office workers clocked off. You can't squeeze blood from a stone!

Essentially there is too much crime per cop in Nottm and the solution costs real money.”

“Its interesting to read the opinions of people who look in from the outside, often with valid points but more often than not total clap trap! As was said earlier, the police are recruiting again, so if you think you can do better than plod, apply!
There are many faults in the force. Locally and nationally. Say what like about Steve Green, he went out and about often, and actually spoke to the troops and said hello! That may come from being an ex army officer, but was also good management. I don¿t see that very often these days¿
Politics has a lot to answer for, and introducing locally elected Chiefs will make that worse as they will be forced to play to a political tune, dictated by the local authority who will HAVE to have a say. The whole point about the UK police is that they are supposed to be non political and represent the Crown under which is the law. The first duty of a Constable is to maintain the Queens Peace not play politics. This though is becoming more and more a problem and Labour have a lot to answer for, just look at the interference that the City Council have in every day law and order. They dress like the police, and as stated earlier this IS an offence, calculated to deceive. This was all introduced by the government in the police reform act, effectively allowing local authorities to recruit wardens and give them fancy titles. There should be no place for these uniformed political ¿militias¿.
Blunket¿s PCSO¿S (or their lawful and official title under ACPO rules) Community Support Officers were introduced as a knee jerk reaction by a shabby government making lots of promises about law and order. In all honesty they have made their mark and there are many decent hard working CPO¿s who carry out what is asked of them will fully and in some God awful places! In the modern policing way of introducing another neighbourhood information pack for almost everything, they are a useful tool in carrying out the tasks that the bureaucracy trail creates. It is essential though that they are not turned into a second tier of policing and used as THE police.
It is an old moan, its true, paperwork is a major issue and should be dramatically reduced. Often cops who want to be out and about ¿feeling collars¿ will spend entire shifts trying to work on internet fraud, credit card fraud and other marvels of modern crime, when really that is not their job. There should be a specialist traffic wing again, a specialist fraud squad so ordinary cops aren¿t dealing with crime they don¿t understand. Drugs teams kicking in peoples doors morning noon and night without the Human Rights brigade and other weep for the under class types shouting up in outrage! People want a return to old fashion policing? The city would be better off with it, but we have become too entwined with our ¿rights¿, and it is common for total strangers to challenge a cop who stops a person on the street. Street ¿lawyers insist on their stop search forms, and violent thugs demand and get legal aid and sympathy when their own thuggish violence results in force such as the taser incident. Cut the top heavy brass, seriously look at the huge civilian staffing and just what do they do, rethink the whole if you want to be a cop we¿ll give you a degree after training and give thought to the old recruitment practice of ex-military types who have life experience, discipline, smartness and don¿t think twice about confronting a scally and upsetting a criminal!
Its easy to be critical too about policing in cars, but cities are getting bigger, and there arnt the numbers to put cops on street corners all the time, if only that was possible.
Many people think that sentances are to do with the cops too, but they arn't. Judges should have to go out with the police for shifts and see what happens on the streets at the weekend and what depravity people resort too. Sentancing I feel would increase! As soon as we start feeling sorry for criminals, ”

“Remember your council tax that goes towards policing has been increased by 4.77% a decision made by the now out going Police Authority. Fundamentally the Senior Officers and Managers of Nottinghamshire Police have wasted thousand if not millions of tax payers¿ money whether this is characterised as wrong, bad or even careless. This level of inefficiency and weakness which has been condemned in three separate reports can only mean that those involved need to go now and not wait to be pushed.

A large percentage of costs like any other organisation covers the cost of paying staff wages. This is an ¿old school¿ organisation which looks after their own. The force has been condemned as having no HR strategy, well they don¿t need one. Policeman retires on Friday and starts as a civiy on the Monday. You see, it¿s a public organisation a money cow and all these senior managers and officers have been milking it for years. Now that they have got a woman in charge the boys won¿t like that.

This means Julia Chief Constable, you need to rid yourself of your hapless Chief Officer team, introduce a level of honesty and integrity and filter it down to you senior managers with a little bit of openness and transparency.

P.S let¿s be a little decisive on this, actions speak louder than words.”