Sussex Police announce review on controversial forced retirement rules
10:05am Wednesday 23rd May 2012 in News By Rebecca Evans
Long-serving police officers facing forced retirement could be spared under new proposals. Sussex Police will recommend to the Sussex Police Authority that rules which force officers to take compulsory retirement after 30 years service be withdrawn from September.
Thirty new officers will also be recruited at the beginning of next year it was announced today. The controversial rule – Police Regulation A19 – was introduced last year as the force looked to make £52 million of cuts by 2015.
Commander of Brighton and Hove Chief Superintendent Graham Bartlett was among the 53 officers who would have been forced to retire if the rules had remained in place for the coming year.
Critics, including crime writer Peter James, said the rule meant the loss of the most experienced officers in the force and was a waste of the investment in years of training. Marion Fanthorpe, director of human resources, said because of savings made elsewhere Sussex Police has reduced the number of officer posts it needs to axe from 500 to 400.
Staff posts have also been reduced from 550 to 450.
She said: “It is with regret that we have had to lose a number of excellent officers, however it has been crucial for us to be able to make the necessary level of savings needed by 2015, given the rates of natural turnover of police officers.
"Along with faster than expected progress on making savings, we have also found higher levels of savings from areas other than direct post reductions than we originally anticipated.
"In light of this progress Sussex Police is proposing to the SPA that the force is in a financial position to end the use of regulation A19 from end of September 2012.
"We still have a long way to go to find all the savings we need, however it is good that we are now in a position to take these two positive steps."
The new officers will be selected from 98 candidates Sussex Police has kept in a recruitment pool.
They are expected to start by May next year.
Source: www.theargus.co.uk
TV stars visit supermarket (From Watford Observer) - Watford Observer
Disney Channel’s Shake it Up Bella Thorne and Zendaya sign copies of CD
10:26am Wednesday 23rd May 2012 in News By Zoe Forsey
The stars of a hit children’s television show visited a Watford supermarket to meet fans and sign copies of their new CD.
Bella Thorne and Zendaya, from the Disney Channel’s Shake it Up spent Saturday morning in Asda in St Albans Road.
Zoe Stewart, a member of the store’s community team, said that they had not realised how in demand the young television stars would be.
She said: "There were a lot of dedicated fans - it was a very excited crowd.
"Some of them were crying and there were lots of fan letters."
Queues stretched across the car park as more than 300 people turned up to meet the pair at their first UK appearance.
Ms Stewart added: "The girls were really excited to see their fans - they really enjoyed it."
The supermarket sold out of copies of the single as fans rushed to buy copies to have signed.
Will Speer, senior TV franchise manager at Disney, said: "The Shake It Up store signing on Saturday was fantastic.
"It was great to see so many fans of the show meet the stars and have the new album signed"
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Source: www.watfordobserver.co.uk
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