DC Stephen Oake

The decision not to posthumous award DC Stephen Oake The George Cross is an absolute disgrace.

Police officers, the press and members of the public are for once singing from the same hymn sheet.

We live in a day and age that medals, knighthoods, and gongs are given out to all and sundry for paltry reasons.

Surely DC Oake's bravery deserves to be recognised.

Manchester Online has an excellent article quoting DC Oake's father.

As the government faced mounting anger over its decision not to award the brave detective constable a posthumous George Cross, or indeed any other gallantry medal, his family responded to the snub with calm dignity.

His father Robin said: "He would not have wanted any recognition, he was doing it for his colleagues." He added: "Certainly his bravery needed some recognition and he got that of course at the Old Bailey trial. "At the end of the day, as a Christian man, Steve's reward is in heaven."

To read the full article click Medal fury: The family responds

Feelings are running high in the police forum, to read the thread click No George Cross for DC Stephen Oake.

Paul Kelly, chairman of the Greater Manchester Police Federation, told the Daily Mail: "If - as I believe - the Prime Minister is aware of this decision and concurs with it, then he has let down Stephen, his family, my colleagues and every law enforcement officer in the country. He threw himself into extreme danger when he could have stepped aside and waited for back-up. He is a true hero and I am sickened by this decision."

Other reports on this diabolical decision.
DC Stephen Oake
Gallantry Award Veto Angers Police
Anger as murdered Pc is rejected for George Cross
No medal for policeman killed by al-Qaeda
Gallantry award veto angers police
No gong for heroic cop
Slain officer's award snub an "insult"
Murdered policeman 'not courageous enough' for bravery award

Arm The Police

Since my last post, another female police officer has been shot on the streets of Britain whilst engaged in 'bread and butter' police work - Investigating a burglary.

Hunt for gunman as third WPc is shot in street

The shooting of PC Rachael Bown brings the tally to three police officers shot in as many months.

Rachael Bown, 23, was shot in the stomach while responding to a domestic burglary at a student house in Nottingham. She was wearing a new version of a standard bullet- and stab-proof vest but the bullet struck her below it.

An article in the telegraph titled let our police reclaim the streets talks of how this incident "was not a major armed robbery, or a shoot-out between drugs gangs. It appears to have been the work of two petty thieves, caught in the act of a fairly routine domestic burglary. Why should they have been carrying firearms? And why did they not hesitate to use them?"

No more complacency: kill this gun culture also in The Telegraph talks of how the shooting of Rachael Bown, "reinforces the impression of a loss of control by the authorities over illegal handguns."

In an article in The Guardian (written shortly after the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky.) Will Hutton writes on his own feelings, (undoubtedly mirrored by countless parents of police officers in the UK.) on his daughter informing him that she intends joining the police. ".....go with the flow. And quietly invoke whatever god or luck there may be."

Another article in The Guardian mentions the police forum thread - Should The Police Be Armed.

Check out Oh No Not Again if you want a current 'unofficial' police opinion on the arming the police discussion.

The one thing I know on this subject is that the arming discussion continues whilst police officers continue to take daily risks on all our behalf.

Police Mergers - Plans Continue

Police merger plans are in the news again today.

The Guardian leads with Clarke clears way for creation of regional police superforces in an article which mentions that, Charles Clarke, cleared the way for the creation of two new regional "superforces" in England and a single police force to cover the whole of Wales.

Outlining his plans to merge 15 existing police forces, the home secretary told chief constables and police authority chairmen that a full-scale merger was now the "only acceptable option" in Wales and the north-east and the west Midlands in England.

The three new forces will be:
· West Midlands: merging Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Mercia and West Midlands forces.
· North-east: Cleveland, Durham and Northumbria.
· Wales: Dyfed-Powys, Gwent, North Wales and South Wales to merge.

An article in The Times titled Police merger date talks of how police sources have said that Mr Clarke had given the 15 forces until February 24 to agree. After that he would start forcing the mergers through, laying orders before Parliament in the summer.

The Telegraph also have an article titled Clarke forces pace on police mergers in which it states that The Government made clear that it would press ahead with police mergers in four regions despite continued resistance and disagreement among forces and their authorities.

Nick Herbert, the shadow police reform minister, said: "Just the other week Tony Blair said this was not a question of forcing mergers through, yet that is exactly what the Home Secretary plans to do, without proper consultation and to an unnecessarily tight timetable."

Click to read Tony Blair's pledge on police reform.

Click to read The Home Office report police reform force restructuring.

Police Recruitment - "Positive Action"

Once again police recruitment and 'positive action' is being mentioned in the press, in connection with suitable white male police officer candidates having their applications to join the police service turned down.

One report states that Gloucestershire Constabulary has been reported to the Commission for Racial Equality over accusations that it has discriminated against 109 white male job applicants during a recent recruitment drive.

Gloucestershire Constabulary in another report call it “positive action”. Stating it’s the “only realistic way of ensuing we maintain a diverse workforce that reflects the communities we serve.”

There have been several other reports concerning police and positive action including;
Is there a case for positive discrimination?
Not wanted: white male police
Force accused of discrimination

As well as numerous other recent reports covered in Police Recruitment and Positive Discrimination.

Retired Police Officer Jobs

Loads of retired police officer jobs posted on the ex police jobs site.

If you have police related skills and want to suppliment your pension, here's a snapshot of their current offerings - They've posted over 50 police jobs this week.

Loss Prevention Officer - N
Trainer (With Investigative Skills) - S
Info Security Officer - Scot
Strategic Intelligence Analyst - NW
Senior Group Manager - Mids

There's another MI5 job posted for all you wannabe 007's!

24/7 Response Policing

Just read The Policeman's Blog.

Pc Copperfield talks of the new report into 24/7 Response Policing published by the Police Federation.

Pc Copperfield states 'This is exactly the kind of thing that I've been going on about since I started this blog, and despite the numerous special teams, task-forces, operations, trial periods and experiments it's still the PCs, sergeants and Inspectors at the bottom who make the whole thing work.'

Having just finished reading the report, I reiterate Pc Copperfield's plea - If you've never ever downloaded or checked a link on this site before, please click here and do so - 24/7 Response Policing

Better still, once you've read the report, download it, print it off and leave a copy in your station!