Constableconfused.com

2010-03-08T14:09:00.002Z

Despite the best efforts of certain annoying people you may be pleased to know that I have not killed myself. My only wish is that if anyone who was reading my blog and in a similar situation did not allow a certain persons comments affect their life to any great degree. I would hate to be Pete knowing that he may have driven some poor soul to suicide due to his obvious dislike for me.

Anyway moving on, in spite of my apparent genetic failings, my new job finds me in a world of equipment that equates to a computer for a caveman(just getting my head around it now). It, unfortunately, removes me from my former role of street policing (on my own for the most) one of the gun crime capitals of the UK.

I increasingly find myself removed from day to day policing which I thought I would never do. I find myself in an insular world where we can provide so much help to officers on the ground but not actually get involved.

In light of this I now find myself in a position of not being able to provide any material worthy of blogging about. I could tell you about suspect searches and vehicle pursuits but the actual feelings and emotions of being on the ground just aren't there anymore.

I will still be around and available on e-mail but unless something dramatic happens I won't be posting anymore.

Thank you for your comments, it makes me realise just how rewarding an open forum can be. I will continue to read other blogs and comment when I feel it necessary.

Incase anyone feels a certain sense of glee and achievement over this I would like them to remember that if a government witch hunt last year couldn't put me off there is no way that someone with the DNA of a dried up mouse poo ever could. I simply feel that the police who are still there 24/7, on the streets, have better material than me.

Regards.

Male domestic violence

2010-01-26T16:53:00.004Z

This may be my last post but I cannot confirm this at this time.

It is quite strange being empowered by the Queen to use various powers and procedures to achieve your role but at the same time enduring situations at home which you would not allow whilst on duty.

For those who have not guessed I am currently going slowly through the process of divorce. I have 2 daughters who I see what could best be described as infrequently but do get to speak to twice a week (they are approx 140 miles away now).

It is strange that you all too often get sent to deal with domestic disputes that involve...... well really nothing at all. He drank x amount and told me to do this or just the general situation where the 2 mutants you are dealing with lack the social skills to be able to deal with the everyday demands of normal life. Strange that you then go home to an environment where you find yourself in a similar position. I am not calling myself or my ex wife a mutant by the way.

How many times have you stood on the front doorstep with the key in your hand wondering what was going to greet you when you opened the door? All this after a 10 hour shift dealing with the great unwashed and their problems.
It is strange to walk into the house to find that the person you rely upon most heavily has done nothing but spend all her time on face book/bebo/twitter or any other communal website that you can think of. Especially when you learn that this person has been planning to leave you for some time and actually set up a date with someone on their Open University course in Blackpool. Someone has dared to post an unpleasant comment about your partner and all of a sudden you come home from a world of shit into another world of shit. In this job there is a popular saying which goes something along the lines of if home life is shit but work is good you can cope. If home life is good and work is shit you can cope as well. If both are shit well you are well F$*cked. It is true.

I will make no pretence of being perfect. I am probably the furthest example from perfect you could find. I used to drink too much (strangely enough don’t anymore), I smoke and used to long for time on my own without wife/kids demanding attention at midnight hence late night or early morning comments on various blogs.
I won’t go into the details about my relationship other than the walls bear numerous scars from temper fuelled outbursts from my former wife, I carry scars that would have (if officially crimed) led to her being placed through the courts. Coming home from nights at 7 A.M and having to wait up to get the kids to school or fed so that my “wife” could have a lie in (even when the kids had been asleep since 8 pm).....please. At the end of the day my oldest daughter (9) now has a secret message that allows me to tell if it is her or my ex who is texting me. No doubt that will go out the window shortly.
It is strange how people’s perspectives and attitudes change. Despite admitting that she was an abuser, now that she has moved away she now deems it necessary to find an alternative reason for the breakdown of our marriage. As per a late comment on my last post I am now accused of being adulterous. I wish, I am 40, fat and balding.
At the end of the day as a Police Officer I am willing to admit that I was subjected to domestic violence. I put up with it because I loved the person but one Thursday morning at about 8 A.M. whilst being attacked I nearly struck back. That was when I realised the end had come. No-one should be in an abusive relationship whether you are male or female. To be told after 13 years of marriage and 15 years of being with this person that they have been looking for an excuse to leave you is totally devastating. I would like to make it clear that the behaviour has totally turned off any feelings that I had and all I feel now is scorn and dislike.

The abusers always make up lies to cover their actions.

If this applies to any other male/female accept that it can happen to you. You allow it to because of love but is it really what you want?

This post is totally anonymous I hope, if it comes back to bite me in a court I will stand my ground. Suffice to say that I am no longer on the ground whilst in work.

All in all I will say that happiness after everything does come from the most unexpected places. Thank you, you know who you are.

Regards.

Why do I work again?

2009-12-16T22:43:00.002Z

At this current moment in time I find myself shelving out huge sums of money to a solicitor to act on my behalf. (A civil matter not a criminal one by the way). Why?

If I changed uniform to a tracksuit or simply couldn't be bothered getting off Facebook or Bebo or whatever social network group that the state pays you money for Internet access, I would not have to pay such extortionate fees. Maybe I should get out of work and see where life takes me, perhaps not eh?

I see many such people who are "entitled" to free legal advice. Admittedly the system has been supposedly streamlined or "fast tracked" over the last few years but why do the life sucking dross that are the mainstay of many solicitors get it all for nothing?

I have worked solidly since I was 18. If I had remained in the RAF I would have retired on November 25th after 22 years service. Instead, I find myself with mounting legal costs and no easy way out.

Think into this what you will but a number of you will guess what it means.

Regards.

Life's changes.

2009-11-27T22:14:00.003Z

I am still here in the background.

There have been dramatic changes in my life which are not something to air on the public forum.

Business shall be resumed once I can drag myself out of the doldrums.

Regards.

Oh my god!

2009-09-04T15:02:00.002+01:00

For those of you that know me you will be aware that I have been going through an application process.

I found out today that after 5 months of selection processes I am unfortunatley suitable for the job.

I bloody well passed and am now looking forward to serious pastures new. Still a police officer but ............ providing I pass the course, not a real one anymore.

Thanks for all you messages of support.

Three weeks in.

2009-09-01T16:36:00.003+01:00

The travesty of justice has officially been on the streets of Notgreatside for the last 3 weeks. I am a common or garden response officer and I have been out on the streets with a taser for that time.
It is a pain in the arse. Firstly they issued us with different belts to ensure that they couldn't be removed by offenders easily. Now depending on where I buy my clothes from I am either a 34 or 36 inch waist. I thought 36" just to be safe. Not sure who makes the belts but they obviously have different scales on their tape measures than the rest of us. Very last hole and that is a squeeze sometimes, no more fatty foods for me and no they can't issue me with another one yet as they have been specially ordered.
There is the rigmarole of being issued with a yellow piece of plastic and 3 cartridges, I handled firearms for 11 years whilst in the forces and am intimately familiar with load and unload drills and actually using weapons. I don't need someone who has never handled a weapon to tell me what to do. Weapon safety is drilled into me and has been since 1987. It is also a pain when you finish late not to have a duly "authorised" sergeant around to "unload" the taser, I have incurred overtime waiting to hand the bloody thing back!
It gets in the way when you get in the car, right where the seatbelt needs to go, just another piece of kit to fill my already full belt.

Does it work though........oh bloody hell yes. The scrotes notice it immediately, they are well used to the police and all the stuff normally carried. They pick up immediately on the bright yellow piece of plastic and not surprisingly ask "is that real". My stock answer is no it's a dummy just like you are for asking the question. I have only drawn it on one occassion and "red dotted" someone. It worked instantly stopping him in his tracks and avoiding yet another cocaine and alcohol fuelled fight which would have surely ensued. Incidentally, why do families always fight and argue at christenings, weddings etc?

In short and from an officer who is using one whilst not being part of a specialized team. It is a pain, more kit, procedure and writing. It has already in my experience stopped a situation dead in it's tracks and prevented a prolonged struggle. It is a deterrent and also a statement of purpose. It hasn't changed the way I work, my mouth is still my biggest tool and long may it remain so. What it does is provide another avenue of non-verbal communication which in my still limited experience has proved effective.

To all the people protesting against human rights issues what would you prefer? A subject who has momentarily been in fear of being tasered and calming down and not being injured or the police actually using force against him to achieve their aim and him suffering injuries. It is a double edged sword but it is helping in a small way to gain some sort of control in the area where I work.

I await the criticism.

Incidentally have completed all the stages for my application and am now on tenterhooks awaiting the outcome of the final interview.

Still here.

2009-08-21T16:57:00.002+01:00

I am still here, thank you for your questions and concern but just seem to have bigger things on my mind at the mo'.

Regards.

Winging it.

2009-07-31T11:28:00.002+01:00

It is not often that I find myself stuck in a situation where there is apparently no resolution. I found myself in such a situation on Sunday.

A bit of history, I was called two weeks ago to an establishment that assists people who have conditions that require some counselling in order for themselves to determine their route in life. I attended the establishment after one of their residents made a really good effort of hanging himself. He pulled the cord from the rear of his television and somehow using the window nearly completed the job. Fortunately staff intervened and his attempt was foiled.
He was assessed by the duty crisis team and once the effects of alcohol had worn off they deemed his demeanour to not be one of someone likely to harm himself.
His background, well his father committed suicide approximately two years ago once the onset of his condition started taking over his life. My subject, let’s call him X is twenty something years old and has also been diagnosed with the condition. His sister also has the condition but she has come to terms with it.
His condition is Huntington’s disease. I had heard of it previously but didn’t know what it was. X has seen his father deteriorate and take his own life. He knows the symptoms and the end result. He doesn’t want to end up like his dad but due to the hereditary nature of the disease he IS going to.
Anyway, Sunday, he receives a family visit which doesn’t go well. Following that he expresses his desire to end his life again and wants to go out. Staff have seen a pattern emerging in his behaviour. He talks about positive and negative things whilst sober, once he has had a drink he doesn’t talk but tries to take his own life. He has admitted that it is only after he has been drinking the suicide attempts start and last Sunday he wanted to go drinking. The staff don’t have the powers necessary to detain him but understandably they are doing everything they can not to let him go out. The situation escalates and the verbal arguments become verbal threats from X. The duty manager left with no options and fearing for the safety of X and his staff calls the police. He states that he wants the male detained under S.136.
A sceptical Constableconfused arrives and after a quick background from staff goes to speak to X. He finds X sitting in a chair smoking, very calm, very collected and talking a lot of sense. Definitely not a 136 case. He tells me all about his problems in a calm, controlled and informed matter and that he is a voluntary patient and as such wants to leave. When asked what his intentions are he tells me he is going to get drunk and try to kill himself for the reasons outlined above. His reasoning can’t be faulted; he is in control of himself and provides what is really quite a good reason for ending his life. He apologises to staff and to me for wasting our time but once again expresses his desire to leave and get drunk. I have no reason to detain him but now have a duty of care. If I let him walk and he does the deed how much poo will I be in. I manage to speak on the telephone to one of the CPN’s who last saw him on Friday and they state he is in no way mentally disturbed, confused about which life choice to take certainly but not in need of mental health care. He is starting to become irate now and once again offers violence if he is not allowed to leave. I then lock him up on the tenuous grounds of preventing a breach of the peace. That way he won’t be drinking anyway.
The trip to custody follows with me justifying the grounds for the arrest in my head all the way. I relate the circumstances to the custody sergeant who looks at me with some strange looks before authorising detention for a “BOP”. He knows me and my methods so will no doubt ask me for a full update once the “prisoner” goes for processing. I subsequently provide the full background to him and the Inspector who has now turned up and acknowledge that my arrest is probably unlawful but what else could I do? The Inspector sums it up nicely by saying yes it is unlawful and he may get paid a couple of thousand if he pursues the matter but I can’t be criticised for my actions. My actions I perceived were entirely in the best interests of X.
The next problem, how do we get out of this mess? He is clearly not a matter for the courts but also can’t languish in a cell for too long. The “home” is no longer interested stating that they will have no network available until 9 a.m. the next morning to progress this. It is just after 6 p.m. now so they are no help. In effect they have washed their hands of him for the night. I visit the crisis team in Notgreatside County Hospital who state that they are aware of X and believe that he will one day kill himself but he is undecided at the moment. Great help. I ask them for assistance but they say there is nothing they can do. Tick Tock goes the custody clock.
My mobile rings and it is custody stating that the male has been on the intercom apologising for his actions and asking if he can go back. He states that he is now at what he perceived to be rock bottom and sees the home as a much better option. He is seen by the FME and she spends over an hour talking with him. At the end she recommends he be released once she has a stern word with the home. This is duly done and X gets changed from his safety gown back into his normal clothes.
He is refused charge for the BOP and I take him back. On the way he is a different character, he has taken a shine to the doctor and asks which practice she is with. He talks about remaining in Notgreatside and resuming his college studies which were interrupted several years ago.
I drop him back at the home and hand him over to staff, as he entered he turned and looked at me nodding before jokingly (I hope) says “SAME TIME NEXT WEEK”? I drive away wondering what the hell has happened during the last few hours. My conclusion was that there are supposedly partner agencies everywhere that are there to assist during incidents such as these but at 6 p.m. on a Sunday night there really isn’t anyone. I winged it, playing it by ear. I was backed up by Sgt’s and the Inspector and also the FME. Between us we resolved a situation that we really had no part in but were the first to get called.
How many similar situations do you find yourselves in? The first port of call for many people even though we shouldn’t be.

By the way, did you know it is not an offence to commit suicide but if you try and fail, it then becomes one. Apparently!

Just for amusement.

2009-07-20T22:02:00.002+01:00

Our lager, which art in barrels.
Hallowed be thy drink,
Thy will be drunk, (I will be drunk)
At home as it is in the tavern.
Give us this day our foamy head
and forgive us our spillage.
As we forgive those who spill against us.
Lead us not into incarceration but deliver us from hangovers.
For thine is the beer,
The bitter and the lager,
Forever and forever
Barmen.

Just been sent this and it seemeed quite amusing as I have started rest days.

Regards.

Sergeant Simon.

2009-07-19T11:30:00.002+01:00

I have never read any of Sgt Simon's postings and must regrettably say I have been lax.

I have just read his profile and thi sums it all up nicely I think. I really couldn't have worded it better.

A police sergeant on a response team in the outskirts of a major UK city. Response teams are the only people in the police who don’t have a remit, who have to deal with everything. We are the whipping boys and girls who work all hours with all sorts of targets and guidelines issued by office living senior management who, from my point of view, sometimes seem to have forgotten most of the realities of the 24hr response jockey. I work on the starfish principle in policing. For those who don’t know that story, its the boy walking on a beach where a storm tide has washed up thousands of starfish, which are slowly dying. As he walks, he picks up one starfish after another and throws it back to the water. A man sees this and asks why does he bother, as he could never make a difference to all the thousands stranded. The boy doesn’t break stride as he picks up another and throws it back. “It made a difference to that one”, he replied. Thats the way I work. I know I’ll never make a difference on a grand scale, but I’ll make a difference to an individual by doing each job properly each time it comes round, whether or not it complies with what I'm told I must do.

This sums it up nicely, a police officer who still has his own mind, long may we survive.

My social experiment from my last post has concluded and the positive outweighed the negative.

Regards.

The STD's of the blogging world.

2009-07-09T18:44:00.005+01:00

I have heard that canestan, liberally applied along with a tablet if necessary, can take away all annoyances. I have done this regularly and now have a very smeared laptop screen which sometimes makes it illegible. The tablet has made my DVD drive now inoperable.

In spite of this some people just continue to cause an irritation, Now Metcounty has left one of his irritations appears to have latched onto me, direct quote:

Anonymous Pete said...

CUNTstable Stupid ... or whatever it is you call yourself, on a noe-to-one I would say that I would come away thinking that I have shit harder things than you.

You gutless wanker.

