Gone, but (hopefully) not forgotten

Rejoice for my blog is back! Or is it… well, actually, no it’s not. I did feel however that I should update you all with what happened. Firstly to quash the rumour mill, and secondly so that I get a sense of closure.

Those of you that still tried to check in from time to time will have noticed this blog disappearing and reappearing almost at will. The answer for that one is very simple. ISP bandwidth. That is to say, the site was so popular with feed aggregators and bots that my daily bandwidth of 250 MB was being exceeded. This meant my site was being archived by my ISP practically on a daily basis, with a stern note for me to ‘fix’ whatever was using up all my bandwidth.

To be frank, I didn’t have the time to mess about with the configuration of my webspace, so after the third or fourth successive archiving, I thought bollocks to it, and left the site in the ether. This almost exactly co-incided with the news from a friend that my identity was actively being sought. As you may know, I never really started out anonymous anyway, so my identity is known to lots of people, and it was with that in mind that I had always sought to ensure that I didn’t break any rules with my posts. That in itself was quite restrictive in what I could post about, which sort of defeated the object of the blog – which was to tell it like it is, not to tell it so that it won’t get me into trouble.

In addition to the technical and indirect pressure from professional standards, I’ve had a very big year. My mum died, which hit me hard, and then I was married a few months later which again was difficult (not the being married bit, but the fact that my mum never survived to see it, despite her determination to do so). A long fantastic honeymoon and a summer of hard work all conspired with the aforementioned issues to lead me to realise that my blogging days were done. I have so much else going on in my life now that blogs don’t feature, and the 20 or so excellent blogs that I used to read have even been removed from my feed reader.

I did however find an interesting post on the Blues and Two’s blog from April this year. So familiar to my situation in the past that I could have written it myself. It was only upon reading it again and my being struck that it was so terribly familiar that I realised it was written by me – at least the first two paragraphs of it – back in September 2007. Not quite sure why B&T felt the need to shamelessly copy and paste a post of mine onto their blog, but I suppose I should be flattered.

So, here I am, posting my final message, getting closure on an enjoyable couple of years blogging (and the online diary too for that that knew me before my blogging days). The site will (disciplinary hearings notwithstanding) remain for posterity, though posting will be locked down (it will also save me from the thousands of spam I receive every week). Thanks to everyone that sent me their best wishes whilst I was away from the blog. One final reason why Another Constable won’t ever be back… to top off my busy year, I also got promoted! Another reason to reconsider my position on posting to a far from anonymous blog. Another Constable is dead, long live Another Sergeant

Bad Loser

I’ve been accused of “going on” quite a bit recently. This justice lark is all a game so I’m told. We play our part, try our very best to get them to court. Initially the CPS are our opponents. It’s almost impossible to get something past them to court these days. They’ll only take on the “bankers” – i.e. almost guaranteed a conviction (signed confessions, caught in the act, you get the picture). But once in court (especially Crown Court), the game begins properly. Defence and Prosecution barristers pit their wits across the courtroom – not through any sense of wanting to see justice done, but in order to score points against their opponent (and usually friend). It’s all about one-upmanship. I get the feeling that the defence barrister cares not if his client is guilty. His job is to get them off, and if in doing so he scores a point against his friend the Prosecution, then it was so much better a game.

I had a case in Crown Court recently and actually gave evidence too for the first time in years at a Crown Court case (usually it’s all decided behind closed doors with lots of ducking and diving, and plea bargaining, which makes for a short working day and a long lunch for the Judges and Barristers (and admittedly lowered court costs due to less wasted court time), but doesn’t exactly serve the interests of the public. Such things as Section 18 woundings knocked down to Section 47 assaults, or possession of controlled drugs with intent to supply knocked down to simple possession are common. Of course, this also means custodial sentences are far less likely, fitting in with the Goverments plan to send less people to jail, and saving “us” the taxpayers some more money. You all know how I stand on that. I’d gladly pay more tax of more of the shower of shite that walks our streets causing misery to countless people are actually stuck away inside a bit more.

