It seems that Inspector Gadget has packed up shop and bloggered off. Good luck to him/her. I hope he doubles the time on pension that he spent drawing a salary (something I wish to all my police friends). I was only a casual reader of his blog, probably less than a once a month. I would rarely go so far as to leave a comment as I recognise a pointless exercise when I see one, but I would not wish to diminish the theraputic value of venting that a serving officer/victim of the system would get from being able to do so. Despite that, Gadget actually sent me a personal Christmas greeting once, which was nice.
There are comments on other blogs that I casually surf into (and quickly out of, wiping off any fingerprints as I leave the room) that suggest any number of things regarding this event, for it is an event, and one of those theories is that he was always retired which is why he could never be tracked down and why he could be so prolific, bearing in mind the research and typing time that went into some of those posts. What is also a possibility is that he had a ghostwriter at his elbow/in his house/in his life. Whatever the real answer may be, the posts were always authentic.
Most of the police officers that I have communed with in public post comments or private messages since I started my own ramblings on this `hobby blog` were quick to point out that when it comes to talking about being a police officer, authenticity is something that is very difficult to fake - for long. Gadget was nothing if not authentic. I recognised him pretty quickly, as did thousands of other serving and retired officers hence the huge following. The posts were formulated from real events, real systems and real policies. The frustration, the crass stupidity and the human mire that diverts a massively disproportionate amount of police time away from dealing with people who genuinely need it was all too real. The self-centred and lacklustre management was all too readily identifiable (albeit they're not restricted to the police).
Those outside the police, including politicians, might be forgiven for writing him off as just another bitter and twisted frustrated `commie agitator type` and be thinking, `it can't be that bad`. To that I'd say that I have toned down many of my own `war-stories` for the very reason that I know people outside the job just would not believe them. I have been out of that life for eleven years and so I have no up to the second anecdotal evidence, but I still have a lot of friends who do.
The `Gadget denial brigade` may have argued against his views and hated his attitude on any number of policing issues and the twisted poisoned psychotics hated him just because they hate everyone, but I don't ever recall him being proved a liar.
8 comments:
There was a moment when it looked like the next government (i.e. the current one) would take some of that stuff on board. After all, "c"onservatives are generally against ridiculous procedural nonsense.
I can see how having failed to gain any traction he might have decided to concentrate on other priorities.
As for the time-consuming side of it you are right there was an awful lot of blogging. I suppose he could have come home each morning or night and bashed something out. Or written a few anecdotes over a day off or whatever. But maybe other people sent in examples of ridiculousness as well? Dunno.
SC: Like a lot of this stuff, one gets so sick of more stupidity being poured on old stupidity that its easier to just walk away. However, I was always of the `skinning a cat` school of options.
Did his resignation co-incide with the election of a new Pope by any chance? Or am I just barking up the wrong Da Vinci?
Was it not a Stress blog too ?? All true and rather depressing - He did well to last 7 years ... Some great banter on there. I was linked there before he got really big and happy to drop off as I didn't have security on mine .. Dangerous times for expressing views !!!
I accept the good intentions of most folk until I know better. However my early doubts as to the veracity of Gadget's contentious claims and the unfairness of many smearing campaigns, brought me into early conflict with the blog.
Gadget's claims to be a serving male police Inspector were unconvincing. The blog was used in a cowardly and malicious manner, manipulating a simple-minded and foul-mouthed following. In my view it embodied all that was contemptible of a self serving and corrupt public service. Particularly detestable, was the blocking of fair and polite criticism. This practise degenerated into 'modifying' comments and later, as I can personally testify, the installation of totally fabricated comments.
In my opinion, Gadget was a systematic liar who brought UK police into disrepute, courting libel with professional advice. It was thus Gadget skated freely for many years, only to disappear abruptly while executing a camel spin on thin ice.
Well, some people bring joy when they arrive and some bring it as they leave. Vive la difference.
One thing on Gadget authenticity that did make me wonder was that much of what hesheorit said fit with both my police and later work. The hapless poisonnel stuff is everywhere. I don't get to MTG's view but don't dismiss it as spleen either. To know more we'd need some facts on how much Gadget got from his book and Tshirt sales.
He was chronically wrong on the any new government bringing an end to twaddle like ASBOs and failed to see the Tories would not protect police against public sector cuts. For me Gadget was too politically guileless to Melvin's conspiracy to work - though Hillsborough has revealed there is a serious conspiracy problem. |But for every cop who lied there (nearly all)are dozens of academics who have done the same in relation to the education of our children at university. One wonders what 'something rotten in the State of Denmark' really meant Melvin. I'm sure the penny hasn't dropped!
I've mostly avoided the gadget blog over the last year or two as it tended to bring out the worst Daily Mail side of me - my own fault, not his, but there none the less.
I had gone there after reading Nightjack's blog, on his recommendation. Some of it was interesting, but I found the author a little too thin-skinned at times.
One article, detailing drug mules from abroad shitting out their cargo in some alley to be immediately sold to customers had me wondering why someone would transport cut drugs this way - surely it would make more sense to carry the undiluted product into the country to be cut and then sold? You're caught, you're just as busted. The condom breaks, you're just as dead. It would certainly make more financial sense.
I didn't question the authenticity of the story - I'm not a policeman, so don't have their experience - I was just wondering why this was. I wasn't told why, just shouted down for asking.
ACO: I think I could summarise my own feelings by saying that what he wrote of in respect of paralysing bureaucracy was entirely authentic. Haven't read his books. His talking about the antics of the SMT was pretty well on target too, but as you say, the solutions were `canteen simplistic` at times. I recognised reality in most of what I read, but I reiterate I wasn't a regular, far from it, just a casual surfer.
He obviously hadn't seen as much incompetence and haplessness within the ranks as you and I clearly saw, or if he did he chose not to write of it. That surprised me a little. Most folks I commune with would have plenty of examples of how crap we could sometimes be and would gain all the more sympathy for talking about it, for in so doing we can offer solutions. I don't know of `Melvin`.
Spark`: I think the above covers your points too. He was a bit of a CID and Traffic `hater`. For my part, I found those departments had their fair share of wasters that the rest of the force manged to recruit, retain and endure, but hand on heart the CID and Traffic in my two forces were, in the main, bloody outstanding.
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