written by The Duty Sgt from The Duty Sgt
None of you will know but I have the same name as a senior officer in my force and occasionally get his emails. He gets emails meant for me asking for annual leave which he deletes and I get ones meant for him asking for multi million pound decisions on budgets which I sign off without reading.
Because of this I can exclusively reveal here what I am calling 'Mutualaidgate.'
Following on from the announcement in the media that the British and French Navies will share aircraft carriers I can reveal that my force has been in talks with the National Gendarmerie (French National Police) and has agreed that we will share resources. I think this is a brilliant idea, we can flood the streets with armed officers at the drop of a hat, it will save on translators and we will no longer have to deal with illegal immigrants. We can just dump them all near our ports and provide absolutely no security at all and hope they all make there way to the nearest country and claim asylum there. No more having to go hand to hand with drunken louts on a Saturday night, I can just ring Marcel my counterpart and ask if he can bring his team with the baton guns and water cannon and clear the town for me.
I had a chat with Marcel over croissants and hot chocolate and he wasn't as happy. He was puzzled by the intricacies of PACE and was horrified that in his opinion the criminal had more rights than the Police and victim. He was appalled at the sentences handed out by our courts and outraged at how people who assault officers were treated. In his words "In France they wouldn't do that as they know they will be shot!" He did however agree with me that how Pamela Somerville was treated in custody was out of order no matter how abusive or uncooperative she had been. We both agreed that allowing your own personal feelings to cloud your judgement just gave offenders an excuse to get away with their crimes.
National Gendarmerie coming to a town near you.......
The original post can be found http://thedutysgt.blogspot.com/2010/09/wrong-email-grommit.html
written by The Duty Sgt from The Duty Sgt
Just for fun and to try something different I thought I'd have a caption competition please leave your comments. The winner will receive a 'get out of jail free card' from my monopoly set.*
* Note this doesn't really work and will leave me a card short, I will however publish the winning caption.
The original post can be found http://thedutysgt.blogspot.com/2010/08/caption-competition.html
written by The Duty Sgt from The Duty Sgt
The Police world is awash with comments about ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) maintaining their bonuses whilst recommending front line officers basic pay is cut. On going rumours about lack of promotion boards, changes in budgets and yet more targets to be met have caused a drop in morale across all forces. I try not to be too political in my blog, that's not why I write I think people prefer the 'everyday' stories good and bad of what life is like as a front line officer.
I thought id share snippets from conversations I was involved in or overheard this week to give you a flavour of what my life is like:
'Experienced' officer to male arrested for burglary who only has one hand after loosing it in a motorbike accident. "SO ANYWAY I NEED TO DO THIS PAPERWORK, WHAT IS YOUR SHOE SIZE AND WHAT HAND TO DO WRITE WITH......?"
One of my rota who was unfortunate to crash his motorbike on his way to work. Ambulance attended just before I arrived and were treating him, he still had his helmet on and had injured his mouth. He was saying to the Paramedic "I'M A COP, I'M A COP!" distorted by his helmet and injury. The Paramedic misheard him and replied "YOUR NOT A COCK, ACCIDENTS HAPPEN TO THE BEST OF US!"
On foot patrol in one of the less salubrious areas I am responsible for we pass the 'Divis Flats' where there is a small child wearing a full nappy and dirty T shirt standing on one of the balcony's looking out through the bars. On seeing 'Smithy' the shift 'stud' who I'm crewed with she begins to shout "DADDY, DADDY!" and waves furiously. Smithy goes bright red, assures me he is not the Dad and promises to buy me a coffee if I don't tell anyone.
My most enjoyable incident was as usual on foot in the town centre. This weekend was busier than usual as it was A level results. In between incidents I was stood in a prominent position when I heard a whooping noise and heard the thunder of feet running towards me. In my peripheral vision I see two men in their thirties one of whom reaches out and tries to pull my baton from its holster as he runs past. He fails partly due to the restraining strap and my hand holding it in place. I stick my left leg out as he runs past and he falls to the floor face first like a sack of potatoes. His friend stops and the guy on the floor apologises for his behaviour, I realise that there is no aggressiveness in their actions they are just drunken muppet's. I let them wonder off muttering about highly trained Police Officers and experts in 'unarmed combat' as they term it. Of course I'm not and neither are my shift but I'm more than happy for them to think that and tell all their friends.
