Some stats

I've just been browsing through my stats, and came across my keyword analysis. I check this from time to time to see exactly how people are finding this (believe me, I'm still shocked it's got as many views as it has).

Now, the majority of people stumbling upon my corner of the interweb have come from reading one of the many other police blogs on my sidebar, however a portion of them manage to find it on search engines. I've had some strange search terms point to here, which totally escape me at the moment, that have left me perplexed as to why:

1. People are actually searching for things like that!
2. How in the hell it managed to point them here

	Date	Time	Name	Query	Landing Page
	10 Jan	15:02:45	search.live.com	anapplicant	http://anapplicant.blogspot.com/
	10 Jan	14:22:32	www.google.co.uk	station reception officers	http://brandnewbobby.blogspot.com/2006/11/pcsos-new-enquiry-officers.html
	9 Jan	19:24:13	www.google.co.uk	when were 'pcso's' introduced	http://brandnewbobby.blogspot.com/2006/11/pcsos-new-enquiry-officers.html
	9 Jan	13:16:23	www.google.co.uk	special reasons drink driving	http://brandnewbobby.blogspot.com/2006/12/special-constable-caught-drink-driving.html
	8 Jan	22:23:14	www.google.co.uk	pcso blog	http://brandnewbobby.blogspot.com/2006/11/pcsos-new-enquiry-officers.html
	8 Jan	22:22:47	www.google.co.uk	pcso blog	http://brandnewbobby.blogspot.com/2006/11/pcsos-new-enquiry-officers.html
	8 Jan	19:05:07	www.google.co.uk	interview tips when applying to be a special constable	2006_11_01_archive.html
	8 Jan	15:50:15	search.yahoo.com	pcso blog	http://brandnewbobby.blogspot.com/2006/11/pcsos-new-enquiry-officers.html
	8 Jan	00:35:46	www.google.com.au	anapplicant.blogspot	http://anapplicant.blogspot.com/
	8 Jan	00:30:50	www.google.com.au	anapplicant.blogspot	http://anapplicant.blogspot.com/
	7 Jan	22:32:11	www.google.com	met police pcso's	http://brandnewbobby.blogspot.com/2006/11/pcsos-new-enquiry-officers.html
	7 Jan	19:06:38	www.google.co.uk	public bad views on pcsos	http://brandnewbobby.blogspot.com/
	7 Jan	10:28:22	www.google.co.uk	pcso blog	http://brandnewbobby.blogspot.com/2006/11/pcsos-new-enquiry-officers.html

These are just the most recent ones, but I think you'll see a pattern in that people don't actually want my blog - they want a PCSO one!

I especially like the one dated 9 Jan 07 at 13:16:23. Looks like somebody got caught drink driving and is looking for an excuse to get off.. ! :)

Merry Xmas

Merry Christmas to all. Apologies for the lack of updates but I've had a big Christmas break from training so not really had anything to post, and the last weekend training I had was basic firearms tactics which I decided a bit too operational to comment on!

Happy holidays!

Special Constable caught drink driving on duty!

Posted by 'Sean' on PS.com here:

No link but from today's Sun:

A COP has been suspended for drink-driving - while on duty. Special Constable Jonathan Moore, 32, was one-and-a-half times the limit at MIDDAY in a cop car at Hemel Hempstead, Herts. He was banned from driving by Watford JPs, fined £150 and suspended - as his force launched a drink-driving campaign. Chief Inspector Paul Newell said: "Police officers and special constables act as role models. We expect the highest standards of conduct."

Oh dear.

Skimming over the fact at what an idiot the SC in question was, I definitely don't like how CI Newell is quoted as having said 'Police officers and special constables'. What is not enough to simply say 'police officers'? It's the same job, I don't see why he has to differentiate between the two, thus causing even more uncertainty about our role in the eyes of the public.

Enough members of the public don't have a clue what special constables are/do as it is - many think we have no powers of arrest, we're not 'proper coppers', many get us confused with PCSO's, many think we do it 'for the kick'. Admittedly there may be some vein of truth in the last point, but:

1. We have powers of arrest
2. We are not PCSO's
3. Yes, we do it for free. In my eyes that makes us more willing to do the job - nobody can say we're in 'the job' for the money, as we don't get paid for it. Surely, then, the only reason a special constable would keep doing what he/she is doing is because they actually want to make a difference instead of just saying "there's not enough coppers on the streets these days, why don't you lot get your arses in to gear?".
   

Consider my rant over. For now

Sensible Policing

Anyone know what happened to Sensible Policing? (I mean the blog, not actual sensible policing)

I can't load the page, and my RSS reader won't find it, either!

*begins to fear the worst*

PCSO's. The new Enquiry Officers?

Fury as beats swapped for desk

By MIKE SULLIVAN
Crime Editor
October 23, 2006

FURY erupted last night over plans to put police community support officers in OFFICE jobs.

The bobbies were introduced in 2003 to provide more police visibility.

But The Sun can reveal today that the Metropolitan Police are planning to replace 350 civil counter staff at police stations in London with PCSOs.

Unions and police observers denounced the scheme as“policing on the cheap” and an insult to the public.

PCSOs were the brainchild of Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair. Critics denounced them as “Plastic Cops”. Now they are to begin replacing station reception officers from April 1. Plans to put PCSOs in call centres are also being considered.

A spokesman for the Public and Commercial Services Union said: “This is being driven purely by costs without any real thought about the implications.”

Station staff will be able to apply for other civilian posts — or try to become PCSOs. The spokesman said: “Station reception staff are very skilled. PCSOs are not trained for this job.”

One PCSO said: “We were heralded as the future of policing and would patrol the streets. We were not meant to sit in offices.”

Former Met Commander John O’Connor said: “This is cheating the public.”

One step forwards, two steps back...

I always thought PCSO's were brought about to be the 'eyes and ears' of the police force, to reassure the public with a visible presence, and to do the beat walks that the bobbies were now too paperlogged to do. And here the Met is, putting them on enquiry desk duties and even considering putting them in call centres - thus, alienating them from the public completely, as they don't even get to see the people they are helping! I don't see how they can be classed as 'community' support officers if they're going to be moved in to call centres, away from the public eye.

I understand different forces have different posts manning the enquiry desk, but the force I'm in has somebody employed solely as an enquiry officer. This person (actually, probably persons, as I assume there is more than 1 of them) has applied for this job, sat through all the training and gained experience through doing the job, and now they're talking about taking PCSO's away from where they belong and moving the enquiry officers elsewhere!

Good idea or bad idea, folks? I'll go with bad.

New link

I've added a new link to my sidebar. Can we all put our hands together for Sensible Policing?



*clap clap clap etc*

Attested

I'm now officially Special Constable XXX of XXXXX Police. I got a groovy certificate that's on the wall in the living room with a transcript of my oath, signed by the kind justice of the peace that was sat at the front of the conference room that we had to read our oaths to.

I practiced and practiced it in my head and still managed to get it wrong - I said 'do' instead of 'to', and managed to somehow mess up saying 'constable'.

Week 1 training consisted of data protection, human rights, and learning how to use our PNB's. Next weekends training is stops and stop and search. Can't wait! :)

Can't believe how much paper we have already - I must have paper from 3 large oak tree's alone, and we've only had 1 day training so far!