Police unable to strike after poor ballot turnout

Thames Valley Police officers will not have the right to take industrial action after just 40 per cent of eligible members voted in a ballot on the issue.

Out of the 4,373 officers eligible to vote, only 1,781 took part in the ballot, with 1,281 voting in favour of the Police Federation campaign for the right to take industrial action.

Nationally only 42 per cent took part in the ballot – not enough to seek a mandate under its rules.

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Comments(6)

Quentin Walker says...
12:24pm Tue 5 Mar 13

Policing, like soldiering, is not a money-making career, it is a calling to protect the public.

Genuine officers would not expose the public to danger whilst seeking to further their own ends by striking.

xjohnx says...
12:50pm Tue 5 Mar 13

I think the police should strike.

Due to all the dodgy and criminal police officers now being exposed, public support for the police is at its lowest ebb ever.

Only if they strike, will they see how little support they get from law abiding citizens.

Bye the bye. Who would put down the counter demonstrations?

Geoff Roberts says...
9:39am Wed 6 Mar 13

If they did go on strike we'd probably see how little they actually currently make to most people's lives. Let's face it, due to spending most of their time travelling, barely aware of what's going on around them, they are effectively on strike already.

Man on the Green says...
11:48am Wed 6 Mar 13

Isn't democracy wonderful?

Police officers set themselves a rule by which more than half of all eligible voters have to take part for a decision to be binding. In this case, only 42% of officers nationally voted (40% in the Thames Valley).

And yet our new Police & Crime Commissioner was elected on the lowest recorded turnout in any public election (13% of eligible voters).

And he's now laying down the law to those same officers!

xjohnx says...
1:55pm Wed 6 Mar 13

Man on the green.

Somebody needs to curb crooked police. just look at the other comments on this page to decide if your view is supported.

Bye the bye, you are telling porkies about who set the voting limits, it was never the police.

wrongly parked says...
3:05pm Wed 6 Mar 13

Thames Valley police have very poor reputation for being unhelpful and lazy and this is fully justified!
The Thames Valley force receive a very large number of complaints of which the majority simply get glossed over and they are one of the worst forces in the country. They cannot be trusted and the standard in this area is very low indeed!
I fully support any reductions in pay and also cutting the number of officers within Thames Valley. A police officers role does not require a very high level of intelligence or education so if they do not want to be a police officer they can always get a similar level job such as working in a warehouse or factory!
It is typical of them to want to strike as they never consider the public- but then they won’t be missed anyway!

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