UK Police officer Bill Barker deserves a medal of honour

News 20 11 2009: PC dies helping others as a bridge collapses. Pc Bill Barker, 44, fell into the River Derwent when the bridge he was standing on in Workington collapsed. His wife Hazel said: "How do you put into words how you feel about somebody you are so proud of? Bill was my best friend, my forever friend, and an amazing dad. Even when he was exhausted from work, he would always take time out for the kids. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "Police Constable Bill Barker died trying to save the lives of others. "He was a very heroic, very brave man who will be sorely missed by everybody who was close to him. "I think we owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude for the service he has shown."。Speaking in Nottingham, where the Cabinet was meeting on a regional away-day, Mr Brown went on: "This is what we mean by emergency services - they are called upon to act in the most difficult of circumstances and this is a day where we pay tribute to everything that is done by our emergency services."。The Home Secretary Alan Johnson paid tribute to Pc Barker.

 

Opinion: PC Bill Barker’s wife Hazel defended her husbands actions in helping others because that was the care that her husband had towards others in his community and to which he should be rightly honoured for in doing so by his community. To place ones life before others in a time of crises isn’t about pay, employment conditions and risk assessment criteria or Political standing but about doing what is right in the circumstances encountered. As regards any comments from Brown Johnson and Co on the issue I somehow feel confident that many Police Officers may take offence to them given the Political issues which underline their effectiveness in Policing – read below.

My condolences Hazel – let peace be with you.

 

OLD NEWS:

00 00 1999 Paul Metcalfe, a Bury firefighter, died after trying to retrieve a drowning teenager from a pond. Untrained in water rescues and ill-equipped, he went into the water with a line but succumbed to hypothermia. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) later decided to prosecute the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />Manchester fire authority.

2002 police training Pool accidet. In July this year, the Metropolitan police were fined £75,000 and ordered to pay £50,000 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching health and safety laws after two 14-year-old boys, Gameli Akuklu and William Kadama, died at a children’s event in 2002 in the swimming pool at the force’s training college in Hendon, north London.

23 09 2007 Police under orders not to save drowning victims. Police Officers are no longer required to be trained in swimming or lifesaving. As a consequence of a H&S breach the Police commissioner John Stevens, ordered a police training pool to be filled in and since then officers have not been trained in swimming or lifesaving. A 10-year-old boy drowned as two police officers stood by and Senior officers with the Greater Manchester force, which employed them, said they acted “correctly”. Police and the Fire service disclosed this weekend that their frontline staff are instructed not to enter the water in case they put themselves in danger. If a force decides to train its officers in water rescue, there are three gradings of competence. Level one involves not entering the water but throwing a line to the victim from dry land. The Executive council member of the Scottish Fire Brigades Union, said most firefighters had absolutely no training in rescuing drowning people. “We don’t think the responsibility lies with us, we aren’t trained and we aren’t funded. We think it lies with the police but we don’t know if they are funded for it,” he said. In March a 42-year-old firefighter, Tam Brown, saved a woman in the River Tay. He was later informed he could face disciplinary action. Brian Paddick, who retired from the Met in May as a deputy assistant commissioner, said: “At that time all recruits were trained to swim and, when they could, they were trained in lifesaving.“As a result of this incident, the then commissioner, John Stevens, ordered the pool to be filled in. Since then, officers have not been trained in swimming or lifesaving.” Paddick, now running as the Liberal Democrat candidate for London mayor, said the approach of the police nationally to health and safety had also been shaken by the death of Kulwant Sidhu, an officer who fell to his death while chasing a suspect across a roof. The HSE brought a prosecution which, although it failed, cost £3m and saw Stevens and his predecessor, Lord Condon, brought before the Old Bailey. “They were prosecuted because they had not instructed officers not to risk their lives operating at height,” said Paddick.

 

14 10 2009 Ambulance crew barred from helping girl 9 due to Health & Safety. Ambulance paramedics battling to save a nine-year-old car crash victim were told the nearest back-up crew could not help as they were on their lunchbreak as per H&S regulations as to lunch breaks which could not be interrupted!. Bethany's father, Stephen 48  'It's unbelievable, it's absolutely ludicrous. My initial reaction is total disbelief. The world really has gone mad. 'I'm speechless. My little girl was lying unconscious in the road and they are quoting statutory health and safety regulations?. 'It's not the paramedics that are the problem, it's the system.' . Schoolgirl Bethany Dibbs suffered a fractured skull and ended up in a coma when a car smashed into her as she rode her scooter across the street. Due to the strict rest-break regulations, the astonished paramedics were informed it would take 20 minutes for another crew to arrive. In the end one of them called their colleagues directly and they immediately abandoned their sandwiches to race to help. One ambulance worker, who asked not be named, said: 'It's the way things are going. Things are happening just down the road and they are not sending the nearest crew. 'There is not one member of the ambulance service who would not go, but we have to be given two 30 minute meal breaks and we can't be interrupted. It's just a joke.' A spokesman for the South Western Ambulance Service Trust defended the decision and said it took its statutory health and safety duties very seriously. He said: 'In line with national guidelines negotiated and agreed by Unison, which must be adhered to by all ambulance trusts nationally under the Agenda for Change scheme, it is important that all staff have dedicated 30 minute rest breaks, which cannot be interrupted. Robert Syms, Conservative MP for Poole, also slammed the current system.