I was made out to be a liar in the witness box. Not ususual, especially when the defence have nothing substantial. Apparently the police fitted him up with the evidence and battered him for good measure, in order to claim a detection. The prosecution evidence was overwhelming, and a dangerous individual should have been put away for at least a handful of years. Too many jurors watch “The Bill” though it seems. They still think that police fit-ups are commonplace, and that we go around making up crimes so that we can get detections. I’m sorry, but we are too busy dealing with all the actual crimes (and being snowed under) than to go around making up extra ones. I don’t spend all day waxing lyrical in front of an audience like these barristers do. Maybe it’s easier for them to take my evidence and twist it for the own ends. Maybe they can tie me in verbal knots a little, and seed some doubt in the jury about my reliability. That I suppose is something that I will get better at with some practice – but giving evidence in Crown Court these days is a rare occasion and hence practice is difficult.

Nonetheless, how the hell the defendant got off I will never know. I’m sure the two barristers had a good laugh about that particular game over some port. I also sincerely hope that one of the 12 jurors that couldn’t see what a nasty piece of work this guy was, isn’t the next one to meet his knife. I don’t like losing, and certainly not one where we caught the defendant “red handed” for such a serious crime. Yeah I think everyone is right… I’m still “going on”.

Moving On Up

It’s one of the facts of life working in the police that before too long people move on. Firstly, working as I do on a response section is never seen as a long term role (the days of Bobbies working thier 30 years in the same role are all but over). The shifts on a response section are a killer. Plus the work we do is mostly unrewarded, and seen as the shitty end of the stick. In the police career pecking order, response is pretty much down on the bottom rung. It is hardly surprising therefore that people want to move on to somewhere more exciting or interesting (I’ll probably want to do a stint in firearms for example, a couple of years down the line).

This week sees the departure of my Sergeant. Loved and hated in equal measure (probably for his uncanny nack of fronting up to bosses and standing his ground – usually accompanied with the words “no, you fuck off”). He certainly won’t let our section be railroaded, and puts our welfare above all other issues (something that the Inspector would do well to learn from). As you know, I’ve had plenty of my own welfare issues recently, and I couldn’t have hoped for a more understanding supervisor. As others have learned though, cross him and you’ll regret it… the vindictive side comes out and he won’t stop until you’ve paid the price for your mistake.

He has effectively been grooming me for the last 12 months since I passed the Sergeant’s exam (not sexually!) to effectively step into the vacuum his portly torso will leave behind (he’ll kill me for that one…) and I hope that just a bit of his extensive experience and knowledge has rubbed off on me. I also hope that some of the random bizarreness he brought to the job has also rubbed off – the best way to deal with all the crap we have to do is to have a jolly good laugh about it all, and how we did laugh.

I think the top advice he has given me is “Look after the workers” and I aim to do that very thing. Luckily we have the best sections of the lot (undisputed) as far as hard workers goes. Everyone gets along too and we’re all good friends with each other, which is a sharp contrast to some sections (one I know of had 2 different Christmas nights out for a 12 person section – 6 on one, 6 on another as they hate each other so much). He also liked to be a mischievous imp, deliberately rubbing other bosses up the wrong way, and teaching me the benefits of patronage and self-engrandisement… it’ll be my turn to move on soon enough, and it’s helps to know people in this game. Show them how useful you can be and they want to keep you, and put you in positions where you can shine.

Good luck Sarge, maybe I’ll work for you again one day. Or more bizarrely, maybe you’ll work for me!

Death Messages

One of the worst parts of our job is delivering death messages. They can come in a couple of different formats, and each requires a different type of copper to deliver the message. The worst ones are when someone has been murdered or something like that. We have officers that have had special training called Family Liaison Officers (FLO’s) who may well be called upon to deliver that message, but more importantly the FLO will then be the direct point of contact throughout the ordeal for the bereaved family. Likewise, when there are horrible road traffic collisions, traffic cops (or Roads Policing as they now like to be known) also have FLO’s amongst their ranks to deliver the messages.

