The cynical policeman

Back to work

2007-08-02T09:12:00.000Z

Well after 3 weeks off work again!!!!! I started back on monday.
I was in crown court for a case i mentioned in an earlier blog where 2 drug dealers were stopped and tried to run me over when i went to arrest them.
Well the long and short of it after a lot of deliberation one of the suspects plead guilty to 2 counts of drugs supplying and the other plead guilty to dangerous driving and to being concerned in the supply of drugs. Result!!!
On tuesday i got into work early to catch up with my big stack of paperwork and emails awaiting my return.
I had a file i had to complete which was due to be in court for thursday so a bit of a priority!!
After completing that i went out on uniformed patrol but didnt really turn too much up.
We tried hunting down a couple of wanted people but without any real joy. We did have two vehicles make off from us and give us the slip, but we didnt really have much of a chance as they were much more high powered than our vehicle and we had to turn around to start following them.
One of the vehicles was stopped by another unit a little later on and i believe an amount of drugs was found in the vehicle.
I was next in work on Thursday at court for someone driving without insurance. I'm currently waiting to give evidence for that so thats me up to date!!!

Back on

2007-07-14T09:10:00.000Z

Lack off internet added with having had 8 weeks off since my last post are part of the reasons i havent updated this for a while.
That being said there's still been a lot going on while i have been at work and plenty of fun stories i should really have put up on here.
I cant remember most of them now but i'll a quick one on.
Plain clothes going to an address to arrest someone for a straightforward Fail To Appear warrant went a bit wrong.
On getting to the address with my crewmate we were met not only by the guy we came for but also 2 others both PPO's who were wanted for a robbery the previous night as well as a house full of undesirables.
Things escalated almost as soon as i had walked through the door and before i really knew what was goin on 3 people had jumped out the back window and me and my crewmate were left fighting 1 on 1 with the two wanted for robbery.
The two were both quite a handful and i watched my crewmate fall through a door into the lounge of the house on top of his guy whilst my fight spilled out into the front garden.
I really struggled to control him as i was trying to use my radio to call for backup but was having problems getting through.
At one point i remember having him pinned down on the floor and turning to watch the other guy running out of the house followed by my crewmate.
I kept trying to get in on the radio but each time i went to use it i was pushed over as i couldnt keep control of my guy.
Long story short we kept wrestling and fighting round to the back garden where i managed to get him into a (non home office approved) choke hold but realising i wouldnt be able to keep him like that for too long i thoght what the hell and used my captor spray for the first time.
It had more than the desired effect not only did it strongly take him out it also did the same to me as we were in such a close vacinity to each other.
I gave one last attempt at the radio before my eyes started burning and watering then my nose started streaming and i started to choke and felt my throat burning.
All i could do was literally grab hold of him by his body as tightly as i could to stop him from getting away and hope that the first person that turned up was my backup and not one of his friends.
I was told it was actually 4 and a half minutes but it seemed like a lifetime, from when i got through just as i sprayed him til when the first units arrived on scene.
I had never been so grateful for officers to turn up.
I literally collapsed on the floor whilst they got my guy under control and i just lay there with someone pouring water in my face for about half an hour before i felt anywhere near able to move!!!
Well after i had been rescued i started listening in to hear what was going on with my crewmate.
Apparantly he had also sprayed his guy in the hoe but he had still managed to run. He chased him through several houses and gardens before catching hold of some of his clothing over a fence, but unfortunetely he still managed to get out of the clothing and run.
The helicopter and dog units were out pretty soon but had no joy.
I didnt stay on scene to help with the search as i didnt really feel i would be much help if anything happened as i still felt a bit sick and drained so i started heading back to the nick.
About a mile from where the incident took place who should i see walking along without a care in the world.....? the guy we actually went to nick in the first place for the warrant, who had legged it out the back window!!!
Well easy enough arrest, i stopped him with my captor pointed at his face as i wasnt up for another fight and he came quietly.
I felt ill for about another hour after i got back to custody before embarking on the ever present ridiculously long paperwork!
I felt very satisfied at the result even though the other guy got away as the guy i got in had managed to ger away from me in a foot pursuit a couple days earlier for a different offence.
Finally, to put your minds at rest the one who got away was picked up the next day.
EasY

Another dealer but not much else.

