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06-26-12, 08:44 PM
So I wasn't sure if I should post this here, or as an introduction for a new member....I know. I have not been around for a while. There are a few reasons for that.
Firstly, my computer pretty well died.
To those that know a bit about puters, keep in mind, my old computer was our first computer and I bought it the same time I joined this site (a few years back). It had 2Gb RAM and less than 40 GB hard drive....I know. I know....my iPod is twice that size. It is no wonder that surfing the net became so much of a chore it was not funny. Luckily my wife and I also joined this century and got iPhones, so at least we could chat on Facebook with friends and relatives but it is not the same. I bought a new comuter yesterday!!! YAY!!!
Anyway, on top of that, I also had a break from Policing...sort of...this year.
To set the scene I will go back a while. I was in one dept for 6 years, spent a couple of years in Feds, and then moved to my current state. In Australia we only have one Police dept per state, and only 8 states, so moving between depts is rare.
After Feds I was reluctant to join my current state Police. Their reputation was not the best in Policing circles and I had not heard good things. Anyway, I bit the bullet and joined. After the first year of being treated like crap, I got sent to a small town and was soon promoted back to Senior Constable. Our station is only ten officers and covers a few small towns and a large Division.
It became apparent for some time that our dept radios are so old and out of date they pose a safety risk. Our Comms can rarely hear us and we are pretty well by ourselves with next to no reliable radios. Handsets are only worn to balance out your gun. Given it is 2012 this is inexcusable in my opinion. Officers were using their own iPhone apps to listen to scanners to monitor their radio while out of the car, just to know if Comms were calling them. Keep in mind we are 20 minutes drive from Comms which is in a large regional city and only 45 minutes drive from the centre of the state capital.
On top of that in January 2011 we were hit with catastrophic floods that killed over 30 people and our town was hit hard in that. I spent a week at work, wet and tired, was recovering dead bodies, walking into flood waters and carrying families out, as well as two days in rescue choppers pulling people off of roofs of houses etc. It was hard work and there were some pretty scary times.
One of the things that the disaster pointed out was the poor state of emergency services and our comunications - something I had been saying for about a year at that time. I was later called to give evidence at the State Inquiry that was held.
During mid 2011 things at station were getting worse. Our staff of ten was down to five due to various shortages, and out of those five, only two of us were doing the work. One is basically the most incompetent officer I have ever worked with, another is very junior but has an attitude, and the third is a Senior Const like me but he never leaves the station, never seems to do any work, and from all accounts doesn't know anything.....dead wood. On top of that an officer from a nearby station which only has a staff of two, resigned after being treated like rubbish, and the new officer had not yet started. So we were covering their area as well, which meant more work, and less people to do it.
Last year I brought these issues up with management. I spoke to several senior people, including my OIC (SGT), several Senior SGTs, my Inspector, our union rep, and even my local member of parliament. I tried to get someone to address the staff shortages and radio issues as a priority, and advised them that it was only a matter of time until someone walks out. No real response.
I approached my OIC, who I thought was a friend, and told him I wanted to get off the road. I wanted to go to either CSI or training. Anything was better than where I was. That fell on deaf ears. He made it quite clear that he had no interest in doing anthing that didn't pad his resume for his own benefit. His inspirational speech inspired me so much that I considered work in the mines or returning to one of my previous depts.
Then my wife changed her mind and decided that she didn't want to move back to my first State so that got shelved, which really sucked, because it was by far the best dept I have worked and I have always regretted leaving there. We only left for family reasons (my wife's family).
So come January this year, things were getting worse. It was the one year anniversary of the floods, and I was asked to take part in an interview due to my efforts. This took an emotional toll on me that I did not expect. I had put in two part time firemen for bravery awards, and found out that my dept only gave them a nice certificate of appreciation...a piece of A4 paper in a frame...rather than forwarding on my nomination to the Bravery Council as per my recommendations. On top of that I was told I was getting a bravery award for my efforts during one particular rescue. I also ended up getting a piece of A4 paper (which had the story of what happened on it, although they managed to get it wrong). This was further insulting in that to get this, I was asked to write a report on what happened. I did this but I felt awkward writing something singing my own praises when I thought it was for a bravery medal (as I had been told). Then to make it even more awkward I was directed to take statements from witnesses. I found this astounding that I was taking statements for my own medal nomination. I mean I could have written all sorts of crap about myself and got the witnesses to sign them. Talk about unprofessionalism.
So when I was told I was getting this Certificate, it was sort of like a slap in the face. Not that I really wanted a bravery medal other than something to pass on to my son, but it was just indicative of how poorly my dept looks after its own and it pi$$ed me off further.