For simple things like a request from a hospital to try and locate next of kin for someone that has died suddenly, or maybe requests from other police forces when the next of kin lives the other end of the country, it’s usually just dished out to the next available patrol. We get no special training for this, just a half hour input that involves such nuggets of common sense as be direct but sensitive, don’t flower it up or fanny about, be professional and be supportive. No waltzing in with lines like “Hello mate, we’ve come about your late wife” or “I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, I know people dread when the police come knocking it can only be one or two things, and I’m afraid it’s one of those times… you see your husband has had an accident and I’m afraid it’s not good news. He was getting his hair cut you see and the electric shavers dropped into the bowl next to him where he has just had his hair washed, and wouldn’t you know they were plugged in and there was this big bang, frightened the life out of everyone in the shop. Well, your husband fell out of his chair and people thought he was having a laugh but turns out he was dead”.

“Mr Smith? Mind if we come in for a minute? I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but your wife has died of a heart attack whilst at work today” – not particularly poetic but gets the job done without dragging it out. I think I generally do better than that.. and I’m a caring supportive type. I have heard of Bobbies being shoo-ed out of a house upon delivering such news though.

I’ve not had to deliver many death messages in my time, but those I have done went well enough given the circumstances. We’ve all been told the story of the probationer upon delivering his first death message had the husband running up and down the hallway cheering when he heard his wife had died. Or the one who delivered the death message to the husband saying the wife was dead, and mid message the wife walks in fine and dandy – he should have knocked next door. All sorts of “death message” horror stories exist. Whether they are old wives tales to brighten the lesson who knows? One thing does stick with me though, and that was a video of a lady who says that the only thing she can remember about the day she was told her husband had died was that the copper had no hat or tie on, looked really scruffy, and behaved like he couldn’t wait to leave. She can’t remember a thing about their conversation, what was said, how it was said – all she can remember was that a copper looking like a bag of shite had told her that her husband was dead. I’ve never let my standards slip like that.

This week it fell on me to deliver a death message. The same message, a number of times, to various family members. What made it all the more harder was that I was delivering it to my own family. I’m glad that the little input I did get from the Police, and the minute experience I have at it stood me in good stead. “Be direct” was foremost in my mind. We knew it was coming, and that helped a little too but I was a whole lot more involved in the process than I would normally be. I guess I found out a bit more about how it feels like from the other side of the fence. It’s also made me appreciate how numb people are upon hearing bad news, and how simple information just doesn’t sink in. Many questions need to be answered, and sometimes repeatedly answered, as the shock seems to reduce short term memory. I certainly have a greater understanding of how people react to such bad news, and an insight into what I can do to ease the receipt of such messages.

My blog has been taking a back seat in my life for the last year as you can probably tell from the infrequency of my postings, but I would like to say that it was due to family circumstance rather than bone idleness. I do enjoy writing about my antics at work, and I plan to continue, but I hope you can forgive my lack of prolificness (not sure that’s a word but my spellchecker seems to think so.. I was going for prolificacy which is now proudly emblazoned in red!) I would expect that the next few weeks will bring little in the way of postings, but who knows, I may find it’s good therapy. I seem to only be posting things lately that are likely to “out” me amongst my colleagues. There can’t be many coppers out there whose mate has been shot on duty and whose mum has died within a matter of weeks. Discovery of my identity is about the last thing I care of at the moment though. Let’s hope the rest of the year picks up a bit.

More Lost Data

I read with dismay that yet another laptop containing hundreds of thousands of people’s personal data has been stolen/lost. What baffles me, is that given the available complexity of encryption, biometric access, anti-intrusion protocols and so on, why the hell are millions of people’s personal and private data being carried around on a daily basis by what I can only describe as IT halfwits.

