I appreciate that I've got a job and I really enjoy what I do. I've been unemployed and I've worked in rubbish warehouses to make ends meet and to pay the mortgage. I've also had personal pension and can see how good the police pension is in comparison to it. Lastly I went into the job with open eyes in regards to the type of work I would be doing and the customers I would be dealing with. However when people spout completely inaccurate rubbish about the police then I have to try to answer them.
The DM article which started this thread is biased rubbish which tried to make out that the police were intent on milking the gravy train and being greedy which is patently not the case. The government wants to reform the police. They employed Tom Winsor to make recommendations and then accepted most of them. The overnight allowance quoted is one of the things Winsor recommended and which the government accepted and now the Mail is trying to blame us for being paid it!
As far as police wanting to stand up against the government's changes, is that really wrong. Surely any employee no matter what the circumstances should have the ability or opportunity to put their own point of view as and when it suits. I can't think of one of my colleagues who thinks we should be exempt form reform or cut backs, however none of us think the government is going around it in the right way. The Fed for what its worth, have looked at alternative ways of saving money but the government ignored their ideas. Given that most of Winsor's ideas were accepted whilst ours were ignored and given that we question the effectiveness of his ideas as well as the back door privatisation of core police services, then we have to make our opposition known in the limited ways available to us. We don't have the right to strike and we are led by a largely ineffective Federation, whilst at the same time we are subject to an obligation to follow lawful orders.
Lastly none of this thread should have anything to do with how we as police feel in comparison to the armed forces. The two professions are completely different with vastly different demands and expectations so I don't know why some posters insist on talking about how easy the police have it in comparison to the forces.