2007-02-17T20:55:00.000Z

Well whats happened since i last updated nearly a month ago. Not too much. Only one real incident of note.
Two guys on my team spotted a drugs user who they believed was about to score so they watched him. Sure as fire soon a known dealer turns up deal take place. They took the user once the dealer was gone and we were just arriving as the dealers were reaching the end of the road. In plain clothes we blocked the road with our car and i got out pulled out my badge as i approached them. What happened next i wasnt expecting.
I looked into the drivers eyes as i walked towards him with my badge and straight away i realised that he was going to try and drive away from me.
I ran up to his door and tried to open it. Just as i got the door open he got the car in gear and began driving off.
As i was holding onto the door i was dragged about 5 metres along the road to the point where he rammed into the vehicle i had just got out off and my crewmate was in.
I was left about 4 inches from being squashed between the two cars.
Well i had no time to think about that as he was desperately trying to get the car into reverse. I quickly ran round the car and got in on the passenger side, diving across the passenger and grabbing the keys from the ignition.
I had to hold back from hitting the driver with full force for trying to run me over and instead grabbed the passenger, adrenaline still running i picked him off his seat out of the car and threw him on the ground.
He was under arrest as was the driver.
Between them they had nearly £500 on them and about 10 wraps of class A drugs. Nice!!!
That aside it's been quite normal everyday policing. Lots of arrests, lots of meetings but not too much action.
The only other thing of note was arresting another dealer, although he only had one wrap on him, but during the house search we recovered a pistol. Scary!!

OVERTIME

2007-01-24T03:39:00.000Z

Well, monday and tuesday didnt really go to plan.
Monday got in at 1000 hours and went out on push bike patrol, there weren't too many people about but we did arrest a Priority Offender for burglary.
Just as it was getting to the end of the shift we took the van to go to another nick to pick up a bike.
Whilst on route i saw a vehicle go past three up which just wasnt right.
After pulling it over and a few checks were run we decided to search the car, and beginning in the glove box i straight away found the grams of cocaine.
Well long story short three people arrested. 4 section 18's one forced entry with a hooli bar, demoloshing half the house and paperwork took until 0000 hours. Pretty long day!
Tuesday started much the same except we had the van and the others were on bikes.
We stopped quite a few people and got some decent intel but nothing much really and just about to go home when we receive a call from the operations inspector, ordering us to stay on duty until further notice due to a fire incident.
Turns out there had been a fire and a gas canister with some highly explosive chemicals had heated up to a dangerous threat level so we had to help evacuate abou 20 houses then stand on a cordon. This went on until 2200 hours when we finally got off, 5 hours late!!!
Well lets see what 2moro brings.

Busy

2007-01-21T03:34:00.000Z

Well saturday night always has the potential to be busy and tonight was no exception.
Started off out on patol on our mountain bikes.
After stopping a couple people in the bus and train station we got 2 street cautions for cannabis from a couple guys smoking weed in their car.
Next we ventured through the parks and caught a Polish graffiti artist in the act. As it was saturday night and i didnt really want to waste my time in custody with a *nothing job* i gave him a warning and sent him on his way.
Well onto the leisure centre car park and another street caution for cannabis.
After here we made to a criminal damage in progress and long and short of it is some fella pissed up decided he fancied staying in a half way house. They had other ideas and he kicked off literally!! Kicked off the door from its hinges.
Well we soon caught up with him and my crewmate got a smack in the nose for his efforts!
After being called every type of cunt imaginable (fucking cunt, pig cunt, useless cunt, black cunt(sorry for the extremeties but this is real policing. It's not pink and fluffy in the real world, there are nasty people out there!!!!)) he was finally back in custody were predictably, the custody SGT quickly lost his temper with his foul mouth and we had to take him straight to his cell to be searched and perform a cell exit.
Well with all the above exctiment that took us from 1800 hours when we started through til just before midnight.
The rest of the shift was just paperwork!
Til monday, adios. I'm retiring to my room with a beer.

