A missed opportunity for reform, Sean O'Neill - Police Federation

noisiest vehicle for that protest. There are hundreds,
maybe thousands, of cops on Twitter but their
outpourings tend to be aggrieved, angry and
bitterly personal rather than informed and thoughtprovoking.
That same surly attitude prevailed at Police
Federation conference in Bournemouth this spring
when Theresa May took to the stage. She was
jeered, ridiculed and booed. Now, I’ve got nothing
against booing Government ministers – it always
makes for good newspaper copy. But this was the
Federation’s conference. The Federation invited
Mrs May and let itself down. If the Fed did not
want to hear what she had to say (and, let us face it,
her message was entirely predictable) why bother
inviting her? Whatever tiny reservations she might
have harboured about appointing Tom Winsor as
HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary, they must
surely have dissipated in that moment.
The entire policing community greeted Winsor’s
appointment as some terrible insult to the history
of British public service. It has been variously
depicted as part of some terrible Tory conspiracy (in
which the Twittercops see a dodgy share-deal, G4S
and the devil) or (if you are ACPO rank) a disaster
because the Home Secretary will not be able to call
on the new Chief Inspector for advice on
operational policing.
Personally, I think Winsor is nobody’s patsy. He
is intelligent, hard working and independently
minded – a man who caused ministers many
headaches when he was the rail regulator. His pay
reforms will see officers who acquire specialist skills
reaping benefits for their ability rather than length
of service. Far from being a Tory stooge he was,
until not very long ago, a card- carrying member of
the Labour Party. And rather than take the job to
line his pockets, he has taken a substantial pay cut
to move from being a bigwig City lawyer to being,
90 Upholding the Queen’s Peace