A Murderer's Guide to Cleaning :And Other Stories From My Life As A Probation Officer
Elizabeth Baxter has heard it all. Thieves, rapists, drug dealers, burglars, murderers, abusers and arsonists – they’ve all confided in her.
Some are harder to shake than others. There’s sweet, baby-faced Stella who hurled a brick through her ex’s window and threatened to cut off his… well, you get the picture. Jake, who burned down his grandfather’s shed and prized model railway collection. And who could forget Steve, who set up a complex marmite-based distillery in his cell. The moonshine wasn’t for drinking though, but for cleaning. He remains, in Elizabeth’s professional opinion, Britain’s most fastidious murderer.
Recalling her twenty-five years in Britain’s probation service, Elizabeth Baxter offers a fresh perspective on care within the criminal justice system. Warm and humane, A Murderer’s Guide to Cleaning pays tribute to the work of probation officers everywhere, who not only protect the public, but often act as the final safety net for society’s most vulnerable, from teenage asylum seekers to survivors of domestic abuse.
Media Reviews
'In this book, Elizabeth Baxter sheds a forensic professional light on the complexities involved in supervising those who commit crimes. She highlights how the issues of deprivation, inequality and masculinity impact on offending, while setting this within the often chaotic personal circumstances of those whose stories she tells. The Probation Service has absorbed considerable, and often damaging, change over recent decades, but Elizabeth Baxter also reminds us of the necessity of a vital element of Probation intervention; the regular face-to-face engagement between those being supervised and "their" trained, diligent and compassionate Probation Officer. "Public Protection, Enforcement and Rehabilitation" may be the letter-head strap-line, but the actual process of effective supervision in the community will always involve "advise, assist, and befriend".' —Peter Wright, former Chief Probation Officer & Probation Trust Chief Executive
'This is the book I wish I’d written. Loved it.' —Katie Smith, former Head of Learning and Development for London Probation
Elizabeth Baxter is a retired Probation Officer who worked in the service for twenty-five years until its privatisation. A Murderer’s Guide to Cleaning is her first book.
There’s actually a few books floating around by ex-probation - it’s become a trend, Imperfect is one that springs to mind and not very good either. This one from someone “who not only protects the public, but acted as the final safety net for society’s most vulnerable” by breaching all those confidentialities to her clients for £18.99 to top up her pension. Can’t blame her for making a buck but say I’ll be reading it.
ReplyDeleteCan’t say I’ll be reading it either. Another pointless read that springs to mind is Success On Probation: A Step By Step System To Reform Your Life.
Delete25 years in service is hardly a distinguished career when there has been no milestone of achievement.
DeleteThats harsh. I did over 30 years in Probation, with a whole batch of milestone achievements that im proud of. I still treasure a modest coffee mug gifted to me by one of them, when he got to the end of his second, and last, licence.
Delete09:11, depends on what you term ‘milestone achievements.’ I had several during a 30 year career but remained main grade throughout. Obviously these are personal and rewarding to me and possibly the former service users.
ReplyDeleteI probably won’t read the book, but it will undoubtedly be of more interest than one written by some bright young thing who made SPO after 18 months and ACO in 5 years. I suspect that their ‘milestone achievements,’ would be different to mine.
Write a book on murderers cleaning up says it all . We have share of killer offenders all for dramatically different reasons. The only commonality has been the cause of a death. The idea of the title is is possibly not what it's written about but still just 25 years in including development competency career then retirement hardly breaks any records . What's to say there was a handful of murders cases in the office and working them all we know seems unlikely.
DeleteDoes it really matter how long someone's been in the service or what milestones they may have passed?
DeleteThe message I hear is "be careful what you tell your PO because what you say just might end up on the shelves of Waterstones when they leave the service."
It hardly promotes trust does it?
'Getafix
Better point well made gtx but as I say to have some expertise with murderers like it's general work to have lifelong probationers is misleading . So just 25 years is a small time and not long enough to have any broad enough skills with murderers to write a good thesis let alone a book.
DeleteI'd be v worried if actual names were used. I think it's ok to write under a pseudonym and/or use fictional names and be general about prison/community/dates. Discuss
Delete17:31 - but then it’s made up, exaggerated and fabricated. Which is what these books usually are. I’ll save the £18.99.
DeleteYou don't need a name do you. There must be loads of murderers that are known for distilling marmite in there cell to do their cleaning!!!!
DeleteTHE LEROY CAMPBELL CASE: WHY WAS HE FREE TO MURDER LISA SKIDMORE? WHO WAS BLAMED? (2021) by Alison Moss is pretty compelling and harrowing from an SPO's perspective.
ReplyDeleteThe keen-eyed amongst regular readers will have noticed that this endeavour quietly passed another milestone yesterday clocking up its 15 millionth 'hit'. I know this because a very long term fan of the blog sent me a screenshot last night and is therefore inline for a reward of a suitable bottle - again! Warm thanks go to them and everyone who continues to find this place useful and worthwhile. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jim :-) And congratulations. Your blog has been a beacon of light through some very dark times. 15,000,000. Wow.
DeleteIts you that deserves the bottle Jim I think. Always a treat waiting if you should ever venture to my neck of the woods.
Delete15,000,000 is a lot of hits, but it's probably equal to the amount of people that will be being supervised by probation in 10 years time if current trends persist!
'Getafix
Imagine that. 15,000,000 views of this blog, all leading here.
