Maybe, just maybe, if someone was to make a retrospective audit, we would find out that everthing that was done in the past was wasteful and not very well coordinated.
so EVERYTHING we have done in the past has been wasteful not very coordinated..? Well Im sure plenty of other units around the uk would disagree that they are doing such a crap job of things at the moment..!
Perhaps by sensible positioning of bases and deployment descisions remaining with the units themselves and not being made 'centrally'.
Have you seen the circles on maps where south yorks are being removed..?
And deployment decisions will not be made locally, hence the approach to BTP to act as nationwide despatch (which i believe they have kindly refused), the search is on for someone else to host the central despatch function.
Lets not forget that the 20 minute circle is from where the aircraft is and not neccesarily where the ac is based!
Well my unit will be taking up the slack from a removed a/c.. who i know are currently flying 1200hrs a year.. I can tell you now that we will rarely if ever be within 20 mins of their main current operating area, neither will the adjoining a/c surrounding it. Thats a lot of hours to be made up, and i assume the removed a/c's home force who will be paying for provision will expect to see a/c over their city when requested.
So we are going to fly 20mins (at best) to assist officers in a foot chase or a pursuit, 2 counties away?.. (and thats IF you find about it while its happening and not ten minutes after the cops on the ground have lost sight of the suspect and put the request thru to the NPAS control room.)
But your wrong about the 20 min circles anyway, because the ones drawn on the maps from NPAS are indeed from the bases that remain.
Quote:
We are about to become the PCSO's of the sky.. nice to see around but cock all use
That comment is simply an insult to everyone involved in air support
No.. I stand by that.. I am in air support and i think youll find people have thicker skins than that..!
We will end up turning up too little, too late, to be effective.
We will however have nice long transit times to take in the scenary..
Most units around the uk seem to think that NPAS will mean the same old job but with a bigger area.. Thats not the case. Central despatch and tasking will take all local decision making out of the hands of individual units.
Maybe you will be "able" to deploy to local tasks, but your not a "local" asset anymore, you dont belong to your local force, you have no ties to them financially, logisticaly, operationaly.. you can only deploy with permission from central despatch, because you wont know what other deployments they may have waiting for you..!
Deployments are to be controlled centrally (hence the "national" bit of the name and the hunt for a host force plus the administritive duties).
And on top of all that no one actually knows whos job is safe and whos are going, or whether you will need to apply in a competitive process for your own job..
sounds like a winner..!!
