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Union leader ends service
RETIRING: John OReilly
A top Lancashire police officer has called for the force to be “less risk averse” as he retires after 30 years in service.
John O’Reilly, who steps down as chairman of the Lancashire Police Federation after retiring today, said he believed a growing raft of legislation which impacted on the way officers work.
The 55-year-old has pounded the beat in parts of East Lancashire during his career as well as spending two years in research and development training at police headquarters in Hutton.
He will be replaced by Federation vice-chairman Rachel Baines at the head of the force’s trade union, which represents its 3,300 officers.
Mr O’Reilly said: “I’ve seen some changes to the way the police work, I suppose I joined during the Life On Mars days and I am leaving in a totally different era for policing.
“To me it is too much of a service than a force today. We are not social workers and people shouldn’t expect the police to be that.
“I have seen many changes in legislation and I think some of it has been brought in without proper thought about how it is going to be enforced.
“There is too much emphasis on rehabilitation and not enough on sanction. And to my mind the police service should be less risk-averse.
“But regardless of all that I’ve had a tremendous career and I wouldn’t have swapped it for anything.”
He moved to Lancashire from his native Dublin as an 11-year-old and started his career in the force in December 1981, aged 24 years old, when he served in Rawtenstall.
The retiring officer became a local Federation representative and by 2003 he had become county vice-chairman, a role he held for more than six years, before being elected to the full-time role of chairman in January 2009.
He said: “I have absolutely no regrets about my 30 years in the police.”
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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