The truth about being a Boston bobby

A former Boston policeman - who's moved on to another force "due to politics," - has written to Boston Eye to comment on our recent postings about Police Community Support Officers, and the poor quality of service we believe the people of Boston get from their local force.
He says:-
"I fully understand this blog's opinion of their local bobbies, and it is similar to that shared in similar areas across the UK.
"As a recently moved on Lincs bobby, I despaired at the fact that the humble bobby was working all hours of the day, usually many more than scheduled, going from job to job with impossible aims (eight hours to deal with 30+ incidents in a 200+ mile area with a crime workload of 20-40 crimes and also being responsible for anything urgent that came in.)
"You'd be very lucky to find officers in the station during the day and night - save those with prisoners or the dreaded paperwork.
"PC's get no positive press as it's all about Neighbourhood Policing Teams.
"There were, and no doubt whatsoever, breathtakingly amazing results being had by very good Boston officers, but they would never be passed to the media etc.
"But you'd find a page spread about a PCSO at a coffee morning instead!
"You may struggle to change your view, but I admire the vast majority of your Boston PC's - you'll never know how tough a day is for them, but the snippets you see (or don't see) will never show it.
"If a PC doesn't perform to a suitable standard, they're heavily criticised and monitored.
"A PCSO can often spend a vast percentage of their day in the office and get nothing but praise.
"The PC's just deal with crime and incidents, they don't get involved in litter picks etc, as previously reported.
"I miss Lincs Police as the area is superb, but I despised the politics so went elsewhere.
"When I was there I had an average of 35 crimes on the go, had a daily allocation of 10-20 incidents which were not urgent, then had to drop everything all too often for a road crash or shoplifter which would take about 5-7 hours each to deal with when all done. With a nine hour shift, the chances of getting anywhere were not really in my favour. I would say easily that every officer desperately yearned to go out and do their traditional job (foot patrol, getting out on proper patrols) but they had no chance every single shift.
"That's why you end up with no action against cyclists riding on pavements. It would take ten minutes to issue a ticket on the side of the road plus about another ten at the station to write it up and do pocket book etc. When you've got 35 crimes on the go, 15 incidents on your area to attempt to deal with and you've just heard that Asda have got 2 detained (they used to delight with about 5-10 shoplifters A DAY and that's just one shop).
"When I first started at Boston, each shift had 12+ officers, now they usually parade 3-7. When I started it was before Boston saw foreign nationals arrive, so that figure is even more scary. It used to be all too often the case that every officer on duty had a prisoner and there was no one left! Things like that scared me too much (tho' it goes on all across the country!) I moved forces to one where the Government acknowledge it's existence and pays it a better amount so they can buy a few more staff (and of course PCSO'S) but on the whole the money makes every difference.
Regards
One of them old fashioned things called a Constable!


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