Anyone, who regularly reads my blog, will know that I am no fan of the police.
It has been reported today that the police forces have submitted a £4.3M bill to Grant Shapps and that “he is disgusted”. I am not surprised.
I am writing this with my Chartered Accountant’s hat on and am taking a pure accountant’s viewpoint.
The first thing to ask is as to whether there has been any due diligence on this massive bill, rather than taking it at face value. After all, the police will use any excuse to demand more cash from the government.
The second point to make is that in my view, the police are double counting and they know it. Police officers are paid, based on shift patterns. Those “on shift” would have dealt with the incidents. Due to the timing that those protestors appeared, there would not have been time to cancel holidays and drag people back. It had to be dealt with by those officers who were paid to work at that time. So, there is no additional cost at all.
If the government wants to save money, then they should not only tear this bill apart but question those chief constables into why there is any bill at all.
David's Diatribe 