Thank you, he didn't even post it on a recent item, just kind of sneaked it in on one that no-one would be reading anymore.

Constructive criticism is always welcome and will be answered accordingly. However amateurish, boorish comments will be ridiculed, scoffed at and if they present spelling mistakes openly published to highlight what a dickhead the person is.

Thanks Pete, it took me a week or so to find this comment and when you challenged me to a noe-to-one (spelt as per comment) with you, I couldn't help but chuckle. By the way do you think you are the first to change my name to that? It is so well used it actually makes you look like one if you choose to look further than the end of your nose and read other blogs.

All in all Pete, thank you for a chuckle and I really can't wait for the next installment.

For those who doubt me check out comment 27 on the post highlighted.

Just to re-assure those who worry.

2009-06-30T18:55:00.004+01:00

No picture, no grand speak or anything. If someone breaks into your house you can if necessary, do this no matter what human rights say. Here is another example if you don't believe me. The object that often causes problems is what is reasonable. These both were, and the outcome was positive.

All I can say is a good piece of "bobbying" from the officers who first attended. Well done and long may it continue!

Still here.

2009-06-25T22:09:00.002+01:00

Sorry for the lack of posting,

had other things to do and been a bit busy. Through the second round and got to learn how to do "jobspeak" now.

There will be more, I was mad in 2004 and diagnosed as so, can always go the same way again if I'm "outed".

Will post more when I can. Nothing to do with being afraid of posting by the way, it's a time factor thing.

Regards.

For F$%c&s sake.

2009-06-16T23:14:00.002+01:00

How much pain can someone c?ked of his tits take? About this much.

I am due Taser training in a couple of weeks if and if it goes wrong the subject will get Tasered, kicked, punched or whatever else is necessary to lock them up! I'm not hard, solid or anything and incidentally no, I didn't get bullied at school. If the Police tell you to stop doing something.......stop, we are a bigger gang than you and can carry toys which you can't, legitimately. I have used all options open to me over the years including breaking peoples bones and more than one KO. I'm not proud of that but I am proud to wear the uniform. I will continue to operate the same way if I stay on the streets and will make no apologies for that.

You may be reading about me on Sky news one day if it all ends up with the IPCC.

Like a pig in ..........

2009-06-14T21:56:00.003+01:00

Well,

sorry for being more than absent for a good while. Some may say good riddance and they would probably be right. I have actually had a rather splendid couple of weeks. Following the nightmare application scenario bizarrely enough I actually passed the first stage. (No-one more surprised than me)! Thank you BG for your positive e-mails, not just you but SC ,BE ,VN and Mr HD , this is just to name a few. You really have been supportive and positive even when I haven't been. Thank you.

Anyway you all know or have guessed what I am looking to progress/regress to and who knows what will happen? The next 5 stages depend on me, not just random persons deciding.

The last 2 weeks I have not been on response I have been attached to a unit that does nothing but enforce vehicle crime. I have for the first time had live access to ANPR and dealt with nothing except Road Traffic Act offenders and vehicle crime matters. I haven't worked a night shift, I haven't generated any crime reports but what I have done is take 20 or so cars off the road from uninsured/unlicensed drivers. Yes, I have also dealt with more than a few motorists who have been on their mobile despite there being a big f-off marked up Vectra alongside/behind/at the junction whilst they were doing it. If they dropped the phone they got a warning if they carried on......well it says a lot about how much attention you can pay to the road and chat on your mobile doesn't it. It does cause a lack of concentration.

Other than that not really got a lot to tell you other than my stress levels and blood pressure are at the lowest point that I can remember them being for the last 9 years. Ahhhh, that is until I remembered that response calls again on Thursday, YIPPEE........no really........really,..... honest, sort of.........no it's all bollocks, here we go again!

Please let me pass. Had a taste of the other side and don't want to go back!

Was it worth bothering?

2009-05-30T09:56:00.002+01:00

This quote is taken from the bloody application form that took me about 3 weeks to complete and evidence properly. The problem was my yearly development review has for the last few years been just enough to show that I was competent. To use it as a means to assist an application took considerably longer.

The quote reads:
" We are committed to the employment of people with disabilities and from ethnic minorities. There is a policy of guaranteed shortlisting of those applicants."

I am not disabled and am white British as well as being heterosexual.

Wonder if I will make it to the shortlist.

Totally Random.

2009-05-29T11:29:00.002+01:00

Well it is no longer in my hands.

The dreaded application form has finally been submitted. What happens next is no longer up to me.

On a much much lighter note I saw this and couldn't help but you know,,,, respect. What dedication.

Random post I know but thought it worthy. (Yes I'm a muppet). As so many of the comments on the original article say the love of a mother. Where in society did we all go poo?

What have we become?

2009-05-24T22:58:00.005+01:00

I have read, re-read and then checked again this and after looking once again through the extensive online library that is available on WW 2, I wonder how we, in today's society, ever get away with complaining that life is too stressful. I have visited the Normandy beaches, been to Dachau and also in my own small way been in a war zone. Admittedly it was the first Gulf War and the pilots and nav's were the ones who were up there taking casualties but when the air raid siren goes and the Patriot batteries suddenly let go, the sphincter goes snap. "Be in time, mask in nine" was a phrase drilled into us during basic training. My respirator must have been smoking when I finally got in on, approximately 2 seconds in my eyes but probably about 9 in all honesty. It was only afterwards that we learnt it was a Scud 2 still in it's booster phase on it's way to Israel, luckily as so many of them were it was a dud.

Anyway, back to the point of this, someone I work with has gone off with stress. Fair enough, he/she is 24 living alone, got no financial worries and still lives with his/her parents. He/she has contacted a solicitor in relation to taking legal action against the job for imposing excessive work requirements upon him/her. He/she has to respond to incidents utilising the driving training that he/she has received, he/she then has to deal with the "victims" and on top of all that he/she then has to deal with crime reports that he/she has generated or have been allocated to him/her.

I will admit to having been ill with stress 5 years ago, a prolonged 11 hours with a very smelly sudden death that had seen the partner wrap tea towels and all other forms of material around the badly DE-composed body. It was instantly treated as suspicious and was a scene. I had a world of personal poo going on at the time, debt, personal problems and that incident was the straw that broke the camel's back. I was ashamed to admit that something was wrong but after several weeks of not being able to eat I had to face facts. Something wasn't right. I was eventually "fixed" after a couple of months and released on the public again.

The point of all this is to ask what sort of pathetic society have we become? I have watched, read and listened to numerous accounts of D-Day and wonder if the worst ever happened again could those monumental events ever be repeated? In my heart of hearts I don't think so. Look at my feeble excuses for going a bit odd, the numerous claims for injuries from little traffic shunts and the other similar stories. I no longer believe that we live in Great Britain anymore. What we now reside in is a festering corrupt and self centred society that doesn't give a shit about anything that occurs beyond the end of our garden path. I remember the silver jubilee and the street parties, did we have the same with the golden jubilee? No political correctness.....oh stop it, must go now.

Regards.

Application forms.

2009-05-18T17:12:00.003+01:00

As you are aware from my previous posts and I apologise to non-police readers, I am currently doing an application to get away from the dross I have dealt with for the last 9 years.

Is completing the application itself a part of the selection process? I sometimes wonder why I haven't applied previously for vacancies and now am reminded why. The bloody application form. Firstly and the least trivial it is to be typed in Arial font 11, ok I can do that. They then give you 8 areas that you need to focus on and evidence. For my part these areas are:

1.Respect for race and diversity.
2.Teamworking.
3.Community and customer focus.
4.Planning and organisation.
5.Personal responsibility.
6.Problem solving.
7.Effective communication.
8.Resilience.

This is the stuff I do everyday and never feel the need to big it up by telling everyone and his dog about it by putting it on a piece of paper and getting it signed by 3 people.

They then leave you to get on with it after providing something called a Job Description Questionnaire and an Integrated Competency Framework. They also usefully provide you with an aide to assist you in your application which basically tells you if you haven't got the skills don't apply. Incidentally the box on the page allows you approximately 700 words in the required font. That is not a lot.

The evidence to support your application must be contained with your E-PDR (Electronic-Personal Development Review) but that only went live from the 1st January 2009. Prior to that you got pieces of paper from people saying that you had done a good job etc. which you could add into your PDP (Personal Development Portfolio). This was a tangible document which was forwarded with your application. I used to get all these bits of paper, put them in my drop file and at the PDP time just get a big hole punch and stick them in it. A quick session on the computer for my PDP 1(?) and job done for another year. I was officially competent! Hooray.

I have a good number of pieces of paper I have acquired over the last 12 months which I now wish to use in my application. In order to do so I have to enter them as a PDP(S) and then scan them on. I also have to then do a PDP5 to evidence the information that is contained in the PDP(S) and e-mail it to about 6 people to get them to sign it off as real evidence. I feel a bit of a rant starting. Going for a cigarette outside.

Aahh, that's better.

Anyway this application has proved to be the biggest BA I have ever dealt with. Send me to worst hate crime you could ever imagine or worse but please don't allow me to ever fill in one of these bloody applications again.

Must go and type some more self aggrandising stuff again. I wouldn't mind, I'm not going for promotion or even trying to leave the country!

Oliver Cromwell 2009

2009-05-18T01:06:00.003+01:00

When Cromwell did his thing to the Rump parliament he was leaving them in no doubt about their position, they were no longer acting in the interest of the country. His speech was:

"It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place which you have dishonored by your contempt of all virtue and defiled by your every vice.

"Ye are a pack of mercenary wretches and like ESAU sell your country for a mess of pottage and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.

"Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess?

"Ye have no more religion than my horse. Gold is your God.

"Which of you has not bartered your conscience with bribes?

"Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the commonwealth?

"Ye furdid prostitutes have you not defiled this sacred place and turned the Lord's temple into a den of thieves by your immoral principles and wicked practices?

"Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation.

"You were deputed here to get grievances redressed; are not yourselves become the greatest grievance?

"Your country therefore calls upon me to to cleanse the Augean stable by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings in this house and which by God's help and the strength he has given me I am now come to do.

"I command ye therefore upon the peril of your lives to depart immediately out of this place...

"Go and get out, make haste ye venal slaves be gone - so take away that shining bauble there and lock up the doors".

Does that sound vaguely familiar in this current climate? Any offers for someone to be a 2009 Cromwell without the dictatorial aspect?

I am not too bright.

2009-05-12T18:22:00.002+01:00

Please excuse the last post, it was done without proper referencing and now I feel a right Woppa.

Anyway, back to bloody application and how do I now evidence planning and organisation?

Busy few weeks.

2009-05-08T18:44:00.003+01:00

I may not be able to post for a couple of weeks but all is well.

The copious amounts of typing, re-typing and further re-re typing of my application will I'm afraid, take priority.

It's pretty life changing and if successful won't be the lowest of the low anymore, probably the highest of the low. Work it out if you wish to. Will still be a Constable and still confused, just in a different role.

Anyway, unless anything particularly noteworthy comes along you won't be hearing from me. Depending on your point of view this may be viewed as either a positive or negative. Will still be adding my inane comments though.

Regards.

Health and Safety gone mad.

2009-05-05T17:21:00.004+01:00

I will firstly apologise for the length of the link that is attached.

Yesterday I was physically fighting with a 6'8 body builder who had been causing problems at a local mental health ward where he was a voluntary patient. He is an asylum seeker from the Congo who has had his application refused however due to his current state of mind he is deemed as not fit to be returned to his country. He was given the option of a so called detention centre or "voluntary" admission to a psychiatric unit. He has been a handful whilst there but the balance was tipped yesterday when he started assaulting staff and other residents with chairs and whatever else he could find. It was a bit of a mess and really touch and go when we arrived. After about 20 minutes of fast talking and agreeing with him he was coming with us. Where else are we going to take him?

He was initially calm whilst booking him in to be assessed by the crisis team, this chap was not suitable for detention at a hospital as he was already supposedly under the care of a mental health team. Anyway his antics start as soon as his handcuffs are removed. He is looking for a weapon and tries to pick up a computer monitor to throw but thankfully they are screwed down. It takes 3 of us to merely get the handcuffs (x2) applied to the rear to control his arms. He is taken straight to a cell where due to his behaviour he is to wear a safety gown for his own protection. Can't have him hurting himself can we?

I won't go into all the details but he was very strong and in the end it took 6 of us to be able to remove his clothing and perform a safe cell exit tactic. This may sound excessive but his strength, his frame of mind and the fact that we were all tired after 45 minutes of struggling with this chap. Anyway later in the day he was sectioned by the crisis team and is now receiving the care he needs. I hope he can now improve enough to go back to his family at home. That is not sarcastic, that is what he was telling us during the struggle about how he wants to go home as well as that today, he will die in order to keep his shirt on.

There were quite a few of us with bumps, bruises and various other marks that were the result of the struggle. The custody Sergeant duly noted every injury on the custody record.

Today I walked into work and opened my e-mails. There was a not so polite bollicking from the Chief Inspector of custody berating me along with the other 5 officers for not exercising due regard for the health and safety implications of our actions which resulted in our injuries minor though they were. I promptly e-mailed him back and asked him to review the in cell footage and tell me how he would have dealt with it. As a result apparently I am going to give him a damn good listening to in a week or so as he is a day worker and I am a shift worker. That is the first time our "shifts" will coincide. What a joke.

I am not a fan of his due to previous associations but can't help but agree with this Chief Con who wrote about this H&S nonsense in 2007, here is the link.

Sensibilities from a senior officer? Surely not.

The new broom.

2009-04-30T20:10:00.002+01:00

Here we are again, the dump that is classed as ECHO 2/3 in my area has just got a new Chief Inspector. Fair does, following my last post he actually came on parade with us. I now know who my Chief Inspector is. I feel so relieved. He assured us that he was operational through and through and was not just filling his portfolio for his next promotion. Fair enough I thought, give him a chance BUT then the government inspired drivel couldn't help but come out. Compliance with victim......blueprint.....pledge etc all blurted out and it all went wrong. He lost all credibility. He asked who was a driver, looked at the states and said he was going to go on patrol with Con 9999. The officer in question was suitably underwhelmed.

Guess what, despite his promises he didn't go out. He has only been here a week and in all fairness has been on parade with all 5 blocks. He is vocal, dismissive and very self righteous. All I know is that I was begging and stealing from other areas to get cars to go out in. We do tend to break ours around here! Well we don't the offenders do. Come 5 PM he was out the door and did actually say hello to me. I then stopped him on the ramp to the car park and asked him lots. I said I wouldn't embarrass him in front of the block but asked him what he was going to do to change things. There is so much that needs changing and here was his chance to do it.
I am 39 coming on 40 and he is only a few years older than me. He then said that he couldn't do my job nor could most people above the rank of Sergeant. He also stated that despite response being the shitty end of the stick we were the general view of the police that most people held.

In light of my last post I felt somewhat justified in doing it. It however nailed just another another nail in the coffin of my belief that we are not even considered in the depths of the "Policing Pledge" we will just always be there to be abused by cancelled rest days and various other events that need arsing about.

I do report with not a little excitement that I do have several irons in the fire and come the end of May, I will have some respite. The longer term requires lots of typing.

Supervision

2009-04-27T19:51:00.001+01:00

I sit at home and sometimes, you can’t help it, ponder the events of the day.

I frequently attend incidents where the “bigger picture” has to be viewed. I am talking about scenes, prisoner watches at hospitals and the inevitable constant obs at police jails. All of these things are considered. I arrive at a job, there is clearly a scene and it needs to be preserved. If the offender is arrested it is worthwhile otherwise all you are recovering is frequently the blood of the “victim” (note adherence to the victim charter there). However there is a gut wrenching, sphincter snapping clap that echoes throughout Notgreatside at every occasion where somebody is even slightly hurt.Common sense does never prevail therefore and the echo of the sphincter results in a scene etc. How many rolls of scene tape we must go through actually scares me. Incidentally when a scene is taped off and there is an officer stood preventing people access how many people come up and ask if it OK for them to walk through it or just ignore it altogether? “Can I just walk through as I need to go to the offy?” Errm No! They still ask though. Would I put tape round that says “POLICE CRIME SCENE DO NOT ENTER” if it was ok to walk through?

