Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Some practical advice please for an ARP4 owner

You might like to think that but you would be wrong. Numbers of traffic plod have halved but it dates from the intro of the devil's gadget, the gatso, when chief constables took the view that traffic plod could be re-assigned to other duties. In London for example the numbers of traffic plod had fallen by 40% between 1980 and 2000, and have fallen further since then.

With a corresponding decline in driving standards.

Howard with respect you do talk a load of crap sometimes. What has happened is that due to budget cuts traffic is seen as less a priority that other issues therefore officers have been moved to other duties it has nothing to do with Gatso. Catching speeders is a very small part of traffic officers duties, we spend most of our time dealing with RTCs and the number of KSI,s has risen with the decrease of officers. One of my colleagues has just dealt with his 68th fatal ! I have dealt with my fair share and if you had to deal with what we deal with daily I think you might see us in a different light.

Keith, the dearth of Police in South Wiltshire, a consequence of cuts in funding, is becoming a concern to all.

A few examples:

Yesterday, New Year's Eve, there were just 2 traffic cars available for Salisbury and South Wilts plus, I understand less than a handful of CPSOs in "Panda" Cars. There are no longer any custody cells in Salisbury, the nearest are in Swindon and Melksham, both more than an hour away.
So if an idiot is caught drink driving, or any other crime for which an arrest is needed that car will be effectively "off duty" for the next 3 hours. There is no public transport between Salisbury and the two towns, so on release the a taxi has to be used to return people, at the Police's expense.

There are cells in Southampton, about 20 min away, but they are in a different Police Force area and "not available".

The Police Station in Salisbury is not open 24/7 and outside 9am to 6pm Monday to Saturday is only partly staffed. This has led to the Police informing the shop owners of Salisbury that if they catch a shop lifter the Police cannot be relied on to support the store.

All the CCTV has been turned off and petty crime and vandalism is on the increase. Other than on the M4 and A34 there are no speed cameras working and there are no longer any mobile speed camera vans.

The new County Court in Salisbury was built about 4 years ago without a cell block, because Salisbury Police Station was about 500m away. With the closure of the Police Station last year any accused on remand has to be brought by van from Melksham or Swindon: traffic delays and lack of transport often mean the hearing is delayed.
There is no space on the site of the Court building to build cells, even if there was money to build them. So accused have been held in a prison van in the carpark for up to 6 hours, without food, water or toilets. It is reported that there are at least 2 "human rights" claims pending as a result. .

The explanation for all the cuts is that because Wiltshire is classified as a rural county the central government formula for funding the Police means there is no more money. As far as I'm concerned all the noise from Central Government about improving Policing and making the Police more visible is no more than hot air.

Wiltshire Police seem to be fresh out of ideas: one report was that to save money they considered recruiting 1000 Specials to take over most of the traditional Policing and sack all the PCSOs, because Specials are fully Warranted Officers that are effectively on Zero Hours Contracts. I hope it is not true.

I've written to my MP to tell him that Wiltshire Police isn't, in the South Wilts/Salisbury area, fit for purpose and suggested Hampshire or Dorset Police are invited to take over South Wiltshire Policing.

Can somebody explain to me please why it is that having a system of umpteen local police forces is more cost-effective than having a single national force?

'Fraid not. I can however explain why an abundance of sub-scale regional forces will support more senior ranks at the top of these pyramids than would a more efficient at-scale management structure. And all the time the financial rewards for the senior ranks are so disproportionate to those of the ordinary officers, you can't expect those turkeys to vote for Christmas. But it will change.

Meantime, those of us who live in rural areas are paying a hell of a lot to get our bins emptied (and nothing else...)

Reflects my train of thought precisely...

I spent my last few years in the 'job' examining the service to ascertain where financial cuts could be made. There was no easy answer. Visible policing has suffered as a result and every fit officer is working extremely hard out of the gaze of the general public to meet the tidal wave of work that come sin on a daily basis.
Policing is now quasi enforcement/welfare and social services rolled into one. It is extremely accountable and huge sums of money go into dotting every I and crossing every T - otherwise a failed investigation hits the headlines and the force takes another battering through a sensationalising media.
The Tories loved castigating the police at every turn to gain support from the public for the cuts. Well we now have what everyone wished for; an extremely thin blue line that will not attend all crimes and some more serious ones such as dwelling burglary may be desk top managed.
As for proactive work? Well that is why you do not see a traffic officer - there is not the capacity in the organisation to do it to any great degree.

Peter it is the same here in essex, police stations are being closed at an alarming rate. Custody suites are overloaded and it can mean a 50 mile journey followed by a 4 hour wait just to book in a prisoner. We have no camera vans anymore and only 2 traffic garages for the whole of Essex. Traffic officer numbers in the last 5 years have been cut from 274 to 75 ! One major RTC can tie up the whole of a traffic shift for hours leaving no cover for the rest of the county. EP currently have a recruiting campaign for Specials because they can't recruit enough regulars because starting pay has been slashed, pensions decimated and experienced regular officers are leaving in droves due to the terrible working conditions and new unworkable IT systems. In 2 0 years I've never known such low morale and such high sickness levels due to stress.

And I do agree forces are top heavy with ACPO ranks - forces should be regionalised at the very least to make saving across the board. Do not forget that a lot of ACPO ranks are not warranted police officers and so the numbers are swelling disproportionately against cuts in other areas.

There is also an issue on the type of person making ACPO ranks - often they are of the self promoting 'Yes Sir" type that does little good when some common sense and backbone is required at senior level.

Thats my 2017 rant over and now for a relaxing coffee..