ReplyDeleteDidn’t we just go through privatising, de-privatising, reunifying… and now restructuring all over again? Years of reform and reversal, yet still at the point of failure. In a single Civil Service Job Alert today:
• Probation Officer Returner Scheme
• Senior Probation Officer Returner Scheme
• Prison Officer Returner Scheme
• Youth Justice Returner Scheme
That alone says everything. Alongside 1,700 trainee probation officers under recruitment, numbers rising year on year with glossy campaigns: https://www.probation-institute.org/news/start-your-journey-with-the-probation-service-today
And still, crisis. Still the “hidden arm” of an injustice system stretching probation beyond recognition.
Instead of addressing underpayment, workload, and a system buckling under its own contradictions, HMPPS reaches for the same fix: recycle staff and recruit anew, as if it’s a numbers issue rather than a service “on the brink of collapse”: https://www.probation-institute.org/news/on-the-brink-of-collapse-probation-in-a-criminal-justice-system
It isn’t, and 6% doesn’t cut it. Staff are leaving because the job’s been hollowed out. Expanding sentencing demands add layers of low-value process, while prison overcrowding pushes pressure downstream onto probation without the resources to manage it safely.
Now we see growing reliance on AI and digital tools, not to support judgement, but to standardise and dilute it. Technology as a substitute for investment, not a complement: https://www.probation-institute.org/news/do-we-want-a-high-tech-future-for-the-probation-service
Where does that leave professional skill, human engagement, lived experience? And why serenade “returners” with old ideas of rehabilitation while pushing probation in the opposite direction? Another year, another set of aspirations: https://www.probation-institute.org/news/shaping-probations-identity
What’s actually been delivered? Where’s the investment in practice, in people, in preventing burnout and protecting the public? https://www.probation-institute.org/news/burnout-and-its-real-impact-on-public-protection
Instead, it’s process, targets, and tick-box compliance. So we end up advertising returner schemes as if staff left for no reason, not because the system became unsustainable.
Anyone considering HMPPS should ask: why are people leaving, why does the cycle repeat, and why are root causes ignored?
This isn’t innovation. It’s firefighting with a broken hose. Until pay, workload, prison capacity, and the integrity of probation practice are addressed, nothing changes, and no rebranded campaign will fix it.
Don’t ask me for the email, I’ve already sent it to the recycle bin.
Since we’re sharing books and articles, here’s some uncomfortable truth about the SFO process, the blame game masquerading as “learning”. Well worth a read. And surprisingly, this comes from the Probation Journal, which in recent times has too often sidelined the real practitioner voice while courting HMPPS and justice ministers with passive, complicit pieces.
ReplyDelete“practitioners often feel caught up in a process that is about judgement and blame rather than learning. Opportunities for learning are hampered by a process that is experienced as lacking transparency and which does not routinely share its findings with the practitioners subject to investigation.”
After a serious further offence: The experiences of practitioners
By Jane Dominey, Steve Calder, and Lindsey Whitham
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02645505261437646
This isn’t new insight, it’s confirmation of what practitioners have been saying for years. A process that claims to promote learning, yet withholds its findings. A system that talks transparency, yet operates opaquely. And a culture that defaults to blame, then questions why morale, confidence, and retention are where they are.
At some point, we have to stop pretending this is about improvement, the article doesn’t mince words on this. As it is, practitioners are shut out of the very learning supposedly being generated about their own cases. On the same subject essential reading was already posted above …
THE LEROY CAMPBELL CASE: WHY WAS HE FREE TO MURDER LISA SKIDMORE? WHO WAS BLAMED? (2021) by Alison Moss is pretty compelling and harrowing from an SPO's perspective.
Here we go again.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.globalgovernmentforum.com/new-uk-cabinet-secretary-responsibilities-include-developing-curious-and-engaged-civil-service/
The key responsibilities of the new UK cabinet secretary Antonia Romeo have been published by government, highlighting the priorities for the year ahead include acting as the prime minister’s principal policy adviser and leading an impartial, curious and engaged civil service.
DeleteThe objectives have been agreed with UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and published less than two months after Romeo’s succession to the role from predecessor Sir Chris Wormald.
There are five key objectives set for Romeo, which are:
1) Leading official delivery of the government’s and prime minister’s priorities in support of the government
2) Acting as the prime minister’s principal policy adviser
3) Supporting proper and effective cabinet government and decision-making
4) Reforming the civil service so that it is recognised for excellence in delivery, innovation and improved productivity
5) Leading an impartial, curious and engaged civil service, with a culture of pride that comes from high performance
These objectives have been published days after the government launched a programme with the aim of clearing up the ‘consultation culture’, with Romeo expected to help speed up decision-making and tackle government “sludge”.
An improved alignment between ministers and senior officials was one of the key recommendations of Global Government Forum’s Making Government Work: Five pillars of a modern, effective civil service report.
Based on interviews with 12 senior civil service leaders from around the world, the report identified the key characteristics needed in a modern public service.
Priorities ranging across leadership, digital service delivery, workforce development, cross-departmental integration, and citizen trust, with one key pillar being the need for strong leadership with mutual respect between ministers and senior officials.
The report said there was a need for a clear understanding of political objectives and civil service stewardship as part of a clear, unified vision for government action.
I hope whoever is signing off her expenses is keeping a very close eye on them.
DeleteAt that level we won't ever know and she's handy with a moody claim form so don't expect any reform from the entitled.
Delete