The original post can be found http://thedutysgt.blogspot.com/2010/08/this-week-in-comments.html
written by The Duty Sgt from The Duty Sgt
I'm sat in my panda (car) in a darkened car park with all the windows down, lights and engine off waiting for something interesting to come my way. I'm just off a large roundabout on an 'A' road, cars have to slow right down to negotiate it and from my vantage point I get a good look at the drivers and vehicles without them seeing me. My radio beeps in my ear telling me I have been assigned to a job which is odd as the radio has been quiet for the last half an hour. I turn the engine and lights on just as the controller requests I go to a one vehicle collision involving a taxi and two cows. I am two miles away down a long straight 'A' road and arrive in minutes. I am met with the bizarre sight of a dead cow sticking out of the front of a taxi windscreen, its head is in the area where the driver should be. The taxi driver is ok but in shock. My main concern is the second cow. Its front right leg is hanging off by a strip of skin. Its bellowing in pain and doing its best to walk up and down the road. Two HGVs have stopped and are blocking traffic either side of the accident and are being joined by more vehicles. People as usual get out to see whats going on before jumping back in their cars quickly as an enraged cow charges at them. I quickly discover that shining my 'Dragon light' at the cows face stops it from moving. Other officers arrive and we get a loose cordon of sorts on and it begins to rain heavily. Over my radio I request for a vet to come and put the cow down so we can get the road open. Forty five minutes later I chase the vet up to find he has been cancelled as he only had a syringe and wouldn't have been able to get close enough to put the cow down. No one had bothered to tell me this. I'm wet through and on my second dragon light, they are very bright but poorly (never) maintained and don't last very long even after being charged for 24 hours. A kindly HGV driver has given me a cup of tea from his cab which I share with the others in between the odd moment where the cow tries to make a break for freedom and charges at us as we shine the Dragon lights in its face and take cover behind peoples vehicles. Ive seen bullets stopped by engine blocks and hope that a two ton cow will be stopped to. I request ARV to come and put the cow down. Control tells me that they can only do this for 'dangerous animals.' My reply that from where I'm hiding it looks pretty dangerous to me is ignored. We then resort to using our cars with the lights going and 'blipping' the sirens to control the cow. Eventually control announces that a licensed slaughterer is en route with a large calibre rifle to shoot the cow. By now twelve HGVs are stuck either side of the collision as they cannot turn around. A 4x4 pulls up towing a horsebox with a flashing red light on the roof, I decide to ignore the traffic offence as the slaughter man gets out with a rifle case over his shoulder. I brief him quickly and go on to deal with a lady in a Mazda beeping her horn and waving at me. I begin to tell her that she can do U turn or wait a few minutes when a loud bang rings out. By the time Ive negotiated the line of HGVs the cow is being winched into the horsebox and the road is open. I check my watch from arrival to road being open is three minutes. I gather everyone up and we head back to finish the traffic book and dry out. All I get is comments over the radio and phone calls about steak for dinner and 'moovving' along the cows. Who said humour is dead in the Police?
The original post can be found http://thedutysgt.blogspot.com/2010/08/mooovvvee-along-now.html
written by The Duty Sgt from The Duty Sgt
Politicians like to refer to 'Broken Britain' and blame it all on the actions of their predecessors.
Daily I see examples of 'Broken Britain' and the Police are always the ones called to clear the mess up. Other agencies such as social services, hospitals, community mental health teams and ambulance all play their part. But due to their limited powers and protocols its always the Police that are called when no one else is available.
