General Chat

The old "specials" served voluntarily, and did a good job of it.

That's very different to the latest, greatest "good idea" from the Big-Society -Small-Brain lot, which 5exy has put much better than I could have done.

What next - volunteers with a garden hose taking the place of the fire service?

If only this was just one of Barking Boris's "ideas" - he's too busy on his one-man crusade against bendy buses. Ah, well, it keeps him out of mischief.

No, this has come straight out of Conservative Central Office. You'll find it second star on the right, and straight on until morning!

Sue x

My Dad was a Special Constable from the early l950's to the l970's. It was on a voluntary basis, and he was often asked to work at events where there would be large crowds.
Liz

I dont know what kind of remuneration that the old ""Specials" got, but were they not volunteers of some kind?

Bob

Hey Look you can under the new laws work as police person for nothing. and, You can be insulted everyday, have your life threatened, run the risk of being stabbed or shot maybe even killed, In return we offer you for about the first 2 years is
No Wage
No promise of promotion
No promise you will get to retirement
You get a free uniform
You get to go on some training courses
You get a chance to join the Police force after your traning is compleat. If you make it that far.


I do wish this goverment would get real. I don't think many people would would join the Police if they did that. Not only that but the Police force would be so weak they could not stop some crimes and they would have a lot of trouble keeping control.

...Could be looking at a shortage of new recruits there then.
Presumably they're hoping to get staff that have been trained elsewhere - at somebody elses expense.
Is this one of "barking Boris's" ideas?

Well, you've heard it all now folks! Idiocy reigns in this fair land.

"Most new recruits to the Metropolitan Police, the UK's biggest force, will have to work as volunteers before they can earn a salary, under proposed radical changes to the recruitment procedure.

A paper outlining the changes is today being considered by the Metropolitan Police Authority. The new guidelines aim to save £20,000 per recruit.


"The proposal will result in significant cash savings, improve local service provision and provide participants with a range of transferable skills," it said.

What next? The good folk of the WRVS spend two weeks selling pop in the hospital shops before performing their first heart transplant?

Maybe I can take silk on the strength of watching three episodes of Kavanagh QC?

Or perhaps once having a piggy bank at Eton could be the essential item on the CV of a Chancellor?

The whole country's gone barking mad!

Sue x