The information watchdog is to grill the Ministry of Defence over its data protection policies after it lost the personal details of 600,000 people. Defence Secretary Des Brown will also speak in the Commons next week about the latest loss of personal data, which went missing when a laptop was stolen. The data includes passport and National Insurance numbers and bank details. They relate to people who had expressed an interest in, or joined, the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and the RAF. Information Commissioner Richard Thomas said the MoD laptop incident was “a stark illustration of the potency of personal information in a database world”. “We will require satisfactory answers from the MoD about their data protection practices and a firm assurance that steps have been taken to improve these practices before deciding on the appropriate action to take,” he said.

At least my data at home is free from the scope of burglars. I have a couple of PC’s, no laptops though as I hate them! Firstly the PC cases are full towers (not something an average burglar would even attempt to steal, with weights bolted into them to make them difficult to move – which admittedly makes dusting the laminate floor a little more problematical. However, even the persistent burglar will steal nothing more than a base unit equipped with RAM, CPU and operating system. This is because Billy Burglar never bothers to take cables with him. He’ll unplug all the wires and run off with the “computer”. Well, the remainder of my data is stored remotely on a RAID array (simply put multiple hard disks with data spread across them such that it can easily be recovered in the event of a failure of one of the hard disks) in a completely different part of the building – somewhere no burglar would ever think of looking (and if if Billy did look, he would not know what he was looking at). So by unplugging all the wires and running off with the base unit, he’s nicking the bit I can easily replace, and not the accumulated data of 15 years.

But even laptops can be made more secure. Many now come with built in fingerprint readers, and it’s not hard to couple that with anti-intrusion software that will destroy the data upon failed entry attempts. Even the person who might dismantle the hardware and try to access the data on the hard drive directly outside of the biometrically protected laptop chassis can be thwarted by simply encrypting the entire hard drive’s contents at the outset. This is frankly “easy” to accomplish, though as it’s not the default position of the operating systems we employ, it’s not considered.

I know these sort of solutions are beyond the requirements (and frankly the comprehension) of many average home users, but for Government and Military institutions who are supposed to be protecting us from all sorts of National and International threats, is it too much to ask that our data is protected at the very least by some sort of simple encryption and password protection? Better still, how about some protocols that stop it being removed from secure buildings and secure networks in the first place?

Topping It Off

At the end of a pretty crap year as far as much of my personal life goes, it was topped off today with the news that an old and dear friend of mine has been shot whilst on duty. At the risk of identifying myself (though Katie doesn’t know I do this), Katie and I have been friends for a long time, and I was completely stunned when a mutual friend told me that she had been the victim in question. I’m still in a daze now.

I was working today and heard the news on the radio a couple of times throughout the day. I was saddened to hear that yet another officer had been shot, but no names were mentioned and so I thought nothing of it. It takes on a whole new spin when you’re suddenly given the news that it’s not only someone that you know, but someone that you hold so dear. It also reminds us that it can be any one of us, at any time. Pity Jacqui Smith couldn’t give two hoots about that.

Anyway, I don’t want to dwell on anything today. Thankfully, KJ is going to be physically ok – but who knows what the mental scars may be. For a tiny might she’s as tough as anyone I know though so I’m sure she’ll pull through and be fine.

All my love Katie for a speedy recovery,
AC
x

PS – Happy New Year to all my readers. I’d like to think next year will be better for me than this one, but I have a feeling there will be a lot of up and downs.

Pat and Mick

Having finally succomed to illness for the first time in my police career, I feel it about time to report on one thing that many coppers won’t do, and that’s go off work sick.

We have “deselection criteria” for every single role within the police these days, be it promotions, sideways moves or even applying for your own job at the end of a temporary stint. One of the main deselection criteria when applying for a new role is sickness days taken. Have too many days off sick, and basically you’ll never get that transfer you want, or that promotion you seek. Some see this as a good thing – only dedicated staff earn the right to be promoted, right? The “Bob Geldoff’s” of the world (those that don’t like Monday’s) never get on. It does focus the mind somewhat when you wake up and “just can’t be arsed” rather than being properly sick.

