My First Blog

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Hello world,

One or two of you have suggested that I should enter the world of blogging, which is something I had not previously considered.  A few words of introduction would be appropriate at the moment I guess.

I’m Alan, 50 something (well 60 soon to be honest) and retired from the Metropolitan Police in 2002 after 30 glorious years.  Because I’m retired I can ay what the hell I want to in my blog and don’t have to worry about being censored or disciplined for my ramblings.  Before I joined the Met I spent 2 yrs as a Trainee Radio-Isotopes technician for the Royal Postgraduate Medical School at Hammersmith Hospital in London.  This was a very rewarding job in some ways but it soon became apparent that I was going to get bored with it very rapidly, as my weeks were all very predictable.

I spent 30 years in the Met, 30 years which, on the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed. There were a few years in the middle of my career which got a bit rocky, but a change of direction soon sorted that out and I soon went back to loving my job.

After that I was employed by the Metropolitan Police Authority as a Forensic Auditor, sounds grand and has absolutely nothing to do with Forensics.  Simply put it involved investigating alleged fraudulent activities by contractors supplying the Met with their services, and occasionally by the Met’s own employees.  The results of any investigation were then handed over to the Police to progress if it was felt that there was a case to answer.  The most complex case I was involved in there was investigating alleged overclaiming by SOME translators and interpreters, which resulted in High Court actions and criminal convictions against some, and the return of approx £250,000 from one such linguist.

After that the attraction of the sunshine and red wine pulled me and my my wife to South West France where we ‘Lived The Dream’ for 5 and a half years before returning to the UK in 2011 and settling in North Shropshire, although it seems more like Wales, and Wales is indeed at the end of the road (literally).

That’s how I became retired, why am I angry.  Well, my would tell you that I’m always angry, but in the context of this blog I am angry because of the unholy damage this government seems intent on wreaking on the Police Services of England and Wales, and other wonderful institutions like the NHS, Armed Forces and Coastguard. I’ve signed all the petitions going and felt like I wanted to do something, so I now use my position as a retired officer and concerned member of the public to make life as uncomfortable as I can for those in power by use of the Freedom of Information Act to uncover the truth behind the smokescreen and then Tweet, and now blog, the responses with the sole intention of getting the message out there so that those who can make a difference and change the course HMG seems determined to take.  I am not opposed to change, I used to be a dinosaur but I’m better now. What I am is opposed to ‘Change for Change’s Sake’. I’ll be perfectly honest and admit that I’m not always comfortable with change, and maybe that’s something that is common to a lot of Police Officers, but I don’t reject it out of hand, but I have yet to see a single proposal from Mssrs Herbert, Winsor & Cameron or Mrs May which convinces me that it’s for the public good. I’m not thinking of myself, I’ve retired. I’m thinking of the 137,000 (March 2011) and the Great British Public, and they ARE great in the main.

Well, I think that’s about enough about for me now.  I shall return soon and bring you some updates regarding the various Freedom of Information requests that are currently in progress. I hope that you will find them as informative as I do.

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