Last week my team were called to a 'concern for welfare' by a social worker. She had visited a family all of whom had mental health issues and needed assistance with everything from shopping and cleaning to food preparation. 'Uncle Stan' was not at the address and she noticed signs that the family were all living downstairs from the pillows and blankets strewn all over the sofas. When questioned the family stated that they had been living downstairs for the last week as 'Uncle Stan' smelt. On checking 'Uncle Stan' had been dead for a week (natural causes) and the family had left him in the bed, covered him with duvets and closed the door. Meals on wheels had visited and delivered food and another social worker had visited and no one had noticed anything amiss.
Is it really better for this family to live together or to be in homes where they can get the care they deserve and need?
On that point when I first started in the Police care homes for the elderly always had on site wardens. Now in silent hours its always locked doors with buzzer entry systems that go through to a 'control room' elsewhere staffed by people whose first language is not English. Outside these homes look immaculate as do the communal areas. Families and residents pay large amounts of money to buy into this dream. Inside its decaying, people stay in their rooms fixed to the TV and scared to leave.
This is symptomatic of 'Broken Britain' all shiny on the outside with lots of money being pumped in, inside its broken and the vulnerable are not being cared for.
The original post can be found http://thedutysgt.blogspot.com/2010/07/broken-britain.html
written by The Duty Sgt from The Duty Sgt
There is a Chinese curse which translates as 'may you live in interesting times' I always live in interesting times due to the nature of my job. Things have got even more interesting recently for a number of reasons.
1. Teressa May the new home secretary has announced that all the 'vital' targets and initiatives set by the previous government are to be scrapped and replaced by one target of 'reducing crime.'
I hate to think how much money has been wasted on these short lived advertising campaigns for things such as the now defunct 'policing pledge.' My force has decided to keep the 'policing pledge' as well as the new 'reducing crime' target and we still measure arrests and detections which was an even older Labour target.
2. Raoul Moat has shot himself. This whole scenario showed how outdated the concept of routinely unarmed officers is. One man held a whole force hostage and severely hampered their day to day operations and meant that armed officers from five forces had to be drafted in to assist. We don't ask the fire service to fight fires with a garden hose and we don't let the ambulance service operate with a first aid kit purchased from Halfords.
I listened with disbelief as visitors to Rothbury described themselves as feeling sorry for Moat. I'm sure someone is Hollywood is already penning the Raoul Moat story with him as a Robin Hoodesque character fighting the evil witches sorry Chief Constables men as hoards of Custodian wearing bobbies rush around blowing their whistles for no apparent reason. Id just got back into my armchair after rolling around on the floor laughing when Gazza turned up at the cordon. Legally I am an expert witness for the purpose of court proceedings as to whether someone is drunk or not, I assure you that Gazza was drunk.
The original post can be found http://thedutysgt.blogspot.com/2010/07/may-you-live-in-interesting-times.html
written by The Duty Sgt from The Duty Sgt
Friday night and I was on wind down for court so was doing different shifts to the rest of my rota apart from Steve who had been called to court with me. As usual a MISPER came in just before shift handover time. My own shift was in the nick getting ready but not due to start for twenty minutes and the off going shift were reluctant to take the job but did call up.
