Officer Blog - A Tale Of Modern Policing

Staffing

2007-10-16T15:16:00.000Z

I have now been acting skipper on a reactive shift for about a month ish prior to that i was acting neighbourhood skipper.

There are a hell of alot of differences in the responsibilities. I mean struggling to resource jobs with minimum staffing. Trying to bottom out the sometimes poor handovers from the previous shifts (who to be fair dont have a skipper most of the time). And trying to get the team to perform.

Its quite a balance especially where i dont have the numbers on shift to be able to resource Urgent jobs as well as allowing them time to progress their own jobs. At the same time trying to get the detection rate up and getting their workloads down.

I have had to be quite ruthless with their jobs and file them at the first chance i get to save endless enquiries which will lead nowhere in an effort to bring down the number of jobs they are carrying.

In theory if i reduce their current workload then they will be able to be more proactive and get the drugs searches and public order jobs rather that constantly taking statements to progress their own jobs. Also the less work they carry in theory the happier they will be at work. I mean when i used to carry a heavy workload i used to dread coming in to have to do more paperwork, and when the level dropped then i was happier in my role and was getting the proactive stops, the drugs searches, disrupting the drunks causing problems.

Its just so hard to do these days balancing the needs of victims, and the needs of the community as well as the welfare of my officers. Along with resourcing the new jobs coming in which need attendance.

I dont like to keep callers waiting for attendance, but need to prioritise their call because our grading system isnt the best and we really need several kinds of urgent rather than one.

I am going onto nights this week so will be trying to get my officers out there rather than sitting in the nick doing paperwork. I will be out there too trying in an effort to lead by example.

They are not a bad team, they can work hard when pushed, i just want them to work hard, enjoy the job without being pushed.

Having said that, we had 3 officers on duty recently and still managed to arrest 2 for burglary which resulted in them being late off. Sadly they wouldnt allow me overtime to supervise the final stages and i really hope they did a good job after the arrests otherwise it will marr the good efforts at the scene. I guess i little faith and hope they dont let me and themselves down!

First night shifts for over 3 months, could be interesting.

Results

2007-10-16T15:12:00.000Z

Well the results are in and i have the feedback from the Roads Policing board and my application for Sgts Boards.

I got a letter from HQ informing me that i was unsuccessful in my application to boards for the role of Sgt (this is like a paper application before having a job interview).

The same day i got a call from one of the people who did my interview for roads policing. With a "welcome to the department you have passed the board" which is a result for the first time i have ever sat a board. I am quite chuffed and have done my assessment drive which i also passed. So i am just waiting a date to join the department!

Not bad at all, and to be honest if i passed both i was going to withdraw from the Sgts. So hopefully in a few months i will be posing in the guise of a traffic bobby.

100% Attendance

2007-09-25T10:25:00.000Z

Not what you are thinking where we get a bonus for not going sick......

It's our policy soon that we could be attending 100% of calls into the police.

We currently attend around 30% and are run ragged!

Now they want attendance if the caller asks for it rather than if it was justified.

With no increase in staffing numbers.

I see trouble ahead.

I think the police is coming full curcle again on its 5 year turn around. You never know they may disband departments to staff shift (like they did 3 years ago).

John the cynical

All Change

2007-09-25T10:05:00.000Z

My last post on here was a tad negative.

Partly because i was having a bit of a mare having moved off a reactive shift onto a neighbourhood department and leaving the "security" of my shift who i had worked with for a number of years.

Quite a daunting thing really as it was the first time in my career i had left a bloody good team of people both personally and professionally with probably one of the best skippers i have worked with.

The complaint was resolved and i was basically cleared of any wrong doing. This was good for me as i suddenly realised how many people i have worked with over the years came out and supported me. I kept my head down and got on with the job and let the system do it's job as i knew regardless of the rumours i had done nothing wrong.

Not too long after the incident, i received a phone call, offering me a skippers role on the department which i obviously took and soon took on an acting rank.

This was quite weird for me as for some reason alot of people who i would not normally have access to became available to me. The amount of support was also quite a change and the higher ranks talked to me on a level rather than as a PC.

Needless to say i had a job to do and set about doing that job.

I have never been one for hiding in corners and knew although i will eventually go back to being a PC i was in rank and needed to be a sergeant. This meant some unpopular decisions which i hope wont be held against me when i am back to PC.

But it seems to be working, things changed and the department is now working as a team rather than a fragmented single existence for most of the officers.

Coming off a shift where teamwork is important to a department where it appeared that it was a individual effort rather than team was strange. And i wanted to build a team of reliable officers who i could trust.

And after about a month or so, is starting to take shape.

Only for me to leave sometime in the very near future.

It seems that my work has not gone unnoticed. Although i feel that i am just doing my job, others feel im doing more than that.

I will soon be off to shift again.

Not as a PC but as a shift skipper where i will hopefully have a team of officers to work with. Well depending on how many they want to abstract for other departments, annual leave etc!.

This will be interesting for me, i think i will try and get them working the same as my old shift, whether that works is another story!

Also if you remember i applied for roads policing for the second time.

Well i passed paper sift and have recently sat a board for the role where i hope i will get in.

Boards are strange things, in roads policing there are alot of things you need to read up on which took a great number of hours, only to briefly cover topics in a 30 minute interview.

Hopefully i did well and will be offered a role, it's hard to work out how i did really!

So potentially over a period of 3 months i will have been.

A shift PC
A Area Beat Officer.
A Neighbourhood Sgt.
A Shift Sgt
And fingers crossed, a Roads Policing PC.

Well i will know in the next 2 weeks if i did enough to get one of the jobs.

Maybe....

2007-08-08T12:06:00.000Z

From the nightmare of a last few months working on neighbourhoods, things went downhill very quickly, which lead me to wanting to leave sector and go back to reactive on the hurry up.

But things did take a change, i had a new person to mentor who was a breath of fresh air and made me start to enjoy it again. We have been to a fair few jobs, made a good number of arrests, got some good detections and used alot of common sense when dealing with incidents.

Last months problem was moved and is being dealt with and i have been supported and cleared of any wrong doing.

So last month has been quite a positive one after 2 months of crap and left me feeling better about the job as a whole.

So, i decided to submit papers to board to be a sgt which has all been supported. Only to find out that Roads Policing are again advertising, for the area i want to work. This then leaves me with a problem..... Do i carry on to become a sgt or withdraw to apply for RPD???

I am still waiting to see if i can do both at the moment but deep down i want to do RPD and would be a fool to miss the chance of getting in after all i can board every 3 months to be a sgt and RPD doesn't come around that often and i stand quite a good chance of getting a board.

Also i had a call the other day offering me some acting for 3 months which i accepted.

So in a way things seemed to start going my way, hopefully it will continue and ill eventually get onto driving RPD cars which is ultimately what i want to do.

When things look bad, sometimes things will start to go your way, long may it continue and hopefully i wont drop the ball!

Neighbourhood Policing

2007-06-27T11:40:00.000Z

Well after being hastled for a number of months by people of varying ranks i took an attachment to a neighbourhood team.

Somehow they deem me to be an "experienced officer" and asked that i come off core response to work in a neighbourhood team with a few other officers.

With the promise of some good training which i wouldn't get on response and potentially some good evidence for my PDR i accepted and went onto NHP as a Mentor to some of the new kids coming in from the new training scheme.

I like the use of the word mentor because it means they don't have to pay me to be a tutor even though i am actually tutoring.

So this post is really 2 things. Its about NHP and the new training scheme which has been adopted by most forces.

Firstly NHP, I have never seen so many petty harassment's and complaints in my career. Dealing with people who cant resolve problems themselves. You know the type of thing where the normal amongst us would have a word and try to actually speak with the problem neighbour to sort it out.

Well it seems that alot of people claim harassment from a neighbour sitting and laughing at them in the garden or the kid kicking a football against a fence (thanks to NCRS its now crimed as criminal damage or attempt CD) meaning statements need to be taken and the "offender" spoken to or dealt with.

I used to be able to attend the job, give "words of advice" to both parties and never have to go back. Now im dealing with idiots who wont listen who hate the neighbour and when i ask "have you spoken with them about the problem?" i get the response "they wont listen to us but they may listen to you so i didn't bother trying"

Ahhh its annoying to say the least that people think we can sort every little thing out and i don't have better things to do than say "if you continue to laff at your neighbour you may be liable to arrest"

I blame Jeremy Kyle.

Incidentally the number of jobs i get sent to decreases when JK or loose women is on telly.

The new training scheme has been in effect for a while in my force and after a few days i was forced to speak with the department responsible to find out what the hell is going on as the people i am being sent don't know what to do or how to deal with a job. I know we all have to start somewhere but these are officers who are sent out as fit for purpose and sposed to be able to do stuff on there own.

What crap.

In the first 2 weeks i got abandoned by my crew mate in a fight because he didnt agree with the level i went in at and i didnt start from the low level and escalate up.

Ive been doing this job for a while and know what level to go in at but he was having none of it.

He is now seen as a soft touch and was abused by other MOP's in full view of the people he was sposed to be helping. This is something quite scary as its not him thats gonna get hurt its gonna be his crew mate.

So i need to re train him from the school view of policing to the reality of policing. Easier said than done im afraid as he knows it all.

So i am left with a dilemma.

I need to shock him into action and make him realise what the score really is or do i just hope for the best. First option means i may get hurt or his crew mate. Second option means sometime in the future it will go wrong.

It wouldn't be so bad but he cant even deal at a burglary without me guiding him through the job!.

I have to be quite vague here as im not sure what to do for the best. I know hes only new and needs time to adjust and settle in but hes sposed to be able to deal with jobs at the least. And the public order bread and butter stuff will come in theory, but for him i don't think it will.

So this week could get interesting ass im hunting for disorder and attending any violent or disorder type job to at least instill the fact which is you never leave another officer to deal with a violent job on there own, you go hands on regardless.

We are sposed to look after each other and work as a team... a skill which is dearly lacking it seems in this individual.

So he is now my pet project and will update you on his progress as to whether he succeeds and is right for the job or not.

Another Death

2007-06-15T12:40:00.000Z

Tributes to Pc killed in stabbing

Jon Henry leaves a wife and daughter.

Colleagues of a policeman fatally wounded in a triple stabbing have paid tribute to him. Pc Jon Henry was responding to reports of an assault on a window cleaner in Luton when he was attacked on Monday.

Two other men were also stabbed, with one of the victims said to be in a serious but stable condition. A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Chief Constable Gillian Parker said of 36-year-old Pc Henry: "His dedication to his duty cost him his life."

She said: "Jon was one of a large family, a very close family. Jon was a much loved son, brother and husband."

He leaves a wife Mary and a baby Maggie, who is weeks away from her first birthday.
Nicky Dahl, divisional commander for Luton, said Pc Henry had been in good spirits just minutes before he was sent out on Monday morning.

He said: "Jon had been in the police service for three years, and was described by his colleagues as a great guy, always cracking jokes. "At the briefing this morning, he was doing the same. They always laughed, because the jokes were so bad.

"His family described him as someone who was just doing the job he loved, and as someone who loved life."

Pc Henry died at Luton and Dunstable Hospital where the two injured men are being treated.
One of them, a 55-year-old from Luton, was stabbed in the back. Police have not given details of the second man.

Stun gun
Pc Henry was attending 999 calls from two members of the public after a man, said by witnesses to be a window cleaner, was attacked with a knife in Luton town centre. The constable attended in a marked police car and was with a number of other officers when he was wounded.

Police used a baton round and Taser electric stun gun to restrain the knifeman. On Monday Det Supt Keith Garwood, who is heading the murder inquiry, said: "The family are very traumatised by this and are understandably upset and angry.

"This man came to work and they were expecting him home this afternoon and he is not going to be there."

To the scum posting crap in the comments - cowards hide where brave men / women stand.

Another Tragic Event

2007-05-07T20:07:00.000Z

A 43-year-old policeman shot dead at the scene of a domestic argument had been commended five times for bravery.

Married father-of-two Pc Richard Gray, a trained firearms officer, was killed while attending a domestic dispute in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, on Sunday.

West Mercia chief constable Paul West said the Dundee-born officer had previously won recognition for his part in the arrests of two armed men.

The second man to die has been named as Peter Medlicott, 33, from Shrewsbury.

The pest control business owner is understood to have killed himself after shooting Pc Gray.

A .222 calibre rifle, commonly used in pest control, was recovered from the scene.

A post-mortem examination revealed both men died from single gunshot wounds to the head.

The force said a police armed response unit was called to attend a domestic incident at 0610 BST on Sunday in New Park Road.

Det Ch Insp Sheila Thornes said two unarmed officers attended the address as there was no early indication of an armed threat.

"However, when the officers arrived they were challenged by a man who held them at gunpoint," she said.

The officers radioed for help and an armed response vehicle was sent to the scene.

"Both authorised firearms officers were armed and as they went forward they were confronted by a man who shot Pc Ricky Gray.

"Approximately an hour later, the body of a man, now identified as Medlicott, was located by officers close to the scene," she said.

Det Ch Insp Sheila Thornes, who is heading the investigation, said the constable's weapon had not been fired.

She said police were not looking for anyone else in connection with the shooting.

Pc Gray, known as Ricky, married his long-term partner last year.

Mr West told a press conference on Monday that the police officer's family was "understandably devastated".

"Pc Gray was an excellent officer. He was very popular with his colleagues, extremely well-liked and held in the highest regard," Mr West said.

"The fact he had been recommended for five commendations spoke volumes about his character."

Pc Gray received a divisional commendation for rescuing a man trying to jump from Shrewsbury's English Bridge into the River Severn, the conference was told.

He also received a chief constable's commendation for his part in the arrest of an "unstable" man with a firearm.

Pc Gray was additionally recognised for his part in arresting a violent man with a semi-automatic pistol who tried to escape police in a stop-check in April, 2006, in Shrewsbury.

The officer had previously worked for Cheshire Constabulary, serving in the Warrington area from 1997. He later joined the armed response unit before transferring to West Mercia Police in 2003.

R.I.P

Forms and Time

2007-05-04T12:20:00.000Z

Well by some miracle i managed to pass my sgts exam which i sat in March this year. Quite a surprise as to be honest i didn't put as much time into it as i should have and was expecting to fail the exam.

Part of the reason being that i simply did not have the time to put into it. No time on shift to do revision, and not alot of time on my rest days or in the time off after shift. I always try and leave work at work and found it really hard to do work on my rest days. Kind of a work / life balance thing i guess.

So, great i thought, 5 years to become substantive but the flood of letters and emails from personnel etc wanting me to try and become substantive now but i don't think i have the experience to become a full skipper just yet. I did some cover while our skipper was on leave which i kind of enjoyed but was manic due to trying to do the supervisor role as well as crewing a response car and doing jobs.

I am glad of the break now to be honest, 5 days off with the bank holiday.

We had dramas in the last week with restructuring of the shift and being told we need to loose 2 officers off our shift to resource other shifts. Stressful is not the word id use to describe it! And now they turn around and change there minds........... Ahh consistency in the police, don't ya just love it.

We got some new forms the other day, for stop and account! And we had a training day on how to fill in the new form.

Apart from the fact our old forms were stop and account as well as a producer, we now have lost the producer aspect and need to go back to using the old HORT/1 books. All well and good but we will need to do both forms if we ask a driver to account as well as produce! Estimates put it at about 20 mins to fill in the new form.

I have restarted going to the gym again which is painful! And will be making another attempt at stopping smoking (attempt 6 in 3 years).

Another round of traffic jobs came up last month but not for the base i wanted to passed up on doing that one only to find out recently that anyone who passed the board will go into a pool to fill spaces at the base i wanted. Pissed off a tad i was, so looks like ill have another long wait to apply. I thought i was doing the sensible thing rather than getting posted somewhere miles away! But looks like i have shot myself in the foot here! Doh!

Back onto nights soon so looking forward to that and hope its a good set of shifts rather than the dross we have been dealing with recently.

Everyone and there dog has been calling recently wanting us to sort out their "issues". Although it bit someone who called us to tell of their 13 year old son but in the process both admitted assaulting each other which resulted in both getting nicked! Wont be making that call to us again to tell off kiddy for being stroppy. Although im sure that nothing will come out of the job.

End of the year

2007-03-22T10:47:00.000Z

This blog has been running for about 2 years now i think and even though my posts have varied from ranting about how bad the job is to some of the fun times we get to have out there doing the job, i have enjoyed posting up the majority of the content.

Its been good to look back and see what i have been up to as to be honest i have forgotten alot of the fun stuff i have done over the last year or so and it brings a smile to my face.

This has been the first year of me doing PDR (yawn), being a response driver, trying to get into traffic, doing my SGTS exam and being a tutor. Oh and im apparently getting a commendation for saving someones life.

Its been a big change for me coming off the PDP system and actually being a police officer rather than trying to screw the competencies to get signed off as confirmed in post. I was talking to a crew mate one night and likened finishing PDP with someone flicking a switch in your head to become a real copper.

I have also read my mates blogs and kept tabs on what they are up to and its good to see that from being all nervous when we joined to the majority of us doing some good stuff and having fun.

In reality, in the last year i have had a really good time. Yeah the paperwork gets you down, the CPS having no balls and the courts having all the power of a toothless pit bull, all bark and no action. But there has been a great deal of fun out there.

Some cracking jobs, good nicks and some really funny shifts.

