The Attitude Test

Does not exist. There is no such thing. Official!

Right, hopefully Professional Standards have got bored and stopped reading now.

Of course there's such a thing as an attitude test. It might not be something that we do consciously, but we're only humans after all. So it follows that everybody, regardless of their job, is also susceptible to it.

If you work in a bank and a customer comes in shouting the odds at you, being aggressive and abusive, then let's face it you're not going to bend over backwards for him. It's human nature that you're going to get defensive and get him chucked out.

We're the same. If we stop a car because the driver isn't wearing a seat belt, then the quickest way for them to guarantee getting a ticket is to get all unpleasant with us. And, conversly, the best way to try and get away with just a ticking off is to be a bit nice. That's not to say I expect people to kiss my ass and treat me like God. Just an acknowledgement that they're in the wrong and a civil, polite, "I won't do it again officer, sorry" is probably going to save you £60 if it's me who stops you.

The reason I mention this is my best mate got a complaint the other day. He'd stopped somebody driving down a service road. Very minor offence. Now my mate (and you'll have to take my word here) is the sort who prefers catching proper villains to dishing out tickets for minor traffic offences. He walked up to the driver's window and gave a cheery "hello". The driver's response was, "What!? I'm off to pick up my daughter. I haven't got time for this rubbish! You lot are just tax collectors. This is highway robbery and you haven't got any right to stop me!" Etc etc, and so it went on. And the guy got a ticket.

When he made the complaint, he admitted the offence but said that my mate was out of order for asking him to get out of his car and for then refusing to get in the guy's car with him.

For some reason, and I genuinely struggle to understand why, there's a lot of people who think it's perfectly OK to speak to us like we're dirt. In a way that they'd never stand to be spoken to by anyone else. You'd have thought that the fact they were speaking to a Police officer might engender a little bit of respect. But no: "I pay your wages". "You're a public servant". I've heard them all before.

A report was published recently stating that in our Force the number of official complaints against Police regarding "attitude" and "civility" has rocketed. It's funny really, because I've had a few of these myself. And on every single occasion the person making the complaint has been really abusive towards me during the incident.

Well, I've decided enough is enough. I deal with enough nasty jobs and people to help keep the public safe. I don't get paid to be spoken to the way my chum was. So I reckon the way forward is to spread a bit of love. Try and cheer the angry people up a bit. From now on, whenever anybody tells me "I pay your wages!" they're gonna get a huge hug and I'll start delivering thank you cards to their house every day. Maybe flowers on Sunday?

And if they tell me "You're a public servant!" I'll turn up at their house at 3am on a Sunday morning and ask if there's any light dusting they need doing. I might even wear a little apron.

And if they tell me I'm just a tax collector, they can expect a visit every other day reminding them that "self assessment needn't hurt, get your tax returns in on time".