May 2002 Volume 83 Number 5
"serving the protectors"
| May 2002 Volume 83 Number 5 "serving the protectors" |
|
|
|
|
| By Mark Carroll, PASA Assistant Secretary |
Specialist positions
What is a specialist in SAPOL? What constitutes a specialist position? In days gone by – under a different wage structure – members remunerated at the old band 4 rates generally perceived the roles they performed to be those of specialists.
Others, too, through their experience in and dedication to any role they held in SAPOL, considered themselves specialists in their respective fields, regardless of banding.
Members around when banding was introduced in the late 1980s will remember the divisions it caused within the membership when it came to classifying which positions were bands 3 or 4. The success of the 1998 enterprise agreement, which replaced the banding system with an incremental wage structure, finally put long-standing complaints about perceived and/or real inequities at rest. The Police Association continues to support the incremental wage structure.
Part and parcel of the incremental wage structure was SAPOL’s requirement for multi-skilling. SAPOL required members to be competent at many facets of the occupation, and flexible in the use and placement of the human resource. This continues today, however, rank and tenure can be an impediment to the lateral movement of an employee to other roles.
In the era of multi-skilling, therefore, comes discussion about what constitutes a specialist in SAPOL. Traditionally, the functions of Criminal Investigation, Prosecution, Training, STAR Force and some traffic roles had the majority of band 4 employees. General duties and general traffic work was band 2 for ordinary ranks and band 3 for supervisory rank.
It can be argued that multi-skilling, within criminal investigations and general duties, has eroded expertise in those fields of work. Further, without some form of distinction between the “traditional specialist” role and other roles in SAPOL, in particular prosecution services, fewer members choose to take on those roles.
The ability to earn instant promotion within the specialist roles compared to general duties – before 1998 – was an incentive. However, the classification of extra senior constable promotional positions within general duties has had a deleterious effect on that incentive, notwithstanding the overall positive and overdue outcome gained for general duties work.
Within this current framework, experience and expertise is lost to the profession after short careers. The statistics (males – 12 years; females – seven years) are cause for great concern. What part has multi-skilling played in this conundrum?
One thing is for certain – there will never be the perfect system. If such a system existed, things would not keep changing. However, as we plan for round four of enterprise bargaining, the issue of multi-skilling and reward for expertise needs to be addressed. In all workplaces, association delegates, officials and operatives are reporting on members’ lack of morale: they feel neither valued nor respected by their employer. Sick leave spirals out of control, WorkCover claims increase, people resign earlier than ever before. What part has multi-skilling to play?
The decisions we make
Police officers, from the newest probationary constable to the Commissioner, make decisions daily. Decision-making is a major part of police work. Of course, the practice is not confined to the police occupation, but decisions made by police officers are constantly scrutinized within the judicial system and in other public forums. When a life is lost owing to a decision, scrutiny intensifies accordingly.
One role in SAPOL that requires constant, complex and thoughtful decision-making is that of the general duties patrol sergeant. The safety of his or her subordinates and the public is a constant factor when making decisions in the field. Recent coronial inquests are testament to the scrutiny of decisions-making.
Few roles are more specialized than that of a patrol sergeant. It is diverse, complex, challenging and, above all, laden with accountable. It is a role that requires experience as well as the necessary, appropriate training.
For many years, SAPOL has – as the need has arisen – used positions within this role to laterally transfer redeployed personnel, or allow employees the opportunity to gain experience as part of a development programme. This process needs to be reconsidered, especially if the patrol sergeants’ decisions – regardless of experience or training – are not supported by their employer in, say, a coroner’s inquest.
Perhaps in the debate on multi-skilling vis-à-vis specialists – the accountability of decision-making within a role could be used as one of the determinants in classifying a specialist.
|
||||||||||
|
The Police Journal Online is an
official publication of the Police Association of South Australia and is
published monthly. Editors of kindred publications can seek permission from the Editor to re-publish any Police Journal Online article. Copyright 2001 The Police Association of South Australia sustance |