Anyway after numerous stints of acting despite never even sitting the exam never mind passing it. I now find myself in the position of having supervision who have less time in than me or have been so far removed from front line policing they are a bloody liability! They have obviously read the books and passed the exam, they are still at the T/Sgt stage and still haven’t a clue about anything. One of them can’t work past x o’clock in the morning due to sleep problems. I sometimes struggle to sleep on nights but don’t complain, why is he a Sgt on a 24/7 response block? The other one, well, is generally never there due to courses but is quite effective when in work. In other words the burden frequently falls on my shoulders.

In my former life in the RAF I was promoted to the rank of Sgt and after passing what was called General Service Training courses on two occasions, four weeks in the classroom/field (one to Corporal then the next to Sgt) I actually learned how to lead/look after staff. Welfare, food, drink and toilet breaks are essential. They are not just to be accommodated when convenient. To the best of my knowledge I never had to order anyone to do a menial task, there was always a request and due to the fact I would also do the rubbish jobs when required my staff just did it. There were frequent instances where I had to just ask people to do jobs and they would. If my shift heard me say this or that needs doing NOW I wouldn’t have to order anyone they would just do it I would not do it unless necessary. End result the job got done and people had respect for the rank because:

a) you had earned it and got the t-shirt.

b) you treated them properly.

Moving on a decade or so and I find myself in another uniformed role which is supposedly disciplined.However there is a distinct lack of leadership. From a purely personal point of view being deposited at a crime scene at 23:00 and not being relieved until well past 07:00 is not acceptable. Never mind the weather or the availability of facilities this is clearly not right. (Haven't done that for years but still remember). I would even push it to possibly be a contravention of yooman rights but will stand corrected on that one. When I wear the mantle I always remember try to remember the fundamentals of it. While we lucky ones who get to whizz around in fast cars frequently never get a break it is significantly better than standing on a cold wet scene with nowhere to have a pee! Frequently in the full view of the press and numerous other members of the public. This ignominious role frequently falls to the junior officers on the block. I did it but thankfully with Sergeants who gave a toss. There was always a break for a brew and another one for your scoff. I try to follow their example. That was not that long ago, only 9 years. Those people have either moved on or retired. The sorry replacements are not up to the job or just don’t care. I know from my own experience that once a commitment is covered then the welfare of the staff doing it takes second place despite my urgings. On numerous occasions I have taken flasks of hot water and maxpax out to scenes etc when I have pointed out the requirement to my “superiors”. I wonder why so many student officers are leaving before their 2 years is up. These same people are scared of making decisions and as such will always take the “cover your arse” position instead of following the advice of an experienced officer or frequently, the position dictated by common sense. It really concerns me that these people are responsible for so much. It really isn’t hard to put yourself in the position of someone dying for a pee being surrounded by Sky Poos reporters and cameramen doing the “really need a pee/poo dance”. For heaven's sake one female student officer ended up in hospital with a severe kidney infection due to holding her bladder for 10 hours. Why can I see the basic needs and do my utmost to accomodate these whereas those with stripes can't. I point out with apologies that I.G. and other supervisors who post probably do give a stuff which is why their staff get on with the job. These people obviously have common sense whereas a lot of supervisors just complete the advisory staff management course, take no notice of it and get on with their next promotion. How that differs from my man management training.

I could go on for ever pointing out the failings of supervision, the lack of balls oops, courage for the diverse, the futile allocation of insolvable crime reports, the basic requirements of staff as highlighted above and above all else the absence of leadership. This goes beyond immediate supervisors right to the top echelons of “management”. When will the government realise that the police is not a business and does not need managers, what it needs are some leaders who will enforce the laws and policies that direct their staff and not worry about this. Perhaps that way we can just get on with the job whilst still being held accountable, and not be the excuse for the political clusterfucks that we are now.

This post comes from despair about what we are becoming and also from hearing the results about who has passed the OSPRE exam and who hasn't. 22 year old just, and he has passed? How is he going to lead?

I haven't got the spare time at home to study at the moment hence the reason I am not one of the happy or sad candidates.

Attestation.

2009-04-24T20:32:00.007+01:00

This was meant to be a comment on WPC Bloggs blog but it developed. It was meant to be a reply to MTG.

I don't normally counter his comments but on this occasion he riled me. I am not nor ever will be your servant. I swore an oath to the Queen upon my appointment, she is the only person who I am sworn to serve. Please read the oath of attestation if you don't believe me.

The nonsense about me being a servant to the public is a fallacy contrived by successive parliaments to try to appease society. If I am the servant of the people how do I then become able to arrest people who abuse/assault me when there are no other persons around? Who am I serving then? I am a servant of the Queen.

Please don't get me wrong if someone needs help from me I will do my best to do that. Not because I am a servant to the people but it is my sworn duty to do so, a role which I still choose to do.
I thought I would never mention it again but G20 has aroused all sorts of nonsense that has people believing the spin, claiming brutality etc, etc, you know what I am talking about as will other readers. Please get over it, officers (who were acting in accordance with the oath they swore) will suffer the consequences (heaven help them in this day and age), nothing else will change in practice. Lip service will be paid to whatever nonsense that is changed and the rest of us will continue to do the job we know how to do. They were fulfilling their oath, the peace clearly wasn’t being kept. Government may have changed but the principles haven’t.

Just out of interest, non police who comment frequently, if I were to hand you my equipment and a stuffed bag full of forms. Included in this package would be the keys to a powerful car that you would be expected to cut your way through traffic in order to serve your oath to the Queen to assist someone who has dialled 999. All the time you would be constantly receiving updates as well as trying not to crash. Your adrenaline would be flowing from the auditory inputs coupled with the hazards you encounter on the road. The end result, you arrive at the job with all senses sharply charged and keenly attuned. Once there you either: fight, stop people from fighting or decide that the 78 year old male/female who has just had some scrote burst into their house and really needs some sort of reassurance which is willingly given and beyond. Of course there is the other 90% of calls from the socially disfunctional who know that they get their wages every other Thursday and fight in between. Could you differentiate what is real or not? Before you criticize could you do it? Thought not.

This would be the same psychological state that the officers in London would be under, a pushing, abusive and potentially violent crowd. You only have to see one of the videos of a serial of officers being crowded against a wall by an overwhelming mass of people. Is striking a few of them to regain the streets wrong? I will leave it up to you to decide.

This is not a personal attack on anyone but merely a grounded response to people who will openly criticize without the full understanding. I have never to the best of my knowledge acted impartially or unfairly to anyone. I do have opinions and views, I am only human BUT they never get in the way with work.

People stop thinking that we are your servants, we will willingly help you but we can also be your scourge. Government don’t like the scourge side but where I work if you need robust policing you will be at the end of it, no excuses from me. This is widely appreciated from the unspoken majority of my area and no doubt the effect is countrywide. Though I can’t speak with any authority on this.

The end of this post is merely to highlight that we are all human. We are all affected by emotions and situations and react accordingly. The only difference is police officers do know when to stop where as a portion of the public don’t, you never saw an officer going back to give a farewell kick, push, baton strike or stamp to any of the protesters and by the way we do get frightened as well at times, we are only human. Self preservation still exists in us.. I have been inundated with e-mails showing alleged police brutality at the dreaded events in London. What I have seen from my point of view is officers dealing with situations as they seem appropriate, no-one else knows the thought processes going through these officer’s heads. They would have been considered but apparently aren’t acceptable. Read earlier about adrenaline and auditory inputs, oh not forgetting a non-compliant mass of people in front of you.

Anyway I shall never mention London events again and hope that all police bloggers will do the same. In all effects the arse has been kicked out of it and it is now boring.

Dr Melvin T Gray I do not wish to offend you and this is not a personal attack on you, oh my eight year old has just showed me a top hat she made from silly foam, must go and be a dad again.

Revolt in the ranks.

2009-04-24T09:49:00.002+01:00

Apparently PC Plum is leaving the much loved Balamory.

I have yet to have this confirmed immediately but the rumour is that PC Plum is about to leave Balamory in order to further his career. I have heard that he has applied for a wildlife officers post in the Western Isles.

My first thought was Noddy as he is already well versed in the law that does not involve PACE. I searched the interweb but could find no vacancies for Balamory Police.

My research was highlighted to the afternoon shift that was shortly about to go off duty as well as my shift that started nights yesterday at 21:00 hours.

The end result was there were approximately 15 reports through supervision expressing interest in the soon to be vacated role. Mine was included and though it would tear my heart to leave Notgreatside if Plummy's role became available, I would snap it up.

Not too sure how I would feel patrolling the area on my bike without my baton, he never seems to wear one but he is obviously very comfortable in his own abilities. I'm sure Archie could invent a non- threatening one that would only become apparent when the situation developed. Maybe when Josie Jump decided to jump on Miss Hoolie's head for never changing her clothes, or does my current location see the worst in people.

Anyway if I am successful I am sure that I will be happy following my new training in identifying flowers and birds, oh and having to deal with lost people and hedgehogs. I look forward to going round this island more than once or twice.

Pinkstone eat your heart out if I get it!

A future bank holiday?

2009-04-23T07:45:00.003+01:00

No probably not. Despite today being St Georges day it will be another tradition frowned upon in our multi-cultural society. It used to be the stiff upper lip that didn't recognise it, these days it's the quivering sphincter of political correctness that prevents it.

Oh well never mind, just hope I don't upset anyone with this post, if I do there is a little red cross in the top right side of your screen. Click on it and it will seem like it never happened.

Regards.

Ranting again!

2009-04-22T10:14:00.003+01:00

More ranting,

bandwagon and jumping and stuff!

Fed up, with it all and wish that .........oh I can't tell you as I will then be deemed as not being politically correct. For Fucks sake, when people want robust action it isn't forthcoming due to yooman rights and stuff.

When robust stuff is required all of a sudden the musical feature is wheeled out.

Did you know managers in Mcdonalds get about £25 K a year.

Again, no picture can't be arsed, does anyone know the recruitment number for maccy d's. Too much politics in my job now, gonna get even worse soon. Ah well off to bed, only finished an hour and a half late today.

Just clicked further on the Sky poos website and I am frankly at a loss for words.............except fuck the lot of them. Don't get in a heated situation if you don't like fire.

Now the potential for even more nonsense.

2009-04-21T09:15:00.005+01:00

My apologies for the link firstly, Sky have changed the headline since I posted this.

I was not at G20, I am not currently under investigation (that I know of) and do feel for the family of Ian Tomlinson who unexpectedly died during the protests. I also feel for the officers under "investigation" by the press and the IPCC at this time. I hope I never fall foul but in this day and age it is all too easy.

I do however feel quite strongly about THIS

Get out, keep your ill informed noses out and leave the INDEPENDENT Police Complaints Commission to do their job. You appointed them now get on with it. For readers who don't know, no-one in the IPCC has any affiliation to the police thereby unbiased and impartial supposedly dealing only in facts.

I don't normally swear but it's the fucking idiots in parliament who the populace have voted for over the years who have in effect screwed this country up. I went to the local newsagent on the way home. He is of Indian descent and has lived and worked in the UK for 35 years. He was reading a headline and asked me where the country was going to end up. I told him honestly that I didn't know. Society is ruined, we certainly don't need a bunch of tossers in Westminster attempting,in their ignorance to diagnose what went wrong. You did you knob heads, and your predecessors by allowing this once great country to degenerate into the melting pot it is now. Other countries deal with the Human Rights issue and still maintain Law and Order. What is it you thick,isolated numskull's can't get into your heads to allow this country to do the same?

Sorry for the rant, fed up of people who know nothing demanding everything. No picture this time, too annoyed.

T.J. HOOKER

2009-04-18T21:05:00.005+01:00

As mentioned before I am tutoring again. Bloody hell!

Here it all starts again, someone who apparently is "ready to go" and just needs pointing in the right direction then they will be "off". What a load of hoop.

I have been with him for just under 2 weeks and it is apparent that the new localised system of police training is woefully inadequate. I remember when I went through a joint training establishment in the North of England that it was disciplined, parade every morning at 08:30 and then more or less continuous lessons or PT until 17:00. There was lots of partying but overall it was bloody hard work.

Run forwards 9 years and I am now teaching people what I supposedly know. The trouble is I actually learned what the law meant. As mentioned before I spent 15 weeks solidly learning. Speaking to my new colleagues it appears that out of their 15 weeks they seem to spend most of their time waiting for another lesson. They are farmed off to various other elements of Notgreatside police in order for them to learn in the "field". I can categorically state that it doesn't work.

I got to know my latest and asked him what he did in his previous life. He told me his story and what he had done before police school. He had a good job and lost several thousands pounds of income by joining the police. He is absolutely keen as mustard and busily types car registrations into the mobile computer in order to stop cars that may have markers on them. I can't fault him in anyway whatsoever except......his knowledge of the law. It is rubbish! I am sure it isn't his fault but the systems.

We were directed by the overseeing eyes on the city to a car that apparently had a disqualified driver. We duly stop the car and speak to the driver, he gives a name different to the one that we are expecting. My fresh colleague asks if he has any ID on him and the answer is negative. Ah well he is free to go according to my colleague. No stop, says the grizzled one, have you checked him out on PNC. I knew he hadn't and so follows the check. The name comes back as not disqualified and no wanted/missing markers. I sense something is not right and question the subject further, I ask for marks and scars and they don't match. I ask my student to caution him and he has to get his notebook out and read it verbatim. Bloody hell the caution was drummed into us at school. The offence, obstructing a police officer in the lawful execution of his duty. He looks at me blankly. The subject then decides to run and goes for it. My protege racks his baton and throws it at his legs and ......misses. TJ Hooker would have been proud! Any way put out the foot pursuit over airwaves and am re-assured that there are units nearby who will be able to assist. We are running now and I am starting to flag after about half a mile the whippet is still going strong. Oh bugger must try harder thinks me and overtakes him (I was made up!) Go round a corner and see other officers there with CS drawn, I then do a rapid turn and stop. The offender raises his arms and tries to strike the 2 with CS and the end is inevitable. A cloud of spray on a hot afternoon settling on warm, moist skin. Thankfully not mine. My ward has come charging round the corner in full flight and not being wise has also been subject to a good dosing. The driver eventually admits to being the one who is disqualified and is arrested purportedly by my colleague who is too busy coughing and spewing on the ground (he did have his mouth open and took a burst straight in the gob). Suitable aftercare is administered to both the offender and my colleague and at the end of the day job done.

This encounter reminded me of several things. When I first took to the streets I was well aware of the law but actually knew nothing. I was forewarned of the evils of CS and how to avoid it. The caution can be used as a tool because many people hear it and instantly believe that they are under arrest, they then admit to offences because they have heard it on the Bill and think they are under arrest. Many won't but it is probably 50/50. Well probably 90/10 where I work but it is always worth a try.

Anyway where was I? Yes I vaguely remember talking about the woes of not having a proper training school and stuff. The students coming through are scared of laying hands on people and subsequently people get away with all sorts of stuff they shouldn't. You hear in the media of people getting arrested for protecting their own property. Whereas my generation will do everything possible to help the victim in justifying their actions. If the last few batches coming through are indicative, I can seriously believe it, TJ Hooker aside! It appears that everyone including the police are scared of touching anyone anymore.

Will just have to keep on trying to rough up the polished edges of new officers.

This post was initially done under the affluence of incahol and it shows, sorry.

Farewell to a colleague.

2009-04-17T19:38:00.002+01:00

After all the controversy surrounding the Met over the last week or so it just goes to show that police work still continued.

My thoughts are with his family.

How?