Quite a bit of fighting, a few chases both by car and on foot. New kit, more forms, more policies and less discretion.

But the job is what you make it. I choose to make it a good time and enjoy it.

Hopefully things will still improve and there is still fun to be had.

After all you cant do this job unless you have a sense of humour!

Law Enforcement Forum (US)

2007-03-22T10:40:00.000Z

As some may have seen i have added a new link to the sidebar to a US site called Online Police Forum.

The site manager emailed me asking for suggestions to get his site into the wider community and to try and get a worldwide selection of police officers posting on the site.

Over there there is a section for UK police to post in and discuss varying items and tactics and compare what we do here to what they do there.

I have started to post over there and it certainly seems that it is worthwhile discussing stuff as to be honest here we go through the same motions with similar content. At least on that site there will be a more "new" style to posts and threads.

Its certainly worth a look and posting there.

Look forward to chatting to anyone that decides to go and join up and post about the UK policing style.

Update Pt 2

2007-01-23T13:32:00.000Z

Since my last post is a bit negative, we have had some bloody good fun out there as well.

I got into a nice Pursuit, did all the commentary and driving, kept with the car and caught the driver (well my crew mate did that bit)

All good fun and got me some really good feedback which is all good.

Lasted for about 15 mins or so and went everywhere and anywhere, good job it was over night. Car was nicked and 3 up. Quite a good result as my last pursuit ended somewhat differently with me being rammed and injured.

See thats what i love about the job, we just happen to come across it and gave chase. Proper road wars type, all i needed was the voice of Sheriff John Burnell in the background and it would have been perfect.

We have had some cool jobs really, and to be honest i cant remember them all. Many of which have been a good laugh and good for team work.

Its a shame that the managers don't see that side of the job, the side where we give the Scroats a good run for there money and the public are happy.

"did you find my car"
"yes we chased it for ages, and caught the driver"
"really! you actually chased it and caught someone!!"

And to boot the CPS actually gave some cracking charging advice! No extra work and some nice charges.

For some reason, the job went well from start to finish, lets just hope the mags keep up with it and dish out some proper deterrent sentence to this scrote to prevent his mates who are all at it from doing it again.

Scrote that was arrested has no doubt done it before and never got caught!

And we all live happily ever after!

Well we did,
Dunno about the scrote.

Update Pt 1

2007-01-23T13:17:00.000Z

It's been quite a while since my last update here, It's mainly because of Christmas and the like, you know how it is, everything starts to get busy at work, then i spend ages trying to do Christmas shopping (thanks Amazon) and then seeing family.

I managed to get my OSPRE PT 1 application sorted following some cock ups on the part of the force. My application form went astray and it was only by me chasing my registration paperwork that i found out. Fortunately i managed to go to our training center and fill in the form and all is well.

I just need to do some revision now which i am struggling to find time for. Its been a few years since i passed out of Ryton and did exams so im a little bit out of practice. Hopefully be able to squeeze some in over nights.

We have been fairly busy on and off over the past month, mainly with some pretty poor jobs that seem to take an age to sort out. I suspect this is partly to the way we record crime now (seeing as we have been using the same set of rules for ages they keep changing how it is recorded). We are now spending ages bottoming out jobs that are never going anywhere but senior management have decreed we are below on our detection targets so every possibility must be explored. This in turn means we spend more hours on jobs and less time on patrol. It wouldn't be so bad but with some jobs you know it is not going anywhere but we still need EVERY statement and not just the evidential ones before a job can be filed (we used to be able to record witness details and brief account on computers) but now its a full on MG11.

I guess i have become resigned to the fact i can do proactive stuff anymore nor go on patrol as we are too busy doing the paperwork. ( i have been fighting this for ages and still do my best to do proactive stuff).

Has it made any difference.....

Yes recorded crime has increased.
Detection rate has dropped.
Less proactive policing.
More paperwork.

So either way you look at it in 6 months we will get slated from the managers. Crime has gone up what are you doing about it, i want more targeted patrols!

All good fun, i don't get stressed over it anymore. I'm not paid enough to worry about stuff like that!

Maybe we should all resign and come back as PCSO's!

OSPRE PT 1

2006-11-28T13:12:00.000Z

Well as some readers may be aware i was considering doing my skippers exams.

Well after much thinking i decided to do the application forms and send them off to HR.

A bit of checking and it was decided that yeah they have authorized the application and i should get some exam papers sent to me to register for the exam next year.

Part of the reason for this is the fact i have 5 years to complete the workplace based assessments. Part 1 is the exam and to become a substantive sgt you have to be assessed over the course of a year (Pt2).

Also if i pass Pt1 then i can be an acting skipper with all the rights and privileges without doing pt 2.

Part of the reason for doing the paperwork is the support i have had from a few people who out of the blue came up to me saying "are you doing your Pt1 because you would be a good skipper" my own skipper has been hinting at me to apply which has been good and give me confidence in doing it.

Downside is i don't want to be a full skipper just yet as i don't really want to be stuck behind a desk. As you know my goal lies with being a traffic officer, but this will hopefully assist in strengthening my application in the future.

I also re read my failed paper application the other day and looked at the feed back. If you recall at the time i was a but peeved at being rejected but the comments from the Chief were quite good really, stating that i was a strong applicant with a good application but he felt i needed more experience on shift before going forward. This all in all has made me feel better about the whole thing and hopefully my career may be going somewhere rather than dealing with crap day in day out. I still have a great deal of fun on shift and don't want to leave but i guess unless you keep trying you ll stay where you are and never get anywhere.

Also i have had some good feedback as i am becoming known to RPD for some of the stuff i do. But you are only as good as your last job and for all the good stuff you do, people only remember the bad things!

But i guess the moral of this is, if you want something bad enough then keep trying and plugging away.

This job has its bad sides, but it also has its great sides, best job in the world and all that. Besides it gives you the best stories to tell people over a beer.

And also make a difference to peoples lives in a way no matter how small.

I caught a burglar!

2006-11-28T12:49:00.000Z

Yep for the second time in my career i managed to catch a burglar.

Quite a good one really as when we got to the scene, a member of the public (MOP) shouted to us. "Hes over there" i promptly jump from the panda and give chase as hes running with stolen property under his arms down the busy high street.

I scream at him to stop as he runs past other MOP's but he just carries on (there's a surprise!)

He ditches some of the property but is still making off as MOP's just stand at watch him run past while i give chase.

I thought to myself.

I'm never gonna catch him in all this kit but surprisingly to me i am gaining on him. We go around a few corners and i still have sight of him closing the distance and he lobs the last of the stolen property in my direction, now i am closing quite quickly and im not out of breath.

One of the things i have thought about is "what do you do when you catch someone who's running away" i mean, do you rugby tackle them, baton there legs, push them over, grab an arm and do a "take down".

Its not something i have ever really done to be honest until recently at other jobs where i have been more hands on than i would have been 6 months ago.

Well crunch time, i am in range of him and i just jump on him and we both hit the deck, well he hit head first and i landed on him, gripped his arms up and a colleague came and assisted in restraining him.

Cool i thought.

By this time i saw behind me a number of MOP's standing watching and laughing. Matey boy was cuffed and nicked and taken away. I walk back to the scene to what surprised me the most. A few people clapped and someone came out of a shop asking if i wanted free drinks as he had seen what i did and had watched from the start.

Made me smile somewhat i can tell you.

Now back to the hands on thing.

I in the past have been a bit wary of going straight hands on with no control as we are trained to control people. A lot of times we have no control and getting that control is quite hard compared to training.

I think a lot of policing is down to confidence. In the past year or so i have grown, not only in confidence but in size as well (no not the doughnuts) which i think has helped somewhat.

I have commented in the nick about the new kids that join up and do all the training and are afraid to go hands on or use their tools because of the way we are trained. It takes ages to retrain them from this and get them to go hands on when necessary.

In my view we need to be able to be many people.

We need to be kind, caring and considerate to victims of crime and the the police "service"

But in a split second we need to be forceful and to a degree agressive when dealing with suspects and become a "force".

It takes a lot of juggling to become a balance of the 2 and sometimes we can be aggressive when it is not appropriate and other times to considerate on the flip side.

When you learn the balance then the job becomes enjoyable. As a lot of us are taken the piss out of by suspects or "youths" when giving us lip when we need to be more robust in our response.

But there is also a fine line between aggression and assault.

And public perception is everything. A push in the chest can look from a distance a punch in the throat.

Old people

2006-11-28T12:19:00.000Z

Since a lot of my posts recently have been a bit downbeat, i feel the need to post some good stuff that has happened over the past few weeks or so. Mainly because we haven't had a great deal of good jobs to be honest. Some of them are not that funny but its the public responses or those of the suspect that made me chuckle the most.

A while ago my crew was deployed to an immediate graded call of "cows walking in the road" well we weren't deployed as such, we took the call as 1) it was immediate graded and 2) there would be no paperwork. We make with the lights and noise going through traffic as it was daytime, we get to a section of road which is duel carriageway. Its all looking good as both our lanes are clear but the opposing carriageway is quite slow moving as there is traffic queueing for a roundabout. I see in the distance an elderly lady on the pavement, she looks like she is going to cross the road (which is still duel carrageway). I think, nah she cant be and then lo and behold out she steps into the road and begins to walk slowly across the duel carrageway. I change tones and she looks straight at us (im slowing down at this point) she continues to walk into the middle of the 2 lanes on our side so i change to the third tones, she then stops in the middle of the outer lane waving her walking stick at us shouting at us to slow down (im going quite slowly now) she stands there wildly gesticulating at us as we are watching her in disbelief. We go past her and then pick back up the speed again and i still see her in my rear view mirror swearing away at us. I chuckle to myself thinking she must be mad as we approach the pedestrian crossing which was a hundred meters or so away from where she was crossing.

This happens fairly frequently, you know the elderly people assume we are always traveling too fast and stand there shaking there heads when we have all the kit on. Once someone complained we were making too much noise with our sirens in such a quiet area!

It is quite funny sometimes doing immediate drives and the looks we get from the public and other drivers, some seem to want to block our paths and don't move out of the way but amble quite nicely in the road. Its no great issue and ill get past them eventually usually with daggered looks at us from the other drivers who seem greatly inconvenienced by us trying to get past. Again this is usually elderly drivers or pedestrians, who's day i am ruining by making on immediate, spoiling the quiet time in there little worlds. All you can do is chuckle really or you would go mad.

One job i went to was a burglary in progress at an elderly ladies home. The job came in as "caller can hear voices and shouting from her spare bedroom" so we turn up literally a few moments after the call came in and we walk into the house. The lady greats us at the door and says she can still hear the voices in her spare room. We go in and check the room with no signs of entry or any persons. I can hear a radio on in the front room quite loudly which was a bbc world type program about china and protests.

She says to me, can you hear, they are still shouting, there are quite a lot of them.

I ask her "are you sure that's not just your radio?" she replied no, i turned it off a while ago.

The radio is positioned hear to the adjoining wall between the front room and bedroom.

So i turned it off and asked if she can still hear the shouting. She says they have now gone.

I end up concocting a story to make her feel less embarrassed about it being the radio and reassure her that we are in the area and to call us if she hears from them again. For some reason she felt quite intimidated by the noises and part of my job as social worker / carer is to reassure her that there is nothing to worry about and we are on all night and will keep an eye on the area for her.

She was quite happy as she felt she was taken seriously. I went and got some food.

In a way i feel quite sorry that elderly people who need better care are left to there own devices with little or no company. Not the way i would want to be treated at all.

I have dealt with other types of people who have been left to it who have later died becasue of the neglect from social services who after me speaking tot hem say, oh yes we are aware thankyou. Sorry i dont want you to be aware, i want you to provide a level of care to these people who need your help!

Pay award - Now with Conditions!

2006-11-17T15:54:00.000Z

In the never ending farse that our fight for a pay increase this year, John Reid has announced that there will be a review into the way our pay increase is determined.

No doubt this will be another way of reducing the cost to the government of policing and trying to get "Policing on the Cheap".

The Minister for Policing, Security and Community Safety (Mr Tony McNulty): On 6 November the Police Arbitration Tribunal’s recommendation on the police officer 2006 pay award was received.
The Home Secretary responded to this recommendation, agreeing to implement the 3 per cent pay rise for police officers with effect from 1 September 2006. The Home Secretary also noted the tribunal’s comment that we not only had “the right but a duty to consider and put forward different factors and approaches which could be applied in determining police pay” and said that he would be reviewing the way police pay is determined including indexation and would announce the terms of reference of the review shortly Effective pay arrangements for police officers are essential for a modern police service which delivers high standards of community safety and security to the public. We must move quickly to put police officer pay on a sustainable basis. We cannot continue with arrangements which produce pay rises beyond the level which police authorities can afford to pay without detriment to service delivery. For that reason, we will establish a review of the way police pay is determined, reporting early in the New Year and in good time to inform the 2007 pay round. Following this I will also be asking this review to consider further changes to the police pay negotiating machinery. In particular, I am minded to place responsibility for determining chief officer pay within the remit of the Senior Salaries Review body and the review I have announced will look at this as part of its consideration of the options for replacing the current police officer pay determination arrangements.
I have asked Sir Clive Booth to undertake the first part of this review and I am pleased to announce that he has accepted. Sir Clive will report to me in early 2007 with recommendations on the pay determination mechanism that we should use for next year. This along with any other proposals for pay modernisation from the Service or representative organisations will be considered in the 2007 pay round. The Home Secretary and I will consider further how the second part of the review looking at the police negotiating machinery should be take forward including consideration of John Randall’s report on this issue.
The terms of reference for the review are:
TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR REVIEW OF POLICE OFFICER PAY DETERMINATION AND OF POLICE NEGOTIATING MACHINERY
Part 1) To consider the options for replacing the current arrangements for determining changes to police officer pay for 2007 and make recommendations on this. The conclusions and recommendations in part 1 to be framed so as to inform part 2 of the review
Part 2) To review the effectiveness of the negotiating machinery for the police, including the Police Negotiating Board and the Police Staff Council, and make recommendations for how police pay and other conditions of service should be determined. The review must consider the option of a pay review body for police pay and consider the impact of any proposal for determining police officer pay, on the negotiating machinery for police officers
Both parts of the review must take account of the need for arrangements to reflect and support the following:
• The future requirements of the service for the effective and efficient delivery of policing services, motivation and morale and recruitment and retention rates, and overall affordability
• Government policy on public sector pay and the broader economic and employment context, and consistency with the achievement of the inflation target of 2 per cent
• The need to enable wider police workforce developments including proper reward and recognition arrangements
• Arrangements for pay determination in other parts of the public sector
Part 1 should report no later than February 2007, and Part 2 in the autumn of 2007
I have asked Sir Clive Booth to undertake the first part of this review and I am pleased to announce that he has accepted. Sir Clive will report to me in early 2007 with recommendations on the pay determination mechanism that we should use for next year. This along with any other proposals for pay modernisation from the Service or representative organisations will be considered in the 2007 pay round. The Home Secretary and I will consider further how the second part of the review looking at the police negotiating machinery should be take forward including consideration of John Randall’s report on this issue.
The terms of reference for the review are:
TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR REVIEW OF POLICE OFFICER PAY DETERMINATION AND OF POLICE NEGOTIATING MACHINERY
Part 1) To consider the options for replacing the current arrangements for determining changes to police officer pay for 2007 and make recommendations on this. The conclusions and recommendations in part 1 to be framed so as to inform part 2 of the review
Part 2) To review the effectiveness of the negotiating machinery for the police, including the Police Negotiating Board and the Police Staff Council, and make recommendations for how police pay and other conditions of service should be determined. The review must consider the option of a pay review body for police pay and consider the impact of any proposal for determining police officer pay, on the negotiating machinery for police officers
Both parts of the review must take account of the need for arrangements to reflect and support the following:
• The future requirements of the service for the effective and efficient delivery of policing services, motivation and morale and recruitment and retention rates, and overall affordability
• Government policy on public sector pay and the broader economic and employment context, and consistency with the achievement of the inflation target of 2 per cent
• The need to enable wider police workforce developments including proper reward and recognition arrangements
• Arrangements for pay determination in other parts of the public sector

Part 1 should report no later than February 2007, and Part 2 in the autumn of 2007

Police Federation Response:
Following the statement this morning by Police Minister, Tony McNulty, regarding the review of police pay arrangements Jan Berry, Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, says:
" We are bitterly disappointed that despite assurances from the Police Minister that we would be consulted on the terms of reference of this review, we received them the same time as everyone else.
" Given the conclusions of the independent Police Arbitration Tribunal, the pay arrangements review must recognise the special role that police officers play, the dangers they face and the unique restrictions on their private lives. It must also take account of the operational realities of policing.
" Any review where the conclusions are written before the ink is dry on the terms of reference will not win the confidence of police officers".

Pay Result Press Release

2006-11-11T15:02:00.000Z

POLICE NEGOTIATING BOARD – STAFF SIDE
6th November 2006

Police associations join forces to welcome pay crisis arbitration decision.

Welcoming the decision of the independent Police Arbitration Tribunal and speaking for all the police officer staff associations of the UK, Jan Berry, chairman of the Staff Side of the Police Negotiating Board (PNB), says:

"This decision is welcomed by 170,000 police officers throughout the United Kingdom who should have received an increase from 1st September but have been waiting for their pay arrangement to be honoured.

