Lockdown Musings

As usual I watched Andrew Marr and hearing Amber Rudd reminded me of just how low the calibre of government ministers has become under Boris Johnson. Anyway, my ears pricked-up when she became quite animated with the newspaper story about the police writing personal letters to well-known villains and indeed making visits to encourage them to carry on desisting from previous criminal behaviour at this difficult time for the nation.

Blimey I thought - yet again the police straying in to the kind of work that would once have been the purview of probation. Just the sort of innovative, imaginative, client-centred response to changing circumstances we used to be renowned for and management would not only permit, but would actively encourage. Completely impossible now of course in a service run by civil servants under centralised command and control.

This was all going on as I was realising with some acute embarrassment that I'd sent some readers on a wild-goose chase with a casual reference to FDR's key adviser and former social worker Harry Hopkins having studied and lived in London for a period prior to assuming his role as a Dominic Cummings sort of influence over US policy during the war. I misread it, clearly wanting to hear it because it satisfied certain preconceived ideas on my part. Now that's a danger I'd become acutely aware of during my probation career and so was an inexcusable lapse. By nature my MO has always been to study the evidence and I guess explains my early thoughts of joining the police long before circumstances brought me to probation's door.

Before we leave Harry Hopkins though, his fascinating story serves to remind me of an absolutely key element of what I believe probation is all about, or should be. Put as succinctly as possible it's getting to understand why people think in a certain way and do certain things. Simple to say, but in my view mightily challenging to undertake properly and effectively. A skill essentially not easily taught but rather assisted by life experience, an enquiring mind and openness to on-going self-examination and learning. This is why probation was always open to individualistic characters with life experience and where innovation and flexibility were routine. 

Ok as one reader recently remarked to me 'old Home Office PO grade were pretty much hit and miss Jim' and I wouldn't argue with that, but then what in life isn't? Surely the key thing was that there was a significant number of remarkable practitioners at this time who were responsible for a huge number of enlightened developments such as Community Service, Day Centres, Intermediate Treatment, Family Therapy, Drug Projects, Women's Groups, Housing Support, Literacy Projects etc etc etc. I well recall when I started out, management positively encouraged active community engagement, research, external training opportunities, peer support, consultant mentoring, not to mention encouragement for any developmental ideas from the bottom up. What I would give to go back to such an enlightened environment!

This hasn't quite turned out to be the personal exposition I originally intended on the theme of early influences and why we turn out the way we are, but I'm hungry and it's time to eat, so I guess that'll have to await another day.