But, there are a couple of problems with this system. Firstly, it’s really hard to be looked upon for your merits as you don’t even make the paper sift. Secondly, even if you do scrape just under the bar to be in the paper sift, you’re seen as a “health risk” because you have so much time off. However, my main problem with this is that it forces people to come into work when they are ill, and more importantly, contagious. It’s not unusual to be in a place that is more akin to a doctor’s surgery waiting room than a police station. Coughing and spluttering everywhere, people not performing at their best (and in a 24/7 role on the streets that’s surely one way to put your colleagues at risk too). It’s more important for your career to be cavalier towards the health of your colleagues (and yourself) and turn up for work, than to stay at home recuperating (and thereby ensuring you don’t give your mates the lurgy too).

Another option is to take up some of your annual leave entitlement. This is a very common occurrence, but at this time of year, you tend to find most people have used up the vast majority of their leave, and have precious little to squander to stay in bed kept company by hot Lemsips and a box of tissues. I’ve got no leave left, so I’ve had to take it as sickness. Luckily it’s my first stint of illness – we get permitted something like 3 separate sickness occasions over 3 years, or 15 days providing it is over less than 3 periods of sickness – some nonsense like that. So, it was with a heavy heart I had to agree to be posted as “off sick”. Especially now that it has dragged on for 7 days – getting on for half of my “entitlement” for 3 whole years. I see my career shortening before my very eyes.

No Sympathy

The lack of sympathy towards the current police pay deal shown by many commenters across various forums is really starting to wind me up. It’s not because I feel we deserve or expect sympathy, but it’s due to the complete lack of education and understanding shown by so many people.

“Why should you earn more money when your pension is so good?” is a common theme. I pay 11% of my salary into my pension currently, about £265 per month. That is EXPENSIVE. People seem to think the police pension is free. Far from it. When I worked in IT, I was in a very similar “Final Salary” pension scheme with (in some part) better benefits. It cost me NOTHING. It was non-contributory. In comparison, paying for my police pension is agony.

If you (and by “you” I’m pointing at the moaners who go on about police pensions) were to pay £265 a month (rising as your salary rises) into a pension scheme every month, you reap the rewards later in life too! It’s not rocket science. There are no free rides here, we get what we pay for.

“You’re all lazy and spend all day on your arse” is another common theme. We work 10 hour days, and don’t even get the 1 hour break that we are entitled to. We hardly get time to sit and eat. The sitting on our arses is a direct response to Government targets and the requirements put upon us to record in minute detail everything that we do. I have never seen a Bobby sitting on his/her arse playing Minesweeper or Tetris while eating a sandwich. In offices the country over this is commonplace. Our TV room never seems to have Bobbies in any more. The 12 seats are usually entirely taken over with PCSO’s… but that’s another story.

“You never turn up when you are called” – well.. that’s a simple story of logistics. There aren’t enough coppers to deal with all the shit that we get called to every day. Some people need to get over themselves and stop using the Police to sort a dispute over a TV remote control. You see, whilst we might be in your house for 5-10 minutes, we then have a bunch of writing in the form of “domestic incident” forms to complete, computer systems to update and so on. See aforementioned Government targets, and tinkering with policework complaint.

“You don’t solve anything” – our detection rates are about 23% I think, which is about average. We actually would solve a whole lot more if we weren’t faced with comments like “I don’t want to get involved mate” at 90% of the incidents we turn up at. Sometimes I think people are under the impression that the Police can lock anyone up for anything they like just because someone points the finger and says “It’s ‘im what done it”. I’m afraid it’s a whole lot more complicated than that, and even when we do everything right, the CPS stand between us and court. They have their own set of Government imposed targets to meet. So if the job doesn’t fit those targets, it doesn’t get through.

