Updates

Apologies, nothing this week. Have been too busy really! I have even lacked the motivation for the usual scan through the news websites to see what tomfoolery various police forces and government agencies have got up to. Myself at work I've been firmly anchored to the desk which frankly has been as interesting as a pile of old socks; so nothing to report back from there.

A question to other job readers, skippers in particular. Does anyone really take any notice at all of what has been put in PDP's? For non-police readers, a PDP is a Professional Development Plan. This is a lever arch file heaving with A3 bits of paper and matrix cross reference tables. It is an attempt by Centrex to formalise and standardise what makes a constable a constable. It is full of nice police buzzwords like "resilience" and "respect". For every job a constable does, it needs to be written in their PDP as evidence of them being competent in their job. It is a long-winded, tedious, overcomplicated affair which makes the whole job of trying to figure out whether a PC is actually good or not a whole load harder. Which is why I completely ignore what they write in their PDP as to how issuing a FPN to someone demonstrated their resilience and decision making. Instead I look at their reports, listen to the tutors, talk situations through and observe them when I can. I don't need several sheets of A3 paper to know when someone is either not performing or not competent.

In the meantime. I finally have some leave coming up soon, and the wife is rubbing her hands in anticipation at the size of the list of things she will have for me to do..............