Why that nice little earner is a fair cop

Really, why the smirks and faux outrage at the idea of our cops earning an honest crust?

Since the news broke that some PSNI officers over the last four years have been moonlighting to boost their income, you’d think that it was the whole force earning an extra buck at the checkout on Saturdays.

Instead, it’s a miserable 119 — out of the thousands who have passed through the ranks. Of course, the idea of cops moonlighting is always good fodder for comedians — and commentators.

And, to some extent, officers supplementing their income is a downside to our ‘peace’ dividend. No riots, no bombs and no crises equals no overtime.

Listen to any Belfast taxi driver and you’ll hear tales of phenomenal RUC earnings during the bad, dark days.

We should also remind ourselves that there may be upsides to the notion of moonlighting coppers. At least it shows that they have the vim and gumption to go out and pull down a living. As we are now being reminded almost hourly, these are hard times.

It needs to be said that the officers are doing nothing illegal and the ‘out of office hours’ jobs are tightly proscribed. No running bookies or pubs or anything that could even be perceived as a conflict of interest.

Cops have rights as much as criminals do. And a fundamental one is the right to decide — in the case of a junior officer — that £400-odd per week is not enough to support a family. The honour of wearing the badge and serving the community won’t get you very far with the bank manager.

And what exactly is wrong with a policeman designing websites in his evenings off, being a children’s entertainer or even, in one case, a part-time undertaker?

Yes, there are limits to our tolerance. An ordinary constable is one thing but it becomes a bit more irksome with a sergeant earning £34,000 or an inspector earning £43,000. Let’s not even think of higher ranks earning as much as £67,000. But then again — it’s called living in a free society. To put it bluntly, when they clock off, we ain’t paying them a bean.

There may even be mutually beneficial trade-offs. The cops will have some knowledge of what it’s really like outside the cosy confines of the police station. We, in turn, may more fully appreciate that PSNI officers are human with concerns exactly like ours. It may turn out to be a more effective form of community policing.

It’s all perfectly understandable and not worth the bluster and wind from those pretending to be aghast at the news.

The truth is we demand a lot from our police. We — unfairly perhaps — ask that they be more honest, more hardworking, more — if you like — noble than the rest of us. And that’s hard when you’re doing little nixers here, there and everywhere.

So instead of directing ire at a few policemen and women spending their time as they deem fit, why not aim a bit of righteous wrath at the politicians who created the situation. After all, it is they who decide to pay policemen a wage that, while not exactly a pittance, is not a king’s ransom either. Ordinary PCs may wonder if they are really valued by society. After all, £22k is not a lot more than the most menial of civil servants.

And throw in the pleasure of dealing with drunks, domestics, streetfights, druggies and yobs.

Next time, you see a young policeman wrestling with some thug on the Golden Mile on a Saturday night, ask yourself is that how you’d want to spend your time.

And, oh yes, you also get to live with the thrilling knowledge that there are still some ‘freedom fighters’ out there who want to kill you as an agent of British Imperialism.

Throw in a mortgage and all the usual commitments and no wonder some are feeling the pinch. A policeman’s lot is not necessarily a happy one.

Belfast Telegraph