"It is disappointing that this had to go to arbitration but the arbiters’ independent decision reaffirms what we have been saying all along – that the Official Side of the PNB acted unfairly and unjustly by reneging on their commitment to honour our current pay arrangement until it has been renegotiated."

The independent decision of the Police Arbitration Tribunal is binding on both the Official Side and Staff Side of the Police Negotiation Board, and is now passed to the Home Secretary, John Reid, for ratification.

Calling upon the Home Secretary, Mrs Berry says:

"You know the strength of feeling amongst police officers across the UK, who have felt cheated, angry and undervalued throughout this dispute. The independent arbitration tribunal has now delivered its decision and found in our favour. The matter now rests with you Mr Reid. Only you can put this right. Show your support for the police service; honour our pay agreement and pay the 3 per cent now."
ENDS
Further information:
Police Federation of England and Wales press office, 020 8335 1071

3% Is it really enough?

2006-11-02T17:06:00.000Z

It has been a while since my last update, partly because i have been busy dealing with the poorest of jobs which in an ideal world would not be attended, trying to regain control of certain areas where the "youths" have taken a liking too and getting rammed.

I find it quite hard to believe what people deem to be acceptable anymore. When i was a kid and a police officer spoke to me i was polite to him as he was to me if they asked me to move on i would have done, no questions. Now all we seem to get is abuse from them along with a load of backchat which no matter how hard you try will always get your back up. Now imagine what the parents are like. Their little darlings are wreaking havoc and we get it in the neck because "he's only having fun".

Yeah at someone else's expense literally.

Every evening its the same, if I'm not getting grief from little johnny, I'm getting grief from his mum or dad for moving him on, or speaking to him about an offence that has occurred a minute ago around the corner from him.

I am apparently victimising him.

Nothing to do with him being as guilty as sin.

Anti Social behaviour does piss me off, there is no need for some of the behaviour some of the 10 - 17 year olds display, no respect for people or property and the parents are just as bad, no discipline, no consequences for their actions. As its just Kids having fun.

Personally they can do what they like provided they arnt upsetting local residents, im not there to spoil the fun, im there to ensure the local residents can enjoy their peace and quiet.

The parents join in and if thats the kind of attitude that the parents display towards police is it any wonder the kids are just Mini Mee's

So to the title of my post.

3% pay rise that has not been honoured by government, i have kept quiet on this issue for a while but the increasing demands on my and my personal life from the job is getting unbearable. We have massive commitments throughout the force meaning all overtime is cancelled because we are skint, and we are unable to take leave because we have run out of police officers. Duties are changing patterns to keep shifts at minimum manning as well as resourcing other commitments.

This means i am run ragged, most rest days are not honoured. When i attend court i don't get wound back off nights because they will be under staffed on shift. I'm more and more knackered.

I have less time off.
More work due to less numbers on shift.
More and more is being asked of me and my shift which we cannot fulfill safely.
Officer safety is at risk due to tiredness and low staffing levels.
Its only a matter of time before someone gets hurt or worse because of what the powers that be are doing to us.

But strangely, i still really do enjoy my job. Must be a warped sense of humour or more likely, i like being the underdog and come out fighting!

Just gimme my 3% please I've worked hard enough for it this year as well has the majority of officers that i know.

Moral

2006-09-19T13:13:00.000Z

Well, what a crap month it's been for policing in general.

I don't know about anyone else out there but every job i have attended has been shite. Even public order stuff has been on the slow side with no real incidents of disorder.

I have a docket full of crap jobs i can't get rid of, why....
Well part of the problem is we don't have enough officers on shift to be able deal with the incoming work so we have to drop our own enquiries so we can attend the incoming jobs on the system.

This leads to our own jobs getting smellier and smellier as we cant progress them, we then have to extend bail to enable us to get the enquiries done!

The other part is the whole management thing at the moment. We are still under pressure to hit targets which we are all failing badly at right now, again this is down to the low shift numbers, being unable to redeploy to jobs as we are stuck with a non starter generating paperwork and a general moral draining set of circumstances.

To top it all off out duties department have refused all leave we are applying for and say "sorry but you cant carry it all over" Oh but we require you to work on your rest days to cover other low staffed shifts.

There is no time to relax from work, let alone see families at the moment due to the long hours and frequent recalls to duty.

It's a no win situation at the moment, hence why i haven't posted for a while.

But on a lighter note, a funny thing happened to me the other day (well was funny to me)

We went to a fear for welfare type job at an elderly residents house.

No answer at the door so off i wander to find an open window so i can climb in, Aha, an open window.

Check that its still part of the same house and yeah, looks bout right.

So in i climb and go to the front door to let me colleagues into the house.

I open the front door and get a funny look from the other officers, i look around and see that they are banging on next doors house.

Shit, as i slyly close the front door hoping no one saw me, i had climbed into the next doors house and opened their front door.

Cue lots of laughing and piss taking.

That was actually quite funny and really made my shift, its times when the silliest of things happen that make you laugh and enjoy the job.

I was also thinking bout doing my sgts exams, hmmm £10k pay rise for me if i become a skipper, but will it take me too far from what i do actually love doing??

Answers on a post card, or alternatively the comments box!

Cheers all,

JS

A Poem

2006-08-14T16:02:00.000Z

When i was at Ryton doing my training in the last week of my course, my Tutor gave us all a A4 sized piece of paper titled "When God Made Police Officers".

I have been sat here trying to explain to someone what its like being a member of my shift which got me thinking about the poem again. I managed to find an American version which is similar to the British one:

When the Lord was creating Police Officers, He was into his sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared and said,"You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this one."
And the Lord said, "Have you read the requirements on this order?
A Police Officer has to be able to run five miles through alleys in the dark, scale walls, enter homes the health inspector wouldn't touch, and not wrinkle their uniform."
"They have to be able to sit in an undercover car all day on a stakeout, cover a homicide scene that night, canvass the neighborhood for witnesses, and testify in court the next day."
"They have to be in top physical condition at all times, running on black coffee and half-eaten meals, and they have to have six pairs of hands."
The angel shook her head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands . . . no way!!"
"It's not the hands that are causing me problems," said the Lord,
"it's the three pairs of eyes an officer has to have."
"That's on the standard model?" asked the angel.
The Lord nodded.
"One pair that sees through a bulge in a pocket before they ask, 'May I see what's in there, sir?'"(when they already know and wish they'd taken that accounting job) "Another pair here in the side of their head for their partner's safety, and another pair of eyes here in front so they can look reassuringly at a bleeding victim and say, 'You'll be alright, ma'am,' when they know it isn't so."
"Lord," said the angel, touching His sleeve, "rest and work on this tomorrow."
"I can't," said the Lord, "I already have a model that can talk a 250 pound drunk into a patrol car without incident and feed a family of five on a civil service paycheck."
The angel circled the model of the Police Officer very slowly. "Can it think?" she asked.
"You bet," said the Lord, "it can tell you the elements of a hundred crimes, recite Miranda warnings in its sleep, detain, investigate, search, and arrest a gang member on the street in less time than it takes five learned judges to debate the legality of the stop . . . and still it keeps its sense of humor.
This officer also has phenomenal personal control. They can deal with crime scenes painted in hell, coax a confession from a child abuser, comfort a murder victim's family, and then read in the daily paper how law enforcement isn't sensitive to the rights of criminal suspects."
Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the Police Officer.
"There's a leak," she pronounced, "I told you that you were trying to put too much into this model."
"That's not a leak," said the Lord. "It's a tear."
"What's the tear for?" asked the angel.
"It's for bottled-up emotions, for fallen comrades, for commitment to that funny piece of cloth called the American flag, for justice."
"You're a genius," said the angel.
The Lord looked somber.
"I didn't put it there," He said

An Idea

2006-08-03T14:43:00.000Z

A while back i was crewed with another guy off shift and we got to talking about specialist roles.

At the moment if you want to specialize you need to transfer off core shift and into a specialist department.

Now i actually quite enjoy core shift work where i have many roles ranging from emergency response to social services to traffic warden.

I would like to specialize in Roads Policing (Yawn i hear you cry, he's mentioned this hundreds of times) I have applied and been rejected, but i will reapply.

Now my crew mate wants to join Tac Firearms or ARV as they are more commonly known. This again will involve him leaving shift.

So we were discussing this and came up with a solution which may actually make sense.

We decided that core shift was the dumping ground for the force (crap rolls downhill) and experience is a big issue, i mean I'm the most experienced on shift at the moment and i have just under 3 years in.

What we would like to see is a multi role core shift where there is a class 1 driver in a fast response vehicle or maybe 2 which could deal with core shift responsibilities and also deal with traffic related incident, thus keeping experience on shift and enabling officers to learn from each other.

Also we would like to see AFO's on shift so that should there be a spontaneous incident they can be authorized to arm and deal in the immediate instance until more armed support arrives, thus avoiding issues of waiting 30mins for ARV to arrive from miles away. Again experience retained on shift with that little bit extra.

We even thought that maybe a couple of CID trained officers on shift to assist where there is serious incidents to enable proper planning and interviewing skill to be utilised.

This would mean core shift would suddenly have masses of tactical options available 24hrs a day 7 days a week. We would have experienced and well rounded officers on shift who can pass there knowledge to others. Rather than being detached from shift for a few months on attachment.

Just imagine a fully staffed reactive shift with firearms / pursuit / traffic / CID capabilities and each officer able to learn about all these areas. Who would want to leave shift unless they wanted to become dedicated AFO, Traffic or CID. It could even be a stepping stone to these areas thus reducing the drain on resources and keeping core shift at the top of its game with the best mix of abilities and knowledge and each officer knowing what is required from different departments!

Am i dreaming or is this a good idea?

John

PC Copperfield's Book

2006-08-03T14:29:00.000Z

I have just seen on PC Copperfield's blog that he has managed to get a book deal.

It's not been released yet but you can pre-order here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0955285410/026-3909426-5639660?v=glance&n=266239

Should be a good read and look forward to getting my copy, especially if its anything like his blog.

JS

Sorry

2006-08-03T14:12:00.000Z

Sorry, seems to have been a fault somewhere along the blogging lines where my blog was not being displayed.

All seems sorted now and normal service will be resumed.

John

Metpol Ban Blogging

2006-07-19T15:36:00.000Z

I have just read from here http://worldwearydetective.blogspot.com/ (i know im a few months behind the times, its only just been drawn to my attention) that he is hanging up his blogging due to pressures from the powers that be. Its a shame that the views of the underlings are suppressed to keep the public from knowing what we do and how we feel about the job. We don't give any secrets away, we don't name and shame nor do we give any intelligence away. We just comment on our lives as police officers and the effects on us.

I get the impression from reading various websites that the general public like to know what its like on the inside of the secret society known as the police and shows we are not just robots handing out tickets and not arresting anyone.

We show how we are restrained at times, but encouraged at others and we all try to do the best we can with the tools we have been given and that its not actually always our fault, but the fault of the courts, and the senior management team and the government.

I quote from His blog:-

On Friday 3rd March 2006, the Management Board of the Metropolitan Police Service issued the following statement to all members of staff:

'Recently the organisation has become aware of a series of web-logs or blogs - where authors - claiming to be police officers - have offered their views on a number of issues in a highly personalised, often controversial manner.'

This statement is followed by 'guidance' on writing blogs. In summary, this states that although 'blogging' cannot be stopped, the 'impact of expressing views and opinions that are damaging to the organisation or bring the organisation into disrepute' must be considered. Disciplinary proceedings may be considered against posters of material that may be (among other things) defamatory, offensive or otherwise inappropriate.

I have committed no crime. I have compromised no police operations. I have received no payment for anything published on this blog. All opinions expressed are my own.

It is therefore with deep regret and great sadness that I must announce that I will no longer be submitting posts to this blog. I cannot challenge New Scotland Yard. I am weary indeed and cowardice is my bedmate. The protection of my family must take precedence.

To each and every one of you - take note of what has happened here and be afraid.

If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever. - George Orwell.

Best of luck out there, stay safe.

John

Priorities

2006-07-14T10:48:00.000Z

When you first go to join the Police you are told that there are many opportunities to join other departments and move around the Police. In reality the options are very limited as i am finding out.

Some of you may recall i applied for Roads Policing a few months ago and i was paper sifted out the reason being "length of service". To be honest i didn't expect to get in but at the least i would have liked to be able to board for the position (boarding is a form of job interview) and given the reasons i couldn't quite understand how i didn't get a board.

A few things came to light recently.

The current big thing in the police is neighbourhood policing, this is where we work with partner agencies closely and provide a more personal approach to the members of the public. This requires more neighbourhood policing officers (they used to be called area beat officers of ABO's)

The second big thing is Priority Crime Team, this is a unit setup to tackle the forces priority crimes such as vehicle crime, drugs etc and is a sub department of CID.

What i have noticed is that people on shift are going to these departments on attachments of 3 - 6 months with no application and no boarding, and after the attachment is up you can stay if you like. Fair play to the people who wish to work in those areas and best of luck to them but what annoys me is that these people are now specialising in areas where they have less service than me.

So the logical step would be to ask for a traffic attachment.

Well "I'm sorry but we do not have sufficient number on shift to release you" so please explain to me how a week ago we could afford to loose one to ABO's and now in 2 weeks we loose a second person to PCT.

So roads policing isn't an area priority, no great surprises there. But another factor is that RPD is a force roamer role and not dedicated to one police area so they aren't really that bothered.

Its a pain in the backside for me especially where i keep getting asked to join other local departments as it would "Benefit my career" but cant even board to join the department i want to join. I would go to another department if it actually interested me and would help my application but sadly the roles such as PCT or ABO would not benefit me one bit so sorry...

One thing i did decide though is ill keep plugging in the applications every 6 months or so until i get in.

As frustrating as it seems i am quite enjoying myself at the moment on shift and everything seems to be going well so far, but I'm not sure if this is the lull before the storm to be honest as shift numbers get depleted further to fund these "departments" will only lead to more dangers to the front line staff, but that's another topic.

Roll on Roads Policing, at least this gives me the time to get to know some of the traffic guys and i'm already getting talked about by them (in a good way i might add for a change)and I'm getting a reputation for doing good traffic work.

Scum Burglars

2006-06-27T13:47:00.000Z

Yesterday was another interesting day for a short shift. We were sat in briefing when the first immediate job came in.

"ANY UNIT FOR AN IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE FROM AMBULANCE"

Thatll be us then. Me and my crew mate for the shift jumped into a panda, luckily i knew where the road was and we just made our way there as updates came across the radio.

"MALE HAS TAKEN AN OVERDOSE AND CALLED AMBO, AMBO ON SCENE BUT CANNOT GAIN ENTRY"

We arrived moments later and cannot see an easy way in, so i checked the door and with a big kick the door goes in shattering the frame. Shouts of "POLICE" go up and we see the male lying on the floor collapsed. Ambo do there stuff and he is quickly sitting up refusing to go to hospital.

Sad thing is this guy is quite a nice lad but has a few "issues" but we manage to get him to hospital and he seems quite grateful for our help. The door is mended and we resumed.

Moments after we leave the hospital another immediate call comes in (all other units are committed with other work at this time) "ANY UNIT AVALIABLE FOR AN IMMEDIATE THEFT" We were some distance away but take the call and start making, sadly the facts that the caller gave to control room were not quite accurate and the theft was unwitnessed and happened in the past 30 mins. The offence was crimed and the necessary paperwork completed.

We get back into the car to head to the nick to tidy the paperwork up when "ANY UNIT FREE FOR AN IMMEDIATE RTC, ROAD BLOCKED"

I light the car up and start making again only to be cancelled as a roads policing unit starts to make and gets there before us.

We eventually get back to the nick when we are deployed to a couple of urgent jobs which we resolve quite quickly.

We were heading off to do our taskings while the radio was quiet and en route whilst discussing what to have for dinner a very stressed controller shouts our call sign stating "POSSIBLE BURGLARY IN PROGRESS". Again the car gets lit up and the noise goes on and we start making again at speed through traffic. We got to scene very quickly to find an elderly lady had been burgled. It seems 2 lads had knocked her door and then forced there way past her to search the house and take all of a few quid from the house. SCUM.

The only humorous part was the fact the aggrieved called her friends and her neighbours before police making the call some 20 mins old before we were called.

Hopefully SOCO will find something as there is no other witness's, or evidence apart from maybe DNA and fingerprints.

This left me and my crew mate tired and to be honest pissed off with these people who target the elderly, let alone forcing there way past her and searching the property while she is stood there helpless.

I hope we do get SOCO and get these SCUM that did this, no burglary is pleasant and this is aggravated by the aggrieved being elderly prompting thoughts "IF THAT WAS MY NAN ID KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THEM".

We know we are not supposed to get personal but i'm sorry, i positively detest these people who choose easy targets for a few quid. But we are only human.

Hopefully we will get something.

Hopefully they will get whats owed to them in some way in the future in a restorative justice kind of way.

Was a good shift all in all, a lot of work done in a short shift, all commitments met and dealt with.

Bet i still get grief for not progressing my own jobs though!

Blogging help

2006-06-27T13:38:00.000Z

I have now realised that my blog could have a better appearance to you people out there as i have browsed several other blogs.

If anyone out there has suggestions on how to improve this blog, what you'd like to see in stories or any tools or suggestions then I'd like to hear them as i think i need to make a little bit more effort in this blog and maybe put a little bit more time into it so it becomes a better read.