“Soldier’s are worth more than you and face more danger” – Well, I don’t want to demean soldiers. Yes they do a difficult job, and don’t get paid well either. That’s an argument for soldiers to be paid more, not for police to be paid less. Also, a soldier knows and expects that at some point he will have to go to war, kill people, and maybe get killed himself. I go to work to try and catch a burglar or a robber. I don’t expect an irate motorist to try and run me over, or for a drug user to stab me with an infected needle in order to avoid the loss of a £10 bag due to his arrest. I don’t expect to be spat at in the face by people with all sorts of horrible ailments purely because I’m a “black bastard”. I don’t expect to be rammed by car thieves, or face down the barrel of a handgun after walking into the wrong off license at the wrong time. I don’t expect to be told at a moments notice that I’m not allowed to go home to my family for dinner due to a “lawful order” to remain on duty due to staffing levels. I don’t expect to be punched and kicked, or have bricks thrown at my windscreen, or be followed home from work by people that want to find out where I live so that they can exact some sort of “revenge” for me locking up “our Billy”. I don’t expect to be told “I hope your kid dies you fucking horrible c**t. I hope your wife gets raped and your family all fucking die of cancer”. I don’t expect any of it. But it all happens. Unnervingly often.

It also seems to be that too many people watch The Bill on TV and think that it is real. I underwent a random drugs test recently, as did some more of my colleagues this week. The professional standards Sergeant stated that out of the hundreds of random drugs tests that they have completed so far, not a single positive result has come back. The last time I watched the bill, half of them were on coke/crack/smack or some nonsense like that. I think that The Bill watching public expect us all to be on drugs/on the take/on the shag.

To all the people with attitudes like the above, I don’t want your sympathy, I just want you to know what the fuck you’re talking about before you start spouting about the police.

Apologies to all the lovely people that support us in what we do for having to read my rant. I’m obviously having a bad day. It must be because of that guy that hoped my family would all die of cancer. I suppose he wasn’t to know that my mum is terminally ill with cancer at the moment, although it would probably bring a smile to his face if he knew the truth. If I wasn’t a copper I would probably have smashed his teeth in, but I’m better than that. I kept my resolve and let it wash over me – save the rage for when I’m alone and I can’t hurt anyone other than myself. “At least I can sleep at night” I thought, knowing that this horrible little prick will probably be dead within a couple of years when one gang or other catches up with him. Better still, I hope it’s me that finds him with a couple of new out of place holes in his torso, but still breathing. You know why? Because I will try to save his life. That’s my job.

Final Straw?

Having been away from work for a week, I return to a barrage of emails from our Police Federation representative regarding our current pay dispute. I wasn’t really aware that an agreement had been made, as I’m used to having a yearly pay dispute these days.

Anyway, our annual payrise was due on 1st September, but as usual the Government decided that they didn’t want to honour the existing long-standing pay review agreement, so it went to arbitration. The independent process decided upon 2.5% which was binding on both sides of the Police Negotiating Board (PNB – Staff side and official side). If I recall, staff side wanted about 3.9%, official side wanted about 1.9%.

But anyway, 2.5% was decided upon and like I said is binding on both sides, except that the Home Secretary has the final say. So in a very sneaky underhand move (and discovered via a leaked letter) The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith wrote to Chancellor Alastair Darling (who elected those two buffoons?) and asked him to authorise the change of backdating our pay award only to the 1st December rather than the 1st September as it should have been. This effectively gives us a pay rise of 1.9% this year, underneath the Governments own target of 2% (surprise surprise), but also under inflation which stands at 2.1% – this effectively means a pay cut to police officers.

Of course I’m no stranger to pay cuts. Long time readers will note I took about a 50% pay cut to join the police, believing that job satisfaction wins over money any day. That was fine, because it was my choice, and no doubt 99% of the other Bobbies I work with would think I was nuts. This time it’s enforced, on ALL of us. And it stinks.

We have no right to strike, and it seems we have no binding arbitration either. The media reports of 140,000 angry police officers can’t be far wrong as every single colleague of mine is ranting at the moment. They are all openly discussing going on strike too should the opportunity ever arise. This would be a very bad thing – for all of us.

I love my job, and can’t figure on doing anything else at the moment… but morale amongst my peers is lower than I have ever seen. People are leaving the job in droves looking for a better life. I must admit I’ve considered many times moving to a country where policing is how i imagined it to be (catching bad guys and putting them away) rather than how it actually is (most of my time on my arse doing the paperwork surrounding catching a slightly naughty guy rather than an actual bad guy).

