So it seems that the police are running out of money, with reports (here, here) that the force will not have the funds this year to pay for its complement. The commissioner has stated before that he would not like to see, and would feel that he cant really deliver a service, if numbers fall below 13,000. Complement now stands at 13,400. If you are unsure of what a police officer in modern ireland actually does see this reflection of an officer leaving. I suspect that the cuts in numbers will, as usual, fall on frontline services. When, as RTE news reports this morning, the first person appointed in a murder investigation is not a lead detective, or a forensic analyst, but a financial controller, we have left logic far behind and are on the shores of la-la land.
There is a bit of a meme out there that instead of cutting numbers we should cut pay in the public service. Without doubt there are areas where police pay is rather….strange. There are lots of unusual allowances and these need to be worked out over time. But the principle, of cutting pay and retaining numbers, is interesting. The logic, that instead of cutting 10% of the force we should cut 10% of the pay from the existing force, is one of the seductive logical traps. Why not cut 20%, and INCREASE the force. Hell, why not cut 50%, or 85% and get a cop on every corner? Of course, thats never argued. But its the logical counterpart of this.
Karl Whelan once noted to me that there are a lot of people out there who feel that any wage greater than zero is too much for public sector workers. Hes right, I think….
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