So please post comments with suggestions positive or negative and ill see what i can do.. Don't worry I'm not easily offended!

Not alot to say really

2006-06-22T11:33:00.000Z

I was off work for a couple of weeks due to some much needed annual leave where i managed to leave to UK behind for some warmer weather. But sods law i suddenly got all hot here.

I was aiming to leave the police behind as well but just before i left i was served with a Reg9 notice. (in layman's terms i had a complaint which i was to be investigated over) I cant go into too much detail but it's not a nice feeling but its a necessary evil i guess.

I came back from leave expecting to have some crap thrown at me, but it wasn't too bad. You see when an OIC goes on leave for some holiday then the investigation stops while the OIC is away. So that assault you reported last week will have nothing doing to it for a few weeks. The public seem to think that we are a team who help each other and progress crimes as a team but that is not the case. I have ownership of some 20 crime reports, that's 20 members of the public who's cases i am investigating, a similar number for each other officer on my shift.

The public assume that i work 24/7 365 days a week and am at there beckoned call, but alas i do need to eat, sleep and god forbid have some time off during the week. They phone me during the day when i am on nights, but when I'm free to return the call not too long after 2200 hours then they complain that i am disturbing them and that i should call back at a more sociable hour. Or i just don't call them back until i am on days which could be a week later and they complain that i have not returned their call.

No win situation.

We have now moved to CAPTOR or PAVA spray which is to replace CS spray. On the face of it, it seems great as its a secondary control measure and has been sold to us as "GET IN THE TRANSIT" "NO FUCK OFF" "WILL YOU COMPLY WITH MY REQUEST" "NO" then spray away. Although sounds good, it could be interesting to see what happens in court with it though.

Other than that, not a lot has really happened, but i guess i was away for a while and missed the fun of the fights in the town center a day before i get back on duty.

Hopefully something will happen soon as its getting quite depressing at work recently with everything that's been going on!

Please feel free to post comments or questions on anything.

So slow its grinding to a halt

2006-05-18T12:17:00.000Z

It's been a while since i have updated this blog, seems to have been about a month. I guess its because there really hasn't been anything worthy of writing about. Its been a case of same shite different day really.

I have had a few good jobs which i learnt stuff from, like when the helicopter says the subject is below us, don't actually try to walk directly to the helicopter. It took me a good 10 mins+ to get to the subject whom was an ill person who had collapsed in a field. We climbed fences, jogged through fields of horses to get to the bloke. But helicopters don't stay still so we were actually chasing the helicopter by going directly to it. And we also didn't actually realise there was a path to one side that lead directly to him. But thanks to the helicopter crew for pointing that out when we were nearly on top of the subject! Made for a bit of a giggle and they guy was escorted to the ambo and even wrote a thank you letter to us which was nice and make it all worthwhile.

I'm still getting the drink drivers in, actually I'm getting more drink drivers than normal prisoners recently. Which i think is good, but the powers that be think is bad as there is no "Detection" for the force stats in drink driving. And my stats look ok with the arrests but detections are low because of the drink drivers.

I have since applied for Roads Policing but i was rejected on my paper application as i didn't have long enough in service. Which is interesting as the requirements that they posted meant i was within the limits, but hey ho i guess there is always next time and now I'm working on my Traffic skills more than anything else, but this will soon start to affect everything else.

I mean its not as if we have any quality jobs with bodies on the end of them. Its been like this for the last few months and i cant quite understand why as its just been poor. Assaults called in days after the assault. Thefts with no offenders or CCTV or SOCO. Its bloomin silly at the moment.

Its that bad that i can go out and do proactive work and not get a single thing, not even Friday nights as there are no fights reported at the time, no public order, nothing and it makes the night drag.

Role on summer when hopefully we will be busy dealing with some proper jobs, with offenders on the end.

Is it just my force or is this country wide, are we all in a lull before the storm??

I may actually smile

2006-04-19T14:52:00.000Z

My recent posts seem to be a lot of me moaning about certain things such as the influx of call takers who i think shouldn't be on main channels just yet (i gave another example!), or our AIM Team who supervise our jobs from the safety of their desks and computers or the abuse we receive from the people we are supposed to be protecting.

Firstly, I am not always complaining, honest!

Secondly this is probably the first time i have noticed now things have changed in the time i have been in the force, which i would agree isn't very long but so much has changed which quite frankly is depressing. I in all honesty some days cant understand why people join the police.

Part of the problem recently has been the quality of the jobs we are attending, they are piss poor and i don't mean we still get the odd quality job, i mean we get all crap with no detections at the end just mindless paperwork for paperwork's sake. And when i get a good job which seems clear cut to me, the CPS (cant / wont prosecute service) wont charge "just yet" even though the suspect admitted the offence on tape and the advice was to just decide what charge to put to him.

But we have had some fun recently, i am always of the opinion and i say this to all the new people that come onto shift, to always have fun whenever possible in this job or it will get you down.

On one of my weirder shifts i came across 3 jobs that took me 11 hours to complete and none of the 3 were remotely similar which i just loved as it is what makes this job, one minute we are fighting the next we are doing something silly.

1st job comes in "immediate suspect suicide" we attend and yep the guy has died his family are on scene and are very distraught, which is understandable given the method in which they found him and the way he died. This was my first suicide of this type and i had a younger in service crew mate but we did well given all accounts.

2nd job comes in "Sheep in road" i actually volunteered for this job and i needed a bit of a laff, we go on scene to find several 8 year olds desperate to assist us in our search. I thought ah well community relations an all that and off we went to find the lone sheep which we eventually found and we had to carry it once we had cornered and rugby tackled the sheep.

3rd job was to assist ambulance with a person who had taken an overdose, no biggy until we found him and he was a big lad who didn't want to go to hospital. I section him under the mental health act, he tried to escape, the ambo crew run away and i get lobbed out of an ambulance along with my crew mate. I call for assistance and the controller who wasn't listening even though i had said listen out as he may kick off, asked me to repeat my transmission twice. Luckily everyone else herd me and came as quick as. Long story short, we turn up mob handed and eventually with a struggle get him into custody.

This was a good day and believe it or not it reminded me of why i enjoy this job. It was emotional, it was funny and we had a fight and a laff and i went home thinking "what other job can give you this mix of jobs in a day" and the answer is probably not many. Actually thinking about it you need to be mad to enjoy this job.

So for one day i couldn't care less about the people behind the desks, i did my job and enjoyed doing it. And i came away from work with a smile on my face.

Its amazing how one day can change your outlook on the job.

Lets hope we have many more.

JS

Call Takers and Dispatchers

2006-03-27T17:02:00.000Z

Recently in my force there has been an increase in call takers and radio dispatchers. We obviously were never told about this and have managed to work out what is happening. There is a new management "clear the box" ethos where controllers desperately try to off load old unresourced jobs onto response officers. The reason for this is the civilian "lets create a job for everything" ethos and as i have mentioned before the crime managements "lets crime everything before attendance" ethos.

You see we have now woken up to this and are aware of what these people are trying to do.

The situation used to be we knew our controllers, we could tell by the tone of the voice how urgent the job was and would trust them to the point that if they called me and said "we really need to attend asap but its not immediate" then we would go off and get there straight away rather than do something else first as its not immediate.

Now we have the reverse, we have new controllers who sound panicked when an urgent commitment job comes in but they don't give us the grading when they hail us. "Any unit available for an assault at xxxx respond with call sign" now the tone of voice suggests that this is happening now and is a fight in progress but no, its 3 days old. We have been caught out too often now that immediate commitment jobs are being unresourced because we simply don't trust the controllers.

The call takers are creating jobs that come in that really don't need any police involvement. Jobs such as "my ex husband has cc'd me into a letter he has written to the solicitors" now you would have thought that this would be a non starter advice given by the telephone ops but no, its classified as urgent attendance (within 45 mins) domestic harassment.
Great you think but it gets better
Now Crime management have seen this job come in and its yet to be resourced so they set about criming it as a domestic harassment. Even though on attendance you read the letter and its totally legit correspondence no harassment aspect there at all. No crime and move on maybe but no, now we need to investigate it!

Whatever happened to DISCRESION.

Civilians have taken away the core function of policing which is discretion. Now I'm nicking Mr domestic harassment because its been clasified as such. And SOCA powers mean i have to justify the arrest. But no Domestic Violence Unit state that we must take "Positive Action" and this means arrest to prevent physical harm to the caller.

I always try to police practically. Arrest when necessary, suitable advice when appropriate.

Its getting harder and harder to do now so much so we will soon be robots doing as we are told and I'm damned sure that, that is not what was meant to happen when we were sworn in as the powers were given to us not to the force and we should not be told to use our powers when we don't feel it right to do so!

End Rant
JS

Police Force Mergers - The Decision

2006-03-21T17:24:00.000Z

Well the alleged consultation process has been completed. But i'm not sure when this happened or how we were consulted, must have been one of those sneaky consultation all user emails that we never read!

BBC News Report

JS

Nothing like respect

2006-03-20T14:02:00.000Z

There is a small town with a fairly condensed population. The majority of which populate the town center of a Friday / Saturday night which is not uncommon of many towns over the weekend.
This one is quite heavily policed though over the weekend as it is prone to lots of trouble coming from nowhere. On one weekend, the usual gobby people are out, shouting at police and generally being a nuisance.
The people in general are spoken too and you would have liked to think that sense was seen and everyone went away happily......

Noooo, these people started making phone calls and down come there mates. and before we know it we have a hell of a lot of Asian youths trying to provoke the police into action. The reasoning we think is to alow us to be accused of being racist.

We receive racial abuse as well as being accused of being racist ourselves. We hold off just trying to keep a lid on things but there is only so long you can be called various names and generally abused. Several units arrive on scene as well as dog units and an ARV came along.

First off you would hope a show of force may make them think twice. But it didnt, more phone calls were made and more Asian youths arrived.

Out comes the dog as it was starting to look like it was going to kick off and the sight of a snarling land shark is hopefully enough to dissuade them but unfortunate the response we get is "Let the F***ing dog go then ill F***ing kill it" etc etc etc they run at the dog knowing it wont be released.

The ARV crew get in the mix pushing people about in their own way only to be fronted by a large group of people taunting "come on Hit me you fat B***ard" or "go on nick me then and see what happens" We did not have the resources to make arrests and if we were to arrest then its a 30 min ride to the nearest custody.

Eventually everyone went there own way but that was down to the police backing off more than anything.

I am of the opinion that we should not have backed away, we should have done what we are paid to do and arrest these scum regardless of there race.

I am aware that officer safety is at the back of our minds all the time, but we have a job to do and we cant let people get away with this or it will happen again and again.

I personally am of the opinion, well lets try and sort it we have CS and batons lets see what happens when we do show force against them and show we are not scared!

Arm the Police Poll

2006-03-03T16:52:00.000Z

I have created a quick Poll on arming the police, please take the time to have a quick look and vote.

It would be interesting to get peoples views on this as i have my own as do my colleagues!

Ill Post the results in a few weeks.

Thanks

JS

Tutoring

2006-02-27T11:52:00.000Z

I have been off shift for just over a week now as i have been attending another course.

This one was a Tutors course, which basically a course which allows me to train new officers when they first come out of training school. So the first contact with the harsh reality of policing will be me!

Now what would you expect to be in a Tutors course???
Would it be law training to ensure you were up to date with current legislation?
Would it be Officer safety training to ensure that your self defense ability is current?
Would there be lots of role plays to test the new knowledge to ensure it was all settling in?

Well to the majority of that it would be no.

It was basically a course on how to train people which i agree will be beneficial in allowing me to recognise leaning styles and adapt my training to the level of the student, it taught me how to recognise Tutor / Tutee friction and how to resolve welfare issues, with half a days role play with a "Real" Tutee in scenarios to see if it all fitted in.

Actually as cynical as i am being here it was a good course, and for a weeks course it was quite good as it did cram alot in, it was lacking in some departments (But Hey its the Police we never do everything properly).
The test will be when i get my "New Kid" to tutor which maybe soon but again it may be months away i will have to find out but when i do get a Tutee you can guarantee that this blog will take on a whole new direction for a few weeks!

JS

NCRS

2006-02-08T16:22:00.000Z

NCRS is the National Crime Recording Standard which was introduced to ensure all forces recorded crime accurately and crime reports were generated where appropriate. The only time where a crime report should not be generated is when:
1)There is credible evidence to suggest a crime has not happened.
2)There is a non personal crime or there is no victim.

But there could be a crime related incident which does not need a victim ie CCTV calls in and says there is a fight in the street but officers arrive and there is no one to be found. Then a crime related incident should be completed (CRI)

My force is currently telling us not to crime everything because we are recording too much crime. But frequently i am finding that a call comes in, i attend and discover that there are no actual offences. I Write the job off as no offences and carry on with my job.

I then find that someone (a civilian) has generated a crime report and i now have to investigate this as a crime. I now need to get a statement from the Aggrieved confirming that there has been no crime, and witness's statements confirming that they did not witness a crime and corroborating the Aggd's statement. I then have to secure any evidence supporting that no crime has been committed.

So basically i am investigating something that is not a crime to prove that it is not a crime. Rather than investigating an incident to get an offender and the crime detected.

So much for reducing the amount of time officers are tied up with paperwork!

So recently i have now discovered that everything we attend will be at the least a Crime Related Incident and recorded appropriately.

It has now been expanded to the drunk in the street.

Call comes in, male has been assaulted by unknown offender(s).
Male is very pissed with no injuries and tells police nah i cant be bothered with it and provides no further info.

We would have given him the Number for the job and say, look your drunk, call in the morning if you decide you want to make a complaint.

Job done.

Now we have to record it as a CRI and get an account from him at the scene and further investigate when he is sober. Seize CCTV, witness details etc.

Now catch 22. We are not allowed to get accounts from Aggd's if they are drunk if we do so we are up for a disciplinary.

Cant win now we have officers tied up on a Friday Saturday night with drunk Aggd's who don't want us there trying to generate a crime report which does not need to be crimed.
We also have out own force saying, don't crime everything unless a complaint is going to be made.
By the same token the Civilians criming everything even before we get there.

Bureaucracy at its best.

JS

Police Slang

2006-02-03T12:44:00.000Z

I found this on Policeoracle.com

A lot of this list is a big NO-NO and no longer gets used and probably shouldn't get used.