The MISPER was a twenty year old male was out drinking and had argued with his girl friend and left the pub. They had waited half an hour or so and called us and the officers arrived twenty minutes after being assigned and took quick details before going out into the heavy rain and dark to check the area on foot. Steve and I floated towards the area to see if we could help. Just as we arrived in the area a panicked radio transmission came over the air. Due to the heavy rain and panic in the officers voice most of it was unintelligible but the words 'hanging', 'dead' and 'help' came through. We were just passing the pub the MISPER had left. I put my foot down and turned on the cars blue lights. To my left by a gate to field I could see a figure in a high visibility jacket waving a torch frantically. Its Bob from the other rota gasping he choked out the words "HE'S HANGING" before turning around a running back across the muddy water logged field towards a clump of trees. Steve and I followed the rain making our shirts stick to us in seconds, my black woolen trousers absorb the water competing with the thick mud as it claws at my boots. Mark, Bobs crew mate is in the copse of trees arms wrapped around the legs of the MISPER who is hanging from a tree by his trouser belt trying to support him. Unfortunately for me this isn't the first hanging I've attended and I know what to do. I tell Bob and Steve to help Mark with the weight of the MISPER. I pull myself up into the tree and examine the belt. Its bitten deeply into the branch and the weight of the MISPER and the rain has caused the knot to shrink. My lock knife comes out from its pocket in my stab vest and with one cut I have cut through the belt and the MISPER collapses into the officers arms. The field is water logged and we have no choice but to lay the MISPER down on the ground as Mark removes the remains of the belt from his neck as I feel for a pulse. By this time we are all covered in mud and water and I feel as cold as the MISPER does, I detect a faint pulse and Mark who is a Police medic begins CPR with Bob assisting. I send Steve back across the field to get the first aid kit and a 'Dragon light' torch as I take a deep breath, close my eyes and in my mind prepare what I need to say next and update control room over the radio requesting, ambulance, CID and that the duty Inspector is made aware. I take a spell at chest compressions and Steve returns with the first aid kit and torch. As he does this a group of three men appear by the gate to the field and begin to shout abuse. In between breaths Mark states that they are friends of the MISPER. Steve and I stop them as they try and approach. Drunk, they believed we were arresting him. The ambulance arrives and I guide the medics across the field carrying their stretcher. They decide to 'scoop and run' and between us we carry the MISPER across the field. As were putting him on the ambulance another Police unit arrives. I detail one of them to go in the ambulance with the MISPER and the other to begin a scene log with Steve as I need to answer the mobile in my pocket that has been ringing and vibrating constantly. More units arrive, I debrief Bob, Mark and Steve, thank them and send them back to the nick to change and write their note books making sure there is a Sgt there to look after them.
An hour later the MISPER has been announced dead, my phone has stopped ringing and I've managed to get a coffee from my thermos and feel vaguely human again. All I'm thinking of is the beer in my fridge when I get home and what to write on the good work report for the three PC's.
The main point to come out of the debrief? None of the other three were carrying a knife, force policy states we are not allowed to as it is an 'offensive weapon.' I carry a baton, CS spray and a taser but my senior officers are worried that if I carry a knife I will stab someone with it. All three vow that they will be buying one on their next rest day.
The original post can be found http://thedutysgt.blogspot.com/2010/06/friday-night.html
written by The Duty Sgt from The Duty Sgt
I'm saddened and not surprised that it was revealed that unarmed officers had sight of Derrick Bird. I was listening to radio four on the way to work (yes I know I can also read and write as well!) and the reporter made a great deal that three officers had seen him shortly after shooting people at the taxi rank. One officer had commandeered a taxi but stopped following Bird to give first aid to a victim
and the other two were in a transit van and stopped after Bird pointed a shotgun at them. The reporter implied that the officer in the taxi should have ignored the gunshot wound victim and the two in the transit should have 'pursued' Bird and rammed him. Ive responded to calls where officers have had guns pointed at them and know how they would have felt. I'm also aware that their control room would have been telling them not to intervene and how frustrating that would have been for them, wishing that they had the appropriate equipment and training. As always people will be criticised with the benefit off hindsight. I hope that all those involved emergency services and public get the medical and mental health help they deserve and that changes are made to the Polices ability to respond.
Daily I deal with complaints about lack of Police response and helpful tips from MOPs about how I should deal with issues completely unaware of the law, PACE, and force procedures. I deal with their issues, some real, some imagined and always end with asking if they have ever considered joining the Police as a Special Constable or as a volunteer staff member. Funny enough no one has ever taken me up on the offer.
Walk a mile in my Magnums before you complain.......
The original post can be found http://thedutysgt.blogspot.com/2010/06/suprised-im-not.html
None of you will know but I have the same name as a senior officer in my force and occasionally get his emails. He gets emails meant for me asking for annual leave which he deletes and I get ones meant for him asking for multi million pound decisions on budgets which I sign off without reading.
