 To George Osborne: Here’s a way to save money... It was a sunny afternoon and I was relaxing at home. The date was Tuesday 16 March 2010 and this was to be important as you see events unfold. This may seem personal to me as you read on, but it concerns you, your safety and of course your hard-earned money being wasted. I had the balcony door open, which allows me a great view of Dalston Lane and Queensbridge Road; this is the balcony of the house with all the flower boxes and hanging baskets on the corner of Parkholme Road. There seemed to be a lot of hooting and shouting coming from motorists, which at first did not surprise me as they have just changed the layout of the junction. But I went out and looked at the traffic, which was rapidly building up in all directions. It was at this point that a neighbour called to say that four cars had piled into each other in Dalston Lane just before Ridley Road. After some minutes, an ambulance appeared coming down Dalston Lane from Kingsland Road and it made progress until within some 50 foot of the junction to turn towards Ridley Road. And that’s where he sat with warning sirens blasting - his progress hampered by the line of traffic up to the accident - and a traffic island. It was then the farce began like a scene out of the film Police Academy with the young black female recruit with the high voice. But instead it was a female PCSO (Police Community Support Officer) – ironically also black - coming down Dalston Lane from the accident, stopping to inform all drivers about the accident and completely ignoring the ambulance that was needed at the accident. She then tried to get some drivers to do 3-point turns but as they only had half the road, this was impossible. So the congestion turned into gridlock and in the mean time the PCSO was now doing a great impression of a windmill in a hurricane! A bus inspector now appeared in his red van, assessed the situation and proceeded to take control of directing the traffic by diverting most of it down Graham Road and away from the accident. He controlled the traffic with clear, precise hand gestures and the occasional bit of fruity language towards rather angry drivers who were shouting abuse at him and the PCSO. Within minutes he had the traffic moving and the ambulance up at the accident. But the traffic was still very heavy and it was then that Wyatt Earp appeared, swaggering down the middle of the road - alias a second PCSO - with his hands tucked into the armholes of his stab vest. He walked down the road, not attempting to assist the bus inspector, but continued past for another 50 to 60 feet and stood in the middle of the road like he was the sheriff. By now I had steam coming out of my ears, as it was just over two years earlier that I had written to the local Police Commander complaining about the same sort of actions of other PCSOs who appeared to be completely untrained. The letter I received in return admitted these and some other faults that they knew about, but that they would be addressing them. Now some two years on and this incident proved to me that the letter I received was a total brush off by a senior officer. Your hard earned cash pays these PCSOs starting rate of £20K a year plus many other reward packages. According to the internet, there are in the region of 16,000 PCSOs, which cost us around £315million. This money could be much better spent on employing a further 16,000 real police officers whose pay also starts at £20K a year. Who would you rather see on the streets - a fully trained police officer that could help and arrest a thug if you were in trouble or a PCSO who would stand there and try calling in to get a police officer? Meanwhile, you are still being assaulted and robbed! Anyway, I digress; on 26 March 2010 I wrote to Chief Superintendent Bending at |
Another batch of views from Tom that do not necessarily reflect the views of DaC THE WORLD ACCORDING TO TOM WHITBREAD DaC’s answer to Victor Meldrew! |
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Shoreditch Police Station, as the
Met Police call centre instructed me to. On 15 April - some 20 days
later - I phoned again to say that I had received no reply only to
be told the officer was actually at Stoke Newington police station
and his PA would phone me. On 16 April, a Karen Miguel called to
inform me the letter had probably got lost, but if I emailed her a
copy she would get the appropriate office to contact me. I complied
with her request and emailed the letter. After a further 19 days had
passed, there was still no activity so I emailed her again to say
that I had not received a response. I still await an answer to that
email. I did inform the young lady that if I did not get one then I
would take the matter further. So on 10 May I wrote to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Sir Paul Stephenson, putting the word Personal in large letters on the envelope. I included a copy of my letter to CS Bending for him to peruse and try to make a decision as to why I had not received a reply. Then I sat back and waited... and waited! Contact – at last! |
government as a smoke and
mirrors illusion to fool people into believing there had been an
increase in the number of qualified police officers on the street. If we can believe what we read in the papers, then the Met Police wasted £200K on the recruitment of new Police Officers but then never took on any of the persons offered places at Hendon - a complete waste of taxpayer’s money. Yet they found money for Plastic Police! As I look back over these events, I can now see where the American system might be needed for electing a Chief of Police, with them being more accountable to the general public. The impression I get is that past Police Commissioners were only interested in taking the position so that they could get a knighthood at the end and that even if they made a complete hash of the job, they could still walk away with the knighthood and a large sum of taxpayers’ money. So if you ever (which I hope is never) get assaulted or robbed whilst you are out trying to earn an honest living so that you can pay taxes for these public servants to waste, just think for a moment about what I’ve written and you may agree I had a good reason to complain. Another point to ponder; the crime rate has escalated no matter which set of manipulated figures you’re given with prisons bulging at the seams. You’ll never convince me that Judges had not been secretly "asked" to reduce sentences to keep more convicts out of prisons. The effect being that criminals no longer fear going to court - assuming they even bother to turn up! Then if by some stroke of luck they are sentenced to be incarcerated, they have the pleasure of TV, games, sports equipment and many other amenities. Paedophiles or sex offender get a private cell with computer games and television. Not only that, if someone has threatened them, they get their own personal group of warders. So, getting on my soapbox again, how would I address this problem? Well how about using one or two of the old air bases and build a massive prison or two with just the basic needs? Stainless steel wash basins and toilets in the cells with no TV. Make prisoners read and educate themselves so that some realise they have to improve to live in a civilised country. These prisons would be staffed first and foremost by ex-military staff who are at the moment ignored when they leave the armed forces. These men and women would be ready trained to handle people of the calibre of those that are being sent to prison. Then you are addressing two problems in one go. We hear of MPs bleating that they want to help ex-military personnel, well here’s a way to achieve it. We also need to abolish the stupid idea of halving a sentence if a prisoner has behaved themselves with the prison governor saying they have been good just so he can keep his prison population moving. How many of these so-called rehabilitated persons leave prison and commit a crime again within weeks or even days? How can child killers be given 14 years, yet be back on the streets within 7 years; or a drunk driver who has killed half a family be given 3 years, yet be out again in months to kill someone else? I know this government has a lot to do addressing the economy, but they have the Ministers to start to tackle the problem. So they can start by disbanding the Health and Safety Executive so children can once again play conkers and compete in the school sack race! There are many non-jobs that were created by the last government, which could be made redundant to let the ordinary taxpaying working person go back to work and reap some benefits. You may agree or disagree with me, but if you do want to let me know then please email me at TomW@dialacab.co.uk or let the Editor know... Tom Whitbread |
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