Angler: a thief who uses a rod or pole to steal from ground-floor windows.
Bad Call: What your police partner says when they think you need an eyesight test. Usually uttered after you've pointed out a member of the opposite sex.
Bamber, to do a: UK police expression which means to make a mistake.
Banter: leg pulling. eg: Good banter, fierce banter, nasty banter. To describe a close knit a team. eg. 'They've got good banter that lot'.
Black Rat: Originally Met traffic officer. Now in general use. Allegedly chosen as a motif because it's one of the only animals that'll actually eat it's own young! Until fairly recently a traffic officer could place a black rat sticker in their private car as an unobtrusive way of 'showing out' to colleagues, in the hope that they wouldn't get pulled for driving offences etc. Now-a-days it's more than likely that the car doing 90mph in front of you with a rodent sticker on it's number plate isn't actually being driven by a Black Rat, but a sl*g boy racer who's chancing his arm. Give him a tug.
Black Rover: Warrant card, when used as a travel card on bus, tube or train.
Blag: a violent robbery or raid; the act of using clever talk or lying to get something. Also to get something free, or at vastly reduced price. Also see G.T.P and Do you take warrant card?
Blues and Twos: Driving very fast on an emergency call.
Body: Potential/Valued customer wearing handcuffs.
Boy Racer: Term of endearment for young and usually spotty members of the public. Usually said to male drivers who travel at high speed in their spoiler clad Vauxhall Novas.
Brew: Hot beverage, usually but not always tea. See also chink-chink.
Brief: a solicitor or barrister. Also brief, a police officer's warrant card.
Canteen Cowboy: Police officer, generally young in service. One who likes to advise other officers, usually younger in service than the cowboy. Can be used as a put down, but usually behind the cowboy's back. eg: 'He's a real canteen cowboy that one'. Can be used as term of endearment during banter. eg: 'You're a real canteen cowboy, you are!' Slap on the back, guffaws etc.
Chink-Chink: The sound that cups make when knocked together. Called over the radio to indicate that a brew's up. If more than one station shares the same channel to avoid disappointing thirsty officers, chink-chink may be followed by the individual station's call sign at which the brew is ready and waiting.
Clothes Hanger: Useless or ineffective police officer. See also uniform carrier.
Con: convict, confidence trick
Cooking the books: The art of making an area appear safer to the public than it actually is in reality. Also see not carnival related.
Cush: savings to fall back on. From cushion.
Datastreaming: a growing crime where a hacker obtains credit card details to create counterfeit cards.
Do you take warrant card?: Method of payment for goods or services by police officers. Practice believed to have been totally eradicated in the early 1900's. More flexible than your most flexible friend. eg. 'How would you like to pay for this curry?' 'Do you take warrant card?' 'That'll do nicely sir'. It has been said that back in the early 1900's some officers in the UK had totally done away with the need to carry any other form of accepted payment on their person. Also see: G.T.P. and Blag.
Done it in: To be late for a shift. eg. 'Can you show me weekly leave in lieu, I have done it in for early turn again....'
Down, going: to be sent to prison.
Double-Bubble: To be in the unlikely position of earning double time. eg. 'I've got double-bubble...... Yeee-Haaa!'
End: share proceeds from a crime.
Early turn: Shift or tour of duty starting at 6am. Can be used as an excuse for various bodily functions or odours. 'What's that smell?' 'Sorry it's me, I have early turn bottom'.
Force Feeding: Sampling the culinary delights created by Michelin starred chefs employed to look after the delicate palates of Police officers. Force is often uttered with a silent 'd'.
Front: a person with a clean criminal record who provides an acceptable face for a known criminal who is the real owner of a club or business.
Gate fever: the emotion shown by a prisoner nearing the end of his sentence.
Get pulled: To be stopped by police, also give tug. Can also mean to be taken to one side by a senior officer and spoken to about something. Usually something you've done wrong. eg. 'I got pulled over not having a shave'.
Give tug: As in 'give him a tug'. Same as get pulled.
Good Call: Very rare occasion where police presence is required. Also may be used by fellow officers in reply to your attempts at pointing out a particular attractive member of the public. Negative may be Bad Call or worse.
Grass: an informer
G.T.P.: G ood T o P olice. Many things can be considered G.T.P. Shops that provide discounts, curry houses, night clubs that provide free entry etc. G.T.P -The unethical practice of using your position as a police officer to obtain services or goods for free. (or at wildly knocked down prices.) Business that are G.T.P are never found advertising on the local nick's canteen notice board, nor are these businesses ever advertised in a particular force's in-house magazine or newspaper. The practice of police officers frequenting G.T.P. businesses is believed to have been eradicated in the early 1900's - Thank god. It has been said that before this time police officers had to make a show of paying for goods, then feign embarrassment that the shop owner had seen the officer's brief fully opened and left on the shop owner's counter, before this farcical act of attempting to pay for items had even taken place. It is also said that officers would pass on information about any particular shop's G.T.P'dness to fellow officers - Outrageous! We're definitely glad it doesn't happen anymore. Also see: Blag and Do you take warrant card?
Ghurkha: Someone who has forgotten their powers of arrest. Taken from stories from the British army, e.g. Ghurka's don't take prisoners.
Guv: Officer of at least Inspector rank. Someone who doesn’t get paid any overtime.
Hobbit: a prisoner who complies with the system.
Icecream: a narcotic.
Jumper: a thief who steals from offices.
Ker-Ching: as in noise made by a cash register. Usually said out loud shortly after giving a caution for littering (or any other sec.25 worthy offence.) ten minutes prior to clocking off time. Also see over-time bandit.
Kremlin: New Scotland Yard.
L.O.B. A call which did not require police presence. Load Of Bollocks, in less politically correct times was often heard on the police radio, was often given by old sweats as a result to a call.
Lag: a person who has been frequently convicted and sent to prison. Often 'old lag'.
L.A.S: People who make drunks disappear, take our carefully applied bandages off and know which nurses at the local hospital are currently single.
Late turn: Shift / tour of duty that starts at 2pm.
Local nick: police station
Lump, The: building site fraud to avoid payment of income tax.
M.O.: modus operandi. The way in which a criminal commits a crime.
Muppet: Most Useless Police Person Ever Trained. Generally a term of endearment used whilst engaging in banter. Used when someone makes a mistake. eg. 'You muppet, you've forgotten to bring the white stuff back with you'.
Nick: to arrest someone. Also Police Station eg. 'I'll see you back at the nick'.
Night duty: Shift that starts at 10pm. Usually called nights. Causes zombie like states in some officers, growth of whiskers, night duty bottom etc.
NonDe: Non descript, used when referring to an unmarked police vehicle taken out on obbo's.
Not Carnival Related: Blatant lie. Met. Usually said to press or police officers during briefings carried out over the Notting Hill carnival weekend. To give the appearance to the public that the carnival has been totally crime free for the umpteenth year running....! eg. 'There's been 3 floats TDA'd, 5 sound systems stolen, 2 gun point robberies, 4 indecent assaults and 12 reported incidents of steaming in the last 24 hours. Also there was a small localised riot around the BoomBoomCrew's sound stage at 4am, after local residents complained of a noise nuisiance to the council. Happily we've just heard that the environment officer who attempted to turn the volume down will be out of intensive care in a few days, doctors are hopeful he'll function quite normally with only one lung. Ready for it........ All of these reported crimes we can safely say are not carnival related, so feel free to bring the family and kids along to soak up some of the great carnival atmosphere expected here today'.
Nut: the expenses incurred by a thief setting up a robbery or theft. Also second most important piece of equipment after stick.
Obbo: police observation on criminals.
Old Bill: Full details here on another thread.
Old Sweat: description of an officer long in service. possible term of endearment. Considered made it, see it, done it.
Onion: Sergeant. Onion Bargie - Sargie. eg 'watch out the onion's coming!'
Over-Time Bandit: Officer who generally uses ker-ching frequently.
Padding: unscrupulous police practice of adding to a drugs haul to upgrade an arrest and ensure a conviction.
Pig: Polite, Intelligent Gentleman.
Plonk: Person of Little Or No Knowledge. definitely a 'no-no' these days!
Probationer:The officer who just gave you a ticket for no seatbelt.
Q.E.: Queen's evidence. An accomplice in a crime giving evidence in the hope of a lighter sentences.
Ramp: a police search or a criminal swindle.
Rat: Really Adept at Traffic law.
Refs: Refreshment break, meal break. eg. 'what time refs are you?' Mainly Met speak.
Sarge: Sergeant. See Onion
Section House: Large, usually decaying tower block housing young single police officers. Just like the TV program men behaving badly, but on a much, much larger scale. Also see sl*g.
Shiny Arse: Derogatory term for an officer employed in a long term office environment.
Shoulder-surfing: stealing pin numbers at cashpoints for use later with copied cards.
Showing Out: The unethical practice of hinting to an officer upon being stopped that you are a fellow officer and therefore not a sl*g. Done in the hope of receiving unfair treatment which we in no way condone e.g 'Have you got any ID on you sir?' - 'Why yes officer, I think I have my driving licence in my brief side pocket'. 'Do you realise you hit 97mph over the hump back bridge 10 miles back?' - 'Sorry officer, I'm court off nights this morning, I'm rushing home to get my number ones'. 'Have you ever taken a breath test before?' - 'Only when I was at training school, I blew under after having ten pints that day too'.
Slammer, the: prison.
sl*g: criminal. eg. 'he's a right sl*g that one'. Also person of low sexual morals, usually found living in a section house.
Suspect: Potential customer.
Snitch: informer
Sorted: everything is organised eg: 'It's sorted.'
Spin Drum: To perform a search, generally to search a property. 'We're gonna spin his drum'. Spun Drum, property already searched. 'We spun his drum and found nuffink'.
Station Cat: Officer who preens themselves and finds every excuse possible not to leave the factory, work shy, a borderline shiny arse. Not to be confused with Station Cat: a nice, friendly, fluffy whiskered feline whom keeps itself busy by sorting the rodent population at the nick and living on tidbits thrown to it at refs time.
Strawberry Mivvie: Civvie. Civilian police staff. Can be shortened to Strawbs etc.
Stick: Truncheon, now mainly out of popular usage except with Old Sweats. eg. 'stick him'. or 'sticks out'.
Sticked: To have been hit with a truncheon for failing to do what you're told. eg. 'I had no choice, I sticked him'.
Stick Out: to have your cover blown when in plain clothes. Generally caused by having a short back and sides hair cut, wearing dr martins boots, police issue black leather belt, blue jeans, white t-shirt and lumberjack type checked shirt whilst following a suspect in an ethnically diverse area of East London! 'You Muppet!' Also Stick Out: A particularly dangerous situation. eg. 'It was so bad, I got my stick out'.
Suit: A person who spends his/her time at a desk on the phone and computer.
Supergrass: a very important informer
The Bill: The Bill, popular UK TV program that Police officers watch to see the newest item of kit that may, or may not eventually find it's way down to the sharp end. For Old Bill click here to find huge detailed list of possible origins.
The Factory: Police station, generally used by those in the office.
The Filth: Criminal term for the police.
The Griff: The full facts, as in "give me the griff on that would you old chap."
The Office: Generally CID term for police station. eg. 'After we've spun his drum, we'll all meet back at the office.... Sniff'.
Thief Taker: Term of praise for a police officer. An uncanny radar-like ability to spot a criminal. eg. 'he's a good thief taker that one'.
Time, to do: to serve a prison sentence
Tit: Hat worn by wooden-tops for the benefit of tourists’ digital cameras. Plonks don’t generally have these.
Tour of duty: An alloted shift at work. Generally when referring to early turn, late turn or night duty. Couldn't be used by a shiny arse in front of shift officers. Shift officers do not consider anyone working usual daytime hours to be actually working at all. In fact they shouldn't be allowed to carry a warrant card, wear a uniform,receive pay at the same rate, park in the station yard etc.
Trumpton: Fire Brigade, very adept at cutting the roofs off of slightly dented cars. Rumoured to be prone to stealing, practice believed eradicated back in the early 1900's.
Truncheon: Stick
TWOC: to take without the owners consent. A Twocer is someone who steals vehicles etc. Also in Met land TDA: Taken and driven away.
Uniform Carrier: Useless or ineffective police officer. See also clothes hanger.
Upstairs: to be convicted at the crown court. The dock is reached by climbing the stairs form the cells.
VPU: Vulnerable prisoner unit, used to keep prisoners likely to be victimised away form other prisoners.
White Stuff: Milk, the second most important ingredient of a police officer's staple hot beverage.
Window warrior: a prisoner who constantly shouts from his cell window.
Window Licker: Definite 'no-no' these days. Someone who is quite obviously mad, deranged, psychotic etc. eg. 'He's a right window licker that one'.
Wooden-Top: A person who spends his/her time dealing with domestics.
YOIs: Young offenders institute.
Zombie: a particularly nasty prison officer - more dead than alive.

Call for CS to be withdrawn

2006-02-03T11:49:00.000Z

I found this news article on the BBC news website

BBC News Report

It relates to a man in Dorset who had an adverse reaction to being sprayed with CS Spray.
He was exposed to the spray following him trying to intervene when his friend was being spoken to by police.

He had come from the pub and went to intervene with some others from the pub, somewhere along the lines he got CS'd and arrested for Public Order offences.

Any police officer can translate that into. He was drunk saw his friend being spoken to and got the arse and kicked off, CS deployed and he was arrested.

The family are going to try and claim compensation and get it banned from police use.

What a Joke, i mean we all know that CS can have adverse reaction but it doesn't get used lightly, its a defence measure.

Bottom line is if you don't want to get Hit, Sprayed or arrested then don't act in a way that will result in being hit, sprayed or arrested.

Its like the arguments for not using Taser "if you use taser on someone with a pacemaker then it may affect the heart" Well, don't do anything that could get you tasered really.

People need to accept responsibility for their actions and the resulting action. If i go into town and start abusing some drunks i expect to get punched.

Cause and effect.

Sir you DO NOT have my sympathy. I admit the adverse reaction was not pleasant, but if you had not got involved to the degree that you got sprayed then it would not have happened.

The Police are looking at Using Pava (Captor) which is alleged to be more effective against suspects but does require a direct strike to the eyes with less side effects. The only downside is that CS is capable of affecting larger groups and does not need a direct strike to the eyes.

Police Federation Report on 24/7 Policing

2006-02-02T14:10:00.000Z

I have just found this report

READ THIS

This report seems to have finally identified in paper form what every response officer has been saying for some time. And it makes for an interesting read of how the job of a response officer has changed and how we actually feel about things.

It identifies the impact government and management "ideas" have on our job at the bottom of the food chain, how we struggle to resource immediate jobs, how we struggle to keep afloat with the increasing demands from the public, the CPS and the targets that are set by the force.

This is now a bigger thing as the majority of the force is probationers and how this impacts them as the new recruits. How much of a shock it is when people join to do some good in the community to find that its not actually the criminals we are fighting but our own burocracy. How the figures are used and how we are told to do our jobs to increase these figures.

When you could use discretion when needed. And charge if appropriate. Now we are charging / cautioning people for petty offences where there is no complaint. How we are told to issue Penalty Notice For Disorder if someone walks past you in the street and says "FUCK" or is playing about with their mates after a few drinks where no harm is being done and its just drunken horseplay.

It certainly makes for interesting reading.

Mad people and 00 shouts

2006-02-02T13:53:00.000Z

Well earlies tend to be fairly slow in my neck of the woods. Apart from one shift of 10 hours this week.

Me and my crew mate were going to the local supermarket to collect some stuff at about 8am. First run of the car so it was cold and it was only a mile down the road.

We parked up the car and i switched the engine off, no sooner has the engine stopped as i hear the dreaded 00 shout come across the air. FUCK restart the engine light up the car and start to try and negotiate my way from the car park to the main road. But the car had other ideas, because i had started to move off as the car was powering up, the power steering decided "nope not gonna play" so there i am, blues and 2's going, rock hard steering and a lot of asleep shoppers wandering what the hell is happening. Luckily we got out and the steering came back before the main road.

We start making to the scene where an officer had made the 00 shout. I have cold tyres which offer me limited grip so i resort to some of my advanced driving training (which I'm not supposed to have had!) and begin power sliding the car around roundabouts much to the surprise of members of the public. Luckily it doesn't take too long to get up to heat and all was well.

We are first crew on scene as we were the only car that was out and about. Turns out a male whom is slightly mad didnt want a visit from the council and he charged at the officer whom promptly shut the door on him.

We all turn up and prepare to go into the property, we have a mast team getting kitted up in case of weapons and a shield entry is needed. I got to my car to get my jacket as it was a tad cold and i suddenly hear shouting from the front of the house and also hear the sound of batons racking. I see my guvnor at the front with 2 others and the suspect with a large chunk of metal.

CS deployed by 2 officers, the guvnor gets back spray and promptly cant see anything. The suspect on the other hand had no effects but for some reason he just stood there looking at us, and was as good as gold. He gets nicked and cuffed.

I take hold of his arm and escort him to the van and then i promptly cant see a great deal as i am getting effected by the CS!.

All sorted and i am redeployed to another immediate. Just sorting that and another immediate comes in for assistance again with officers requesting assistance. I may get some lunch as each time i have gone to eat i get redeployed.

All to top it off with another mad man with a knife who thinks the inland revenue wants to nuke his flat.

I was knackered, but loved the jobs and love being busy.

A good day had by all, no officers hurt, no suspects hurt and a nice busy shift.

Could have been soooo much worse. But at least we all know what happens when we need help which is reassuring.

JS

Sometimes.....

2006-01-27T16:19:00.000Z

I really hate being on my shift.

Our skipper has gone on leave and we have a stand in (in the loosest sense of the word). A police officer on shift who thinks they can bark orders as they are the most experienced member on shift (time wise not actual experience).

This i think will be there downfall as day 1 managed to piss off at least 2 members of the shift, this seems to happen quite regularly and needs to be addressed as we cant have the infighting we had before because of overbearing skippers.

I have actually considered moving to another shift at another nick as its turning into a state where i really don't want to come to work. I mean i love my job its just this person making life very hard by their attitude.

I usually go with the flow and don't let things bother me, life's to short to get stressed in reality and there is a lot worse that can happen to people out there.

We will see how the next week goes as I'm not overly sure how much longer i can keep my frustration in check and things will need to be said.

This job its quite easy to leave the job before you get home. But its annoying when you are pissed off at home because of the few on shift. Hopefully it will all sort itself out and I'll have some happy news for you all.

By the way I'm still top on shift for detections / arrests and jobs handled! Which pisses this person off even more as they have been in the job for longer!

Keep Smiling....

JS

Full circle

2006-01-27T16:08:00.000Z

Well, things in the police have now come a full circle for me. There is a routine in our numbers and policies and it seems to have come about again.

Right now we are quite flush on shift, we have had 3 or so new officers join our shift recently. This is a big difference compared to the numbers we usually ran with namely max 5 officers including a skipper.

I think we may actually be at full strength.

Having these new 3 officers reminded me of when i joined up, wet behind the ears and not sure what I'm really doing for the first few months at least. Now i have these "new kids" actually looking to me for advice which in itself is quite scary. One of them i hate to say is damned near useless and to be honest its not all his fault, hes had 2 bad tutors and just cant seem to get on with the job, quite how he will fair when he finished tutorship i don't know, hopefully actually being with some proactive officers and not being made to look a fool by his tutor may help.

One was an ex special who is doing very well who i have tutored for a few shifts while his main tutor is away this lads got potential just needs the practice.

The third is actually quite good, a bit like me when i started really, loves going out looking for proactive stuff but is having a bit of a mare with the paperwork side of things, I'm trying not to treat him like a tutee but its quite hard seeing people make mistakes which can be easily sorted and not say anything (we all learn by our mistakes).

I reckon in 6 - 10 months our numbers will be depleted again i may even not be on this shift and may have moved to new places. Im sure the people above me will be moving on or thinking about moving on shortly.

I am now going to be a tutor so i will get my own tutee to teach how to police, this in itself is interesting as i am not the most "by the book" officer out there i use common sense in my policing which the majority of times works but sometimes it fails me and i fall flat on my arse. But all part of the learning curve in reality.

So i have been at this nick for almost 2 years, i dont feel that experiance but being with the new kids has shown me how much i do know and i feel more confident in speaking up especially with other members of shift.

Will be interesting times to come.

JS

Help me!!

2006-01-26T21:44:00.000Z

I found this while checking out other blogs.

