Alone again..naturally?
The latest from Paul Stephenson is the unveiling of his belief that officers should patrol singly and not in pairs. This is really part of the notion of Presence
One of the five P's that he is 'benchmarking' during his tour of duty as Commissioner.
A number of other blogs have chewed this over.This is my particular 10 pence worth on it.
Single or double patrol?
Duties wise it is an idea that has been kicked around for years.Some Borough commanders have tried single patrols (coming up with such ideas as 'the control room is your back up'. I was never happy with that at the time,although when control rooms were Borough based at least you had knowledgeable staff at hand if it all went belly up as they knew where you where. We now have 3 mega sites for control for the entire MET.So much for local knowledge.
I started off my career in parts of the estate wastelands of North London and did find myself out by myself dealing with all kinds of s**t. We had much bigger Teams (or Reliefs) then so 'back up' was usually close to hand.
But there is a psychological advantage to having two on a stop on a call. Another set of eyes and ears,someone watching your back.
I find it amusing that Mr Stephenson says he and the blah blah blah cant understand why we patrol in pairs. People who have never had to do it.
I am not saying that in certain areas ( read: the far less cosmopolitan and vibrant)that single patrolling isn't an option but this 'direction' would appear to be all encompassing and I think flawed.
To finish, I see this as a tacit admission that the 'uniform presence' of PCSOs out there has not been a success and the spreading of a limited number of trained warranted officers in the single patrol concept is one way of clawing back 'the streets'
Lets see.
One of the five P's that he is 'benchmarking' during his tour of duty as Commissioner.
A number of other blogs have chewed this over.This is my particular 10 pence worth on it.
Single or double patrol?
Duties wise it is an idea that has been kicked around for years.Some Borough commanders have tried single patrols (coming up with such ideas as 'the control room is your back up'. I was never happy with that at the time,although when control rooms were Borough based at least you had knowledgeable staff at hand if it all went belly up as they knew where you where. We now have 3 mega sites for control for the entire MET.So much for local knowledge.
I started off my career in parts of the estate wastelands of North London and did find myself out by myself dealing with all kinds of s**t. We had much bigger Teams (or Reliefs) then so 'back up' was usually close to hand.
But there is a psychological advantage to having two on a stop on a call. Another set of eyes and ears,someone watching your back.
I find it amusing that Mr Stephenson says he and the blah blah blah cant understand why we patrol in pairs. People who have never had to do it.
I am not saying that in certain areas ( read: the far less cosmopolitan and vibrant)that single patrolling isn't an option but this 'direction' would appear to be all encompassing and I think flawed.
To finish, I see this as a tacit admission that the 'uniform presence' of PCSOs out there has not been a success and the spreading of a limited number of trained warranted officers in the single patrol concept is one way of clawing back 'the streets'
Lets see.
9 Comments:
He doesn't say if PCSO's will be lone patrolling. I was on South coast the other week and theirs do. Met tend to be in two's or even three's - not a good look, especially during the day.
I think the centre are beginning to squeeze the community teams, some of whom have had it too good for too long.
My theory is that this is all a big media spin operation. There are already some solo patrols (daytime, West End for example), lots of cars are single-crewed are they not? I doubt there are many situations where solo patrolling or response would be appropriate, but I think The Commissioner is trying to get the media to realise that where it works it will be done and that where officers are two up there is a good reason.
Unfortunately the way politics and the media operate these days Sir Paul might be right that these kinds of things need to be publicised in order to keep the Mail and Sun on side. Otherwise they just go around shouting UNREFORMED! RACIST! POLITICALLY CORRECT! Whatever.
I have to say I think groups of four PCSOs standing around chatting does nothing for their reputation - and I am quite in favour of them in principle!!
Well I work alone in a rural station ten miles from the next PC at its very best.
That can be a very long wait.
Roland
Stressed Out
I believe PCSO's are in the mix for this as well.Ownership (ie ar*e available to be kicked if not implemented) to the single patrol concept is rolling downwards by the day.
Blue Eyes
It could well be a tactical move pre-empting those who he mentions in the news article.
Politics is the unsung P in any Commissioners closet..its a matter of dealing with it.
Roland
I take it this is nothing new in your neck of the woods.'Double crewing' being managements version of a rowdy patrol.
Hello, hi there ... Buddy, occasionally, I give Little a look in the eyes of police blogs of colleagues from other places, and no use ... not below it, always has a genius who wants to enter the head of people that the police round with only one man is the ideal of policing
But the whole world to know that this bald But there is a psychological advantage to having two on a stop on the call. Another set of eyes and ears, someone watching your back.
At least here in Brazil I have never seen a cop that, being alone in the patrol car, be better or more efficient than working in pairs, or three (3) One or two players ... more on weapons to clash can the difference, but the men by bringing in the chairs do not see or do not want to see.
Ligeirinho, police detective investigator - first class
São Paulo - Brazil
Ligeirinho
Thanks for your comment
Single patrol on foot = no evidence of offences for court = no fucking point
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