Moaning and groaning

I pointed out to the police blogger mentioned in my recent post that being new to police blogs I had been staggered by the sheer amount of moaning which goes on. If it's not the 'crims, slags, low-lifes' etc who get them going it's the paperwork. PC Bloggs obviously read my comments and responded wittily about 'institutional moaning' in the police service and the need for a commission to look in to it and report.

It got me thinking about moaning in our field - there is certainly a lot of it about paperwork and demands for information from all sides. But I think, at least in my own agency that we try to explain to staff about why information is needed and to give them strategies for easing the burdens of paperwork. I hope we do any way.

However, looking at our intranet there isn't a great deal of moaning and there is a lot of constructive thought and feedback. Hopefully not just because I can access the intranet too.

Back in the jug again

I've been off for a couple of months i.e. not posting here although active elsewhere. I've also been introduced to the wonderful world of police blogging. I got in to it via Tom Reynolds' excellent 'Random Acts of Reality' http://randomreality.blogware.com blog which details his life as an every day London paramedic. He cites a number of police blogs so a couple of clicks and I was there.

I work a lot with the police in my day job so I think it's legitimate for Drugsblogger to write about them from time-to-time. In fact, reading my last blog I realise I was being a bit unkind. There again, reading some police blogs and their views when they get going about 'slags, civilians, crims, pond-life, low-life scum' and so on my views are positively angelic. However, they are also, in many cases a real insight in to the police's day job and the ups and downs of same. Many of them are also absolutely hilarious, especially PC Bloggs. http://pcbloggs.blogspot.com/

Strangely, or perhaps not, a lot of my staff who are outreach workers feel a real affinity with the plods. Mostly because they and other people whose job is on the street are some of the few professionsals who have the faintest idea of the reality of what goes on in our neighbourhoods day-in, day-out. So there is a kind of camaraderie of the steets if you like, even though we have very different ways of approaching similar problems. As soon as I can work out how to do it, I'll post some links to good police sites.