2009-04-16T20:39:00.002+01:00

Erm, just looked at my hit counter and see that it has now passed 5000. How, who and finally why? I know that Inspectorgadget probably has 5000 hits a day if not more but I am actually a little confused by the number on my blog. Who is reading my dross? I have just checked with the hit counter I have and apparently they are all individual clicks, I tested it by refreshing my own page and the number didn't change.

Thanks to all and will get better with practice (I hope).

Without Honour by Robb WJ Ellis

2009-04-14T20:50:00.008+01:00

In the last week or so I have had the pleasure of communicating with a truly fascinating individual named above. He is also responsible for the new look header on the blog and yes the bent car is a result of one of my pursuits recounted in an earlier post.

I would not normally be political in my posts but after reading this I couldn't help but think about the book that Robb kindly e-mailed me. He tells about the change in power in Rhodesia when it became Zimbabwe. He joined the Zimbabwe Republic Police shortly after and the book tells of his few turbulent years that followed. He succeeded operationally, you can't make these sort of stories up without having been there, also about how his development was suddenly brought to a halt. This was due to him being one of the few remaining white police officers in the new regime.

People fear that the UK is becoming a police state, oh you bloody fools if only you knew how wrong you are. The work of a police officer is stalled at almost every point once the arrest has been made. You have to get the subjects detention authorised when booking them in. Their welfare has to be addressed and heaven forbid one of them says that they feel depressed, result a police officer sitting on a chair outside their cell watching that they don't harm or hurt themselves, one less officer on the streets. There then comes the interview and dependant upon the outcome of that the resultant CPS "advice". This it seems is the major stumbling block, the evidence presented against the individual is questioned to the 'nth degree. During interview the accused states that he was with his mate (who he won't name) and he can provide him with an alibi. CPS then defer charging the individual until all possible attempts to trace the alibi have been made. Check all CCTV around the area, private and commercial, to try and identify the offender's mate. The end result is either NFA because it is the word of the officer and the aggrieved against a possible spanner thrown into the works at court. Remember it costs money to stage a trial. The list of obstacles goes on.

People want a return to years gone by. That will never happen. I can categorically state this without fear of contradiction. In those days people were arrested and charged and put before the court. This will never happen again. In those days the law was a black art and people respected the police. There may have been a few miscarriages of justice and yes a few people may have been executed in error but society was apparently better. I don't know I wasn't there. People yearn to have those days back but they don't really. They complain that the police are never there when they phone up about kids playing football in the street and it annoys them. They have forgotten that they used to play football in the street too They won't go and tell the kids to go away for fear of being verbally or physically abused. They can however rest assured that every ones human rights are protected These same people are always the ones that can't believe the miscarriages of justice that supposedly happen. How many people have jumped on the band wagon after the unfortunate turn of events following G20. Police brutality, murderers etc, etc you have all read the press. May Mr Tomlinson rest in peace, has he been checked out on PNC, was he so innocent as people believe? I don't know so how do the rest of society? At the end of the day, the state of society in Britain is due to it's society and government. People want everything but aren't willing to condone the measures necessary to get it. The laws ARE there to ensure that the country is run peacefully and offenders are brought to justice but the public don't like it. They feel oppressed and insubstantial when the law is enforced as per events in London. Would you walk slowly with your hands in your pockets if there was a dog snapping at your heels? I wouldn't. The people who complain about this will also want the police at their door yesterday when they phone about youths causing annoyance. You can't have both, the softly softly approach and a robust one to what suits you.

Will get the point over in the end...stick with me.

To include the title of this post I would like people to imagine themselves in a situation where they had no human rights. The political masters had authorised measures that would cause even the most blood thirsty individual to pale. Rape, murder, savage beatings and genocide, the bounds of which know no ends. All sanctioned by the state in order to further their own goals. Sanctioned brutality and atrocities are common place even encouraged by government. The duty cops turn up and immediately recognises that the place is a massive crime scene. He has authorities in his territory which officers in the UK could only dream about. He is armed and basically patrols in an armoured vehicle. He too knows what is right and what is wrong and polices accordingly. His powers are granted by politicians and he works according to those powers. He doesn't commit the atrocities but frequently has to pick up the remnants that are left by the armed forces that have. Can you imagine in the UK a crime scene that is being preserved, the crime is one of mass murder but in very high temperatures that hasten the decomposition. The smell is unbelievable. 20 minute stints is all a body can bear. The human body recognises the smell of it's own dead and makes you ill when you smell it. Anyway, the officer is trying to preserve the scene when all of a sudden the military turn up. They have been responsible for the atrocity and have heard that their deeds have been uncovered. They too are a political tool as the police are in the new republic but more powerful by government decree. They proceed to eliminate any crime scene by setting fire to it, job done. Petrol is a great crime scene eliminator. The police are dismissed after arguing that this is wrong but a higher power is involved.

I know I have been rambling and have probably lost the thread but it should mean something. People call for politicians to take a greater part in policing. Police should be more accountable to government and more highly regulated. I don't think this is necessary. It is just one small step to become a politically motivated police service and one that is a minuscule jump towards a real police state. How would the populace relate to that?

The columnist states that the police should become governed by politicians. I for one don't agree, we are bound by PI's, Charters and other nonsense that doesn't equate to the job we do. If we were then to become a political tool then initially even more people would lose even more faith in the "service". As people lost faith, greater civil unrest would surely follow. Would this then pave the way for the government to utilise the police to the true extent of our abilities? Would atrocities then become the norm several years down the line aided and abetted by the military?

As it stands the police are governed by their own sense of what is right, politicians and the humans rights bill. I know what is right and wrong, it is not a grey area. Allow us to become a state controlled entity with a failing government and who knows what will occur? A government that will not fail? The military will be next then martial law. You don't even want to dream about that. I have done military service in countries where in effect martial law was declared. It wasn't great.

Please excuse the disjointed posting I have too many ideas trying to burst out in just one post.

Quick update

2009-04-13T21:42:00.002+01:00

I am being a tutor con again and having to do all sorts of things really properly again. I am eternally grateful to vetnurse for her contacts and will do justice to her friend once I figure out how this new bloody laptop works and get used to Vista.

I have loads of ideas and will try to get my head round what I need to post soon, well tomorrow anyway. I have links and stuff that I need to mix together and make coherent sense of.

Speak properly tomorrow.

Hmmmmm.

2009-04-13T00:28:00.000+01:00

One day a florist goes to a barber for a haircut. After the cut he asked about his bill and the barber replies, 'I cannot accept money from you. I'm doing community service this week.' The florist was pleased and left the shop.

When the barber goes to open his shop the next morning there is a 'thank you' card and a dozen roses waiting for him at his door.

Later, a cop comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his bill, the barber again replies, 'I cannot accept money from you. I'm doing community service this week.' The cop is happy and leaves the shop.

The next morning when the barber goes to open up there is a 'thank you' card and a dozen doughnuts waiting for him at his door.

Later that day, a college professor comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his bill, the barber again replies, 'I cannot accept money from you, I'm doing community service this week.' The professor is very happy and leaves the shop.

The next morning when the barber opens his shop, there is a 'thank you' card and a dozen different books, such as 'How to Improve Your Business' and 'Becoming More Successful.'

Then, a Member of Parliament comes in for a haircut , and when he goes to pay his bill the barber again replies, 'I cannot accept money from you. I'm doing community service this week.' The Member of Parliament is very happy and leaves the shop.

The next morning when the barber goes to open up, there are a dozen Members of Parliament lined up waiting for a free haircut.

And that, my friends, illustrates the fundamental difference between the citizens of our country and the Members of Parliament.

Vote very carefully next year.

Help

2009-04-08T17:38:00.002+01:00

I have just had a look at my blog and even though it still squeaks when being read as it is so new, it needs a bit of wow, a bit of oomph and all that nonsense. Can someone please tell me how to make a go-faster stripe type banner for the top please. It may inspire me to write something that is worth reading.

Thank you so much. Any great ideas or sites please let me know at constableconfused.com@googlemail.com.

Thanks again.

Police go on trial

2009-04-07T21:39:00.002+01:00

Is it just me or does anyone else feel that when you step into the box it is you that are on trial? I am not talking about when you are called as a witness to the case of assault regarding Wayne and Waynetta where you put in your statement that you could clearly see the bruising about her face. No I am talking about the jobs where it it trivial, offensive weapon, going equipped, section 5 etc. That is where it is your evidence and solely your evidence that is going to convict the defendant. Never mind how solid your evidence is I still (where I work) always get butterflies when one of these jobs gets to court. I know full well that I am going to get a grilling about even the most minor drunk and disorderly.

I don't know where the rot started to set in. I am a sworn Constable and as such have much to lose by lying. The defendant on the other hand has nothing to lose. A few examples, there is a sporting event going on and I happened to drive past a street where numerous cars where parked. Traffic was slow and I saw a male in a tracksuit walking along trying the doors of parked cars. I turned into the road and the subject saw me and started to run. There was nowhere he could go as it was a terraced street with alley gates and no side streets. GOTCHA, search him and it turns out he has a glass hammer and a blue handled screwdriver. Locked up for going equipped. A few months later in court and I am in the box facing the defence solicitor. He states that his client was merely checking that all the cars were secure and if he found one he was going to do his citizens duty and make sure that no-one took anything from the vehicle. A kind of self appointed guardian angel. The glass hammer and screwdriver, well they must surely have been planted by the officer to justify his arrest. The magistrates asked for the clerk to discount the glass hammer because it also has the seat belt cutter on it so the individual could have been carrying it just in case he witnessed a car crash! The screwdriver was on it's way into fantasy land as well when I protested. The defence then tried to then discredit the fact I even found it on him at all stating something along the lines that I had stopped him purely because of his attire. When pointed out to him that I could stop half of Notgreatside in that case purely due to their attire he then started to suggest that the screwdriver was a figment of my imagination despite it being in a tube with a crime exhibit label on it. It was later classed as a red herring, at that point I asked whether I could approach the bench. They looked shocked but agreed. I then picked up the tube and said, your worships, does this look like a red herring to you? In my mind it is definitely a blue handled screwdriver. They fidgeted quietly whilst I stood there with the tube in my hand and thanked me. The clerk smiled and offered no advice to the confused ones. One of them actually cleared her throat and asked me if it was the same tool I had seen the defendant use. I told them that I had not seen him use it but he had it on his person after being seen trying car doors. I resisted the urge to scream at them to listen to what had been said and stop arsing about. Again they thanked me and looked desperately at the clerk of the court, she smiled at me and asked me to return to the stand. A brief huddled mutter and the defence was asked if he had any further questions, he had a couple one of which included me reciting the caution?

Anyway the scrote was found guilty of vehicle interference and got a minor slap on the wrist, wow that was worth it!

How about the 15 year old stopped because he looked too young to be drinking the can of Stella he had. Turn out your pockets lad. Out comes the phone, about £90, the inevitable packet of long Rizzla and a lighter. Quick check of his pockets and oh, what's this? A Stanley knife (retractable) blunt but still able to inflict a nasty cut. Yes he was 16 not 15 and when asked about the knife couldn't provide the legitimate reason to have it.

Anyway off to court we go, he is a prolific offender and not suitable for diversion. The reason he has the knife? Just in case he learns of someone who needs assistance in fitting carpets. He can help and it my assist him in getting a job if he has his own tools. That's why he carries it around with him! I am not making this up. He never mentioned this in interview despite the bit about inferences when that caution is explained. End result .........you guessed it not guilty. How the hell??????????

Oh toss, I give up. Not sure I can be bothered explaining the time when someone jumps on the bonnet of my car and shows me just what he feels about the police by peeing all over the windscreen. Locked up D+D, end result not guilty, the officer must have been making it up. How about the time when there was a large scaler outside a pub and someone deemed it appropriate to try and smash a bottle on my neck? This one didn't even reach court, the offender was deemed eligible for a fixed penalty for S.5 the next morning? I wasn't there when this took place so how? His friend who was also locked up for affray along with several others, subsequently complained and was found not guilty in court. He only had one lung and it was deemed impossible that he could cause problems with his medical condition. They didn't see him on the night!

Going to try and find a padded cell and bounce off the walls until I go to sleep. Maybe when I wake up reality will have returned.

The line has been crossed

2009-04-06T19:45:00.002+01:00

This is just a short one.

Last night after a weekend of chaos I was sent at 11 pm to a job that made me angry from the minute I was asked to read log such and such. Suffice to say it involved young girl just in 2 figures and stepdad. It had spanned the space of 2 years and was staggeringly gross. I'm sure you are getting my drift. It is not the first instance of this I had come across but was certainly the worst.

Initial procedures done and all attempts and efforts to find the offender ensued. EVERY possible resource in our force and surrounding forces were used when other jobs allowed, the offender was by now aware that it had all come out. There were concerns for his safety, that he may try to do himself in now that his life had effectively been ruined. I personally didn't give a shit about him and his safety but if he takes the easy way out after all this without the issue being resolved, what is it going to do to the victim who at her tender age blames herself for what has happened? How she can blame herself for someone abusing his position of trust is hard to understand but it is often the case.

I'll be honest, I was in 2 minds. One part of me wanted so desperately to find him that in the space of 6 or so hours I drove over 230 miles checking all the secluded beauty spots and parking areas trying to find him and his car but with no success. Naive I know but on this occasion it was appropriate and fully approved by my boss. The other part of me didn't want to find him. It wanted someone else who hadn't had the time with the victim to find him. That way there would be no personal feelings other than knowing he was wanted for the offence. I would have acted properly but there would have been a cauldron of inappropriate feelings welling up inside me whilst dealing with him, but had he been aggressive or resistant............ you know.

I was still angry when I got home and despite all other problems Mrs CC listened and said nothing. It must be said that sleep and liquid refreshment has helped put the matter to rest now.

Regards.

SPAM

2009-04-03T00:32:00.003+01:00

Never been classed as spam before.

How constructive prose can be classed as such beggars belief. This site has deemed me thus and only allowed persons who follow a certain belief to post. Ah well, they claim that free speech is no longer allowed and decry anyone who believes otherwise.

There are people there who have engaged in constructive argument but the administrator(s) say no.

Never mind eh.

It's started. What a surprise.

2009-04-01T14:38:00.005+01:00

What a surprise. Despite the problems of only 5-6 weeks ago once again Police are not properly equipped to deal with "protesters". Peaceful protest is no problem in my book. People sitting down blocking a road etc. greeted with the phrase "is there anything I can reasonably say or do to get you to move?" End result they move, these animals deserve the full reclaim the streets order, no-one got the bollocks to do it with the world's press focused fully on London.

At least get them in the proper NATO helmets, yes they are uncomfortable and do make you sweat but at least this doesn't happen.

When will the stuff that is inevitable to the street officer become the same to commanders?

Still wish they had asked for more of our lot, unfortunately we blotted our copybook at the G8 and won't be asked back except in a tactical advisory or evidence gathering role. The PSU's were too rough for the protesters.

The people we meet.

