Gloucestershire police morale at 'rock bottom'

“valhalla2010....................agree with most of what you say, but when you listen to the cover up over Hillsborough, it makes you wonder if in fact they are 'at it' 24/7.”

“I'll start by saying that I support the Police.
Morale is a key matter for the leadership of the force, sorry- service. They seem to take an aweful battering in the national press, who are always accusing them of over or under reacting. This must take its' toll.
How come so many are 'being bullied/ harassed'? I suspect it is a case of 'Man the F@@K up' for the majority.
I suspect that expectations have changed over the years too. Almost all officers who join these days have a university degree, very few get in without one. Contrast this with 20yrs ago when most did not have a degree. Those with a degree will have totally different aspirations and expectations and when they are not fulfilled they can be left dissapointed.
Keep up the good work Glos Constabulary.
To quote Sir Winston Churchill- 'If you are going through hell, just keep going'.”

“"We know that even though the survey results appear to show an increase in bullying, this is likely to be accounted for by the fact more people are willing to be open and honest about this issue in order to ensure the organisation can address it."

Well they must be short on hope of anything being done to address it if it has almost doubled in a year. If your 2010 survey reported 1 in 10 officers had been bullied why has something not happened to reduce that figure?

As others have said, perhaps if the justice system supported the police then morale wouldn't be so low. But, seeing offenders repeatedly given meaningless sentences and second, third, fourth and fifth "chances" it's no wonder they feel this way.

The Government need to build more prisons but these prisons need to be changed. They need to reduce facilities such as association (with pool and snooker tables, TVs and Satellite), gym and other fun activities, all at our expense, and spend the money on addressing offending behaviour. If they decide not to take an ACTIVE part in such programmes then they stay in prison until they do.

We also need to introduce other sentences such as when an offender refuses to implicate associates then they go to prison and stay there until they feel able to do so. It's called "With-holding Evidence" and is contempt of court.

Further, while I know the unions are against prisoners doing meaningful work during a sentence because they feel they are taking jobs away from others, the prisoners must be forced to undertake work programmes in the communities while serving their sentence as a means of paying back the cost of their crimes.

With the Proceeds of Crime Act in place every matter must now be examined, even a trivial crime. Generally if someone is caught committing a trivial theft they have probably got away with others. Examine ALL their assets and bank accounts and if they cannot account for something take it away from them. Crime must never be allowed to pay.

I have no doubt that once such measures were introduced then Police, and the public, morale would increase massively.”

“All I can think is where would we be with out them? They do us a great service in difficult times where everything is costed. They need our support, keep your head up. I for one am a grateful and proud Gloucester man to the force we have taking care of our county.”

“"They claimed they felt overstretched and under- resourced."

So perhaps less time spent on trying to catch out motorists and finding ways to fleece good ordinary folk out of cash might be a good idea...& free up more officers to do real police work and deal with the real criminals and anti-social pieces of scum that bring Gloucester down.”

“"a fifth of staff had bullying or harassment among colleagues in 2011". I'm not sure what this means but it sounds as if one in five police are being bullied or harassed by other police. If so, there's something rotten in our police force and it's no wonder morale is at rock-bottom.”

“They should tool themselves up, and challenge the wrong 'uns, low lifes, chavs and chuggers to a big ruck in a disused airfield somewhere. The chance to crack a few delinquent numskulls over the head with a big truncheon would be sure to be a big morale booster. They could make it a spectator event, and raise a bit o' blunt for the Benevolent Fund at the same time, what?”

“It's just as I said yesterday, and no, it's not their fault that times are hard, but people shouldn't assume that 'low morale' simply means police officers going around looking glum and over-worked. Some of them 'act out', with members of the public getting a share of that aforementioned bullying too, and that's also part of the vicious circle, but it doesn't have to be a part that the police authorities tolerate, and even cover up.”

“you cant blame them, they do their job, and the lowlife are all let off.”