Friday night

2007-01-20T10:47:00.000Z

Well the day started with much promise for action.
A call from our area commander asking the team to come in 2 hours early as they needed a strike team.
I was the first in and got a briefing from priority crime team and the area intelligence team.
They were after two burglars who we knew all to well.
There was information that they could be attending an address at some point during the day and basically they wanted us in plain clothes to sit up not too far from the address until they arrived, then take them out!
Well it sounded like it would be plain sailing and a lot of fun, but you always have to take caution with these things and as half expected, our team was sat up in a vehicle for three hours with no activity and the strike was called off!
Well back into the nick and we were off on mountain bikes. The other two in uniform me and my crewmate in plain clothes.
The first bit off fun in the night was when i spotted the two in uniform on the bikes. As they didnt know what plain clothes we were wearing we cycled off from them as quickly as we could in the park. They soon gave chase and were just calling up on the radio when we stopped, laughing at them!!
Following that they decided to get their own back by telling us that we had been asked to check the address we were watching earlier, which was about 3 miles away from our usual patrol and all uphill. When we got there we called them to tell them there was nothing at the address to which we heard laughter down the other end of the phone.
Well the rest of the night entailed a caution to some chap for smoking weed and a few stop checks but nothing exciting.
back to work on sat at 1800-0200.

The thick of the storm

2007-01-19T02:11:00.000Z

Ok, i like many im sure got caught up in the storms on my way to work. I had to turn around several times due to fallen trees, and help dimwitted MOP's who couldnt seem to figure out what to do.
Well after spending an hour and a half to drive a 40 minute journey i got to work.
First up as a team we went to arrest the most prolific burglar on our area. He was at home and good as gold. I dont think he quite understood how much we had on him!!
After hours in custody waiting to book in , taking hair combings and dna samples and seizing clothes we finally got back out and about.
Went to the bus station where a lot of our usuals were hanging about. I was just talking to a few of them when i heard a commotion from the subway so i ran across to find a scuffle between a few little scroats and the security guards from the shopping centre.
Well it all got a bit heated as the scroats were friends with the other group in the bus station which meant not only did we have to try and keep the security guards and the first group apart but also try and keep back the 20 odd in the bus station.
Long story short, i baton charged the big group from the bus station, they soon got the message that i wasnt messing about and dispersed!!
Well not much more happened to be honest. The same group from the bus station kept causing problems all night having minor scuffles but that was about it.
Hope for more fun 2moro.

Another one in

2007-01-16T21:45:00.000Z

Ok, abit of a better day than the last. Started off finally getting to have the cameras trialed. I let the other guys on the team take it out as i was plain clothes with my partner!!
Not long after settling into some boring paperwork, had a call from CCTV about a drug dealer in the town.
Well we rushed out and watched him for a while but it looked like we had come a little to late as nobody else seemed to be scoring from him.
After a while of watching it became clear we were going to have no action so we stopped him.
Turned out he was wanted for 2 warrants, and for failing to comply with a drugs treatment order.
On searching him we couldnt find any gear either but when told he was gonna be strip searched when we got to the nick, he came up with 2 wraps of heroin from his underwear.
Not a huge stash but made all the effort worthwhile.
By the time we finished dealing with him it was hometime.
Had some great footage on the cameras from the other two, came out really well. Just have to convince the Super that its worth it!
No work tomorrow so back on thursday!

Not much

2007-01-16T02:42:00.000Z

Bit of a nothing day today. Got the camera's i'd been waiting on, but couldnt use them as batteries needed charging.
Got on with paperwork, went on patrol for an hour or two but wasnt too much about.
Will be showing the cameras to my Area Commander in the morning then taking them out and about for the first time.