Then after several big jobs (a fatal traffic crash, a suicide where a guy set himself on fre etc etc) all of which turned to crap because of either poor Comms, or absolutely ridiculous decisions made by people in offices, I was getting to breaking point. And to rub salt into the wounds it was as if all the things I had been complaining about for the last 18 months were getting worse, and the jobs that were turning to crap were doing so because of the exact things I had been trying to get fixed.
Finally one day in late January I went to work and the Comms SGT had a go at me on the radio about something. I snapped back and he then rang me and abused me. I hung up on him, took my gun belt off, put my gear away, and told my colleagues that when they rang looking for me they could tell the bosses that I said they could take their job and four of five of the best fingers and bash them fair up their own a$$$!!!!
I walked out.
I then spent the next 3 or 4 months on sick leave.
After a month or so of incompetence by my Inspector another Inspector in HQ got hold of my matter and offered me a return to work plan.
Ironically they had taken my gun off me....happens when you threaten to shoot the radio and then storm out....but the return to work program consisted of me working in the District Property Office where all the exhibits are held....including a huge stock pile of guns, ammo, explosives, and drugs.....so they took my Glock off me, but gave me keys to a room full of huge bang sticks and bullets.....GENIUS!!!
Anyway after a while I returned to work and have been back there for a few weeks.
During my first week back, one of the other guys has resigned, however they have done a deal with him to keep him in the job. He is going to work in the Watch House for a while.
Another officer is desperate to get out and word is that he is about to be snapped up as a Detective. In the mean time he is negotiating a swap with someone from another station just to get out of ours.
Another officer is applying for jobs elsewhere, and to replace these people (all experienced and hard working) we are being replaced with junior people who while they are good people and hard working, have no experience.
All that is left are the three incompetent staff.
My OIC showed his true colours and wrote a report about me that was filled with....ummm...innaccuracies.....:rolleyes5:....an d was blatantly self serving and covering his ***. I have sinced submitted reports detailing all my grievances, and the total incompetence displayed by the OIC. As a result of walking out, the bosses had to listen, and boy oh boy, I let them have it.
We have been given one more staff member (there have been recommendations for our station to go from ten to about 40 from 2 years ago) and they have added one more channel to the radios, however they are as bad as they were 12 months ago, and in fact in some parts are worse.
I am still applying for jobs in the mines where I can earn twice as much, if I can get a job.
I love Policing, I just hate working for my current employer who couldn't police a monkey sh1t fight in a zoo.
Thanks for the rant. Excuse any typos.:rant:
Firstly, my computer pretty well died.
To those that know a bit about puters, keep in mind, my old computer was our first computer and I bought it the same time I joined this site (a few years back). It had 2Gb RAM and less than 40 GB hard drive....I know. I know....my iPod is twice that size. It is no wonder that surfing the net became so much of a chore it was not funny. Luckily my wife and I also joined this century and got iPhones, so at least we could chat on Facebook with friends and relatives but it is not the same. I bought a new comuter yesterday!!! YAY!!!
Anyway, on top of that, I also had a break from Policing...sort of...this year.
To set the scene I will go back a while. I was in one dept for 6 years, spent a couple of years in Feds, and then moved to my current state. In Australia we only have one Police dept per state, and only 8 states, so moving between depts is rare.
After Feds I was reluctant to join my current state Police. Their reputation was not the best in Policing circles and I had not heard good things. Anyway, I bit the bullet and joined. After the first year of being treated like crap, I got sent to a small town and was soon promoted back to Senior Constable. Our station is only ten officers and covers a few small towns and a large Division.
It became apparent for some time that our dept radios are so old and out of date they pose a safety risk. Our Comms can rarely hear us and we are pretty well by ourselves with next to no reliable radios. Handsets are only worn to balance out your gun. Given it is 2012 this is inexcusable in my opinion. Officers were using their own iPhone apps to listen to scanners to monitor their radio while out of the car, just to know if Comms were calling them. Keep in mind we are 20 minutes drive from Comms which is in a large regional city and only 45 minutes drive from the centre of the state capital.
On top of that in January 2011 we were hit with catastrophic floods that killed over 30 people and our town was hit hard in that. I spent a week at work, wet and tired, was recovering dead bodies, walking into flood waters and carrying families out, as well as two days in rescue choppers pulling people off of roofs of houses etc. It was hard work and there were some pretty scary times.
One of the things that the disaster pointed out was the poor state of emergency services and our comunications - something I had been saying for about a year at that time. I was later called to give evidence at the State Inquiry that was held.
During mid 2011 things at station were getting worse. Our staff of ten was down to five due to various shortages, and out of those five, only two of us were doing the work. One is basically the most incompetent officer I have ever worked with, another is very junior but has an attitude, and the third is a Senior Const like me but he never leaves the station, never seems to do any work, and from all accounts doesn't know anything.....dead wood. On top of that an officer from a nearby station which only has a staff of two, resigned after being treated like rubbish, and the new officer had not yet started. So we were covering their area as well, which meant more work, and less people to do it.
