Begining of the end for police

[Gingernutz]

Watching the headlines and thinking that Surrey will be first .............

[Skippernick]

is that the company in robocop?

[JKay]

Lincolnshire are the first to prove they cannot manage a police force by employ G4S to run the place :\ 

[Gingernutz]

Yes - obscure robocop reference. Surrey's plans mean unaccountable people will be investigating people in the near future.
Dead or alive, you're coming with me.

[maddog04]

UNBELIEVABLE :eek

some woman chief saying it will only be backroom, I see this as the thin end of the wedge and as others have said.....wide open to abuse
G4 have proven many times that they're not fit to run the ops for the Prison Service/courts etc
Police today, Ambo's/Fire tomorrow and everyone else they see fit as and when :eek

[VNA]

It's about cutting people's terms and conditions.  Simple as that.

And yup there's the accountability issue.  At the moment there is direct accountability, you loose that when you employ a contractor, plus the contractor is only interested in one thing, getting shareholder value and the bosses running off with big bonuses.

And those employed won't give a shit about the work they are doing, poor pay, crap terms = I don't give a shit.

[BIG MAC]

However as these people wont be police officers there will be blood on the carpet

[Grahamm]

I can see the sense in *some* of the proposals, eg the staff who answer the phones and deal with radio communications etc are not serving officers and having trained officer standing outside a building to keep it secure or looking at hours of CCTV is a waste of their time, but the idea of privatised patrols or non-police carrying out investigations is going way too far.

[Gingernutz]

These staff aren't police officers now - they are public employees. This is a means of paying people less for the same job with some friend of a tory taking a profit from the difference. The other hint about the future was that they won't be soley in charge of investigations - which to me means they will be investigating  :\

[VNA]

And of course if the pay is poor, well the tax payer will make it up with benefits.

[Gordo]

It's not exactly news - there are a number of forces who already use private contractors for various admin tasks.

Maybe it's just the usual fear of change?

[Gingernutz]

Its not just admin roles now:
They include responding to and investigating incidents, supporting victims and witnesses, managing high-risk individuals and patrolling neighbourhoods.

Robcop - responding to and investigating incidents

[phil on a fazer]

UNBELIEVABLE :eek 

G4 have proven many times that they're not fit to run the ops for the Prison Service/courts etc

We use G4S at our buildings........there terrible, i mean terrible!