The dangers we face are growing exponentially – there are guns pulled on bobbies many times a day and it’s ever increasing. Our numbers out on the streets are less than ever, so we’re bombarded with work (I’m talking about the 999 response role here that I’m familiar with). The demands placed upon us by ridiculous Government “number crunching” is driving us mad, and creating stress, destroying home life. The Government say that they recognise this and therefore want to give us working conditions that are more attuned with our roles in society. And yet they pull a stunt like this, knowing that we can do absolutely nothing about it.

It all makes me sick that I’ve been a staunch supporter of this Government for a number of years, through thick and thin. Even when my belief in Tony Blair waned, I patiently waited for the day when Gordon Brown would succeed him. Brown’s excellent record as Chancellor giving me hope that we would get an excellent Prime Minister. Unfortunately he’s appointed a bunch of halfwits to look after the rest of us, and so this is the final straw. No more votes from me, Mr Brown. I’ll be surprised if Brown doesn’t end up with one of the shortest premierships on record.

PS – Should any serving police officer wish to lobby their MP online (very quick and easy due to the proforma letter), please click here

Immigration In A Nutshell

Something that is in the news a lot is the subject of immigration, and our porous borders. There are a whole lot of what the press term “immigrants” in the area that I work, though these can be broken down into economic migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, failed asylum seekers, and illegal immigrants. Whilst they all seem the same to many people, there are subtle differences that we should all be aware of, at the very least so that we don’t believe all that we read in the press. The following is how I understand it, and my experiences of the various groups. It’s not necessarily the most accurate interpretation.

Economic migrants are those that come to the UK in search of work, generally from the EU. There can’t be a town in the UK that isn’t staffed to some large degree by eastern European workers these days. Recently I’ve been to the Lake District, Abersoch and Buxton and found that the restaurants and gift shops in these places are almost entirely staffed by Polish and Lithuanian workers. There are currently no controls on economic migrants from the EU. The Government have vastly underestimated the numbers of economic migrants entering the country. My local doctor’s surgery has a “sign yourself in” computer screen. There are 3 available languages on the introduction. English, Welsh, and Czech, which I think speaks volumes for the local demographic. Where I work it’s predominantly Poles that I encounter. One issue we have is that they are often the focus of “hate crimes”, be it simple verbal abuse, or more serious targeted damage and violence. Language barriers make an already difficult recording process even harder. I generally find that the adherence to UK driving rules and regulations (with regards to Licensing, Insurance, Construction and Use) is somewhat lacking from many of these workers. They do generally try to fit in though, and many do speak English very well (certainly better than my Polish).

Asylum seekers are simply those people that have entered the UK (much of the time illegally) and requested asylum. They hope to be granted leave to remain and given “refugee status”, but many applications are rejected, resulting in “Failed Asylum Seekers”. Asylum seekers going through the process have access to emergency housing (with food and basic necessities provided) and get a small income to cover essential toiletries, clothing, milk allowance etc. They are not permitted to work. Rather than this be anything to do with the welfare of the people involved, this is purely to do with money. Until they get accepted and given an NI number, the Government would be unable to reclaim any taz or NI contributions, therefore it’s easier to ban them from working, despite the fact that many are able bodied and skilled and actually want to work (in effect all that happens is that they work for cash in hand on the sly). They are generally housed (certainly in my area) in dedicated asylum seeker accommodation (be it a centre that is run by a private company that may contain hundreds of flats, or terraced houses that are owned by private landlords). Whatever style of housing is provided it is generally of a poor quality or condition. Asylum seekers will have other restrictions placed upon them. They will need to provide contact information to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) and it’s subdivision the National Asylum Support Service (NASS). They have to live at an address registered with NASS and they will be given an identity card. These people are generally from very poor countries with no educational background, can’t speak English, and can’t read or write in their own language. This makes interpreting more difficult, but the asylum process must be a nightmare. Again asylum seekers generally receive more trouble than they cause, being the victims more often than the perpetrators.