2009-03-30T19:35:00.002+01:00

A couple of days ago I was sent to a "domestic" just after coming on duty at 07:00. I arrive and am greeted by a bedraggled older female who has smeared lipstick and the unmistakable make-up effect that comes from crying. The first words she says to me are something like I have had head problems since I was 19 and have been sectioned loads, I shrug my shoulders and then comes the clincher, I have taken 18 paracetamol tablets. Oh drat.....either way I am going to be spending sometime at the hospital with her. Her partner comes out and states that she has wrecked their flat and has been talking to herself for the last few days. She then starts telling me that she wants to die as her 27 year old daughter won't talk to her and there is nothing worth living for. I look at the odds, leave her there with a tissue. No, that won't do on this occasion. Lock her up breach of the peace....no hospital will soon be my home for a few hours as she has taken an overdose. I bite the bullet and tell her she is being detained under section 136 of the mental health act. She then thanks me and tells me that she has felt herself getting worse in her head but there is no way that she will voluntarily go to the doctor.
Off to Notgreatside County Hospital and do the deed. Oh well, my citizen focus/policing pledge/victim charter and all the other bollocks will go on hold today. She is unfortunately quite scantily clad (not good on this one) and starts asking me personal questions. According to her I am her best friend now. A colleague arrives to assist with toilet/fag breaks. She too soon becomes a best friend. She was initially volatile and obviously didn't like the medical staff, she was handcuffed whilst they examined her as she lashed out at them.
Eventually she calms down and after telling us what she has done to herself in the past and how bad life has become since she got divorced about 6 years ago and meeting her new partner. He is also a regular customer and I know from previous dealings that he is pure pondlife. It appears that there is some common ground. She remembers me from one incident where I attended their flat and actually had to fight him as he wasn't too keen on getting arrested for what was a borderline very serious assault on her.
In order to pass the time we stared talking about her previous life and even with the circumstances she was currently under, I believed her. She is 51, and appears quite educated. She was up to speed on political matters and current affairs. Her current lifestyle has taken it's toll but she was obviously once attractive. I ask her more about her daughter and she shows me a photo of an oriental looking beautiful young girl stood next to her at a family party, despite the features the resemblance is incredible.
In confidence she asks me if she can tell me her life story since her dad died when she was 17, how her mum couldn't look after all 6 kids and essentially kicked her out. The welfare system wasn't quite as geared up as it is today and she found herself homeless. She reverted to society's oldest profession and earned a living servicing the sailors at the docks. One sailor in particular was good to her and as the ship was undergoing repairs she ended up spending a lot of time with him on the ship. To quote her exact phrase she became a "ship's whore". The ship was registered in Malaysia and the crew mostly hailed from there. Eventually the ship left and so did she. She told me about captain's bribes to port officials, customs inspections and various other encounters she had whilst hiding on the ship with the full consent of the captain who she also serviced as part of her "fare". The hiding places she described were incredible but believable. She frequently re-assured me that this was all true as she knew she was going for an extended stay at a hospital and there was no way I would ever be able to prosecute her.
Eventually the ship docks in Malaysia and calm as you like she leaves the ship with her favourite sailor and disappears into society. She tells me about the good times and the bad she has there and produces a dated photo showing a younger version of her on some gorgeous beach along with an oriental male, she is clearly pregnant and looked happy.
Anyway moving on daughter is born and as you have to pay for medical services the fact that she shouldn't really have been in the country was never a problem. She went on to tell me that she found out she was allergic to prawns when eaten in vast quantities and also when a fish fin cuts your leg, all be it dead and through a bag, it can be poisonous and cause infection.
Eventually the bubble burst about 8 years ago when her brother died in a car crash. She was then faced with the problem of getting back to the UK. She had never owned a passport as she was effectively a stow away and had been an unseen member of society. She went to the British consulate and explained her circumstances. They were duly helpful and the only hiccup came with her 19 year old daughter who was subsequently made a British citizen in Malaysia.
When she returned for the funeral the rot started in her life. Circumstances effectively caused her to lose her mind. No money to return to her adopted home and nowhere to live. Her mum was still alive but in sheltered accommodation.
Anyway her life crumbled and 8 years later she was sitting in a chair in an assessment room at a hospital........ again. Her husband has since passed away following their divorce and his family want nothing to do with her after this length of time.
She was subsequently admitted to the care of a mental health unit and she appeared genuinely relieved.
I know that all this should be taken with a pinch of salt when her frame of mind is considered but for once I genuinely believed her. Her attention to detail was too much for her to make it up.
I know that the vast majority of people who are sectioned by the police are there through their own alcohol/drug induced problems but sometimes there are people there who have genuinely been dealt a shitty hand.

I WON'T DESPAIR!

2009-03-27T16:43:00.001Z

I have just read Twining's post and feel de-valued. I joined the Police as a Constable. I am white, heterosexual and apart from a few injuries not visibly disabled.

Why do we have to have the BPA, MPA, AWPO just to name a few.

Surely we are all out there to help the public and give the scrotes a hard time. I don't care if you are black,white, brown, pink or even a little bit cerise, just get on with the job and do what you are paid to do.

Shall we try to form an association of white, heterosexual, non disabled police officers or would we be prevented from doing so as it is incorrect? Anyway the initials aren't coherent or don't form a pleasing mnemonic.

We all should do the same job so why have the associations in the organisation? Positive discrimination perhaps?

Just get on with it those of you who have forgotten to be impartial and feel the need to segregate and highlight your particular creed. How can you treat the public impartially when you need to form/join an association that disassociates you from your colleagues.

In order not to appear racist I have colleagues on my block who originate from Somalia, Bangladesh and................. Scotland! They too are in despair of the Police "service" and the pandering to be politically correct.

I await being "moderated" by Google and readers without baited breath.

We're all Donald Ducked.

2009-03-22T22:50:00.003Z

First of all, apologies to Joey Smith. You have nothing whatsoever to do with this post. Thank you for your picture.

A couple of days ago I drove into and area that for a long time has had a dispersal notice in place. These only run normally for 3-6 months but in this instance it has run for over 12 months with a willing approval by the powers that be. IE magistrates, council and police etc.

There is a family there who have over the years caused numerous problems, one year I attended after there was a report of gunfire at about 3 PM on Christmas Day, AFO's attended due to the address and once it was deemed as safe we went in and the family were reluctant to explain why there were turkey particles embedded in the wall along with numerous shotgun pellets. There was no trace of a firearm after an exhaustive search and the matter was filed as intelligence purposes.

Anyway moving on there are 5 brothers who have in their time caused untold problems in the area. 2 of them are currently serving lengthy sentences due to drug or firearm offences the other 3, one is permanently off his tits on crack, the 2nd is just really thick and though a big lad satisfies himself with random acts of violence, but always cries when locked up. The 3rd is well nothing at all, he lives off the reputation and has not got the bollocks to follow his older bro's reputations. He even had a couple of legitimate businesses once that came to nothing, he was always too willing to cross the line between right and wrong. When you run a security firm on dodgy money you have to be careful. He isn't.

Anyway, as I was driving through the square a little boy who was holding the hand of his grandmother, the mother of all these delightful people waves at the police car so I wave back despite his company. She promptly shouts xxxx don't wave at them you should shoot them. I can't believe it, his school is probably teaching him one thing which is promptly forgotten when he arrives home.

Grannie subsequently issued with an £80 fixed penalty for public order and little boy was delighted to play with buttons which makes blue lights come on whilst the paperwork was briefly done.

What chance does he stand?

Cultural differences.

2009-03-21T19:38:00.003Z

Incase you were wondering, this is not a piece of self gratification, this is an Egyptian female protesting about what will be explained below.

In reference to my last post, thank you for your wishes. It is just a case of waiting for CT scan results in order to find out how extensive the op is going to be. I have been positively encouraged to continue by the Mrs so here is the next instalment.

The call sounds routine and mundane, a young girl is found by a concerned member of the public wandering the streets at about 11 o'clock at night. This nice person then does the decent thing and takes her to a police station. The girl is African in origin and is dressed only in her coat, pyjamas and fake Ugg boots. She is from our area and subsequently we are sent to transport her back home. Sounds simple. Arrive at the neighbouring station and get introduced to X. I sit in the room and tell her that we are going to take her home. The change is dramatic, she was quiet and pleasant at first but upon hearing this she turns into a mad thing. She is small for her age and is stick thin. Obviously there is some sort of problem and as she was so small I am scared to stop her from lashing out. I think of my own kids and just stay seated talking quietly to her. Eventually she stops and sits down again, she couldn't really hurt me anyway. She then rolls up one of her sleeves and I see the perfectly formed welt shape caused by a belt. The buckle is very distinct. She then goes on to tell me that she doesn't want to go home because she will be hurt again. I ask her who is hurting her and it transpires that her father whips her and her mother has also hurt her too. I ask what her mother has done and she points to her groin. I struggle to understand, surely her mother hasn't raped her? She then told me that she was taken to see someone who hurt her whilst pointing to her groin. I still can't think what she is talking about. I ask her if it still hurts, she shakes her head. In typical dumb ignorance I ask her if someone has made her do something she didn't want to, she shrugs her shoulders. I am for once a little out of my depth. The clear assault that she has suffered from the belt I am certain of, the other matter leaves me a little confused. I am certain however that she can't go home. I speak to the Inspector who after listening states that she should go to hospital and have further examination by medical staff. He will start the process for a PPO and that social services should be notified.

I don't want to scare her further by putting her in a police car so ask for an ambulance. My female colleague will go with her. Whilst waiting the bell rings in the front office and the duty officer comes to tell me that the caller is her father who has somehow heard that his daughter is at the police station. He has come to take her home. I go to speak to him and after a quick glance at his belt see that the buckle is a perfect match to the welt on her arm. I ask him to wait whilst I go to speak to my colleague, she takes the young girl to a more private part of the station whilst I arrest the father for assault. He shrugged his shoulders and said she deserved it. She shouldn't have lost her school project. I stand in a quandary, I can't believe the casual nature with which he said it. I understand that parents have the right to chastise their children but whipping them with a belt buckle seems a bit too much.

Moving on, the girl is taken to a local children's hospital whilst I convey her father to custody. The country they come from is notoriously difficult for citizens to obtain passports, so the whole matter takes a different slant, are they illegal immigrants? He is bedded down for the night whilst enquiries follow. My radio chirps with a PTP and through poor reception, my colleague is in a hospital, I learn that the girl has a multitude of welts across her dark skin and their is something more sinister. Her vaginal area shows "some irregularities", still being the dozy arse I ask if it looks like she has been raped at which point my colleague states that I should let the inspector know and contact the hospital. The connection drops off. I wonder what is happening and call the boss. He tells me that without delay I should go to her home address and basically stay there until social services attend, after ascertaining who is there don't let anyone leave or enter and treat it as a crime scene. He then mentions female genital mutilation. I'm not that ignorant, I have heard of it but that takes place in African countries doesn't it? Surely not here in Notgreatside?

It does happen in this country I can now vouch for that, another younger girl was also taken from the address by social services and the mother was subsequently arrested on suspicion of assault. Thankfully the younger child was unhurt.

I got home from nights and waited for my daughters to wake up, I know that I am not perfect but I am thankful that our society does not demand this ritual. I looked at them both and felt that I would never ever be in the position that I would ever whip them with my belt. The other matter would never be an option as our society doesn't demand it.

I now don't know how to think. I have seen an extremely frightened little girl who has been beaten and subject to a primitive ritual that holds no place in any country. I have also been instrumental in breaking up a family unit, whether that family should have been in the UK at all is irrelevant. What was quite ironic when all parties had gone their separate ways and both parents were waiting in their cells for the morning was that all four were HIV +.

The kids were born with it, the father should perhaps ...............oh had better stop now because who knows?

Going quiet.

2009-03-11T21:13:00.002Z

Sorry won't be posting for a while, just had news that Mrs CC.C after a scan has some problems that could be quite life changing. No disrespect to you all but that is a bit more important at the moment. Waiting for further CT scans and an op.

How life changes in a week.

Regards and hope to speak further soon.

Just a giggle, how I wish.......

2009-03-07T21:46:00.001Z

Saw this and had a bit of a laugh.

Just a quick one.

Oh Poo.

2009-03-05T22:46:00.003Z

I have just read this and feel instinctively uncomfortable. Printing more money without the bullion to support it. Doesn't feel that great to me.

Oh well, better make sure my PSU stuff is all in order to deal with the food riots that will follow when bread costs £100 a loaf and my wages mean nothing.

Not being political because I don't really understand everything that goes with it but, surely what they are doing is paving the way to hyper inflation. Please prove me wrong.

I look forward to the £300 pint, that will be soon.

May not be able to post anymore as broadband will be unaffordable.

No news is good news.

2009-03-05T17:36:00.002Z

Have actually got nothing to tell you at this time. All is well on the home front, it is my wife's birthday tomorrow and shopping has been the order of the day. I have had a couple of pints in the pub and am now back at home with no apparent stresses.

Errm, no-one has caused me unnecessary stress and Annette, my BP feels fine. I have not been verbally or physically abused and for once don't feel like I am 39 years old. My bank account is in good order and my wife and kids are fine. Not sure what tomorrow will bring, maybe a pub lunch or tea to celebrate and then just total normality, whatever that may be.

I don't seem to have the chaotic lifestyle that so many of our customers do even whilst not working. I have even been to the pub and consumed alcohol and don't even feel remotely like battering my wife or smashing up the house. Why?

Will leave it at that thought and if you want, tell me difference between people who have some sort of structure in their life and those who have none.

Government rubbish.

2009-03-02T18:43:00.002Z

I continually read in the press about how x number of police officers have been recruited. Apparently there are now more police officers on the street than there have ever been.

I have a simple question, where are they?

I have just done my weekend of nights and with a bit of leave included (for my wife's birthday) won't have to face the maddening hordes till next Wednesday.

We supposedly "policed" over 350 000 people on Friday, Saturday and Sunday night with only 6 people, run ragged doesn't even come come close. There were other people on shift but they had to go and look after the night time economy in the city centre. There were other officers on duty, you could see them in their vans but they were non deployable by the radio room. I drove over 4 miles with lights and sound to get to a road for an confrontational burglary only to find a van full of officers in the road stop checking some youths who were drinking on a corner.Why couldn't they have dealt with it? Oh sorry forgot, non deployable! Was positively charming with them when I discovered that they were even on the same channel as me. I am sure a 7 year colleague will not speak to me again but he was vehement that they had been abstracted purely to deal with the burglary problem?

When I joined I swore an oath to the Queen, was told on the completion of my basic training that I was now part of the emergency services and my life would never be the same again and that I had a responsibility that existed in my off duty life. Off duty I have not always adhered to that as the mobile phone is always better when you have two young kids with you when something happens that needs attention. On duty I will always go and do whatever needs to be done. I probably am judgemental and will address each job according to the way it is relayed to me. I know shortcuts through the streets and how to deal with the detritus that faces me in an average day. I know where I work and also know that to try and do it on foot like the vast majority of the people want would not work.

To effectively Police these days you have to have a car. For the job mentioned before I was there in just over 3 minutes and the caller was so grateful for my prompt attendance. . A dog unit was soon there and a search unfortunately produced nothing. This area has been battered by burglaries and the officers at the end of the street were on overtime to try and address this. If they had dealt with the job maybe the offender could have been caught. He was obviously garden hopping trying his luck at the back.

If I had been on foot how long would it take at 2 in the morning? No buses and a very long walk/run. Wake up Joe public, you now call us more and Heartbeat isn't a real scenario! You moan if attendance within the hour is promised but the only patrol available is sitting with a car that is waiting to be recovered due to it being stolen in a burglary. In short because of the public forgetting how to control their lives, foot officers won't ever work again. You won't let us! It is a rare relief to go out on foot and do the job as you know the radio room won't consider you as a deployable resource. I very rarely get this opportunity unless tutoring and in the end always end up being dragged back to the nick to get another vehicle back on the streets

Not sure where this came from, suffering from a bit of sleep deprivation at the moment but there may well be more officers on the streets now. I work the 24/7 shift pattern and am frequently rogered to go to other areas within my BCU only to find officers who are on duty but not deployable with a huge Chinese banquet sitting around a table in the canteen. This happens in the area where I work and I frequently ask sarcastically if their radios are working, turned on etc. Incidentally didn't eat last night as it was too busy, noticed that the voice on the radio changed for at at least an hour about 2 A.M. The original operator did return and stopped me from finishing my microwave tupperware box at approximately, no exactly 03:13. Stuck with a long job from there on!

Regards, not sure if this makes sense to anyone other than those of us on 3 shifts who are the real police and not those who work in order to suit the neighbourhood demand. To those who are on duty albeit overtime just remember that you too are sworn constables, the buck doesn't stop with response officers!

What?

2009-03-01T08:07:00.002Z

It's the end of a pig (no pun intended) of a night shift and I am just waiting for the kids to properly wake up and come down. I like to do that of a morning, puts some perspective back into life after a shift of chaos. It was like a scene from Bugsy Malone but with real weapons and no cream pies from 21:00-07:00 last night.