"Help me Neil...help me!"

I found it amusing mainly for the half arsed attempt to escape and requesting the help of his friend, who it seemed was in 2 minds weather to help his mate out or not.

Seems these 2 were more than up for the job, and it may surprise some of you how strong people can be when they are desperate to escape.

I have had many a fight with someone smaller than me who has nearly won due to the need for him to escape.

I haven't CS'd a crew mate though... YET! But we will wait and see on that one!

I have just come off some crappy shifts recently hence the lack of updates but will hopefully update this blog as soon as i can.

JS

Police Force Mergers

2006-01-10T12:33:00.000Z

It has been well reported about the Home Office Review on merging Police Forces from 43 to about 12 forces because of "Operational Resilience".

A number of forces have already rejected the proposals and some are welcoming them this seems to be a step away from community policing that was on the agenda a while ago and a move towards national policing.

I wish they would make up their minds what they want us to do. Of course terrorism is a big thing on the agenda and affects us all and that is the key to the national policing idea, sharing intel and acting on information as well as responding to the incident. It seems to have worked well so far for us but we are a big force, its just a shame the government haven't a clue what really happens, we need to be able to share more intelligence to combat serious and organised crime but we also need to deal with Johnny Chav who wants to steal your car. Bigger forces will help Serious and organised crime but will it help stop the TWOCCER?

The answer is NO.

What would you prefer we deal with stop the things that stop you going about your business like anti social behaviour, theft of your car etc or say sorry but all our officers are dealing with high level crime.

I agree that we need to deal with high level crime but lets not loose focus here we are meant to serve and protect the public from drug dealers, little shits that want to smash your windows and burgle your house.

I'm sure that's what you would want us to do rather than not be there to prevent or detect the offence.

Comments please!

It's The New Year

2006-01-10T12:26:00.000Z

Happy new year everyone, although a week or so too late!

Its been the first week of the new PACE powers and everyone is still a tad confused but it doesn't seem to have made a great deal of difference to the way we operate so far that is, no doubt it will all change as the days roll on, i'm still sceptical about the use of the new powers though but we shall see.

I have been trawling the news recently trying to catch up and found a few stories worth of comment.

One from a short time ago was about arming the police and the full story is here.

BBC News Story on Arming the Police

My views on arming the police have been posted before and we shall see how this pans out!

Happy Christmas

2005-12-23T12:54:00.000Z

Well its that time of year where a lot of people celebrate Christmas and New Year. I for one will be spending time with my family over the festive period, mainly consisting of eating a lot and consuming alcohol. Along with actually being able to spend time with the Mrs.

I don't actually spend that much time with the Mrs due to my shift pattern and the fact she works "Normal" hours. Usually i am sleeping while she is here or i will be working or she will be working. So this will make a nice change.

I will be socialising with the family down the pub having a few drinks.

Coming home and relaxing.

That is my Christmas but for many family's their Christmas will be different, there Xmas will consist of drinking to excess throughout the day, having a "row" with someone usually the other half and calling the police to sort it out as we are there to mend broken relationships, calm down drunks and make peace among the chavs on the estates.

Now they will be sadly mistaken luckily i will not be working over xmas this year but the officers that are will be taking quite a harsh stance with the view of "locking them up" if they cause grief over xmas. This is never a better time to have an impact on those that wind us up all year long.

Ever wandered why no warrants get executed in the run up to Christmas?? Well the reason is we do it over the bank holidays keep you in custody until the next available court date ie Wednesday!

All that grief we get over the year attending calls to chav households, getting hit, abused and shouted at. Now its payback time!

You see, the Police generally are a good bunch, we do our jobs and enjoy it. We lock up those that need locking up and give "suitable advice" to those that don't need locking up.

But our charity runs out at the end of the year. Every time you tell us how to do our jobs, call us all sorts of names, throw things at us and generally abuse us, it all gets logged and noted because what goes around comes around. And Christmas is the time of goodwill to all men "and women" and what better time than at the end of the year to level the score and start a fresh in January.

Have a happy Christmas.
JS

PACE Code G

2005-12-23T12:47:00.000Z

Hi all,

Apparently there is this new section of PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence Act) called code G that comes into effect on 1st January 2006. This is a big overhaul of our powers of arrest and will effect every police officer that makes an arrest.

Apparently every offence is arrestable if it passes the necessity test.

You would have thought that such a big change would have meant lots of training for us police officers.

Well you will be surprised to know that our forces training dept were dragging their heels. 3 training sessions were provided to train every officer in my area. The first i was on annual leave (gotta take some time off sometime eh!) the second session that i had to attend was 6 hours after i finished work. I came off nights and finished work at about 1 am and they wanted me back at 7 am to train (No chance) The third session i am on a rest day, now i would attend but i am not going to be paid for it so i will be using a day off to go into work to do the training. Hmmm decisions decisions.

Luckily i have preempted this and the people at training were quite good about it saying "don't come in on your rest day, we'll sort it out in the new year after the changes come into effect" This is good for me as i don't loose a rest day. But what about arresting people???

Another well thought plan by my police force!

JS

Court Room Hilarity

2005-12-05T17:53:00.000Z

And here are some quotes from the court room of stupid questions we have to put up with from smart arsed solicitors.

Q: Are you sexually active?
A: No, I just lie there.

Q: What is your date of birth?
A: July 15th.
Q: What year?
A: Every year.

Q: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
A: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.

Q: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
A: Yes.
Q: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
A: I forget.
Q: You forget? Can you give usan example of something that you'veforgotten?

Q: How old is your son, the one living with you?
A: Thirty-eight or thirty-five, I can't remember which.
Q: How long has he lived with you?
A: Forty-five years.

Q: What was the first thing your husband said to you when he woke upthat morning?
A: He said, "Where am I, Cathy?"
Q: And why did that upset you?
A: My name is Susan.

Q: Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo or theoccult?
A: We both do.
Q: Voodoo?
A: We do.
Q: You do?
A: Yes, voodoo.

Q:Now doctor isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, hedoesn't know about it until the next morning?
A: Did you actually pass the barexam?

Q: The youngest son, the twenty-year-old, how old is he?

Q: Were you present when your picture was taken?

Q: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
A: Yes.
Q: And what were you doing at that time?

Q: She had three children, right?
A: Yes.
Q: How many were boys?
A: None.
Q: Were there any girls?

Q: How was your first marriage terminated?
A: By death.
Q: And by whose death was it terminated?

Q: Can you describe the individual?
A: He was about medium height and had a beard.
Q: Was this a male, or a female?

Q: Is your appearance here this morningpursuant to a deposition noticewhich I sent to your attorney?
A: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.

Q: Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?
A: All my autopsies are performed on dead people.

Q: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
A: Oral.

Q: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
A: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.
Q: And Mr. Dennington was dead at the time?
A: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy.

Q: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?

Q: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
A: No.
Q: Did youcheck for blood pressure?
A: No.
Q: Did you check for breathing?
A: No.
Q: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began theautopsy?
A: No.
Q: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
A: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
Q: But could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
A: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing lawsomewhere

JS

Humour

2005-12-05T17:45:00.000Z

I have decided that a little light humour is needed in light of recent events and have found some good stuff.

This is from Metpol Crime reports and details some of the notes made by officers showing not only a sense of humour but some apauling spelling and grammar!

A four foot wall surrounded the garden which was approximately 3ft high.

Mr Grey would be able to recognize them from the back only and if they wore the some clothing.

The suspect gained entry by climbing into the victims rear.

Victim would recognised ger handbag again as the shoulder strap is chewn.

Scene closed and cleaned. victim seen in hospital.It would appear an artry or something else was pierced due to the amount of blood lost.

vehicle was blocking the road so they stopped and a cue formed behind them.

The victim only has a home phone number, if there is no answer that means he aint there.

Incident witnessed by suspect as he was there at the time

The window was smashed leaving the glass unbroken.

METHOD: By snatching victims hand.

Police arrive and are met by a non speaking male who could only state, "black man's took bike"

The ex-partner did not the supect there and he was advised to leave by police. The suspect became towards police when asked to leave.

Officers attended the venue and after much searching found both victims sat in the lounge.

What happened was that the victims car was broked into and various bits stolen.

It appears the suspect has kicked open the front door and then climbed through the window.

the victim believes someone is responsible for stealing from her car.

The victim last saw his phone parked outside his house at 2200

At 2358hrs she was arrested and cautioned for loitering for the purpose of prostitution she was cautioned and replied," will it be a quick in and out!"

After investigation it was found to be a straightforward deception. Arrested and conveyed to Mars the facts were conveyed to the custody officer.

It would appear that this incident has stemmed from a dispute about a lollipop.

Victim fearing for his safety ran into the road, where he was hit by an oncoming SOUTHBOUND vehicle.

it would be possible for the gate to be unbolted as it had a bolt on it.

Victim states that the suspect spoke like "frank spencer" and believed he was "simple".

Victims wheelchair was stolen from the front garden. She has only reported it becasue of the need for a crime reference number for getting her new wheels.

Suspect has lobbed a stone at the window busting it to bits.

Victim states he does not have a telephone number, will contact us to let us know what it is.

On his arrival back home that evening the front door was a jar.

asked victim if he could use his phone to call his brother, victim handed over the phone and suspect then fell into a bush

Injury Description: booze on the left side of his fore head - right side is boozed and scratched from being kicked

The suspects were eliminated due to unable to prove that it was them and not this fourth imaginary person.

subject had in his possession a silver pen knife which gave no reply when arrested

FORENSICS: No point as we don't know who did it.

Victim then went upstairs and got suspects 2 mobile phones and hung them out of the window, suspect then went upstairs and hung victim out of the window.

Request that this report is closed due to the victim not wanting to persue with the allegation and has reclined to provide police with a statement.

In view of the believed method of entry, the only realistic security advice I can give is to shut the door.

The officer has handed over Â£20 in cash in exchange for class A drugs and the accused has decamped.

Accused admitted offence and was remoprsefull.

The suspect was apparently out drinking when the victim called him to bring back a lemon. The suspect arrived home drunk & demanded to know why the victim wanted an onion.

The suspect began to harrass the victim by saying thongs through her letter box and knocking her door.

Sarah finished School at 12pm and went to a friends party she returned home at 18pm.

The suspect had a thing face and smelt badly of Sweat.

On speaking to her she said a balck man pulled a knife out on her boyfriend so he throw a car at him, and they both drove off as they were worried.

Officers went over to the male who appeared to be asleep and attempted to arouse him but he was not responding.

Knife found under drivers seat foot well matt of a vehicle being used for mini crabbing by driver

the suspect had bail condition not to go to the premises or contact himself

Suspect 2 gave a full and frank no comment interview.

Informant states that his vehicle was damaged by suspect sctratching the bonnet and complete nearside with a sharp object.

Victim believes he knows who the suspects may be, at this stage he is reluctant to provide details, untill he is able to obtain further evidence.Victim has now placed a video camera in his bathroom to record any activity.

When arrested he stated " I was not driving, I was only parking it here ".

The travelers were two women and two men with a large group of children. all aged approximately 40.

The shop is located behind the security shutters which are at the front of the shop.

The victim is registered blind from birth and cannot give a very good discription of the suspect other than he was wearing a stripped top and was well spoken.

After arrest the Police searched the kitchen and found a kitchen knife and was taken by police.

Victim states that after the assault, she tried to reset her own nose, causing it to bleed profusely and realised it was a silly thing to do.

Victim was approached from behind by unknown suspects knife held to his trout

The damage is a small one inch near lock forced bit of wooden door.

Mr X was standing outside the location with blood over his face he stated that he had been in the bar area drinking when he had gone to the bar and was approached by two(2) males who were giving it LARGE

The victim has only liited use of English language. English speak very difficult to underhand

suspect removed his arm and was struggling to get his breath.Suspect was wearing a black beret and comfortable black leather shoes.

JS

COPS

2005-11-23T14:06:00.000Z

Care of Police Survivors (otherwise known as COPS) is a UK registered charity dedicated to helping the families of police officers, who have lost their lives in the line of duty, rebuild their lives. It aims to ensure that survivors have all the help they need to cope with such a tragedy, and that they remain part of the police family.Care Of Police Survivors (COPS) would like to see every police officer in the UK wearing a COPS lapel pin, in remembrance of a fallen colleague.

Please visit COPS.

36 police officers have died in the line of duty in England, Scotland and Wales in the past 20 years - 11 shot, 10 stabbed and three beaten to death, while 12 were killed by vehicles.

PC Sharon Beshenivsky was the sixth woman out of 1,600 officers to die in Britain since the formation of the modern police service in 1829. The last female officer shot dead was PC Yvonne Fletcher, 25, outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984. Women make up 21% of the 43 English and Welsh forces.

COPS

Police Memorial

Police Roll of Honour Trust

Police Officer Killed

2005-11-23T13:42:00.000Z

Well as im sure you are all aware by now PC Sharon Beshenivsky was killed whislt attending a call to a personal attack alarm at a travel agents in Bradford. Her crewmate PC Teresa Milburn was shot and injured in the incident.

This is quite an alarming storey which has provoked some debate over the arming of police and the increase of armed incidents in many forces. Only the next day in my area there was an armed robbery where shots were discharged, but luckily no rounds hit any body.

This is on another point frightening as the weapons being used are live and not replica weapons and are loaded with live amunition. Also the seeming willingness for people to use the weapons against police and the public.

Also other weapons are being used, mainly knives and suspects seem to be only to willing to have a go at the police in an attempt to "get away".

What is this country turning to where the poeple who are there to protect you are coming under increasing threat from suspects which in all honesty we are not trained to deal with. Our numbers are so low backup is not always nearby (read upto 20 mins away on immediate), Our ARV's are to low in number and are streched out over the whole force, suspects no longer wait on a scene which is contained to think their way out, they just fight and shoot their way out before extra units can get there as they dont want to face armed police.

So what is the solution.

There are groups who dont want police to be armed because of the risk of innocent people being hurt or killed, they cite fatal shootings by police as the main reason why police shoud not be armed.

There are groups who feel that we should be armed by routine as if the criminals are willing to shoot should we not be able to protect the public and ourselves.

People say if we were to arm then we would become like the USA and armed crime would soar as more criminals would up the anti to compete with us.

I am more in favour of having more avaliable armed officers, not dedicated ARV but your standard PC who is firearms autherised, has acess to weapons and is trained in their use, who has passed the psycological testing, physical testing and firearms testing.

The same would apply to Taser, by giving us more options both lethal and non-lethal we could become more effective, this would instill more public trust as they would know we CAN deal with the more increasing violence, the criminals would know we can deal effectively with the incident and may think twice about carrying weapons, let alone using them.

Also we need proper deterants in the courts, if you carry a weapon then you will be punished properly, if you use a weapon then likewise.

No one wants armed police walking around with machine guns, but discrete arming may be the only way ahead.

JS

Comments

2005-11-22T13:45:00.000Z

Hi to anyone who reads this site.

Please leave me some comments so it seems i am not writing this for only me to read.

Positive or negative appreciated as it gets quite lonely over here!.

JS

CPS

2005-11-22T13:41:00.000Z

Anyone who works in policing knows the perils of the CPS. I have stated before how much of a nightmare they can be in trying to get an offender charged.

So i found this over on another blog (thanks to DC)

Short Update

2005-11-22T13:26:00.000Z

Well, I had one week of nights following my driving course where to be honest not a lot happened apart from one night where I got into a bit of a fight and also went to sort out a rave with the rest of the shift.

My scrap wasn't too bad to be honest but I radioed for Urgent Assistance basically because I had a crew of Specials with me and a lot of unhappy people who were keen for this person not to be arrested. Luckily its was kept relatively controlled until my backup arrived and the group of people made off when they saw all the other crews attending.

Then we had a rave to shut down in the early hours which was not fun as dealing with 200+ drugged up people who were not keen on us shutting down the rave. With about 15 officers. Needless to say we gave them 4 hours to go or we come back mob handed as we needed a lot of officers to deal with this by force, but they did shut up shop and moved off. Ill have to give more details another time.

My main grip is my Assistance shout, one crew cannot be trusted to the extent that you hope its not this officer attending when they are the only backup. Absolutely shocking the fact that this person is allowed to operate the way they do, constantly critical of other officers even to the point to slagging the driving off while actually on a blue light run. At long last its not just me this person keeps on criticizing and they engineer a situation where they think they are untouchable, but 2 can play that game.....

Sorry for the short or cryptic post but i will expand in other posts what i am actually getting at!

3 Weeks and I'm back on shift.

2005-10-21T14:36:00.000Z

Well my 3 week driving course has been completed. I had what is called a crosscheck on Thursday which is when basically instructors swap cars and assess each others crews.

fortunately for me I passed the first crosscheck with no problems which was a relief. I end the course with a good recommendation that I am suitable for advanced training which is a bonus as I want to do Advanced Driving courses and eventually join RPD (Roads Policing Department).

I got a bit of crap while I was away but nowhere near as much as when I did my stage 6 course which has kind of made my decision for me. I was usually of the opinion that I want to stay on shift for a good few years then go into RPD hopefully, now with everything that's been going on such as moving goalposts I have pretty much decided I'm going to apply as soon as I see a vacancy.

