{"id":3816,"date":"2021-02-18T05:30:05","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T05:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/policecommissioner.net\/why-cant-politicians-be-more-like-the-police\/"},"modified":"2021-02-18T05:30:05","modified_gmt":"2021-02-18T05:30:05","slug":"why-cant-politicians-be-more-like-the-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/policecommissioner.net\/why-cant-politicians-be-more-like-the-police\/","title":{"rendered":"Why can\u2019t politicians be more like the police?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We can all agree that \u201cYou can\u2019t please all the people all the time\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n

We all have differing views, good days and bad days and none of us are perfect or infallible.<\/span><\/p>\n

You could not have survived in either of my former professions if you thought otherwise.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Life on a cruise ship<\/h3>\n

In my 20\u2019s I worked on Royal Caribbean\u2019s first ever cruise liner, sailing out of Miami most weeks with 800 happy passengers.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

We pleased most of them most of the time. <\/span><\/p>\n

We gave them great food, great service as we sailed the beautiful Caribbean on a brand new ship and we worked incredibly hard.<\/span><\/p>\n

From the Caribbean to Coleford<\/h3>\n

Imagine the contrast when I left Miami to join Gloucestershire Police and walked the beat.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

I quickly learnt that pleasing everyone would be difficult but also that, as a police officer, I could make a real difference.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

I think I may have saved some lives. <\/span><\/p>\n

I know when I heard screams and broke down the door of a house in Coleford, I saved a women from a severe beating; and I hope I was compassionate when I told a mother her son had died in a car crash.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

The \\”job\\”<\/h3>\n

My story is far from unique, it\\’s what the officers of the Gloucestershire Constabulary do day in day out.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s what they call \u2018the job\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

I say this, not because I feel sorry for police officers, or that no matter how hard they try they are unable to please most of the people most of the time; or because, perversely, they often get the blame when crime goes up even when they\u2019re working like crazy to stop it.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is because the police taught me to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Its just \\”politics\\” Martin …<\/h3>\n

Now that I have left the police and am elected, I have friends and colleagues from all political parties but for a small minority, because I\u2019m not one of them, I cannot please them any of the time. <\/span><\/p>\n

Bizarrely, they regard me as The Opposition.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

My political independence is importance to me. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Most party politicians respect that and it opens many doors.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Some, who should know better, still refer to me as, \u2018the so-called independent police commissioner\u2019.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is a distortion of the truth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The public expect the highest standards of the police, and rightly so. <\/span><\/p>\n

They demand the truth at all times. Are they not entitled to expect the same from all politicians?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n