I have just somehow found this and it started a reluctant thought train, well handcart so beloved of western films involving goldmines.

It made me wonder what the hell is going on? There is outrage at flags being flown on St Georges day despite that today there will be many Welsh dragons flapping outside in a non-discriminatory manner. On 17Th March there will also be many flags flying without condemnation from anywhere. The flags that we fly are ceremonial in nature and indicate an allegiance to our particular country within the UK.

Now that February is over am I suddenly going to forget that we have people in the force who aren't heterosexual and that our "client base" also contains people who aren't? No. Will I treat them any different to how I normally would? No. By the way I am not in North Wales HEDDLU.

How does a Chief Constable justify this? I for one am proud to see the Union Jack flying from the flagstaff when I go to work. It sort of re-enforces the fact that my cap badge has ER II on it. I'm absolutely sure that someone got promoted/big slap on the back for the idea but please, was it necessary to fly this flag? Half, if not more, of the people who saw it probably wouldn't have recognised what it was

Do you find the "flag" at the top of this post offensive? Good Night!

Footsteps we follow.

2009-02-26T21:21:00.004Z

I have already mentioned my Dad on my blog and still miss him. This incongruous start will mean something at the end if the plan works.

On Tuesday I was sent to a report of disorder in a local pub. It was only 12:45 pm (IE. early afternoon) but the pub had been open since 09:00 you know who it is but won't mention the brand. Once again singly crewed and with all singing and dancing lights and sound turn up there. Inside all appears quiet (there are big windows on this chain) so after telling the DCR (radio room) I go in. There are a couple of people who look like they may have been involved in a fight, the swelling to the eye, bloody nose and split lip etc. Then this vision appears from the toilet. He has clearly been involved to as he has a huge cut above his eyes. He sees me and promptly announces that he has performed sexual acts on prison officers and I had better go away or I will be next. Can't resist the challenge so in not so polite terms tell him to moderate his language or else. I am 6'2" ish and about 15 stone, he was well......bigger than me. I can't allow him to better me as I am in full kit and what sort of image is that going to send out in the area where I work. The entourage in the pub sense my vulnerability and tell me to get out, the gang mentality has taken over and they feel invincible. I swallow and ask if further patrols are on the way, the reply is affirmative, and I can hear the sirens approaching once I take a mental step back and open the rest of my senses to the situation. The mountain is approaching me and bizarre though it is I see that he has no fingernail on his left thumb. That will make ID easier if it all goes wrong and with CCTV it should be easier. (Yeah right).

He also hears the cavalry coming and lunges at me trying to get out the door, not sure how but he ends up on the floor and next thing I have people trying to get me off him. A couple of poor punches to the body armour and next thing there is a big yellow van outside and I see 6 other colleagues getting out, one assists me in restraining man mountain and getting him cuffed whilst the rest clear the pub. Other patrols are cancelled as the customers seem to have lost their fighting spirit. The licensee offers to close the pub for an hour which we agree to and the mountain despite having been responsible for several public order offences is locked up D+D. He will cough that and it is a lot less paperwork. Order restored.

Anyway back to the start and my dad would always tell me how great people were who lived on Notgreat Road Notgreatside. He told me that they were the salt of the earth and after having a similar experience at 10:30 in the evening (when pubs closed then) he too was faced by a crowd. Wearing only a tunic, whistle and big hat he dealt with it. The crowd dispersed and no-one was locked up. Once the matter was dealt with couple of regulars came to him and said "Jock we were watching you, don't worry". Through a bizarre twist I now cover the same area that he did in the 50/60's. People have definitely changed.

Our Forefather's wishes.

2009-02-25T09:38:00.003Z

The nine principles by Sir Robert Peel

The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.
The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions.
Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.
The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.
Police seek and preserve public favour not by catering to public opinion but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law.
Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient.
Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.
Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.
The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.

Unashamedly copied this from a site that allows you to (of course). Where has it gone wrong and how do we justify the state of our current service?

I think that principle number 5 has been the one that been eroded both by the public we have sworn to serve and successive governments. I truly believe that it time for everyone to stop, take a deep breath and look at what we are there to actually do.

Robert Peel would be spinning in his grave if he knows just how downtrodden the service he created has become all these years later. How far from his principles have we been moved?

Good Cop, bad press.

2009-02-24T17:12:00.003Z

Following my last post about how the people who police the police will hound you I read this and struggled to believe it but then again it came as no surprise.

How many such cases are going on at this time. Stressed Out Cop is running a story about a bad cop who got what he deserved. This officer has been cleared by the courts, now the disciplinary proceedings follow.

Our own worst enemy.

2009-02-22T18:50:00.003Z

Today I attended an incident that came across as a race/hate crime. Someone had racially abused a male and called him a "paki". I wait for the alarm bells to ring and the front door to get smashed through for typing that. With appropriate race/hate pack in tow I arrive at the address, knock on the door and get greeted by an IC1/W1 male when the door opens. His first comment was "that got you here quick enough didn't it". The job was graded as attendance within the hour (grade 2) despite it being very busy for a Sunday, the tag was met. I asked him what he meant and he told me that he wished to report some youths causing annoyance in the street but knowing that he would probably get little if any response he decided to totally change the nature of his call. In order to ensure a prompt police response he lied. I told him that this was not a wise idea as other people might have more pressing issues for the police to deal with not just children who lived in the road playing football on a Sunday afternoon. They were watching when I turned up and continued their game as I knocked at the address. In short they weren't actually doing anything wrong. The "encounter" with this individual then deteriorated as he pointed out that I was a disgrace to the police as I had taken 32 minutes to respond to a racially aggravated public order offence that actually hadn't taken place. In my most professional manner, which can be very good when needed, I then cautioned him and pointed out the offence of causing a wasteful use of police time. He not so politely told me to go away and tried to slam the door. Anyway end result £80 PND issued and no doubt a complaint on the way.

In the mean time the radio room had composed several e-mails notifying the race/hate coordinator of the incident and whatever else they needed to do. When I resulted the job it did not fit with their criteria, ie no race/hate pack completed, and they would not accept that the job was a crock of poo.

This highlighted to me yet again how fearful the job is of not being politically correct. The "buzz" words all demand ultimate compliance, boot licking and a general over-reaction that is not necessary. We must always be diverse, I don't have a problem with that. I do object to having several mandatory computer presentations rammed down my throat with non compliance threats if I don't do them.

The police service in general has been criticised for not updating "victims" regularly during the course of the investigation. Genuine victims you will bend over backwards for and do everything you possibly can to trace and arrest the offender, the matter will be passed on to the jacks if serious enough and they will also do their best. Locally we have a term for the vast majority of matters, SOSHNI (Shite On Shite Humans Not Involved). This relates to the average domestic, threats, assault etc etc that the "victim" has supposedly endured. You arrive, know damn well that the job is a load of bollocks from the instant you start speaking to them, but according to NCRS you must crime it. Many jobs are not crimed as the "victim" twists them self into knots whilst lying about the "facts" but unfortunately some matters you can't advise accordingly and they become a statistic. The victim charter then comes into force and next thing you are up for non-compliance. We must do better is the frequent e-mail that we receive. Yes you do very well for meeting all the grade ones and twos and your arrests and other performance indicators are outstanding BUT you didn't phone Chantelle to let her know that the complaint she made about her friend telling her to stop having sex with friends boyfriend was a load of poo and written off accordingly. What idiot took that complaint in the first place needs sacking!

In short the various think tanks that have looked at the way the police deal with people have made their recommendations. This is good and is a learning curve for all forces which does need addressing. The manner in which it is done is positively overdone. They have taken fully fit officers, many of them, and put them in roles where the sole purpose in to ensure compliance with whatever the current trend is, Citizen Focus, Victim Charter, Policing Pledge or Blueprint Promise Etc. Etc. Etc.

Must stop now, blood pressure on the way up. It seems that the role of the police now is not to police. It is to be scared of the faults that have been pointed out about it and make inordinately large efforts not to do anything wrong again. In order to do this the "squad mentality" takes over and a new team is formed to ensure we can never be criticised again.

Unfortunately due to the nature of the occupation we will always be criticised, we arrest people, we meet them at times of their greatest need and we generally get involved with people who would sooner we didn't. We are meant to be a uniformed disciplined force there to do a job and not be afraid of anything, least of all ourselves.

It needs to stop, lessons can be learned and within my area they are, after a moan. The job needs to stop trying not to upset people and remember why it is there. We are all appointed to the office of Constable and after training are given certain powers not granted to the general public. We swear an oath and then find ourseves unable to fulfil our oath as some other piece of crap has apparently overridden the fundamentals of policing.

Let us get out there and do the job and accept criticism, not be chained to a desk or computer screen complying with whatever nonsense that has been invented in order to ensure we don't upset anyone.

Sorry very long rant but.......you know, fed up.

Habitual Thieves.

2009-02-21T19:27:00.003Z

As you can read about me I am still a relative newcomer to the job after having only served for 9 years. Those 9 years have been spent working somewhere that is in the top 5 most deprived areas in the country. As my tutor con told me when I first started you have to learn to swim bloody well or you will drown almost instantly. I didn't know what he meant at first but within a couple of days I started to sense the water fast approaching my nostrils. It was OK though because that is what he was there for and after throwing me some more armbands, I started to learn to swim through the detritus that was our area. That may sound harsh but that was the majority of jobs that we were dealing with.

Nine years on I no longer need any sort of buoyancy aid. Apparently I am so adept that in some peoples eyes I no longer proverbially even get wet. Not sure how that happened because I still feel like I know nothing and sometimes arrive at jobs thinking "what the f*$k am I meant to do here"? I usually get through and am not ashamed to ask for help if I get stuck. These days though it is usually supervision or the boss who I have to call as there is no-one on the block with more time in than me. This is a bit strange as there were 20 year plus bobbies on the block when I first started, where are their equivalents today?

Anyway, the point of this post was I had a blast from the past today. The first person I ever locked up was Stephen "X". It was a bread and butter arrest for shoplifting. He had stolen something trivial like coffee or bacon to sell in the pubs to fuel his heroin addiction. He had two other brothers Derek and Matthew. Between the three of them during my early days they accounted for quite a few of my early lock ups as all three were fond of heroin. I have not worked the area continuously and have been sent to equally salubrious areas to look after the "flock" in those.

Today was a bad day from the start, huge scene following an incident that was not far off the Highlander film, huge broadsword included. Two abstractions for scene management. The offender was locked up and funds himself as a cage fighter so was a bit of a handful. The "victim" was also a cage fighter and had caused damage to the offender just prior to nearly having a limb chopped off with the broadsword. The result of this was the offender being sent from custody to hospital for treatment. Just for good measure it was deemed necessary to provide two for the prisoner watch there. Incidentally the victim is refusing to co-operate with the police despite his horrific injuries. So there is just me and another driver out and about to deal with the jobs.

The inevitable call comes in for an adult male shoplifter detained at ASDA and a patrol to deal. There is no-one else so I get sent. Imagine my surprise to arrive and see in front of me Stephen "X". He greets me and then tells me that I have changed over the years. I look at him in amazement and acknowledge that I probably have. In reality I can't believe that he is still alive. His heroin habit was drawing heavily on his body all those years ago and he looked close to death then. Today he still looked like death. He showed me a bottle containing methadone and announced that he is no longer on the brown. These days he satisfies himself with an occasional rock of crack cocaine along with the methadone. Despite this he is still a habitual thief. He coughs to the offence and tells me that it is because he owes someone a "score" (slang for a drug deal). He has stolen 5 books that have a paltry value to them, don't know who he was going to sell them to. Anyway with his 100+ precons for theft and kindred he is not eligible for a fixed penalty so it's off to the nick we go. He is talking gaily about the old times, even remembered the time he struggled due to the crack cocaine that was present. Remarkably he still remembers when I first arrested him. He says it was because I was so nervous it stuck out like a sore thumb that I was new.

Text book interview where he told me that he took the property with the intention of permanently depriving the owner of it. Result, charged and bailed for court......again. Checking PNC later and other systems it showed that in all of the time I have known him he has spent only seven days in jail for numerous theft offences. No doubt when he goes to court in 7-10 days from now he will be absolutely slaughtered with another paltry fine and made to attend a drug programme that will be nothing more than lip service for him.

I don't know what is going to happen to him in the future, now I am back working in the area that I cut my teeth in I will no doubt see him again. The problem is that despite being on opposite sides of the fence you can't help but appreciate his attitude. He will good as gold go to court, plead guilty and face the wrath of the handcuffed criminal justice system. He knows it, I know it and in another few weeks I may be locking him up for theft again. Why do we bother?

Children.

2009-02-19T20:09:00.002Z

I'm sitting at home watching Playhouse Disney again. I have not been home at this time since Sunday and then I had to make a sudden dart to the local walk in centre when my 8 year old tripped on something indescribably small and hit her head on the TV stand. 3 hours later and 6 butterfly stitches later and we were back home. Straight to bed then for all of us.

My nearly 2 year old is bathed, dressed and just having a final charge about as we don't have to get up in the morning with it being half term. The 8 year old is next door with her friend for the next 20 minutes after being there since 6. She has had her tea there and is safe and looked after. I know exactly where my children are.

Last night I was in a different world, or so it seemed. There were kids everywhere all causing mayhem and chaos. It seemed that fire was the order of the day as numerous skip fires were reported followed by a nasty one that could have set a number of adjoining properties alight. Luckily the water fairies were prompt and all was well.

Anyway after digressing I was only too aware of the number of children out and about at night. It was only 8 PM as it is now but there were numerous kids about of only my eldest age. What is an 8 year old doing out in February at this time of night? In fact what is a young child doing out at night at any time of year? What do their parents think? I know that I wasn't allowed out properly by myself until I was about 15/16.

As I was on my way home at about 1:30 in the morning all I could see was kids in the regulation black clothing still hanging around. What are their parents thinking? I would be beyond myself if my daughter was out at that time. As in my last post I believe that parents no longer see children as a product of future generations they are simply a means to supplement their "wages". This has become a popular term amongst the underclass and they even relate to the day they receive their benefits as payday. On various occasions they have even told me that they pay my wages though they have never worked a day in their life.

Children, when you have them, become the most important thing in your life. They consume all your free time which you give willingly. When out shopping there is always something that catches your eye and makes you think that J or G would like that. They dramatically change the way you live your life, late nights and lie ins become a thing of the past. Anyway where was I? I have now given up the age old routine of the police taking children home unless they are specifically at risk. I have lost count how many times I have knocked at the door with bedraggled waif in hand to ask if they knew that their child was out. The usual reply was something along the lines of so what? As the gutter rat then runs off to "play" again. In the days where I knew no better I would be constantly amazed at how far social services could be pushed before they would become involved. Kids in a house that smelt of weed with both parents out of the game on drink and weed. Rugrat in filthy nappy crawling around at 2 or 3 in the morning. Police called by a concerned neighbour and walking into a den of iniquity. No family member willing to assist with the child and no way that the parents could look after the child. Police Protection Order duly issued by the Inspector and after a few hours social services turn up at the nick and listen to what you tell them. The next day the poor child is back in the same environment enduring the same treatment as it has been deemed a "lifestyle choice". How does a 2 year old choose to live in a house where it is only seen as a further income or a mistake? The choice isn't theirs to make.

Sorry If this post seems self righteous or judgemental but you can't mess about whilst bringing kids up. You only have one chance.

My beliefs are now confirmed.

2009-02-13T20:25:00.007Z

For a while now I have been convinced in my own mind that society in itself has gone too far to ever recover. Where I work there are now families who have generations in them who have not worked since the late 50/60's. They have relied on the state for everything. It has all been provided for them, housing, food, schooling and great big 40+ inch LCD televisions. Their offspring have never seen their dad/mum ever go out to work yet they have always had £160+ Nike tracksuits given to them. They have never questioned where the money came from but just quietly accepted that they had it.