I cant believe that I worked so hard to get my docket down to manageable levels and keep on top of my investigations only to be shit on by AIMT who have changed the rules yet again. Meaning I now need to do a lot of irrelevant stuff to get a job filed. Which pisses me off no end especially with shitty comments "you have breached CPIA by not doing this!!" well I didn't breach it last bloody time did I but now apparently I am.

Great.

Well to AIMT I kind of have to say, what goes around comes around policing goes in circles. You may be the big thing now but next year you will be back on shift or doing some other menial back stabbing job which involves never leaving the nick and staring at a computer screen. Why the hell did you join the police?? I don't know anyone who joined the police and said "yeah I want to join the police to sit behind a desk everyday and never go out!!!!"

Roll on a vacancy on RPD in the mean time ill be doing my best to get noticed by them, do as much traffic stuff as possible and try and have as much fun as I can with my new found ability (or permit) to use blues and 2's.

Job gets you down some times but I like proving points just to be able to say "FCUK YOU" I am better than you lot whom sit at a desk criticizing all officers.

Ahhh Rant over!

Roll on Hell week of nights but thats another rant!!!

Blue Lights

2005-10-12T15:27:00.000Z

Well into my second week of learning to drive response cars. Started off driving a marked car learning the principles and practicing Roadcraft (Which is a book about safe driving).

There is a fair bit to learn and its a different driving style and depending on how you drive and how long you have been driving for can be difficult or easy.

But its a good way of driving which stands us in good stead for driving response.

I have had good fun driving so far even though the majority has been below speed limits as there is alot to practise and get right before we can get to drive response. It has been handy being excempt from national speed limits so if there is a national then there is no limit for us.

Did my first blue light run the other day through quite a busy town which was interesting. Made a few mistakes but none which compramised the safety of the car or anyone else. But its the first time of blue lights really so didnt do too badly, hopefully it will improve and come together over the next few days.

Found out today that when i pass the course i am entitled to become a member of the Institute Of Advanced Motorists (IAM) without taking the tests as my training i am recieveing now is exceeding the level they test at. Which is good as i can get a discount on my car insurance!

Roadcraft From Amazon

Slow nights

2005-09-23T17:32:00.000Z

So far this week we have had a Q set of nights, We get spells like this every once in a while but tonight its Friday Night and has the makings of a potentially bust shift seeing as the numbers of people out in the evening was relatively low.

We expect a traveller wedding tonight in one of our towns which could be interesting especially if anyone gets in their way whom arnt expecting them. Imagine little johnny out on the beer and decides hes billy big potatoes. Shoots off at the mouth and gets battered because he thinks hes bigger than he is.

Could happen quite easily with the muppets on my area.

Well, only this night shift and 2 late shifts them im done for a while, Off for a week then on a course for 3 weeks or so getting my response driving ticket.

I need a break from shift as its been ages since i have been away, not taken holiday yet because of the downsides of taking leave. If im away then my jobs dont get progressed, if my jobs dont get progressed then i get moaned at by management or more to the point the AIM team who oversee our active investigations. Who seem to think that by remotely looking at our investigations on the computer they know whats best. Not taking into account other jobs that we attend throughout the shift.

Why has this burglary not been completed yet?

Because i am awaiting witness details from the attacked company?

Why have you not chased them?

I wrote to them asking for the details, they have yet to provide them.

This is not acceptable, chase them for the details.

I am on lates and nights how can i chase a company?

Come in early to chase them?

I suggest if they dont give me the details then its not important to them and if they cant be bothered to give me what i need then why should i bother chasing them?

Ahh burocracy, dont you just love it!

Roll on the 3 weeks off, but having said that ill have a loads of crap when i get back.

Why has this job not been progressed?

Because i was in a car from 9 - 5 driving response.

This is not acceptable you were working so should be progressing your enquiries.

Just cant win sometimes!

Crikey

2005-09-15T10:34:00.000Z

I have just noticed how long it has been since i last posted an update. The reason being i have been without broadband and as such too lazy to do it on dial up since moving house, but eventually BT got the soldering iron out and got me some fast(er) internet after 4 months of waiting.

Well since my last update things have pretty much been the same. Except for a nasty new shift pattern - some nasty people and bombs and a few major incidents.

I finally managed to get on top of my paperwork and seem to be doing OK and keeping on top of it but i suspect as i am off on a 3 week course soon it may start to build up again.

Yes another course... but this one will autherise me to drive cars in a response manor ie blues and 2's which i have been waiting for it feels like forever.

KNIVES:!
These seem to be comming more prevelant over the past few months. We were kind of complacent about actually comming face to face with one as its not common for someone to pull a knife on police. Me and a crewmate were talking about the recent Thames Valley knife murders in Wokingham saying that we wern't really aware of what could happen because we had become complacent. She had not been challenged with a knife or was at close quarters with one and neither had I.

Well that was like saying "its a quiet shift isnt it".

We went to a job where a kid was being a bully to his grandparents, few offences but the grandfolks were really scared of him. We attend and do the paperwork as mateyboy had left.

A short while after we leave mateyboy returns and the grandparents go upstairs and lock themselves in the bedroom and call police.

We reattend and gain entry by climbing fences etc as he didnt want to open the door to us.

We both walk into the kitchen (worst place to make an arrest due to potential weapons) and approach the guy. He goes to grab a knife, we grab him and lob him to the floor following a struggle i get punchd and crewmate gets kicked he gets his head put to the floor and arested. The guy was really strong as he was influenced by drugs we thing.

We although we got the job done it brought a reality home. A young lad actually went for a knife and it was only because of the talk me and my crewmate had that morning that we saw and dealt with the threat otherwise we may not have been aware of the attempt to get the knife and it could have been so very different.

Been a long time

2005-07-18T16:19:00.000Z

Hi all,
Been away for a long time it seems. Since my last post i have lost my broadband due to a house move so this is one of the first times i have been able to use dial up access to the net.

Things have changed somewhat since i last posted. The shift has been reduced, a new shift pattern has been introduced and i have been fighting to get on a response driving course which according to the training manager "ITS MY PRIORITY TO GET PEOPLE ON COURSES" hmm well in a month we will have all of 2 response drivers for the police area. Nothing like a bit of pressure.

A quick summary of the past 2 months.

Most of June i was off due to a house move and various planned trips so i was only at work for half the month so i didnt really get to do alot and it was a slow month for crime for some reason. We were on occasion driving for 8 hrs and not getting deployed to any jobs.

July so far has gone mad. Last week of nights meant we were attending jobs from when we booked on till when we finished.. We ran 3 police officers per shift manning 2 cars. i Managed to get asaulted effecting an arrest (my skipper took the brunt) and i fell through a building. Made lots of arrests and got alot of detections for the crew. I think since the start of the month my shift has had about 30 detections and 40 odd arrests. To say its been mad is an understatement. Seems like summer and beer has finally arried as alcohol has played a large part in the arrests. As well as the little brats off school hanging around damaging stuff for fun. It seems so far we have been in the right place at the right times.

Will give a better update shortly.

Grrrrr SDU

2005-05-17T17:14:00.000Z

Why do i always have to become ill when i'm on my long weekend! Glad of the rest though to be honest, im going to have a hectic week or two i think. You know when you just get "that" feeling that everything is going to go wrong!

Thing with the police is, when you are away be it on sick or holiday, nothing changes in the workload. It just stays there getting smellier and older with whinging MOP's leaving voicemails for you. Not that it ever enters their minds that you may actually have a life outside the police and dont work 24hrs a day just for them.

Crime investigation can take some time. Sometimes you are relying on others to provide information to you to be able to progress the case further (if anyone has worked with the met then you will know what i mean when you ask them to do something for you!)

Hopefully ill be tasked with the SDU tomorow (service delivery unit) where you are allocated crimes to deal with. These are the ones that do not require police attendance and can be crimed slow time. Quite why it has to be apolice officer i dont know. There are pleanty of civilians out there who can do the same thing and dont need police powers to do this job.

As it will give me some time to try and progress some of my jobs while trying to not crime the allocated crimes as i could do without the crap in my docket as its taken me ages to get it down to a manageable level.

Half of me likes rushing round dealing with immediates, the other half is quite happy to sit and do my own work. I think that i could do with the time to recover from this cold and progress my cases.

I may be getting half sensible in my old age!

Back to shift

2005-05-14T13:08:00.000Z

First 3 shifts since comming back from my 3 week course went quite well really.

All sorts of new procedures had been introduced locally since i left for the 3 weeks. The shift has been split as we need to loose a number of people to make up a new shift, A few of them i get on with really well, others i was not that fussed about but would be sad to see them go. At least its not me thats leaving because i think i do quite well with the sgts and the team we have at my station.

No one seems sure as to when they will be leaving, was rumoured to be June but that may have changed. When they leave a new shift pattern will be introduced which at first glance looks like a nightmare. 11hr early shifts! I hate earlies so that didnt go down well, but at least we now get 2 weekends off in 5 rather 1 weekend in 4.

So i came back to 2 nights and 1 quickswing shift before my long weekend.

Straight out of briefing me and my crewmate get given a handover from the previous shift. Offender in custody, needs interviewing and documenting if necessary. A bit of a weird interview as the social worker seemed to do most of the questioning for me, but the offender (a juvanile involved in a domestic) admitted everything and gave reasons why he did what he did. Bit of a shame for him really as he gets grief from his parents and seems to be wound up by them as well causing his outbursts.

He was bailed for RJU intervention and hopefully will get a final warning. Im not often soft on people but didnt think having him in front of the mags would do him any good. That was all the "action" for the first night.

The second night i was in early to do some paperwork and come 10pm i was out and about on my own. Was very slow night untill about 1am ish when a call comes in "Domestic incident, both parties in a car have driven off arguing and shouting, driver possibly DIC". I toddle off looking for them thinking by the time i get there they will be long gone as i had about 15 miles to cover to get to the location.

Lo and behold the vehicle and occupants are parked on the side of the road. I turn around they get out of the car and start walking away. I soon cut them off as another car was making to the location. I ask the male the usuall questions and he is pissed as anything. The next unit arrives and i tell them that he was in the driving seat and smells of booze. He gets breathalised and nicked as he went straight to fail. He protests he wasnt the driver and wasnt in the drivers seat. (makes no odds to me i know what i saw). The female says she was the driver but im not having any of that.

Load him into the car and the female says "YOU CANT FUCKING ARREST HIM" i warn her about her language saying ill arrest her if she swears at me again. The class reply "OK THEN FUCK OFF!" so i nick her. Another detection! He blows double the limit and gets charged.

On quick swing i kind of got stitched as someone was bailed back to me that was wanted. So i had a mad rush to get CPS advice to charge for the original offence and assault police that he commited when he was nicked 2 weeks ago.

Yay oh Yay CPS say charge. Great first time for everything. My guy turns up and gets charged for the original assault and assault police. 1 Detection from January and 1 New one for this month.

Hopefully in my first 3 days back on shift i get 3 detections for May and 1 going back to January. So according to the standards i dont have to get any more this month! But hopefully i will.

So on my long weekend now trying to buy a house before the long run of earlies and lates.

Im going to try and do a tally month by month of arrests and detections.
So here we go:
May:
2 Arrests
2 Detections
1 Bailed for caution (2 detections in this hopefully that ill split with my crewmate)

Im Back!

2005-05-09T17:32:00.000Z

Well i have already typed this once and am not going to retype it again! Thanks EBlogger for deleting the text!

In summary.

Not posted for ages due to me tidying up paperwork before i left on a 3 week residential course at the force traing center where i learnt some good new stuff but got retaught lots of information i didnt need. 9 - 5 hours, being bored in a classroom. In the evenings it was cold, did some paperwork and then down the bar after eating a average meal provided by the caterers.

Im back on shift now for 2 nights and a quick swing so hopefully will be back to have some fun and do the job im paid to do rather than sit in a classroom all day being bored.

And hopefully have some good things to post about.

Driving 2

2005-04-05T12:38:00.000Z

Well, only a few days into being able to drive marked cars - No blues, No Twos, and no stopping cars.

Has been good fun if not an experience seeing how other drivers react to you. They either slow right down, or give way to you.

Had a run out on nights and have to admit couldent resist using the emergency equipment of some dark empty roads and to assist with some overtaking when it was safe to do so en-route to immediate jobs.

Had a manic set of nights, running immediate to immediate for up to 5 - 6 hrs straight. All shit jobs, all hyped up but no paperwork with copious use of form CUFF1 as my mate says on another blog.

But i am glad the run of nights are over, its been mad with groups of kids hanging around untill 6am in town, i mean what the hell are they doing?? Do they not have parents??

Absolute pain in the arse, gobby as well and tend to try and gang up on you and outnumber you. Dont really work though as i just get on with the job and keep their mates detained for longer. Hey im paid to be out at 6am and i have a car to drive about in.
They aint getting paid and seem to be out of breath playing hide and seek with me!

Ah the joys of warm evenings and school holidays - they should all be locked up when it gets dark and not alowed back out untill they are older!

Elections

2005-03-23T21:44:00.000Z

I wander what the election will bring the police sevice (ahem force).
The conservatives seem to want to help us fight crime by giving us more help and less paperwork.
Labour seem to want to ignore everything.
Whom will you be voting for... im sure i know what every rank and file officer is voting for.

But as usual we shall see who promises what and who delivers what. Again the police whom serve the queen and public become political pawns for the government.

Driving

2005-03-23T21:35:00.000Z

Well i have driven unmarked cars now for a few weeks covering areas while we have had 2 marked cars out and about. All good fun but we had been doing Immediate jobs with no emergency warning equipment and no backing if it goes wrong, which is a bad situation to be in as the driver.
I have a choice do i 1) do my best to get to the victim and get the offender or 2) obey all rules and let the bad guy get away or the victim unsupported while they wait 10 mins while i am sat at traffic lights.
Hmmm. well i generally go for option 1 if possible but making sure i dont place myself in danger nor the public and dont crash.
I am about to get a basic course soon to enable me to drive a panda and maybe stop cars but thats the limits of the course...... better than nothing and the public can see a marked car floating about rather that a plane dark corsa that goes unnoticed.
Well will see how i get on and let you know how many other rules i can break in doing my job effectively.

Investigation management

2005-03-23T21:25:00.000Z

One of the reasons i havent updated this blog for a while, is the advent of Investigation management.
Some bright spark further up the line decided this was a good idea. The main reason being that onyone, anywhere in the force can look at exactly where i am in regards to a crime investigation.
Good i hear some people say. And in a way it can be usefull. Especially where supervisors can give you plans for how to investigate crime. Bad because the people that monitor this have no idea of what is going on.
For example, i may have 13 jobs in my docket. Some i cant deal with for a while due to the people i need to speak to being away / holiday or have moved and i dont know where they are. Now The people that manage this also set dates for things to be done, and in the ideal world this would not be a problem.
But i work in reactive policing, my day does not involve chasing people up and getting certain statements. It involves being sent to jobs, dealing with crime as it happens, interviewing suspects, and doing files etc. Thus i may not actually GET time to deal with some of the outstanding jobs. I dont work in CID and have my day taken up as an investigator.
Oh and i am still sposed to be providing a visible presence to the public, not sitting behind a desk doing paperwork.
Its a lose lose situation. I either try to investigate crime to keep our bods happy. Or i do my JOB of tackeling crime as it happens, bring offenders to justice and reassure the public, to keep the public happy.

If only someone would get their finger out of there arse and let us do the job, help us do the job rather than new initiatives to keep me in the office all day!

Results of Sunday

2005-02-13T23:42:00.000Z

Well i was kind of there today.

My person turned up to be nicked but 2nd person (his GF) wants to arrange another date if need be. He made partial admissions so will be CPS advice hence i didnt get the charging or files done as it was a sunday.
However:-
I DID get my Gen12 file done for the disqual driver.
I DID get my PND completed and submitted (it may come back to me for additonal work though!)
I DID get my PDP review done.
I DIDNT get a full file done that i was meant to do the other week.
And i DIDNT get my DD File done.

Not too bad really considering it was a short shift and i was still kinda reactive, luckily it was fairly Q today.

Back to nights for a couple of shifts now.

2005-02-12T23:09:00.000Z

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

New sidebar website

2005-02-12T23:02:00.000Z

I found this website / blog ages ago and it was the one that inspired me to write my own, Well worth a visit.

Its interesting to see the similarities between forces whomever Copperfield Works for!

http://coppersblog.blogspot.com

Been a while

2005-02-12T21:42:00.000Z

It's been a while since i last posted anything on here, mainly because i have been on a operation for the past 3 weeks or so, so i have been working long hours and haven't really has alot of time to come onto the internet and post updates.

Well now i am back rejoining my shift and not looking forward to earlies on sunday but the last 3 weeks has been fun and given half a chance i would possibly do it perminantly rather than on an attachment. The Op shows what can be achieved by have resources avaliable to deploy at the drop of a hat, as on reactive shifts we are not allowed to redeploy unless there is a 00 shout (officer in personal danger) .

This resulted in maybe 3 double crewed cars being on scene within a matter of minutes on report of a Burglary in progress or robbery etc. This resulted in alot of people arrested for there offences whereas usually they may get away due to the lack of resources comming to contain an area. And it has an impact as these units when not responding are patroling and turning over people in high crime areas, basically putting out the message "WE ARE HERE AND IF YOU ARE UP TO NO GOOD THEN WE WILL FIND OUT" which has an effect on the numbers of people actually out on the streets. Meaning anyone who would be on there way to commit crime or comming back from crime seem to not want to bother either because (a) affraid to get caught with gear on them or (b) already in nick for commiting crimes.

