- Conference
- 2012 Police & Justice Conference
- Date
- 13 June 2012
- Decision
- Carried
Conference is concerned that the ideology contained within the Winsor recommendations is not equalities friendly and seeks to divide the workforce. In addition to this, conference condemns the attitude of the author with regard to intellectual elitism as exhibited at the Policing 2012 conference 12th June 2012. In particular remarks made about the intelligence of factory and shop floor workers.
Mr. Winsor said “Policing today is entirely different. The attitudes of some police officers remain fastened in that mindset and I believe that is holding them back. If policing is to become the profession it deservedly should be, police officers must come to think of themselves not as the blue-coated workers of the past but practitioners of a profession which requires skills and attitudes which are distinctly above those of factory workers.”
He added “all men and women of intelligence and good character consider a policing career on a par with law, medicine, the clergy, the armed and security services, finance and industry”.
These attitudes should be consigned to the dustbin of history. We in the trade union movement know that many people have the skills and abilities to provide quality policing to the public we serve no matter what their education, skills or background. The most effective skills required for policing cannot be taught in any classroom, it is only by experience that officers may learn to be effective when delivering a frontline service.
Mr. Winsor’s vision for an elite intelligentsia will do nothing to promote effective policing or to draw confidence from the public we serve. The police service should be reflective of the communities it serves and should be made up of the people within those communities. The service should take account of all abilities.
Conference therefore calls upon the SGE to challenge these archaic views and champion a representative Police service.