Having reached the dizzy heights of Lt in the RN, I left and subsequently joined the Police 'to tide me over'.
I'm still here. It's a fundementally different job. The accelerated promotion scheme is a disaster and the ACPO types are so politicised, they have forgotten what their primary role is. Morale is rock bottom (isn't it everywhere?) and Cameron has an undisguised anti-Police agenda.
I'm glad I started at the bottom so to speak. I have remained 'front line' and avoided the easy office jobs which would have enabled me to gain faster promotion. My self respect meant more to me than lots of pips on my shoulder. If you're very good at 'diversity' or can manage to string a sentence that has 'community' every other word, you'll go far.
Just so you know what we're up against..read this concerning scroats letting fly a greeny in front of you.
"Spitting is a cultural issue. Young, jobless working-class men spit on the ground as a way of expressing frustration and powerlessness. It is also a way for young men from poor communities to mark territory, a kind of warning to other men in the street that they are present. For successful men, spitting on the ground is a way of demonstrating victory against the harsh realities of modern life, a challenge to others who may wish to rob them of their success.
It is judgemental for a police officer to challenge this behaviour. It shows an ethnocentric approach; why are the cultural norms of the young jobless community less acceptable than those of their more fortunate peers? To achieve the Public Confidence aspirations required by the National Policing Plan, police officers must begin to embed themselves in these cultures. This way, we can achieve our ultimate aim of policing our diverse communities with fairness and understanding."