Refugees are those that have come to the UK seeking asylum, and have been granted it. Refugees are then entitled to everything a UK citizen would be, medical treatment, housing, education, employment, housing benefits, and all the other provisions of the welfare state. When an asylum seeker is granted refugee status, they then have indefinite leave to remain in the country and all immigration restrictions or requirements against them cease. Indefinite leave to remain used to be the standard status for successful asylum seekers. This has changed in the not so distant past to a specified period to remain e.g. 5 years.

Failed asylum seekers are simply those people that have had their applications rejected. NASS support ends 21 days after the application being rejected (no more accomodation/food/provisions supplied) – unless they lodge an appeal, which as far as I can see just means that every single failed asylum seeker puts in an appeal. A failed asylum seeker will often be subsequently deported but there are a couple of problems with this. Firstly, the failed asylum seeker has to be given notice of deportation. This often results in the failed asylum seeker going on the run, failing to re-register, and then becoming an illegal immigrant. Secondly, the county of origin might be such a place as for it to be unwise to send the asylum seeker back to. China is generally deemed to be one such place, as the ramifications of someone being deported to China with the notice “Failed Political Asylum Seeker” are generally more serious than general conditions in the country would dictate. In these instances people are given “Discretionary Leave To Remain”. So, they have failed the asylum process, but cannot be deported. They are then in a sort of limbo where they still have to register and notify the authorities of their place of abode in order that the political situation becomes such that they can in fact be deported. Again, many of these people just disappear at this stage. NASS support ends for failed asylum seekers and they have to leave NASS supported accommodation, but they can then apply for normal housing benefits and welfare benefits.

Finally we have illegal immigrants. The Government has no idea how many of these there are in the country. The last figures I remember the Government stating was something like 300,000. At the same time I was told by someone knowledgeable in the intelligence business that it was more like 2 million. That was a couple of years ago, and I have no idea what the current figures from either side may be. Although some of the illegal immigrants will be failed asylum seekers that have gone underground (people that the Government actually know and can count), these only number a few thousand. There are many more thousands arriving monthly in the back of lorries. We have no idea who these are, or how many of them there are. It is a very common thing to find a dazed and bewildered looking foreigner who doesn’t even know what town they are in. We arrest them as illegal immigrants, and immigration take over. They generally get registered and then remain as an asylum seeker rather than being deported for the same aforementioned reasons. Illegal immigrants also include those that come on student or travel visa’s and overstay their allowed period.

That’s it in a (rather large) nutshell. Our main problem in this county is the underground wholesale importation of illegal immigrants. Asylum seekers make up a tiny portion of immigrants into this country, yet the press vilify them. Economic migrants seem to be lumped in with the whole “immigration” issue yet really they are nothing to do with it. My personal belief is that the asylum process needs amending to allow those people awaiting a decision to work – that way they pay tax and NI which will go someway to offset there NASS provided accommodation. Failed asylum seekers facing deportation should not be given any notice and placed into some sort of secure centre (this may happen in other areas) awaiting deportation. Illegal immigrants should be returned to the last country they were in (if safe). Asylum according to the Geneva convention must be sought in the first safe country. France, Holland, Belgium etc are perfectly safe in these circumstances, so anyone entering via lorry from these countries should be returned immediately and told to seek asylum there – again this is probably done in some areas.

Finally we need to get control of our borders back. Not just for the case of immigration, but also smuggling. Firearms and drugs are flooding into this country from Europe. My nearest airport, whilst International, for a long time had no customs officers based there. So it didn’t matter what you had in your suitcase, as it would never get inspected. This thankfully appears to have changed in recent times.

I guess the moral of this post is not to believe everything you read in the press about “asylum seekers”. There are distinctions between various groups that the press gloss over, and sometimes these distinctions are very important. Immigration is a very important issue on the political agenda at the moment, and it does cause us issues as far as policing goes, but much of the time you need to take a step back and look at the lives these people have left behind and ask yourself what would you expect from others in the same circumstances.