I have no words...

Seems the Police Minister has not yet heard the term “negotiation” especially since we are in a wage round. The proof was there for all to see and hear. When Ginny Andersen was asked by 1News if she was going to offer Police more money, answer: “Not right now, no”. Asked if police would be given overtime, answer: “That’s not on the cards right now”. I know she was referring to the Queensland recruiting drive, and she gushed that she “loves” us, but unfortunately “words” don’t pay the bills. Never have, never will.

Show me the money

So our awesome nurses, firefighters and teachers seem to have benefited from some strong work at the bargaining table. The firefighters did very well indeed. Was I reading that right, a 24% increase? And teachers, 14.5%? Good for them… um, all we have so far is a no to any more money (as noted above) and a very long email from a deputy commissioner informing us of a recruitment freeze and the need to be fiscally prudent. It sounds to me that PNHQ (BTW the biggest district we have) is asking us to keep doing more with less. There is no sliding scale of 5Fs, 1Ms, 1Vs, shootings and murders we attend that’s based on the finance available. They just keep rolling in… more and more, day after day. No wonder cops are grumpy, stressed and pretty much have had enough of hollow words from politicians and senior managers. We are not allowed to strike so are left to suffer in silence, and hope the Police Association is loud enough, on our behalf, to make them all listen!

Band-H solution

It is getting closer to the election and more and more we are hearing, and seeing, law and order being used in sound bites to gain points. Some rushed-in new laws don’t really help us that much, really. I’ll always support more on the street though (yes, I keep on about this, no apologies), and more in frontline incident cars, 24/7. In fact, here’s an idea, once you get your permanent appointment and serve two more years in a 24/7 frontline response role, you move up to an H Band. Imagine that and imagine the numbers we would retain. My idea, I own it.

A show of hands, please

Winter hit a few places hard… some parts of the country got below zero degrees. I was wondering if we can get cold weather gloves, so I asked a senior sergeant recently. The blank stare I received spoke volumes. I know we can get woolly hats, but how about woollen gloves or something similar? In these days of health and safety, maybe that needs to be considered. Since the association had success with our caps, maybe we should sort our gloves out. I could be wrong, let me know.