Last year I brought these issues up with management. I spoke to several senior people, including my OIC (SGT), several Senior SGTs, my Inspector, our union rep, and even my local member of parliament. I tried to get someone to address the staff shortages and radio issues as a priority, and advised them that it was only a matter of time until someone walks out. No real response.
I approached my OIC, who I thought was a friend, and told him I wanted to get off the road. I wanted to go to either CSI or training. Anything was better than where I was. That fell on deaf ears. He made it quite clear that he had no interest in doing anthing that didn't pad his resume for his own benefit. His inspirational speech inspired me so much that I considered work in the mines or returning to one of my previous depts.
Then my wife changed her mind and decided that she didn't want to move back to my first State so that got shelved, which really sucked, because it was by far the best dept I have worked and I have always regretted leaving there. We only left for family reasons (my wife's family).
So come January this year, things were getting worse. It was the one year anniversary of the floods, and I was asked to take part in an interview due to my efforts. This took an emotional toll on me that I did not expect. I had put in two part time firemen for bravery awards, and found out that my dept only gave them a nice certificate of appreciation...a piece of A4 paper in a frame...rather than forwarding on my nomination to the Bravery Council as per my recommendations. On top of that I was told I was getting a bravery award for my efforts during one particular rescue. I also ended up getting a piece of A4 paper (which had the story of what happened on it, although they managed to get it wrong). This was further insulting in that to get this, I was asked to write a report on what happened. I did this but I felt awkward writing something singing my own praises when I thought it was for a bravery medal (as I had been told). Then to make it even more awkward I was directed to take statements from witnesses. I found this astounding that I was taking statements for my own medal nomination. I mean I could have written all sorts of crap about myself and got the witnesses to sign them. Talk about unprofessionalism.
So when I was told I was getting this Certificate, it was sort of like a slap in the face. Not that I really wanted a bravery medal other than something to pass on to my son, but it was just indicative of how poorly my dept looks after its own and it pi$$ed me off further.
Then after several big jobs (a fatal traffic crash, a suicide where a guy set himself on fre etc etc) all of which turned to crap because of either poor Comms, or absolutely ridiculous decisions made by people in offices, I was getting to breaking point. And to rub salt into the wounds it was as if all the things I had been complaining about for the last 18 months were getting worse, and the jobs that were turning to crap were doing so because of the exact things I had been trying to get fixed.
Finally one day in late January I went to work and the Comms SGT had a go at me on the radio about something. I snapped back and he then rang me and abused me. I hung up on him, took my gun belt off, put my gear away, and told my colleagues that when they rang looking for me they could tell the bosses that I said they could take their job and four of five of the best fingers and bash them fair up their own a$$$!!!!
I walked out.
I then spent the next 3 or 4 months on sick leave.
After a month or so of incompetence by my Inspector another Inspector in HQ got hold of my matter and offered me a return to work plan.
Ironically they had taken my gun off me....happens when you threaten to shoot the radio and then storm out....but the return to work program consisted of me working in the District Property Office where all the exhibits are held....including a huge stock pile of guns, ammo, explosives, and drugs.....so they took my Glock off me, but gave me keys to a room full of huge bang sticks and bullets.....GENIUS!!!
Anyway after a while I returned to work and have been back there for a few weeks.
During my first week back, one of the other guys has resigned, however they have done a deal with him to keep him in the job. He is going to work in the Watch House for a while.
Another officer is desperate to get out and word is that he is about to be snapped up as a Detective. In the mean time he is negotiating a swap with someone from another station just to get out of ours.
Another officer is applying for jobs elsewhere, and to replace these people (all experienced and hard working) we are being replaced with junior people who while they are good people and hard working, have no experience.
All that is left are the three incompetent staff.
My OIC showed his true colours and wrote a report about me that was filled with....ummm...innaccuracies.....:rolleyes5:....an d was blatantly self serving and covering his ***. I have sinced submitted reports detailing all my grievances, and the total incompetence displayed by the OIC. As a result of walking out, the bosses had to listen, and boy oh boy, I let them have it.
We have been given one more staff member (there have been recommendations for our station to go from ten to about 40 from 2 years ago) and they have added one more channel to the radios, however they are as bad as they were 12 months ago, and in fact in some parts are worse.
I am still applying for jobs in the mines where I can earn twice as much, if I can get a job.
I love Policing, I just hate working for my current employer who couldn't police a monkey sh1t fight in a zoo.
Thanks for the rant. Excuse any typos.:rant: