January 2000 Volume 81 Number 1 "serving the protectors"
Straight to the Point
By Trevor Haskell  PASA Executive Committee Member

2000 - Time for New Buzz Words

If you’re able to read this article, it is probable that somehow we’ve survived the Y2K bug, the dawn of the new millennium and possibly even Focus 21.

I hope that the dawning of a new century may provide for some reflection on how management and the Police Association work together. The management (top end) believes SAPOL is on track, its reforms are obviously working, and that it has a positively motivated workforce working efficiently in the public interest. Management even solved the staffing level crisis that it never believed actually existed.

As I move about talking to the rank and file - and managers (low and middle) - I hear a different story. It is one of overworked, dislocated, under-resourced workers (managers included) who operate under trying conditions and are desperately trying to provide good services to the public despite a lack of government support.

To me, the constant theme is that the workers want to make the system work. They care about their community and their job, in which they have pride. Further, they not only know where the problems are, but have the solutions to make the system work better. They do not often feel that they’re seen as having any ideas to offer, because new ideas are imposed from the top down.

I hope that in 2000 the terms “consultation” and “collaboration” become bigger buzz words in SAPOL than re-engineering, review and reorganization were in the recent past.

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