55 replies to this topic

[al88]

If people really looked at it 16 hours a month is not a lot i mean i run my own retail business (6days a week), have 4 kids and a missus to keep happy and yet i am still able to average 50 - 70 hours a month policing so reading that people are struggling to do 9 or 16 personally is a joke.

If you work 6 days a week and manage 50-70 hours a month when do you get to see your kids? I think sometimes people struggle to find that balance of work/volunteering/social and it sounds like although you are clearly committed you need to re-focus your balance.

[SNOOZINGPHIL]

If you work 6 days a week and manage 50-70 hours a month when do you get to see your kids? I think sometimes people struggle to find that balance of work/volunteering/social and it sounds like although you are clearly committed you need to re-focus your balance.

Normally in from work by 6pm so we either go swiming, park or other activities and all day sundays we go out and about last weekend we went to the seaside for the day so i see the kids pleanty plus they have all their clubs they are involved with. Many a time me and the missus go out to gym or dinner after work with one of the kids babysitting and yet as per my original post i am still able to do 50-70 hours policing a month its all about actually having good planning skills and resillience which means a balanced life can be achieved quite easily..

[Tatty]

Normally in from work by 6pm so we either go swiming, park or other activities and all day sundays we go out and about last weekend we went to the seaside for the day so i see the kids pleanty plus they have all their clubs they are involved with. Many a time me and the missus go out to gym or dinner after work with one of the kids babysitting and yet as per my original post i am still able to do 50-70 hours policing a month its all about actually having good planning skills and resillience which means a balanced life can be achieved quite easily..

Aha! So that's they key thing: you have built in babysitters! I found it very sad that you regard people such as myself "a joke." I am a Mother, have a part-time job, a husband who works shifts (days and nights) and who is also a Special...but no family to do free baby sitting within approximately 100 miles. All things considered, it's a miracle I get out to do any hours at all...but I DO...and I give my all when I'm on duty.

Please remember that just because YOU find it easy, doesn't mean everyone else will. It doesn't make you better or anyone else worse. We are all different and need to recognise that. Those of us who only just manage to keep our heads above water are not all swinging the lead. I refer you back to my earlier reference to the Parable Of The Widow's Mite!

[SNOOZINGPHIL]

Aha! So that's they key thing: you have built in babysitters! I found it very sad that you regard people such as myself "a joke." I am a Mother, have a part-time job, a husband who works shifts (days and nights) and who is also a Special...but no family to do free baby sitting within approximately 100 miles. All things considered, it's a miracle I get out to do any hours at all...but I DO...and I give my all when I'm on duty.

Please remember that just because YOU find it easy, doesn't mean everyone else will. It doesn't make you better or anyone else worse. We are all different and need to recognise that. Those of us who only just manage to keep our heads above water are not all swinging the lead. I refer you back to my earlier reference to the Parable Of The Widow's Mite!

I dont regard anyone as a joke its just for what it costs for the force to train Specials and if people cant give back 9 hours minimum its a pointless exercise in my opinion and just because i have kids old enough to babysit isnt all that before we used to get the girls from next door to do it and they did for a couple of quid and to raid the fridge. Plus as an assesor and tutor constable i hold a lot of values and ideas some of which people may find antagonistic which is not what i strive to acheive just a good highly motivated commited team.Oh and just read the 4th phrase in my signature i stand by it and always will.

Edited by SNOOZINGPHIL, 14 July 2011 - 11:12 AM.

[Killicksparker]

Your reply seems to be at odds with the spirit of the quoted 4th line 'Just do what you can without ruining your day job, family life & health'. What if 'what you can do' falls below a randomly set number, but what you do is valuable and appreciated?


I happen to know that 'Tattty' is a fully qualified, Cambridge graduate, teacher, and as our force no longer has SLO's (budget cuts!) you can imagine the experience and knowledge a BEd brings to an entirely Specials lead Schools Education Program - so what if she can only do 10hrs a month, that is 10hrs a month of free expert help! Without her the program just wouldn't have existed, let alone be being looked at as a force model. Could you imagine what the cost would have been to employ an outside consultant to do the same thing. Yes, the force spend money in training, but what they reap in return far outweighs that cost layout


Whilst I appreciate it is easier for some than for others to get out and do their voluntary work, I don't think we should set in stone target hours for someone who is doing something for nothing, or castigate (or think what they do is a joke) when they cannot do as many hours as other people. We are always being told that as Specials we have to be flexible, I would just hope that the force can be flexible as well

[peck06]

I think SnoozingPhil should go back to the TVP section and stop winding us Suffolk folk up...

While I see both side's everyone has their own lives and different priorities/problems. I myself do around 80 hours a month on average, but that because I am young free and single. In my peak last year I was doing 200 hours a month, while I was unemployed.

I have come to realise over the past year that just because I do the hours I do doesn't mean everyone else has too. As long as my officers make the effort, come in and are consistant and keep in contact with me, letting me know what is going on and how they are I have no issue with them doing 10-15 hours a month, long as their training is upto date and they are not 'at risk' when they go out on the street. I have a couple of officers that are an absolute asset when they come in but due to personal circumstances they can't get in as much as they would like, all I can do and do, do as a supervisor is support them, assist them and encourage them as much as I can.

On the other hand there are some that just don't want to do the hours and I am finally clearing some deadwood for my station but it takes time.

Any way Phil I best get back to my tractor and tend to the pigs.......