As a result, Burglaries dropped, Robberies dropped and Theft of and from Motor vehicles dropped. All good just a shame this was concentrated on one area and not every area. But things are changing and hopefully for the better, we shall see in the next financial year if the promisies are kept on behalf of the force and the govenment, (bear in mind an election is due).

But.. Good news this week.

We work to detection rates, ie crime reported then investigated. If a person is cautioned, charged or summons issued then the crime is detected and looks good for the force.

We used to have to get 3 detections a month per officer which is not as easy as it sounds when if 2 officers are in a crew and one makes an arrest, both officers deal for the majority of the shift, but only one detection for one officer.

Now there are no detection rates per officer until April when we switch to team targets which will probably equate to 3 detections per month per officer, just a different way of putting it really. But this time round there can be more pressure on us as some do not hit the 3 per month, but others hit 6 - 8 a month so could breed resentment in the long term.

We shall see the outcome especially as shift sgts have started printing off sheets comparing all officers on a shift listing arrests and detections for a period! for personal development of course and definately not a league table!

Well in 3 weeks on this op i have had shed loads of fun being able to do what i joined to do.... Chasing the bad guys, harassing the bad guys, and arresting the bad guys.

I went on many immediate jobs (one in a traffic car which i have the video of which was enjoyed tremendously).
Made quite a few arrests.
Annoyed alot of dodgey people (well they should get a job and not be so dodgey the shouldent they).
Worked long hours.
And considering we dont deal with the paperwork, still managed to get 2 detections thanks to someone who didnt know when to shut up, and a disqulaified driver.

I managed to get a drunk and incapable driver who went to blood test who was over on blood so he will be getting charged and the file done for him!

So all i need to do Sunday is:
Gen12 file for driving whilst disqual.
Penatly notice for disorder paperwork for the guy who wouldent shut up.
DD file for my drunk driver.
A full file i should have done last week for an ABH which will probably only be a common assault.
Arrest 2 people who should hopefully turn up at the nick to see me.
Interview and hopefully charge then do the files.
And do a review for my PDP (i'll explain the PDP another time)

Paperwork

2005-01-12T16:46:00.000Z

As any officer knows, paperwork is a big thing with the police service.
There are forms for everything, and i mean EVERYTHING.
Need a new clip on tie as yours is broken then its a STO7 form, in duplicate and passed to the business unit. You will wait 4 weeks and eventually it will arrive.
Going out in a car?? then there is the car book to be completed, with every defect / damage listed. Fuel amounts entered, mileage entered.
The bulk of the paperwork is court files and you would not believe the amount of duplication involved!
There are a few differnt kinds of file, we have fast track guilty, where the offender has fully admitted the offence on tape. Fast Track not guilty, where the offender denies the offence but there is overwhelming evidence to say they did comit the offence.
Then we have full files where the offender is pleading not guilty at court.

From memory, a fast track guilty will contain the following:
TQ2 Anticipated Guilty Fast Track File Front Sheet
MG1 File front sheet.
MG3 CPS Advice - if it was saught.
MG4 Charge Sheet.
MG5 Case Summary.
MG6 Information to prosecutor ie compensation details.
MG11 Key Witness statements.
MG18 TIC form if any.
CID 1& 2 Crime reports.

A fast track not guilty will have the following:
MG1,
MG2 Initial witness assessment form.
MG3,
MG4,
MG5,
MG6,
MG10C Witness avaliability dates.
MG11 All statements.
CID 1 & 2

A full file will have the following.
CTS1
MG1
MG2
MG3
MG4 Bail Sheets
MG4 Charge Sheets
MG5
MG6
MG6 B, C, D and E Disclosure information for CPS
MG9 Witness List
MG10C
MG11
MG12 Exhibit lists.
MG15 Record of taped interview (A transcript of the taped interview)
MG18 if any TIC's
CID 1 & 2.

Alot of the information we input into the forms is duplicated, and quite time consuming as we deal with the paperwork inbetween responding to jobs comming in. Some files will take longer than others depending on the numbers of witnesses, the amount of exhibits such as cctv tapes. The disclosure paperwork (this has to be sorted into misc, confidential, and non confidential) takes a fair amount of time as it has to be right or the file goes nowhere.

All this inbetween being Proactive, Reducing crime, Arresting offenders, Providing a visible presence, and responding to calls.

Its surprising that there are any police out on the streets really.

But then we actually arn't alowed to be seen to be doing paperwork according to the shift Sgt. I sit down to do a file and get pounced on.
SGT "What are you doing"
Me "I'm doing a full file sarge"
SGT "Is that a proactive use of your time?"
Me "No, but it has to be done for the courts"
SGT "Can you justify your time doing paperwork"
Me "I'd prefer to be out, but this needs to be done"
SGT "Humpf" and walks off no doubt to write in his little book that i am in the station not being proactive.

One thing for sure, it's going to get interesting over the next few weeks with our 2 brand spanking new SGT's, both of which with no managment experiance. Both of which have not been working reactive shifts for at least 3 years each and seem to have the ideals reimplanted into their heads, of what a shift should run like, not what it does run like!

Pursuits

2005-01-10T08:10:00.000Z

Well spent most of the night in custody following a very short pursuit and decamp (where the offenders run away)

Spotted a car that was parked up and had 3 blokes inside, so we decided to turn around to have a chat. The subject car (note the term subject not suspect!) decided to drive away with no lights on, nowt too dodgey really so my driver put on the blues so it could be stopped. The driver decided not to stop and try a dodgey overtake without sucess and was forced to pull back in directly infront of our car. Now he couldent really get past the 2 cars in front so turned a corner and stopped.

The driver got out of the car and walked towards the driver side of the panda, then ran away.

I gave chase shouting the obligatory, STOP WHERE YOU ARE. He carried on running and turned into a cul de sac. I shouted again saying STOP WHERE YOU ARE OR IM GOING TO BATON YOU! he tried to climb a fence where i took the oportunity to inform the man that he was nicked for theft of motor vehicle (wasn't shown as stolen on PNC but the keeper may not know its stolen yet). He decided to aggressivly move towards me prompting me to inform him not to be so silly and i racked my baton. He stupidly said "if you hit me ill hit you back" quite how he was going to get off the floor after being whacked by a big metal stick i dont know.

He then tried to find another route of escape.

I had enough of this so drew my CS gas and told him if he didnt come with me i would gas him. Which had the desired effect. I followed him back towards my crew mate who had chased the 2 passengers as they had made off too. He was cuffed and cautioned and gave the token "im going to fuckin nut you" reply. He was doubled up, lobbed into the rear of the panda with a bit of force and then escorted to the nick.

He then spent the evening swearing at me and arguing even though he was 3 times the drink drive limit.

He was still locked up when i left as he didnt want a duty solicitor and demanded to see his own, whose name he didnt know nor the phone number!

What a dickhead!

There was a second pursuit too that evening with another crew chasing, nicked motor.. Unfortuneately they got away and burnt the car out in a nearby field. Its not often we get persuits in our area seems like tonight we were targeting the right cars to stop, which will mean we will target anything that draws my attention for the foreseable future as you realise how many motors you drive past that may be nicked or a drunk, disqual or uninsured drivers we dont pull in.

But it baffles me why some people dont stop and try to get away as to be honest alot of peeps could talk their way out of trouble. As the reason we wanted to speak with this driver was because:
A) 3 males in an old car in a expensive area.
B) Driver advoids eye contact with us.
C) Parked up where cars are not usually parked up.

All we wanted to do was see what they were up to.

Guy's inteligence obvioulsy skipt an inbread generation as per his "Ill hit you back" comments and trying to escape when in handcuffs and 2 officers holding both arms.

If you have ever felt the weight of a baton you would know it will hurt and at the end of the day why fight when your opponent has a big metal stick and you have nothing.

Needless to say he was woken up by custody staff for regular checks in the cells. And stupidly told the SGT that he was going to spain the next day... I think the term "REFUSED BAIL" comes to mind... he was also wanted on locate trace in another area for an assault which means obtain current details!

I think he will be in custody for a while.
Then taken to the next avaliable court and banned,
Then fined for the public order offences and fail to stop.
Probably bailed for the Theft.

A cracking night and result for me.
A real shit night for the inbread chav scum that plagues the streets nicking motors, disqual driving, driving uninsured and a host of other offences.

I am now going to bed, in my own bed, in my own house after a can of beer and a bacon sarnie.
He is still in a cell. With all the lights on, Possible get an allday breakfast.

I love my job.
What i joined up for, to chase the bad guys and get em in the nick!

Crew Oscar - Nights.

2005-01-08T08:07:00.000Z

Well, 1st night shift crewed by myslef as a proactive unit in an unmarked car.

This turned out to be a bit of a pain as there were cars i would like to have stopped but were unnable to as i did not have any blue lights, so i had to resort to folowing them untill they stopped somewhere which was interesting.

Luckily managed to follow 1 vehicle into a petrol station forecourt as he had previously overtaken me down the high street and was driving like a nutter, No tax so has been reported for that, advice and producer given.

Had a chat with a few dodgey peeps that were stop checked and there was 1 guy that i would have liked to arrest but the lack of a working TETRA radio network meant i did not have any way of calling up for another unit to aid in the arrest and transport.

Assisted in several area searches ranging from groups of youths fighting to a cow in the road. And assisted a dog unit in making arrests following a fight where the door staff had been CS gassed.

Not a bad night but would have been improved with the following:

1) A working radio system so i could PNC cars and people and call for assistance.
2) A marked car to aid in stopping cars.
3) A crewmate bearing in mind that i was in a dodgey area where groups of people were congrigating and have no hesitation in giving a good kicking to officers who are either special police officers or single crewed.

So for the night i did the following in summary:

1) Covered 135 miles on patrol over 8 hrs driving and 1 hr rest stop.
2) Assisted in arrest of 2 males following a fight with CS gas. ( Good result)
3) Issued a producer (HORT/1) to an errant driver. (Silly boy shouldent have overtaken me at speed in a high street)
4) Reported a driver for driving with no road tax. (As a result of 3)
5) Area search for group of youths who reportedly were abusive to a homeowner. (No Trace)
6) Area search for a suspect vehicle carrying a male who had assulted someone. (No Trace)
7) Area search for a possible DIC (Drunk in charge) Driver after a Crash. (1 arrested)
8) Area search for a cow. (Moo Moo kind) (No Trace)
9) Assisted in a report of a fight. 1 person stop checked. (She didnt apreciate it too much as it was cold and windy!)
10) Stop checked 2 males, following them possibly tampering with a phone box who shuffled off when they saw the yellow jacket. (Was a knobend who needed arresting, no doubt we will meet again! you can be sure of that!)
11) Helped a drunken person into a taxi. (Almost appreciated but the boyfriend was a bit gobby)
12) Ate a cinamon whirl and a twix with a cup of tea. (Nice but tesco did not have anything else)
13) Be totally unappreciated by the general public. (Pretty much the norm)
14) Advoided alot of fallen down trees. (Because i didnt want to crash and try and expain it away!)

We shall see what the next night brings as im off to bed, luckily im comming in early to deal with outstanding paperwork and get it all up to date, then go back reactive for the funny hours, Hopefully with a working Radio!

Another 0630 Job + Nutters

2005-01-07T19:48:00.000Z

Not as bad as the other night, but there were more weirdos calling up for our help.

1 male was being chased by 2 males in balaclavas when we arrived there was no sign of any suspects and the aggrieved was pissed up and had taken drugs, he was in a bit of a state to be honest but there were no actual crimes being commited. The aggd had previously reported to us the night before that he had been beated up and punched in the throat by a known suspect and ran to the police station whislt being chased by the suspect.

When he was spoken to it transpired he had no injuries, and arrived at the police station by car!?!?!

We also had a burglary in progress which we attended and saw a male that INITIALLY matched the description, height, clothing and build. This male had a wallet that he said was not his, great we thought we got ourselves a burglar.

Later transpired that he was the wrong colour as we had an asian male and the suspect was white. Our male also had mental problems so he panicked when he saw us and panicked when we asked questions which lead to his arrest.

So we were about to release him when another call comes in saying a male with a knife had been causing problems at a train station. This male exactly matched the description of the male we had. He was searched and no knife found, after some messing about we really had no grounds to hold him and due to his condition we decided to give him a lift home. But the male then tells us he lives some 50 miles away in another force area! Great, an hour and a half later we returned to the force area.

At 0620 ish we were back at the nick and thinking nah lets not empty the car just in case, and sure as night is black a call comes in.... "A vehicle has left the road and is in a ditch" great off we trott only to be redeployed to an immediate alot further away. "A tree has totally blocked a road" so we redeploy, get to the scene and there is no tree.

What a night! And now its a friday night when its been quiet the past few weeks so something is bound to go off!.

A 0630am job

2005-01-07T19:36:00.000Z

Why when i am on nights do people decide to get hurt, have fights etc half hour before im due off duty??

We had a slow night with not a great deal happening, lots of procative patroling as its called by the powers that be. So slow in fact my crewmate felt too tired to drive (i am a non driver) so we decided to go back to the nick so my crewmate could have a hot drink and wake up a bit incase of any immediates that came in.
The early turn had just started to arrive for work so we began unloading the cars and writing off any jobs we had delt with when the dreaded call comes in

"Any unit avaliable for an immediate, male being chased by people carrying samari swords, he has escaped from a location where his 2 friends are currently being held and robbed at knife point, a gun has been seen"

So off the shift goes, all units call up and make on immediate.

Few mins later an ARV is dispatched along with a dog unit and the helicopter is called (well tried to but they didnt answer the phone!) And we all pile in to an address to see 2 males with injuries consistant with a good pasting and knife cuts.

The homeowner tell us that these males had tried to rob his house holding the occupants and knife point but they were over powered. the 2 males were arrested but were really glad to see us! Aparently a 3rd male had escaped from the address.

The 3rd male was the one that called the police! and he was subsiquently arrested by armed police!

And to top it all off, the third male had driven to the scene with the other 2 for a party in a nicked motor.

Try working that one out!

Seems a bit of vigalanti style justice was being administered as the 2 suspects were being robbed in return for them trying to rob the home owners!

Who knows, i got off late and couldent sleep with thanks to the people living above me playing loud music during the day. Which was swiftly resolved by switching the power off to their flat!

Mad Day

2005-01-07T19:03:00.000Z

Work was interesting, my list of things achieved this shift:

1) Woman claims husband beat her up, called police to remove him... real story .... he locked himself in bedroom after a barney and she wanted to use that bed to sleep thus called the police so she could sleep in the bed, not the sofa. (this happened sunday am) . Not exactly in line with DVU policy who pretty much state arrest him as she is obviuosly the victim and we must take positive action. Luckily for him common sense prevailed on this occasion.

2) Suspected burglary, defered for 3 days due to "victim" not being avaliable... Victim was still not avaliable today.

3) Took a victim statement for one of my old jobs just so i could get rid of the job as its a non starter. No CCTV, No witnesses, still been crimed and will be filed as undetected. Gone are the days when it was down to the officer to make a judgement call now we have to jump through hoops to get a job filed even when there is no chance of getting on offender caught!

4) Went to find a Misper from the mental "care" unit at the hospital, she had already done a runner once today and been returned, then she leaves 45 mins after her first return. Go to her house, find said woman who wont let us in, i run round back to no avalil. crewmate gets in, i run back round front and get let in. Nutter woman wont return to hospital, spend time on fone to supervisor etc to see if we have a power to use force. wait for reply..... in mean time said woman goes into a bedroom. i go into bedroom to see if said woman is still alive. Find woman with a large kitchen knife to her throat. crewmate thinks o shit she had the knife concealed on her all the time he was alone with her. I think o shit either a) fight ensues as she slits her throat, b) she goes mental and tries to do one of us or after a bit of talking by me she drops said knife, knife is removed from her range. Eventually take her back to hospital where staff says they cant use force to detain, i suggest locking the doors to prevent nutters escaping, they say they have not enuff staff, said nutter walks off, out through the secure doors and offski down the corridor closely followed by a bemused me. she is detained again. she gets sedated. Job done and a good result till she runs tomorow. This happens quite frequently from this "Care Unit" with a pretty much open door policy!

5) Deal with gobby shit who needs a slap, and thinks he knows the law (i am on my own) his mates come around giving it the gob. Said mates get lobbed into a wall by me because they got too close. male i was speaking to tried to run, male gets lobbed into said wall. Crewmate returns all get warned re their conduct, we then keep trying to wind up males so we can nick em. The joys of Section 5!

6) Close off a road due to water main bursting and idiots keep saying can we go through please... no fuck off road closed and loadsa water cant you see, as well as trying to drive around me, then around a roadblock and a police car. before getting an unimpressed me waving my arms around like a loony. By now i was at the end of the shift, cold, wet and hungry and just needed to get off duty!

Not bad for an early shift!

Welcome

2005-01-07T19:01:00.000Z

Hello,
I have just started this blog so bear with me while i get some items posted. Ill do my best and any comments appreciated.

Should The Police Be Armed?
	Yes - All Officers should carry firearms.
	Yes - More officers should be authorized to carry firearms but not routinely carry.
	Yes - We need more armed response vehicles but no to routine arming.
	No - Because i don't trust the police with firearms.
	No - Because the criminals would carry guns as well.
	No - Because its breaking tradition of having non armed police officers.

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