With the invention of TV people no longer had to rely on the "wireless" or conversation for entertainment. No longer did people have to open their mouths and speak in order to have stimulation, it was there on a box in front of them. People quickly developed favourite programmes and had to be inside for "Corry" Yes it has been running that long, nearly.. The neighbours who couldn't afford a TV were left outside with no-one to talk to. They wanted a TV but couldn't have one. They felt they were missing out, they couldn't watch tele and had no-one to talk to. Another level of divisiveness had been added to society. To compensate for the lack of ability to own one by legitimate means, the money to get one, or even to get one for free, the option was theft. Theft has always existed but avarice was rarely the cause. A look at history shows people stole to exist and feed themselves. The taxman and highwaymen were the exception but low level theft was usually purely to exist.

Please don't get me wrong this is going somewhere, just bear with me.

Anyway the idea of theft in order to gain worldly goods and not just to survive becomes "acceptable" amongst the people who have forgotten how to work. Society starts to teeter a little, this is a new addition that wasn't expected. Various things that were deemed as unacceptable in years past also start being eroded, children no longer respect adults. People no longer think if they can afford to have children prior to trying (we have moved 20 years forward now). They think that if they have one it will escalate the process of getting a place of their own and a couple of extra pounds a week. No-one in their family has worked for 20 years and they have accepted that this is normal. The last person in their family who can remember working passes away and now there is no longer anyone within their collective who can remember ever earning a living. Lifestyles change and the associated responsibilities that used to exist are now forgotten. The neighbours no longer speak to them, they are too busy watching "corry" and now everyone has a TV so no-one needs to talk to anyone outside the same room anymore.

Minor disagreements that could have been resolved by knocking on a door suddenly become massive issues. People can't talk to each other anymore because they have forgotten how to. They have never needed to resolve things for themselves because there has always been someone who they can call. Ghostbusters, Social Services, their mum or heaven forbid, the police. For those of you who do the job how many early morning "domestics" have you been to between mother and offspring who won't get up for school? There is no longer the element of "wait until your father gets home" because he is still in bed sleeping off the 10 cans of Stella Aktatwat he drank last night. People will openly air their dirty laundry in public now. We are in the 21st century by now and texts and e-mails, all paid for by benefits, have now taken over from physical or verbal confrontation. If people now want help from someone they only have to phone and someone will come. 999 is free so guess who gets called the most as most of them never have credit on their mobiles. They are now blatant in the fact that they no longer have the social skills necessary to lead their own lives. Their fellow socially incompatible are in the same boat. They too don't realise that booting someones front door in because they were looked at whilst in the off license, is not acceptable. They kick the door in, give the "dis respecter" a bit of a shoeing and leave with what ever they bought from the offy. The police are called because 999 is free and another aggravated burglary/robbery (depending on the current months counting rules) is recorded.

Family life has degraded to the point of no return in many inner city urban areas. This is not a government statistic it is based on personal knowledge. A child turns 16 and leaves school to pursue a life of, well not really sure at all. Another one has been in the making for the last 9 months in order not to lose the child benefit, that is why we have single mums with 9 kids from different fathers who allow their offspring to have kids at the age of 13. Wonder what benefits will now go into those households. Increased sex education in schools- NO, A dramatic re-think of the benefit culture-YES. (PLEASE).

Long rant but that is my theory, all other suggestions gladly accepted.

Pleased as punch.

2009-02-12T09:27:00.006Z

Sorry for the wrong picture, I am still getting used to this. Annette and R/T sorry for the misunderstanding and hope that Annette, your BP is still ok. (added @09:10 13/02/09).

This will only be quick as I am really tired after just getting in off nights.

I have the fortune/misfortune of being a tutor constable. 6 weeks of babysitting takes it's toll and you do eventually get sick of showing new officers the ropes and complimenting or constructively criticizing their role in that incident. They have to learn just as I did and someone took the time to teach me so it is only right that I do the same.

At an incident last night she like me was dreading the scene. There was a report of numerous victims with injuries and complaints of assault, violence and general mayhem. We are dispatched with blue lights to 6 Notgreat Crescent. Other patrols also call to back up. In the end all 8 of us who were on duty to look after the 350 000 people who reside in our area were at the address. I haven't worked with her for a while and don't know how she has developed. I knew she was efficient as she was so switched on during her tutor period and never had to be taught anything more than once.

Anyway, the initial call turned out to be grossly over exaggerated and in effect all there was in this terraced house was one male with a bloody nose. He was off his head and clearly in a drug and booze fuelled state. He was offering to fight anyone because he had got blood on his already filthy black nike tracksuit and suitably grey nike t-shirt. He wasn't listening to anyone, police, girlfriend or friends. He turned to my colleague and told her to go forth and multiply as he wasn't telling no officer what had happened or how he had come to sustain his injury. He told her again and to re-enforce this pushed her away. I could not believe how quick she moved! Using his body strength to assist her she deftly turned and next thing he knew he was on the floor. The coke in his body caused him to struggle a lot once he was there but with another seven of us he was going nowhere.

Once he was cuffed and secured she then re-adjusted her uniform and spoke to the rest of the group including the female who had made the call. Advice was given and lots of people walked out with their tails between their legs. The house was left with just one sole female occupier. Another gent who decided to verbally abuse us from about 100 yards away and wake further people up in the street by his offerings of violence was subsequently surprised by how fast most of us can run ( I am 39, smoke too much and could probably never ever be classed as fit) was locked up for S.5.

The end result was my former student officer dealt with a volatile situation, subdued an aggressive male and then sorted the rest of the situation out using little more than her mouth and the defence techniques used in training along with a good dose of common sense. She is not even close to her two years yet.

The end result, one male arrested BOP and another S.5. Not a great result that will ever ever be known publicly but a heart warming moment for me as she later told me that using what she had learned from me along with what she had observed other officers doing had started to form her own particular style of dealing with things. She also told me that she was once part of the British Judo team which did explain a lot. Having seen her actions I have no reason to doubt that.

How bizarre.

2009-02-10T10:05:00.003Z

Despite my dread and prophecies of doom the full moon didn't work out as bad as I thought. I would even go so far as to describe it as Q (uiet). Couple of domestics no forms filled in as per first post and eventually neighbours all falling out to the extent that one of them decided to throw a jar of PICKLE at one of them and missed. Unfortunately he put in through a car window instead. Loads of gloating witnesses who will never turn up for court. They all ended their statements with "I am not willing to attend court over this matter". In this day and age how little do they know?

I have had the misfortune to meet this individual previously when he headbutted his pregnant girlfriend when the electricity ran out. He was watching his favourite programme at the time though! There was a twist to the tail as I couldn't work out who was who in the pregnancy stakes when I first arrived as there were two pregnant girls there. They were both sisters and guess who was the father of both. That's just wrong! I promise I am not making this up, talk about a misguided sexual experience. I eventually elected the one with the slightly swollen bottom lip as the "victim".

Anyway, last night, he gets locked up and off we go. He is as good as gold all the way through and remarkably is not drunk. Bummer, I am going to have to interview him and sort this one out without being able to leave it for mornings. He coughs to the offence in interview and actually apologises for it happening. Reckless is explained to him and he admits that the criminal damage was caused by his recklessness. Thankfully as he has coughed it there is no need for CPS "advice" and the custody sergeant is quite happy to charge him. Phew!

With waiting times in the holding cell, getting statements, interviews and the rest it still took 3 1/2 hours to process him and I emerge back on the streets at about 04:30 to a city that looks like a plague has struck during those 3 hours. There is really no-one about. I aimlessly waste petrol until 06:45 and then head back into the station to go off duty.

That was not the night I expected. Must be the credit crunch affecting benefits, you know less disposable cash.

LUNAR tics.

2009-02-08T20:22:00.002Z

I have just read ATNS last post and am shocked a little by what took place. Not very shocked because I know how quickly situations change.

I was somehow reminded that tomorrow is a full moon. Does the phrase lunatic have anything to do with the phases of the moon? Is the term loosely aligned to "lunar" tic in the depths of time?

It certainly makes a difference when the moon is full, people may not exactly bay at the moon but patterns of behaviour are different. You can be guaranteed a busy night when the cheese is at it's fullest.

Just a quick one to provoke thoughts and good luck to everyone who like me will be on nights in this job tomorrow.

The perils of being married to a Bobby.

2009-02-08T18:27:00.004Z

This is not a recent event so don't worry you won't catch anything by reading this.

It all started with a domestic dispute and getting sent to it. Upon arrival I could see the female in the front garden, it was beautifully sculpted with all sorts of intricate broken children's toys and empty cider cans and bottles. There was a fair amount of dog poo in which the female had stood.

She starts the conversation by bringing his parentage into question (ie "that B$s%ard) has done this that and the other. He is looking out of the front room window at us and starts calling us all the names you can possibly think of. Apparently I may not be heterosexual according to him. I ask her what has happened as she tells me that they have been drinking all day, it is July by the way, and have run out of money. It is approximately 8 in the evening and it is still very very warm. I am sweating profusely in my body armour and black trousers. I can see he is swigging away from a 2 litre bottle of white lightning cider and there is still a goodly amount left. She is regaling me with tales of all his wrongdoings and he is shouting similar stuff from the open window. I really have lost interest by now, no-one has been assaulted, there is no damage caused but the situation is alcohol fuelled and volatile. The neighbours are now enjoying it and being the lovely area it is have brought garden chairs out in the front to watch the spectacle. Gutter rats are coming into the garden and are asking me if I have a gun and is that pepper spray. One of them even tries to take my car keys off the karabina they are attached to.

Eventually the male takes it one step too far and with the window open issues threats that amount to a public order offence which is now the last straw. He tries to close the window whilst laughing at me. He is somewhat surprised seconds later to find the window being wrenched open and 6 foot 2 of police officer hurtling through it. He even dropped his bottle. He decides that he is not coming alive and a brief struggle follows. He lost. I am sweating a lot as mentioned before and following the brief exertion my arms are now sticky as well. He won't stop writhing on the floor and some further control techniques are used. The end result was him being handcuffed but only after lots of physical contact, there was no blood and surprisingly he was hardly bruised. He is still struggling and didn't want to get up off the floor. More physical contact with sweaty arms and he was on his feet with me now opening the front door. I have noticed that he really smells. That peculiar smell of bad feet, alcohol, cigarettes and weeks of never having seen a bath or shower. He was nasty. He tries to run away despite being handcuffed once outside but needless to say it didn't work. Eventually in the back of the car and locked up for a BOP because I couldn't be bothered anymore. Lodged, bedded down, charged and sent to court in the morning. Job done.

Roll on a week and I notice strange reddish/pinkish marks on my arms. I put it down to too much sun and ignore it. They start getting itchy and look nasty soon afterwards. I go to the doctors and they gaily announce that I have scabies! Oh joy! The cure? A lovely smelling cream for me, my wife and my 5 year old. All clothes washed on a hot wash and effectively me looking like a leper. Luckily S + J did not suffer the effects and mine went after a week or so.

It is not always just the officer who is affected by life's events it involves his family too. I am left with areas on my arms now that get red quicker than others in intense sun as a result of this encounter. I hope that this is the worst my family have to put up with for the last 13 years that I have left prior to retirement.

The time has arrived.

2009-02-06T19:38:00.005Z

Once again I find myself bursting with literary prose.

In December on a Sunday morning I was singly crewed (again) when the job came in. The informant had just seen their van reversing down the road without their permission. It was a white transit LWB inconspicuously sign written on the side.

Being that class of driver I made to the area in the vain chance that I would be able to locate the vehicle and do something about it. A search of the area proved negative. All of a sudden the CCTV operator gave us the location of the vehicle and what was happening. It had stopped and it looked like the passenger door was opening. I was not far away and in less than 30 seconds I was behind the van. The passenger door was open and I could see a leg starting to come out. I wasn't sure what to do. Do I get out and risk seconds getting back in when the van makes off or should I just wait and see what happens. I waited and less than a second later off it goes. The prerequisite criteria were met and the pursuit was on! Vehicle now left left left onto X Road speed now x MPH (slow as it was a Tranny van) it's just contravened a no entry sign and entering X street speed now X MPH and requesting support and a tactical resolution. The tactical resolution was in the police car behind me but sorting a site out was a bit tricky. The van went quickly off road smashing through a fence and trying to lose us in the muddy ground. Miraculously I followed it and did not lose traction. There was a solid concrete bollard in front of us and it hit it full on. The rear of the van bounced up in the air as the front took the impact. A burst of steam and smoke came from it but it continued relentless quickly overtaking the rolling bollard down the road.

I was still behind it and could not see how it was going to make it much further with the smoke and steam emitting from it. I was in my element the only downside was that no-one could hear me due to being in an older car the klaxons were in the light bar rather than under the bonnet. The commentary was useless. The van pulled up on the pavement and I pulled up alongside to stop the drivers door from opening. The van was silent, the woppa had done it and destroyed the engine! I then heard a diesel type sound and the van moved backwards, he/she had got it going again. I saw it reverse from the pavement and then move forward again. I engaged reverse but it was too late. The crunch started at the near side rear and continued all the way down the length of the car. I was pushed about 20 foot (with my seat belt on of course) and the Tranny moved away again. That was me out of the chase, sitting there wondering what had happened, did that really happen, why did I feel a crunch why has my nearside wing mirror gone? It all came flooding back to me in an instant when the following car shouted that constableconfused.com has been rammed (or words to that effect).

That was me out of the chase, I had been rammed, I didn't know what damage had been caused to my car but I could see my colleague continuing the pursuit. I then heard that the driver had bailed from the van and was out on foot! My colleague was behind him and making ground. The subject was then out of sight as he he turned a corner and approximately 5 seconds later my colleague entered the deserted street to see a male furiously hammering on a door to be let in. No-one else on the street to be seen with this male showing a discarded black jacket like the pursued male had been wearing on the path behind him. Subsequently arrested for aggravated UTMV (TWOC) and dealt with.

Have a guess what the 5 second gap in observation resulted in No Further Action with the individual despite being known as a local scrote.

Justice? No not really, but never mind eh?

Influences.

2009-02-05T18:55:00.002Z

I have just read a post from Which End Bites and a chain of thoughts started about influences that possibly govern the outcome of your life.

He mentions how an influential character from his early days in the job recently passed away. That made me think of my dad who passed away last year after a sudden illness. He was born north of the border and was at sea in the merchant navy at the age of 14 during the second world war. At the end of the war he had several other jobs including being a grease monkey on a long defunct railway line. In the early 50's he joined Notgreat City Police after encouragement from a former shipmate who had joined a couple of years earlier. At that time the force was filled with hard men who had either endured WW II as an officer or joined following the demob. They knew discipline and also what was right and wrong. They enforced the law in ways that would probably make politicians and senior managers shudder these days. People were poorer than these days but they cleaned their own step and could leave doors unlocked also children could play in the streets safely. In other words there was a sense of community that made people look out for each other. You only have to look at old photographs to see neighbours talking to each other in the streets. He used to reminisce fondly about the people who he used to deal with. He told me he never once had to use his truncheon and how they used to get criticized if the leather strap was visible sticking out of the pocket sewn into the trousers.

He used to eagerly ask me about what was going on these days and always tried to equate some of my encounters with his. After a couple of years he didn't bother but used to look at me with sadness as he realised that his adopted city had changed beyond all belief and that very few people who were falling foul of the law had anything to fear. He had to retire medically after 16 years after jumping on a wall that was subsequently demolished by the runaway truck he ironically jumped on the wall to avoid. Broken spine and nerve injuries resulting. He still insisted that if he had been a Mason he would never have had to leave the job and would have been found an office post. Once well again he worked solidly until retirement age and due to this thankfully my Mum has a comfortable life and need never worry about money again for the rest of her life. She even gets a small pension from the police from his contributions.

Speaking of my Mum she too was an officer around the same time in Notgreat City Police and after transferring to one of the surrounding Boroughs became the first female officer in that area. Guess how they met and following the birth of my brother in the early 60's she then left the job and became a full time mum who my Dad provided for for the rest of their lives. I haven't got a clue about her pension from the police but she doesn't get anything. I should ask about that really.

