Derbyshire police to be taught how to spell
DERBYSHIRE police officers are the first in the country to get a pocket-sized handbook giving them tips on how to spell.
The "Fast Facts for Policing" booklet has been distributed to around 1,800 officers across the county.
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Derbyshire Police badge
Superintendent Gary Knighton said: "This booklet has been produced to help new officers and to give existing officers the chance to improve their report writing skills and the way they deal with victims and witnesses.
"Spellings and terminology are very important in our line of work and accuracy is key when producing official documents.
"We're pleased to be the first force to offer people the opportunity to improve their skills in this way and we hope other constabularies will consider distributing the Fast Facts booklet."
The Derbyshire force has worked closely with the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) to produce the booklet.
NIACE has previously produced similar booklets for people working in a variety of other professions, including nursing, carpentry and health care.
Supt Knighton said the booklet also defines key acronyms which officers may come across in their line of work, including POCA (Proceeds of Crime Act), PNC (Police National Computer) and VPS (victim personal statement).
A spokeswoman for Derbyshire police said the booklets had been funded by the Government.
NIACE says its aim is to "promote the study and general advancement of adult continuing education", and it works to improve literacy, language and numeracy.
A spokesman said: "We believe that through adult learning, we can create and maintain a more skilled and knowledgeable workforce.
" There is now solid evidence that learning is good for your health, your self-esteem and your employability."
NIACE began in 1921 as the British Institute for Adult Education: it is a voluntary organisation and a registered a charity.
It says is has a broad-based membership, with individual and corporate members, ranging from universities, colleges and local authorities to the BBC, the National Federation of Women's Institutes, the Trades Union Congress and Ofcom.
In 2007, it was merged with the Basic Skills Agency. (BSA) merged with NIACE and will work in alliance with Tribal. The resulting Alliance for Lifelong Learning forms the country's leading concentration of expertise in literacy, language and numeracy across all age ranges.
7 Comments
by andy, lawless derby
Monday, January 12 2009, 3:41PM
“Oh. Lets not forget the waste of spending £250,000 over the next few years by giving tazers to traffic police who hardly ever come into contact with agressive street vermin!
carry on constable!”
by andy, lawless derby
Monday, January 12 2009, 3:38PM
“Last week the police were writting-off thousands of crimes because they're just too tricky to solve. Next their boss is moaning that he's go no money for coppers and residents as usual will have to start fending for themselves. And now they're handing out booklets on how to spell correctly! wot a joke.
Criminals of Derbyshire must be laughing all the way to their nearest Ca$hConverters”
by Roy, Derby
Monday, January 12 2009, 2:48PM
“Allo ello ullo, wots orl vis den?”
by Mr Bronson, Belper
Monday, January 12 2009, 1:57PM
“I think the headline is somewhat misleading and taken out of context. Lets be fair many of us are not 'Word Perfect' when it comes to grammar and spelling so lets not be over critical. At least the force have acknowledged the problem and are trying to deal with it. Mel, perhaps 1,800 officers that the booklet is being handed out to are over the age of 40 so it would be difficult to blame current education system wouldn't it. Also John you have a fair point, but at least they are trying to do something about it.”
by John, Spondon
Monday, January 12 2009, 1:14PM
“When I was at work the spelling rot set in. We had young folk entering details into computers that were used to allocate jobs. No one thought their poor spelling mattered. However, when one tried to use the search facility on the programme (English spelling) a lot of the information was not found due to different spellings of the information that had been entered. Just one problem that arises. Incidentaly if you are not too good at spelling try 'Wordweb'”
by John Boy, derby
Monday, January 12 2009, 1:09PM
“another blow for the credibility of our police force. On the basis that they cannot spell what does that say about their level of comprehension. Any good defence lawyer will run rings around them undermining their professional credibility and leading to the guilty going free sad times indeed”
by Mel, Derby
Monday, January 12 2009, 12:53PM
“This is how the education system has deteriorated. When I was taking my exams if you made a spelling error you lost a mark. Now these errors are ignored so the importance of correct spelling isn't enforced at schools. The younger generation can't spell. My eldest daughter's spelling is terrible - even though she gained 8 GCSE's. I suppose computers and spell check haven't helped the cause either.”