34,000 police jobs by 2015 - A burglar's charter?

[Gromit]

http://i.telegraph.co...MATT-web_1952732a.jpg

[Ankou]

i think he is right to walk, there'll be loads of cops waiting to give him a speeding fine. that's if they are not busy being actors on a documentary that is filiming cars on motorways and stuff.

[Gromit]

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

(LOSS OF) 34,000 Police Jobs By 2015

[sandyRoe]

Maybe the powers that be were sending a signal when they decided there would be no charges brought against the man who stabbed a burglar to death recently.
Without so many police about are we meant to look to our own defences?

[anotheoldgit]

If all the stabbings on the streets of London are anything to go by, I think we will all have to start carrying swords once again.

[emmie]

guns more like, though my local paper had a report that 200 police officers were involved in a drug swoop on local dealers who seem largely responsible
for dealing in class A drugs, money laundering and associated crimes, welcome to the capital!

[pa___ul3]

blooming 'eck em10 & AOG, that's exactly the attitude which has brought about the problem! All this time you're pointing the finger at youths of a certain race and it turns out it's London's more mature citizens!
Maybe this is what big Dave meant by the big society.. do your own policing!

[birdie1971]

Hardly surprising. The idea that you can slash police budgets and not affect the number of officers on the street is moronic. The government's line was always efficiency savings and removal of 'back-office' staff. I wonder what the government thinks that 'back-office' staff actually do? They seem oblivious to the fact that if you remove a person from a post, that person's work doesn't just evaporate like morning dew – the work they did still exists and now has to be done by other members of staff. Remove enough 'back-office' staff and eventually their work will have to be done by police constables; if PC's are stuck in the station doing other people's paperwork and administrative jobs (over and above their own existing excessive paperwork) then it is inevitable that there will be fewer officers on the street.

Having been a police officer in the Greater Manchester Police, it is frightening just how few police constables there are on a shift at any one time. If this number is to be further reduced, the consequences to the general public could be severe.

[Buenchico]

Has anyone actually been out on the streets of central London recently and seen how many (entirely superfluous) police officers there are around the place?

We don't need cuts of 34,000 jobs by 2015. We need two thirds of the force cut by TOMORROW!

[birdie1971]

^^^ Indeed. Sack the lot of em.

[mike11111]

And they can start by getting rid of Blunkett's babes - police community support officers, What a complete waste of space and money they are. A bunch of inadequates who just love the idea of poncing around the streets looking like real policemen, yet with little or no power to enforce law and order.

[sandyRoe]

Couldn't they help old ladies across the road and free up real police for other work? ^^^

[Bobbisox]

I hope the cuts start at the very top and leave the police on the streets to carry on with their job

[brionon]

What a good idea 34,000 more on the Dole!!

[DTCwordfan]

Cut all the back office jobs - why, why do we need County police forces - group them up and save on the number of Chief Constables, HR and Finance folk as well as Press officers.....an you can still keep all the front officers.

For example one force for the SW is still smaller than say Manchester or Birmingham and we currently have D&C, Somerset, Dorset, Avon, Somerset etc.... Plenty of savings to be had in admin as there is inside the NHS.

[boxtops]

DT - there's not much back room capacity left inside the NHS these days (and please believe me, I'm in it) - staff cuts are being made all the time, there is a real worry in some quarters now that patient safety will be compromised if any more non-clinical staff are cut back.

[DTCwordfan]

IT perhaps - as a patient having to go in and input my personal data eight times, even in the Anaesthetic room - "we are not on the main data base." After all, this is Cornwall I guess and, other than maternity, not exactly known for their leadership and better known for CEO spats and Novoviruses.

[DTCwordfan]

so let me pose you a question then boxy. The scenario...take your hospital or region. The Government says "whatever you can save, you can boost your upfront service......so where would you make the cuts and what would you boost......the bigger the better as to magnitude of money.

[boxtops]

It's hard to say now, DT, in the light of all the reorganisations now taking place. My own organisation had to save £48M in the last financial year, done by cutting staff and people now multi-tasking, we went from 9 office blocks to 3, no new lease cars, huge restrictions on travel for meetings, etc (hard for some like me who cover the whole county). Big savings made by no longer being able to use agency staff who cost a great deal more than appointing someone on a short-term contract - and no contracts for more than a year at the moment.

[DTCwordfan]

you are readjusting no doubt - but that question I posed is a good one to approach potential change.....the police to me are totally overstaffed in the wrong places and could do by soaking up some better practice from other forces....why we need all these districts, who knows and I bet there is still a lot of parochialsim and fiefdoms within, as a result.

Had that in France in restructuring a business with six regions each with its Directeur General Regionale and all the extra bodies that went with that.....400 jobs middle and senior management jobs out and market share went up....as did the bottom line and overall competitive strength.