I hear the Omicron outbreak hit the Police College pretty hard with dozens of cases among the recruits. A lot were apparently doing it tough because they had to isolate in their rooms.

And many could have missed out on some vital components of their training, putting them at risk of not being able to graduate. It’s pretty difficult to complete driver or firearms training remotely through your laptop.

I hope no contracts had to be renegotiated.

I suppose it’s just another side-effect of this evolving pandemic. These days, BAU should be changed to “business as unusual”.

Nothing was more unusual to me than the sight of hundreds of my colleagues, young and old, sweeping through the burning grounds of Parliament to bring an end to its occupation last month.

It wasn’t without risk. It was a long, active day in hot sun, being exposed to potentially toxic smoke from fires, getting drenched with water from fire hoses, then being pelted with bricks and other missiles. Never mind that several officers also ended up with Covid.

Despite that, I know of quite a few officers who wished they had been there that day and were just a little bit envious not to have been at the scene for that successful operation.

I suppose it will mean extra work for the “lessons learnt” department at PNHQ, but from my seat on the sidelines, the silver lining has been a much-needed boost to police morale.

One thing I can guarantee – someone at PNHQ would have placed an order for several hundred new helmets within a day of the operation ending. I was thinking that even the old white helmet sitting on my filing cabinet would have come in handy.

So, who the hell thought our non-sworn mates didn’t deserve the same pay rise as the arbitrator rightly decided us sworn officers do? That is a crazy idea that ignores how crucial those workers are to the Police operation.

I do know that non-sworn have the right to strike. That would be a big call, but I imagine that there being no one on the end of a 111 call might bring some common sense back to the decision maker who got this so wrong.

This column is written by a frontline police member. It does not represent the views or politics of the Police Association.