No, Morris, you said that your colleagues on the ground now respected your judgement in the air precisely because you had previously fulfilled most of those roles on the ground.
Therefore, the obvious inference is that for anyone's judgement in the air to be respected they must also have previously fulfilled most of those roles on the ground.
So, if they hadn't, they would not be respected. That's called logic, hence me starting my first post with the phrase "using your logic". I am sorry but it hadn't occurred to me that I was the only one using it and had hoped that you might join me.
I did not quote your post word for word as to do so would not have furthered the conversation; which was something I had hoped we might have.
I agree with you that a very broad range of skills and experiences brings benefits, it's just that I am a little more open minded about where those skills and experiences may have been garnered.
I certainly do not advocate the civilianisation of the role but am prepared to accept that all sorts of individuals may make a valuable contribution. I am also very aware of the fact that good police officers can make poor TFOs and good TFOs are not always police officers - to believe otherwise is simply ignoring the facts.
Last edited by J.A.F.O.; 23rd Jan 2013 at 11:59.