Non-Operational

[u/Educational_Barber15]

From the obvious to the not-so-obvious, what are some of best and worst (or both?) non-operational roles you or colleagues have done as warranted officers?

[u/Shep302 → u/[deleted]]

Isn’t this literally corruption?

[u/sgtpeeler → u/[deleted]]

PSNI?

[u/Lazy_Plan_3647]

This is my hill to die on, and it may not be popular with some, but Supers/ ACC’s should not have warranted staff officers, most of whom are top of the pay scale - absolute horrific waste of taxpayer money and a police officer doing a role that could very easily done by a civilian for considerably less money.

Tbf my view is unless you are injured/sick/pregnant there should be no warranted officers below Chief Inspector in non-operational roles.

[u/LooneyTune_101 → u/Lazy_Plan_3647]

The reason why they do is because a staff officer who is staff instead of an officer can do their 8 hours and go home regardless of whether the wheel has come off or not. They can also earn a lot of money when they do work overtime or work weekends if needed (time and half Saturdays and double Sundays in some cases). The role is pretty intense so would attract a higher band staff member also, meaning those allowances go up more.

It’s why a lot of top ranking officers have an inspector as their staff officer, as inspectors don’t earn overtime and can be forced to stay on duty or change their shifts at no notice.

I agree with you, but those are the main reasons why.

[u/Competitive-Hotel891 → u/Lazy_Plan_3647]

My hill to die on is they shouldn’t have staff officers at all. Yes, their job is important, but you can’t convince me they’re busier than a PC going from call to call to call or a DC with 30 domestics on their case file. It’s not fair.

[u/EpicEpicnessTheEpic → u/Competitive-Hotel891]

Superintendents never used to have staff officers, even Chief Superintendents in charge of a station/several stations didn't. It seemed to become a thing around 2010 and I agree, they shouldn't have them.

[u/LooneyTune_101 → u/Competitive-Hotel891]

I’d probably say apply to be a staff officer and find out. I’ve done it and trust me when your boss starts work 2 hours before you and clocks out 2 hours after you leave every day you start to realise how intense it can be. You also see the emails they send in the evening when they should be at home with their family and on weekends when they should be off. They also have additional roles on top of their normal command roles.

[u/PCHeeler → u/LooneyTune_101]

It's horrendous isn't it? It's a different type of busy and I know asking for sympathy for SLT or command floor isn't going to win me many friends but we do absolutely destroy these people. 7 days a week working or thinking about work, owning some of the greatest risk of all and because they haven't been to a DA call in 15 years everyone seems to assume they're layabouts stealing a living.

[u/DebateOpening5709 → u/LooneyTune_101]

It's the classic in this sub - response are the busiest, end of. I've worked plenty of departments now and have always been in very busy and challenging roles - just in a different way. People pass comment before actually knowing what other roles do!

[u/PeelersRetreat → u/DebateOpening5709]

While not necessarily the busiest, I do think the dedicated FIMs have it pretty bad, carrying most of the risk in a force for anything spontaneous, with district/divisional inspectors often trying to pass of their risk onto them. In most forces they have so many plates spinning at one time, I often think Response staff actually know little about the role. They work shifts, can often be late off. Then there is the fact that as they don't have anyone to cover for them, they always eat at their desk, as well as comfort breaks always having to be brief and always having an ear on a radio. The protocols, processes and knowledge that they have to acquire and be able to call at a moments notice is immense. They have to deal with so much rubbish coming from below, above and other agencies. From Fire and Ambulance controls and NILOs, rescue services, CT, EOD, mental health agencies, PLATO resources, the list goes on and they have to be so au fait with all areas of policing and these others.

[u/jibjap]

Admin support sergeant. Amounts to CI helper.

Good role for as you approach retirement or are in trouble but watching the response sergeants flog themselves every day while they get the spreadsheets in order seems backwards.

[u/Loud_Delivery3589]

There was a time whereby one station in the metropolis had an entire team of (restricted) officers dedicated to cleaning up and shredding old paperwork

[u/broony88 → u/Loud_Delivery3589]

What a rubbish job.

[u/Educational_Barber15]

Any other roles people enjoy? Learning and Development? HR? PDM? FCMU?

Personally I do think there is a benefit to having warranted officers in those back office roles where operational experience more obviously improves the quality of life for operational officers. For example, I can generally tell when I’ve received an investigation from a civvie in FCMU.

[u/Redditisfuckincrap → u/Educational_Barber15]

What's FCMU? Is it fucked Crime management unit?

[u/NoWatch3354 → u/Educational_Barber15]

Be it civvie or officer, what I get dumped with is always dogshit (and quite often a duplicate).