Re-launch

Folks

I'm coming back - but I've moved to WordPress.

Could you regular readers please change your sidebars and subscription settings to

http://stanstill.wordpress.com/

Thanks folks.

Career break

I've come to a decision.

I know this isn't the sort of thing that prospective Inspectors are supposed to do, but eventually the bullet has to be bitten.

I've decided to lay this blog to rest - for a while anyway.

Before you ask, I haven't been threatened, persuaded or advised by any third party. I've made this decision without consultation or coercion, based on purely personal reasons. Fear of retribution is not even a factor. As far as I am aware, only one person in my force knows my true identity and I can trust that person to keep my online persona under wraps.

The main reason is that I don't feel that the blog is achieving much. I made a conscious decision at the start of the blog of making sure I couldn't be identified, so I don't write about cases I've dealt with or people I've worked with. Not even in general terms. I've mainly commented on affairs in the public domain or things that affect us all, police and public alike.

Fellow bloggers, who are too numerous to mention but are probably on the sidebar, have developed their style and are making points in a much better way than I ever could. I will continue to comment on their contributions and bask in their reflected glory. "Typical of a supervisor" as some disgruntled PCs would say.

I feel that I can have more input and influence in the Police Oracle forum, where I hold the exalted position of Moderator. If you want to read my thoughts and opinions, then that is where you will find them.

Thanks to all those who have read my words over the past couple of years and more thanks to those who have been bothered to respond. This also extends to those anonymous loons who left bizarre and abusive comments. They made me laugh so much I forgot to press the 'delete' button on a number of occasions.

The blog will stay online, but I won't be posting here in the foreseeable future, so if you are a first time visitor, I wouldn't bother subscribing if I were you.

Be careful out there!

Testing

I'm playing with Windows Live Writer to see how it works with Blogger. It's still in Beta at present, but I'll try most things once.

Result

OSPRE Part 2

In the bag!

I've found the answer

According to the BBC, there are over 758,000 surplus places at schools in England.

That's almost ten times the number of prison places in this country.

So why don't the government spend a little bit of money on redistributing kids to fill up some schools and the ones that are emptied could be converted into prisons? After all, most teenagers will tell you that their school is like a prison anyway.

How old do you feel?

The other day, a thought crossed my mind that made me realise how time is passing.

In a few years time, I will have been in this job longer than some of the people who are joining have been alive.

That makes me feel old!

Doctor Who the legal rep

OK - I admit it. The title of this post is a blatant attempt to increase the likelihood of a hit from a search engine, but I think it is justified.

The next paragraph will also contain a couple of references that will generate a few links from Google.

For the benefit of those of you out there who read this blog who may at some point in the future find themselves in police custody. Can I point out to you that no police force in this country has possession of a Tardis type police box? Nor when you go into custody will it resemble the transporter room from the Starship Enterprise.

The reason I tell you this is to allow you to avoid the embarrassing situation of you going into the custody area and demanding to see a solicitor NOW! I've lost count of the number of times some stroppy prisoner rushes up to the desk and insists that they want their brief there immediately. I think they watch too much Eastenders or something.

Unfortunately, we still have to phone the solicitor and they still have to travel by normal land based transport to get to the police station. That's if they even bother to come to you because you may have already annoyed them by demanding that they bring you a packet of fags. (Though there won't be much point doing that soon - come July 1st 2007, no-one will be allowed to smoke in police stations. Blame the Labour government!)

Those of you from the legal profession who pass by here may have seen a way round some of the Carter recommendations. I understand that you won't get paid for your travelling time soon, so perhaps some form of teleportation device or time machine may mitigate some of your losses? It could turn out to be a lucrative little sideline for any Time Lord with a law degree.

Every now and again...

...you see something that you've seen before, but never really noticed, then suddenly it strikes you that what you're seeing is completely bizarre.

Today for example - I was on the M6 (again!) when I saw two brand new vehicles on the back of a low loader. I've seen similar things before, but today I wondered "Why do they do that?"

The reason I asked myself the question (but couldn't answer it) is that the two brand new vehicles were locomotive units for railway trains.

Why don't they transport these things by rail, when that is what they are designed to be used on?

There must be a good reason why brand new rolling stock is transported by road, but I'm buggered if I can think of one.

I'll leave you to ponder that and other mysteries of the universe for a while.