Nobody reading this will disagree that the police service
has been subjected to what can only be described as a relentless onslaught in
recent times. This has taken the form of attacks on our pay and conditions by a
Government who have adopted the approach of kicking us into submission, safe in
the knowledge that we can do little in response to defend ourselves. As well as
being grossly unfair, this approach has broken an unwritten covenant going back
decades that throughout all negotiations there would always be a tacit
understanding that we have no industrial rights and the agreements reached
would reflect that. The current administration has paid no regard to that
historic position and instead seen it as carte blanche to dismantle us.
Whenever I hear one of our political masters refer to us as `the finest police
service in the world` I hold my breath, because what inevitably follows are
details of the next round of body blows we are expected to endure.
