The Chief

I was looking forward to watching "The Chief" last night on telly (for those that don't know, it was a documentary following Brunstrum on BBC1 10:35 last night).

Then the time comes for it to be on, but a short announcement...

"In a change to the scheduled programmes, we are showing Helicopter Heros."

Erm, what? There was no reason for the change in schedule, it wasn't running late because of sport etc.

Anyone know what happened?

[Luckypants]

Same here. Might go check the court listings and see if brainstorm had it stopped cos he says something he shouldn't have done.

I wanted to see if he comes over as the tool he really is.

[Luckypants]

This is re-scheduled for tonight at 10:35 pm, on BBC1 Wales

Available via satellite for folks outside Wales.

damn i missed it hope its repeated on another channel

[Spiderman]

Ah shame i missed it to.
I think the bloke is a total **** in his attitude towards bikes and bikers and speed in general BUT i do think his attitude on drugs policy is very forward thinking and sensible.

Now who ever thought a biker would use the words "sensible" and Brumstrom" in the same sentace eh?

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by Spiderman

Now who ever thought a biker would use the words "sensible" and Brumstrom" in the same sentace eh?

You didn't....

OK I did see it.

The bulk of the program was taken up by the Gibney fiasco as they were filming the program at the time. Reading between the lines, the program was postponed in order to give the results of IPCC inquiry into that event.

One thing that was noticeable from the footage of the actual press briefing where the photos were used (none shown on TV) was that they were totally un-prepared for the question as to whether the families (not just the Gibneys) of those used in the photos had been informed or thier permission sought. Brunstrum ducked the issue and handed the question to Geraint Anwyl Williams, who wittered about getting the message over. It was obvious it had not even crossed thier collective mind that the families should have been consulted. That said, Brunstrum admitted on camera several times at the end, filmed after the IPCC report, that he had made a stupid mistake and apologised to the family for 'impacting' upon them. He did not take responsibility for the hurt caused, that was the fault of the press he says who took the images out of context and identified the headless biker.

That last piece above is basically the guy's problem. He has got slopey shoulders when it comes to taking the flak. But also the film showed him as 'single minded' - I would call it obsessive - in his persuit of things. He gets bogged down in the minute details - like he was responsible for showing the photos, but not responsible for upsetting the family because that was 'the press'! He was also filmed saying it was a shame how the work of Paul (Cheshire) and the BikeSafe team had been going so well before the Gibney thing, but did not say it was his fault he just ruined 5 years of hard work! Having met Paul I know he is less than thrilled by the antics of the Chief Constable, his deputy and the head of roads policing.

There was also a section showing his regular Friday meeting with his sidekick (sorry, mean deputy) where basically they just whinge on about the press, certain MPs, bikers etc having a go at them. They HATE the criticism and there was a definite siege mentality in that room. This to me spoke volumes of how detached they are from the public and public opinion.

Overall I was left with the impression of a man who is very intelligent, working hard to be good at his job but is a PR disaster. He is no doubt blinkered about speed and bikers. He is also working hard to bring the community onside, but that will not happen while most of run the risk of 3 points on every straight piece of road in N. Wales. He is focussed on the detail and not on the big picture, he finds delegation hard and does everything to the letter of the law / rules.

I bet he's just not getting any