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That sounds similar to the Tories pledge to cut bureaucracy in the police, which of course hasn't happened.

According to an article in the Guardian the loss of the days holiday as part of this agreement reduces the pay rise by 0.4% which makes the deal less generous than it first appears. It also locks in the pay deal for three years so if inflation stays at 2-3% years 2 and 3 of the deal will effectively mean further real terms pay cuts for the NHS. Its also interesting to highlight that whatever the Tories recommend to the NHS or indeed any public sector worker, ultimately benefits MPs as their pay rises are linked to the average rise across the public sector. As such their pay rise this year was boosted albeit marginally by our 2% rise, so they will also have a boost from the nurses 3.5% this year. Their rises are also affected by increased in the national minimum wage as many public sector workers are paid at that level as well as staff moving up pay grades due to increments to their wages. The Tories hate increments as they don't see why people should receive a pay rise for time served, yet they also see their pay increase because of increments in the public sector.

I love my job but one reason that I'd counsel against joining relates to the lack of government support for us and the constant undermining of our pay and conditions. Police are also a political football nowadays and we are under scrutiny from every muppet with a mobile phone as well as every political party and pressure group, all of whom want us to police in their way.

Hi JT. Leics uses a fairly standard 222 on PRT (the name response is so old fashioned) . In general most response officers seem pretty happy with the pattern.

Or officers taken on in August 2009 will receive an increment but those taken on in September 09 will not, but there will be only one months difference in experience between them.

With Leicestershire your guess is as good as mine however there have been rumours that there might be a PCSO conversion course in November 2011. Apart from that the Chief Constable has said that recruitment is under review but there is no firm news.

I've just had a very brief look through his report and have the following comments. First Winsor says that he wants to see police being paid for the hours they work yet in the next breath he recommends that we continue with the system where we get no pay for the first 15-30 minutes of overtime. Second, September 2011 sees the end of incremental pay which means that I get a pay rise this year but miss out next year as I started in November! It would be fairer to freeze the scheme at the end of the calender year rather than mid way through it. Third, Winsor says there will be a part 2 to the report which will address competency based payments, yet part 1 has been put out for consultation without knowing what else we are going to be expected to accept when part 2 comes out. Fourth, this report is also being considered in isolation of other changes because as yet we do not know what changes are going to be recommended for our pensions. Fifth, Winsor continually compares our pay/conditions with those of teachers, nurses and firemen, but I think our job is unique in the way that we have to put up with unsocial and dangerous conditions at work. He has acknowledged that some of us work unsocial hours and recommends a small increment to take that into account, but to me that only looks at the hours we work not the dangerous and thankless nature of work. Sixth, if performance related pay is to be brought in that this will require a change in the way sergeants supervise and manage their constables. From what I have seen so far sergeants are great at allocating jobs, answering procedural questions and prioritising crime Q's but have no experience/knowledge of managing/motivating/training their staff. I have a lot of experience of work outside the police and I am continually surprised that officers are left to get on with their work with little or no supervision/training other than NCALT, SOLAP and 2 years of probation.

I don't think they mean using a full text message but rather single digit updates via Airwaves. The green button to UA, 1 to say on duty, 11 for off duty etc

I was 40 when I started and there was one 41 y.o. and one 38 y.o. on the same training cohort as me. I keep myself pretty fit and I am pleased to say that I am a lot fitter than many of the younger recruits I started with. basically age is not a barrier to starting full time with the UK police. The current default retirement age is 60 for pc's but people can and do work beyond that age but this has to be with the chief constable's permission however this might change. Due to cut backs my force is retiring officers who are members of the old 30 year pension scheme who have worked more than 30 years. They are entitled to take their pension so the force doesn't want to pay them a wage and their pension at the same time. The pension is pro rata so even 20 years service will get you some sort payment when you retire.

In Leicester 150 civilian jobs have been lost so far. Along side this there is a recruitment freeze for new police officers which in effect means losing 120 plus officers due to natural wastage/retirement/resignations between Nov 09 and Nov 10. The new student officers in the q after the last cohort started last November will have to re apply from scratch no matter how far through the recruitment process they were.

I've just started f/t at the age of 40. There was a 39 y/o and a 42 y/o on my course and have not heard anything negative from anyone about our ages. There are plenty of positives which come with added maturity so make the most of the opportunity.

I must say my first reaction was that she was just a poor witness and that the pressure on the day got to her so she said she had made the allegation up just to get the day over and done with. If on the other hand she genuinely made the story up then questions must be asked about how the case got as far as it did. There must have been medical and forensic evidence as well as involvement of child abuse or rape team officers.

One Leicester officer recently retired aged 63 and I was talking to another who expects to work until he's 65. The second chap was a late starter who had completed 22 years in the army and now wants to work for the police as long as possible in order to make the most of his second pension. I have also just started at the age of 40 so I also hope to work to 65 and I have made a start at transferring my personal pension over to the police in order to buy extra years.

I have one How2Become DVD which I found to be really poor value for money. I found the format to be poor and the info contained in it was very limited. They didn't really make much use of the DVD side of things either as it wasn't interactive in any way. By way of comparison I found Tolley's 'The New Police Selection System' book to be much more useful and relevant to me.

It won't be a problem at all as most of what you do on a daily basis is verbal communication and using your head.