Police - Out of control and unaccountable

No, I'm not talking about an album by Sting and his two chums.

I'm talking about Plod. And for a change I'm not after the front line paramilitary thugs who pretend they are police officers. I'm after the ACPO and ACPOS membership.

We know all about ACPO and ACPOS. Both private companies who lobby and 'advise' the government on policing issues. Both with political agendas to further the interests of their membership. A membership which consists of officers who barely remember what it is like to set foot outside of a police station, except when heading off to the BBC to spout some guff.

It irritates me greatly that the policing 'elite' seem to think that it is perfectly acceptable that one of their number can pop up anywhere in the media to give opinion on matters from an ACPO perspective, the latest being Mick Giannasi who is Chief Constable of Gwent and is also the roads spokesman for ACPO.

Mr Giannasi saw fit to criticise the decision of the Government to trim back spending that may entail councils removing speed cameras. What business it is of ACPO to lobby the media and the public, (as well as the government), is beyond me.

However, the activities mentioned above pale into insignificance when Chief Constables up and down the land decide to ignore direct instructions from the Home Office.

On June 29th, Theresa May addressed the ACPO conference held in Manchester and instructed all police forces in England and Wales to abolish the target driven nonsense created over thirteen years of Labour government.

And I can also announce today that I am also scrapping the confidence target and the policing pledge with immediate effect.

I know that some officers like the policing pledge, and some, I’m sure, like the comfort of knowing they’ve ticked boxes. But targets don’t fight crime; targets hinder the fight against crime. In scrapping the confidence target and the policing pledge, I couldn’t be any clearer about your mission: it isn’t a thirty-point plan; it is to cut crime. No more, and no less.

Her words. Crystal clear. Or are they?

Apparently they are not clear enough. It would seem that many forces have chosen to ignore the Home Secretary. This, as far as I am concerned, is a step too far.

Of course, at first glance they have complied. But dig a little deeper, as the excellent Inspector Gadget has done, and it is plain to see that all the pen pushing plod have done is move or re-name the boxes that gets ticked. Nothing has changed, not really.

It's way past the time that the police need to be taken by the scruff of the neck and shown who is boss. Led by vain, publicity seeking, separated from reality desk bound careerists, the police have lost the plot and the confidence of the public.

They could do well to remember these.

And their place.