"He who pays the piper calls the tune"

It was good to hear the Chief Constable, Mr Fahy when addressing officers prior to the Pride march to describe GMP as a family because in an ideal world that is who we are.

It is a bit unfortunate though when some of us do not treat each other as if we were brothers and sisters.

It is often disappointing when this happens. It is important to remember we are all individuals working for the benefit of the people of Greater Manchester. We should look after each other in doing this, as we can only do our best if we look after ‘us’ first.

There are obviously constraints in our behaviour, but these relate to doing our best for others, not being selfish in our own needs and taking advantage of others. One of the ways of looking after hard working police officers is to fully protect them from outside political interference.

Imagine the scene a busy street in a busy town centre, an officer doing his or her duty, dealing with a member of the public. For whatever reason he or she does what he has to, and either issues a fixed penalty, reports for summons or even arrests the member of the public.



All would be well, a normal day in a normal town centre. Apart from the fact that the sequence of events was witnessed by our finest locally elected representatives were nearby perhaps even having some light refreshment in a local coffee house overlooking the scene of the incident.

Imagine that if for reasons best known to themselves, they felt obliged to contact the Chief Constable and as a consequence of that, our Professional Standards department was mobilised. As a further consequence the matter was then referred to the IPCC and then appeared in the local daily blart, which is always ready to highlight the best efforts of our officers. This is particularly true in the public order arena.

I must congratulate the Force for the robust way it defended officers’ actions in the recent disorder last year. This means that officers feel supported and are ready to robustly uphold the law.

However, now this has passed, is the Force prepared to do that individually. I learn that individually some officers within the Force do rationalise and judge events on a proper level. This is often based on common sense and a good knowledge of the dilemmas officers face on a daily basis.

It should never be forgotten that officers make split second decisions and we can never be 100% perfect all of the time. We do make mistakes and we must always seek to improve our skills and abilities.

Officers need to be supported in these difficult times, and we need to be a true family accepting each other’s faults, but with transparency and honesty, do what is best for our officers and the public.

Is what I have written above just a fantasy or could it be true? I ask you to make your own mind up. As with every story there is always a meaning. I would just ask do people do what is best for themselves or for others? Are our political representatives always doing what is right or do they sometimes abuse their position?

Also this story is particularly relevant when we are about to have a Police and Crime Commissioner elected. Hopefully our elected representative will represent the interest of the people of Manchester and assist us in serving them.

In writing this I was lead to think about the influence of our elected representatives on our leaders in Greater Manchester Police.

The old phrase “he who pays the piper calls the tune” springs to mind. As a police service we have to remember who we work for. Does potential undue political interference as a consequence of intervention of representatives operating from their own frame of reference give the best service to the people of Greater Manchester?

What about any individual officer concerned, how would he or she feel? Would an officer potentially feel unprotected and strung out to dry by the “family” that he is a part of?

Also would the officers think when they are doing their duty? What political objective or personal motive will my job bring me into conflict with? And who do I really work for?

In these changing financial times the urge to do what is right might be overshadowed by a different priority.

It is unfortunate also that this misguided judgement can sometimes be found in other areas of Police work. This is motivated by doing what an officer does what he or she thinks is right by bending the rules. Noble cause corruption is the phrase that is sometimes used.

We all should know that the end does not justify the means, but like most human beings, this can be lost when some Officer see what they think is an injustice. This can be particularly true with Officers within the service who are charged with investigating their colleagues. These Officers you would expect to be the best trained and most skilled investigators. This also should be measured with some experience. Is this true of those amongst us who are currently charged with this task? Someone once said that the truth is a special commodity and should only be used when necessary. I would like to think that the truth is an everyday commodity, and to quote Carl Rogers a famous psychologist who said “the truth is our friend.”

When representing officers I use this as my guiding light. I wish that could be said of others.