Policing UK 2013 - Police Federation
Policing UK 2013 - Police Federation
Policing UK 2013 - Police Federation
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THE POLICE REFORM PROGRAMME<br />
Constables in<br />
the firing line<br />
Paul McKeever expresses the concerns<br />
of the rank and file police officers<br />
Paul McKeever is former<br />
Chairman of the <strong>Police</strong><br />
<strong>Federation</strong> of England<br />
and Wales<br />
ow important is the ffice<br />
of onstable to policing in this<br />
countr?<br />
It is the core, the bedrock of British<br />
modern policing. It is the link between<br />
the police and the citizens. The police<br />
are the citizens and the citizens are the<br />
police. The Office of Constable gives<br />
police officers the independence of<br />
operation so important to policing. It<br />
gives the discretion that officers need to<br />
treat people as individuals as opposed to<br />
numbers or figures and it is something<br />
steeped in this country’s history.<br />
We are surprised the government<br />
wants to tinker with this bedrock of<br />
policing because changing it alters not<br />
just the role, but the whole relationship<br />
between us and the public we serve.<br />
How is it under threat?<br />
Principally by the recommendations<br />
from the Winsor 2 review into officer pay<br />
and conditions published on 15 March<br />
2012, which have now been adopted<br />
by government and are currently being<br />
negotiated. The principal one affects<br />
the Office of Constable and that is<br />
severance. People ask ‘why is it important<br />
that officers can’t have their service<br />
severed’. If someone says something or<br />
operates in a way that doesn’t suit those<br />
in control of the service, they can be got<br />
rid of. And we think that is a dangerous<br />
road to start going down.<br />
h does the goernment want<br />
the abilit to mae police officers<br />
redundant<br />
The government has taken a position<br />
that they are going to downsie the<br />
public sector and increase functions<br />
performed by the private sector and<br />
that is what we are starting to see within<br />
policing.<br />
Clearly, if you are going to go down<br />
that route quickly, you need to get rid<br />
of police officers and you can do that<br />
if you introduce severance. Nobody<br />
has actually told us this directly. It’s an<br />
inference we have had to draw from<br />
what is happening.<br />
“The Office of Constable gives<br />
police officers the independence of<br />
operation so important to policing.”<br />
42 | POLICING <strong>UK</strong>
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