Hampshire police force shedding 1400 staff

[Arthurgray50@blu]

I was staggered when l heard this on Sky News this morning, to save money, they are shedding 1400 staff.

What the hell is wrong with this damn government, These staff who will be let go, will go onto the benefit system until a new job is found, and therefore the crime will go up, in this area.

There will be no officers on the ground, the back up staff will be trimmed, are the government thick and stupid, Public safety is paramount, so what does the home office think of our safety, and where will the cuts go next.

Here's a handy link about this story.

Hampshire Constabulary plans to axe 1,400 posts - 20% of its workforce - including police officers.

Forces are facing government cuts of 25%, with Hampshire reducing its budget by £70m (25%) over the next four years.

The job losses will see redundancies, positions left unfilled, redeployments and voluntary redundancies.

Unions are to discuss the plans, which will go before the police authority. Southampton MP Alan Whitehead said the government was "letting people down".
The force, which employs about 6,700 staff, also plans to share and sell buildings and increase collaboration with other forces, especially Thames Valley.

[Derek]

Ouch!

Anyway time for some perspective. Regular sworn-in officers *cannot* be made redundant (trade off for all the restrictions on their private lives etc.) so all that will happen is the ones retiring won't be replaced like for like and some of the sick/injured will be pensioned off early.

That said the ones going for early retirement won't go onto the benefits system and I'm not convinced that law abiding folks automatically go onto the crack and start car jacking and drivebys purely from losing their job so the crime thing isn't a huge issue.

There is a lot of fat in the Police that could be trimmed quite easily. Sadly I'm pretty sure they ones sitting in a comfy office will find a way to survive and the ones on the front line will end up more and more stretched.

[Woolly One]

Originally Posted by Derek

Sadly I'm pretty sure they ones sitting in a comfy office will find a way to survive and the ones on the front line will end up more and more stretched.

Unfortunately very true. It appears the more time you have 'not to do your job' the safer you can make yourself.

Now why do HR sections spring to mind?

[superbiatch]

Originally Posted by Woolly One

Now why do HR sections spring to mind?

A little off topic, but still a public service - our NHS trust is merging with another, so therefore we will have double the HR staff required right? Watch this space, somehow HR never come out of things bad IMO

[Derek]

Originally Posted by Woolly One

Now why do HR sections spring to mind?

Thats exactly what I was thinking of.

Up till a few years ago where I work all HR functions were done in house. Then they brought in an HR manager, one of their first decisions was they needed an assistant...

Now to me thats admitting you aren't up to the job... Same with other departments that have their own empires and seem to multiply when you aren't looking.

[Mr Angry]

Looks like 40,000 police jobs could be "in danger".

[Dai]

Seems pretty simple to me. Anyone whose job involves collecting/collating statistics or anything to do with government targets should be waltzed out of the door as a matter of priority.

Leave the people that actually DO the job to get on with it.

[Pog66]

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

I was staggered when l heard this on Sky News this morning, to save money, they are shedding 1400 staff.

What the hell is wrong with this damn government, These staff who will be let go, will go onto the benefit system until a new job is found, and therefore the crime will go up, in this area.

There will be no officers on the ground, the back up staff will be trimmed, are the government thick and stupid, Public safety is paramount, so what does the home office think of our safety, and where will the cuts go next.

Funnily enough these cuts have been on the cards since well before this May's election - a quick google will show that. No need for lazy political shots on what is a valid discussion

[PeteLockwood]

so ? if the military is getting cut why not the overpayed police force ?

Originally Posted by PeteL

so ? if the military is getting cut why not the overpayed* police force ?

Thank you for your contribution to the thread - your opinion is important to us, and we will get back to you with an update/riposte as soon as we can be bothered.....

*it's spelt overpaid, and I don't believe they are....

[PeteLockwood]

Originally Posted by foreverwar

Thank you for your contribution to the thread - your opinion is important to us, and we will get back to you with an update/riposte as soon as we can be bothered.....

*it's spelt overpaid, and I don't believe they are....

you dont think they are ?

25k basic, soldier 17 basic who got the most challenging job i wonder ? certainly not them fat.... people... who sit on there ass and beat protesters to death and throw women in the concrete floor just for the crack ? hmmm

it is about time the police suffered in the budget cuts almost everybody else does, why not them ?

[MovedGoalPosts]

A rather generalised, and biased opinion there.

Simple question. Would you want a job where at any time of the day or night (depending on your shift pattern) you could be sent somewhere where some drugged up idiot is threatening you with a knife and all you've got is a stab vest, batton, and spray for defence (and the latter won't stop someone on drugs, and they are unlikely to feel the pain of being struck by the batton), or being sent to clear up the mess of a fatal car crash involving kids, or .......

The point isn't that the regular police officer is overpaid, but perhaps that the military personnel are underpaid.

But we digress as this thread is about cuts to police force manpower. We know that the books need to be balanced. We know that some tough choices have to be made. What we don't know is how much fat there is still left that can be trimmed away before realistically the services can no longer meet the needs or expectations of the public. Certainly in Surrey (one of the smaller forces), they've been whinging for years that the grants are inadequate relative to those received by other forces, and they've thus been cutting back for years. They already have poilice office counters staffed entirely by volunteers (Cobham), community speed watch using volunteers with radar guns and such like, all things that I would have expected to be dealt with by employed staff. Even so there still seem to be many committees and working groups for this that and the other of which I wonder how many people are really achieving anything?

One wonders if the Hampshire proposals are just the edge of the thin blue line becoming a strand that is ready to snap?

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

I was staggered when l heard this on Sky News this morning, to save money, they are shedding 1400 staff.

What the hell is wrong with this damn government, These staff who will be let go, will go onto the benefit system until a new job is found, and therefore the crime will go up, in this area.

There will be no officers on the ground, the back up staff will be trimmed, are the government thick and stupid, Public safety is paramount, so what does the home office think of our safety, and where will the cuts go next.

Arthur stop posting bull plop. People only read your posts to give them a laugh

[Derek]

Originally Posted by PeteL

25k basic, soldier 17 basic who got the most challenging job i wonder ? certainly not them fat.... people... who sit on there ass and beat protesters to death and throw women in the concrete floor just for the crack ? hmmm

I suppose the only harder job would be an English teacher to try and teach you some correct spelling and grammar...

Anyway I'm fairly fit, not fat, haven't beaten any protestors to death (in fact I'm lagging behind in the whole causing death stakes), and haven't thrown any women into a concrete floor in the last few months.

I suppose I'm just slacking off then?

Originally Posted by PeteL

it is about time the police suffered in the budget cuts almost everybody else does, why not them ?

Actually I think the wages the Police receive are pretty fair, although I'd make some changes such as giving front line cops a shift allowance to make it a more enticing prospect than an office job.

There are some places that budget cuts could be made for the Police but sadly they will probably come from the front line and not where the cuts could easily be made.

---------- Post added at 18:23 ---------- Previous post was at 18:17 ----------

Originally Posted by Rob

Simple question. Would you want a job where at any time of the day or night (depending on your shift pattern) you could be sent somewhere where some drugged up idiot is threatening you with a knife and all you've got is a stab vest, batton, and spray for defence (and the latter won't stop someone on drugs, and they are unlikely to feel the pain of being struck by the batton), or being sent to clear up the mess of a fatal car crash involving kids, or .......

Or get threatened by someone with a handgun and hand grenades...

http://news.stv.tv/scotland/196764-g...arrest-of-man/