Anyway down to me, I tried to join the job at 18 but in the 80's that was deemed too young and told to re-apply when I reached 21. I subsequently joined the RAF and spent 11 years there leaving in 1999 after my wife left in 1997. Overseas detachments meant that one year I was home for 8 months and the next only home for 4 months. (4 months in the country then 4 months out). I wonder if my time in the forces was purely a experience to equip me for my current occupation.

I wonder if I was somehow "destined" to be a policeman due to my parentage, like my dad I saw conflict and learned what was right and wrong. I don't believe in fate or any of that type of thinking. I had a strict but happy upbringing, I knew my mum was always at home and that my dad was either at home or working. Subconsciously this has progressed to my own family as my wife stopped working and has been a full time mum since the birth of our first daughter. Chance? I don't know.

Anyway at the end of this random post I am still not sure why I have bothered to write all this. This is an off the cuff response to the post mentioned in the first paragraph. If it means anything please let me know. I will resume with police experiences shortly.

Perspective.

2009-02-03T19:16:00.006Z

Just to put my life in perspective for the last two days I have done nothing heroic or mind blowingly exciting. My lovely wife gave me a lie-in on Monday (ta mate) and I got up about 10 am ish. From there a couple of coffees and shower etc.

Had to go and sort some bank stuff out, not exciting or anything. Errm that was it until school home time when it was snowing very heavily. We (me, wife and nearly two year old) collected oldest from school and got cold. Later we went to the supermarket and spent far too much. Then it was feed the kids, baths and them off to bed. A few cans with a takeaway and bed. Monday done.

Today, I got up with the kids and did the morning thing. Once oldest in school at nine, amuse the youngest whilst S did what I did yesterday.

I then had one of the worst experiences of my life that I have ever had. It started last week when I had to see a "specialist" appointed by my solicitor after I was involved in something in work, I may enlighten you at a later date when it is not recognisable by chance. I had a bad week prior to that and coupled with my insane fear of the medical profession I was somewhat stressed. The doctor saw me and promptly announced that he had concerns about my blood pressure and heart rate. He told me that I was definitely suffering from what I had initially been referred to him for and then told me to make an appointment at my own doctor and gave me a letter to give to him, sealed of course.

I duly went to my doctor today with an inner feeling that I was going to die. It had to do with the fact that I smoke too much. My alcohol consumption must surely be the underlying cause it was surely my kidneys closing down slowly thus my blood having to be pumped round at an even greater volume to compensate. For the last week I have probably been a nightmare to live with, my feelings of impending doom lying heavily on my shoulders.

The moment of truth dawned, there I was face to face with my nemesis, the doctor. He calmly opened the letter, I was in suspense, my heart felt like it was going to break out of my body and he was going to take my pulse soon. He then asked me how I felt at that moment. I told him I was literally crapping myself. I felt fine but something inside of me wasn't right. After apologising to him I also told him that I had a fear of doctors as when you visit them you can normally feel that something isn't right. On this occasion that wasn't the case. I was very anxious.

He then took my pulse, put the velcro thing on my arm and it inflated. This was it I told myself, I can do it, stop smoking (eventually) and stop drinking (gulp). What next, a visit to the hospital in the next week for further tests and their prognosis of my doom? He once again asked me what my level of anxiety was on a scale of 1-10 and I said about a 7/8. He then told me that my heart rate was 85/min and my BP was 140/90.............perfectly normal.

I couldn't believe it......What?Why?When How? I'm surely about to die aren't I? To which he replied, if you walk out of here and get knocked over by a bus then probably yes. He then said blood pressure and heartbeats, you can't live with them and can't live without them.

Hopefully I will be alive to post again.

Sorry, no police content in this one, a blog is meant to be about personal experiences and not just something that will gain comments. I will do my best not to be political in any future posts. Please chastise me if I ever do.

Just a little thought.

2009-02-02T01:23:00.006Z

This is just a little thought after the last four late shifts of chaos that have reigned in Notgreatside.

In normal life people avoid trouble like the plague. They will cross over the road to avoid a conflict or confrontation. I believe this is normal human behaviour.

My role however (I'm not complaining, I choose to do it) involves getting to the conflict/confrontation/waste of time as fast as I can. To facilitate that we have vehicles which have been modified to assist us in our quest to avoid being normal people. We have equipment fitted that allows us to part traffic and continue to hasten our way to possible destruction, well injury or grief or even worse more paperwork. Not knowing what we will find when we arrive, we cunningly cut a swathe through traffic desperately trying to find out what the hell it is we are going to other than an address. Now my hearing is pretty good but when you are being deafened by sirens and concentrating on not crashing I may miss the occassional snippet of information. Therefore sometimes I may arrive at at job and not have heard a word other than the brief circumstances that were originally relayed on the initial shout for a patrol on the radio.

The overall point of this post is to say that you have to be slightly different to be a police officer. You act against the body's natural defences of self preservation by placing yourself in conflict due to your role and to assist you in getting there faster you even have added gadgets to aid your possible self destruction. Especially good fun in the snow.

For the narrow minded ones who will assume that different equals better, I don't think that. In your case you could substitute different for strange if it makes you feel happier. I personally think that strange is a better word to use.

Think I will go for a lie down now and forget about my job until Wednesday.

An unexpected thing.

2009-01-31T05:03:00.003Z

This is so difficult to explain to people.

I went to a sudden death about a week ago, 80+ year old lady who passed away in front of family members. Paramedics called and unfortunately pronounced that she was life extinct. We were called as per normal for a sudden death. After arriving and re-assuring the family that just because the police were there, they had no cause for concern.

The lady was very old, had been very ill and had only been allowed out of hospital a few days ago. The family were devastated. It was a large family, her oldest grand daughter was her primary carer and had moved with her own family to live with her. Her oldest daughter lived next door and was at the scene. Normally we turn up, ascertain that there are no suspicious circumstances and request the removal of the deceased to the mortuary. In this case all of her nine children were on their way to the address to see her at home for one last time. These were nice people, a rarity where I work and worthy of some empathy. It took two and a half hours for all of her grown up children to arrive and we waited outside despite numerous calls asking why we were delayed from the control room.

After satisfying ourselves that nothing dubious had occurred the grand daughter asked if she could arrange her gran to look more dignified as her death throes and the paramedics had made a bit of a mess. As this would be the last time her family would see her in her home I agreed. She thanked me profusely, offered to make me another coffee, which I refused and went to clear the mess. Normally you should ensure the deceased is undisturbed but I just had a "feeling" that this was right.

Eventually all the family had paid their respects and I requested that the on call funeral directors attend. I had explained the whole procedure about the removal of the deceased and the calls they had to make to the coroner. I really went out of my way to help these people. When the funeral directors arrived they were formally dressed and exuded an air of professionalism that really assisted in the upset of the day for this family. I am grateful to them.

As she was taken on the trolley from the house to the van I gave the family my details and told them that if they had any questions I finished at X PM and they could contact me any time.

I was astounded today to find a sealed letter to me containing a personal request had been left at the station asking if I could attend the funeral along with my colleague as we had supported the family so much on the day. This has never happened to me before and doubt that it ever will again. I am on duty at the time of the ceremony but will move heaven and high water to go.

Not sure that the three hours we spent on the day will greatly impact on crime figures but inwardly gives me a greater glow than any PWITS/GBH even murder arrest that I have ever made. I only met this family at the time of great sadness and loss to them but they remembered me. What other job do you get this from?

Incase you were wondering.

2009-01-30T00:43:00.003Z

Just to explain the photo in my profile.

I am singly crewed on a Sunday afternoon at about half past one in the afternoon. An IRIR comes in about a domestic between mother and son at an address. I am the only patrol available and subsequently call up for the job. Blue lights and everything on the way and as I turn into the road there is a male on my right on the pavement. I at scene as I turn into the road (can't forget to hit the tag) and all of a sudden there is an enormous crash as the driver's window gets smashed and I feel something tear the sleeve of my shirt. I quickly re-assess and see that there is a young lad with a mace still swinging it looking where to strike next. I'll be honest I'm covered in broken glass and not entirely sure what has happened, another bang and thankfully the windscreen has stood up but what is going to happen next? I drive towards the subject (on the pavement) and he jumps over a garden wall to avoid being run over. I get out and challenge him (figure the words out yourself) and he then produces a knife and a crowbar. These are both decorated in various colours of insulation tape similar to the mace in the picture.
He continues trying to swing the mace at me it has various screws and nails sticking out of it and I decide that I need some help. I try to do this without the orange panic button but am getting drowned out by other radio traffic. I press it and explain the situation. I am re-assured that help is on the way. The male continues to walk backwards issuing threats and challenges towards a busy main road. Once on the road the situation changes. There are other MOP's on the pavement and I am screaming at them to move out of the way. One clown in a car slows down and the passenger produces a mobile phone and starts filming this (still can't find it on Youtube). I can now hear sirens in the distance and know that the gang are on the way. We walk for about another 2-300 yards with me communicating tactically all the way. All the possible police response options are explained and how much better it would be to just give up. Guess what, he didn't. Eventually other patrols arrive and to cut a long story short he was surrounded. He started circling to get an escape route and once when he had his back to me, in the best home office approved method, I struck him to his right leg at the same time 3 colleagues let go with C.S. Work out if you can who also got a dose. Snotting and with eyes streaming I see the male being handcuffed and aftercare being administered. I then realise that there is a fully liveried police car still running in the street with a broken window and more importantly my cigarettes are still inside it. A late comer to the job secures the car and thankfully it is still there along with my cigarettes.
A brief smoke later and off to custody. As we both stand in the holding cell with red eyes and the adrenaline wearing of he says words to the effect that he is sorry and it all started with an argument with his mum. It then becomes apparent that this is the son in question in the original job. This had been forgotten by me (for obvious reasons) and the radio room, it all was made clear then and things made sense. The mum was safe and well and the son locked up for S.4 POA, off weapon and crim dam. Charged with all three and received some sort of silly referral order in court. All jolly worthwhile, not.
It makes me wonder why the country is in the state it's in.
Just as a disclaimer I do not endorse smoking and yes the appropriate form was subsequently filled in.

This post should hopefully explain to people just how fluid a seemingly routine call can be. If subjects similar have been posted previously then I apologise but I do still squeak when typing as I am still new to this.

How loud do you have to cry for help?

2009-01-24T23:04:00.005Z

Picture the scene if you will,
it's a Friday morning in the spring at about 7 in the morning. I am in the parade room with the rest of the crew. The airwaves springs to life with the usual " a patrol please able to make to" a pause and then "oh my god, a patrol able to make to xxxxx cemetery, report of a female in the ground digging a grave up and there are chunks of wood coming out the ground".

Responding to this call with blue lights and everything, turn them off once inside in the grounds and after the caller has been phoned back directed to the right area of the cemetery. Sure enough there is a female in a hole in the ground with a shovel with bits of wood around her. How do we approach this one?

Casually stroll up to her and introduce ourselves. It transpires that the poor soul has recently had her 2 children taken from her due to mental health issues. We get that out of the way whilst she furiously continues digging. Eventually she pulls a plastic bag from the grave and shouts "I've got you back mum". Sideways glance at colleague and the reality of the situation dawns. Here we have a lonely female who's life has been turned upside down. She clutches the plastic bag and says that she is taking her mum back home where she belongs. There is nothing worse than taking remains from consecrated ground other than the issues of getting them back there. It is still one of the most serious offences that can be committed in the UK.

For 20 minutes we try and reason with this person about her actions but all to no effect. Once it has become apparent that speech alone won't work, action is required. Slowly approaching her we tell her that this can't happen. She instinctively ducks and backs against a nearby wall still clutching the bag of ashes. She turns away from us briefly and when she turns back she has a razor blade in her hand and starts slicing her arms and hands. She is urging her deceased mother to feel the warm blood and come back. My colleague gets close enough to her to try to stop this madness but is rewarded with a swipe and a slash to his left arm. I draw my baton and prepare to strike the arm holding the razor blade. I can't remember which it was. She huddles down continuing to hurt herself and it quickly becomes apparent the baton will be ineffective. In her confused state she has already injured my colleague and is still cutting herself. CS is drawn and a single burst sends her from her hunched position to the floor dropping the razor blade in the process. She is secured and the awaiting ambulance then approaches to administer help. The remains of her mum are secured in the chapel of rest awaiting re-internment. No really bad offences have taken place.

The female is subsequently sectioned under 136 and taken to hospital. The usual process follows, quite quickly this time as she is not drunk. The end result she is allowed to leave in the afternoon back to her empty house with the promise of a follow up visit from a CPN on the Monday. She is a different person on the journey home with bandages on her arms quietly apologising for all the trouble she has caused. She is dropped off at home and a quick evaluation of the house and her follows. The house is clean and tidy and the children's bedrooms are spotless but empty, as is her departed mother's. She has no family in the area and no friends she is close enough to with whom to talk. How bleak a weekend is she going to face?

I have sectioned many people but never in such upsetting situations as this. The crisis teams certainly have work cut out for them but I genuinely feel that in this situation they got it wrong.

The person in question later succeeded in taking her own life a month later and was found dead on her mother's grave. I know I did what I could to help her but the rest of the system stinks. How loud do you have to cry for help? The sad thing is I can't remember her name.

You couldn't make it up could you?

Why bother?

2009-01-24T21:13:00.002Z

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2009/01/24/cannabis-reclassified-100252-22766939/

In a different part of the country, how can this be real? How do we cope with this on a day to day basis? Would love to add a picture but not that clever yet!

2009-01-22T17:50:00.003Z

Ermm, first post not nervous at all!

At 7 AM on Monday we were told that the old forms we had to fill in at domestics were no longer valid. A "DC" from the domestic unit arrived with a big box full of the new form, VPRF 1. Vulnerable Person Reporting Form 1. In all of it's 9 pages it never once mentions a verbal argument only and then refers me to the Domestic Abuse Policy. His last words were "don't shoot the messenger". This warranted further investigation.

I check this policy and fail to see how Jonny not wanting to get up for school when Kylie tells him too and he refuses. He then deems it fit to call the police beause him mum shouted at him. We attend and actually believe that nothing has happened but because of the nature of the call we are obliged to fill in the old form. There is no child abuse here as Kylie obviously cares enough to gethim to school.

No doubt someone has got promoted from the new form but they have set criteria for the reporting of the incidents. If the criteria is not met there is no way that I will be filling in the form despite the urges of the radio room.

I also fail to see how X +Y (who argue all the time and because of the lack of social skills) call the police because Y drank X's last can of White Lightning. They have a drunken argument and one of them calls the police.

We arrive speak to them by first name as we have been there so many times and at the end of the day nothing is wrong other than a lack of money/social skills. In the old days I should fill in a domestic referral form but now unless either party is "vulnerable" I don't have to.

I should be filling one in but whatever muppet produced them didn't produce the correct document. Acording to them and the domestic abuse policy there is to be no concern if neither party is vulnerable. They might both be MOOC s (members of our community) but neither can ever be classed as vulnerable.

The jobsworths who run the domestic violence unit have yet to realise just how wrong they have got the wording. Please don't get me wrong, in real cases of domestic violence I will do all I can to assist the victim and lock up the offender. In the average case of social breakdown (ie last can of cider) I will do all I can to result as No Offences Disclosed!

The directive issued by the D.I. was that this form had to be filled in at all domestic related incidents irrespective. They then went on to publish the policy and if anyone with even a bit of common sense read it then they would realise there was no need at most incidents unless someone was vulnerable.

I am not shy of work but when someone specifies a policy to me and then insists I do exactly what it says, I will do that. I heard that the domestic violence unit was looking to poach more staff from uniform and in a roundabout way this new form was produced to assist that.

They have actually done the opposite and provided a get out for real police officers.

If this makes no sense please criticise freely, it is my first post.