New Year

2007-01-15T00:07:00.000Z

Well, a new year has come and i'm still in the thick of it.
I've managed to get my area commander to fork out for headcams for my team which will be arriving shortly.
As well as being a cool toy will give us so much more evidence for every job we goto as it's no longer our word against theirs, and as nearly every incident my team attend is either something we've come across or crime in progress this will help no end.
I have too many intersting stories to post on here since i last posted so i'll go with the most recent.
Out on patrol plain clothes, decided to act on some intel and go to where a dealer is supposed to be selling from.
I get there see him sat in his car with a punter, so i block his car in then walk towards his car showin my badge.
He tried to play it cool until i notice a large bulge in his mouth. He then tries to swallow the bulge in his mouth.
Out comes the choke hold to ensure he cant swallow my evidence but whilst doin this he manages to spit them out and throw them. Well made things easier, had a little scrap with him, he lost!!!!
I recovered 2 large wraps i believed to be Heroin and Crack Cocaine, which turmed out to be nearly 10 grams of Class A and nicked him, seized his car for no insurance, seized near a grand of him in cash.
After hours of hard work into the job (nicked him 1930 hours after house searches and booking in property went home at 0300 hours, back in at 0800 to interview and do paperwork)
In interview he admitted possession with intent to supply charged and remanded. (stayed on doing paperwork til 2200) Result!!
May have been 21 1/2 hours work but its another big time dealer of the street.
I start work on my teams new operation tomorrow which is all about reducing street robberies in our area. I wrote the op (my first) i've got new equipment, the support of my area commander and resouces to assist as and when needed.
I'll update more regularly and keep you in the loop.

Slack

2006-11-14T00:42:00.000Z

Ok im getting more and more slack at updating this. Its literally been months!!!
Well whats new??
I'm applying to become a TP (Test Purchaser) which will mean 2 things. The job role involved being undercover and basically buying drugs/stolen goods, or being a target to potential criminals.
Unfortunetely this will mean i shall have to stop posting on here due to the nature of the role, but until then..
The excitement has continued.
Having no case load, and a free roam of our area to work according to intel and taskings has seen some great proactive arrests, pursuits (including one which someone recorded and i saw on youtube!!!) and plenty more operations with the drugs team surveillaince teams and plenty more.
I have received a commendation from my area commander for my efforts!!
I will soon be senior member of my team as two of my team are soon to be away with the ARV.
This will come with plenty of responsibilty which i cannot wait to take on board.
I'll be planning operations, warrants, deciding who to target and when. I have so many ideas to drive forwards!!!
Watch this space.

Hmm....

2006-04-22T07:39:00.000Z

Well i'm starting to settle down into a routine on my new team and starting to get somewhere now.
My arrest rate has started to get back up. I had one where an offender made of after nicking a pair of sunglasses. I had a plain car and was in plain clothes, saw the bloke and went for him. about 200 metres later he was knackered and sweating away and just gave up!
Another one again in the trusty plain car someone made of on a pushbike. I jumped out the car and legged it after him, catching him and pulling him of his bike at full speed. Nicked him then found i had knackered my thumb, which has now put me on light duties!!
Still the guy was wanted for a rape, GBH and deception. Worth it in the end!!
I'm finally contented in my job role, and am happy in work everyday........(real police will know what i mean)

Lazy

2006-04-14T08:57:00.000Z

Ok so how lazy am i?
I just cannot seem to find the time to constantly update this inbetween all my busy shifts, working hard trying to right my community and lock up all the baddies....
I'm really starting to settle down into my new department, we've been heading up an operation against Class A drug dealing.
I've had my eyes opened to serveillance, drugs teams and of course the great fun when a strike is called and we all rush in for the kill!!!(or arrest should i say)
I've seen more drugs than i've ever seen in my life, over 2 kilo's of crack and a kilo of heroin in one raid, 10 kilos of cannabis in another,and over $8000 cash seized in another.
What tops the lot for my department though is the absolute lack of paperwork, as we dont take on investiagtions.
Having just completed my driving course i've been tearing around putting my new blue light skills to the test, and after a couple close calls am starting to settle down into a safe style of driving.
i'm really justtrying to summerise what i've been doing and those have been the main exciting bits!!
Sayingthat i havent mentioned the plain clothes operations, pursuit of a moped and a short foot pursuit and scuffle with a drug dealer.
I love my job!!!

Back......again

2006-01-13T05:30:00.000Z

Well its been quite a few months since i last updated on here, mainly because of lack of internet access at home and also for lack of effort to keep typing after every shift.
Well whats happened since i last posted on here???
Not a lot to be quite honest.
I've continued to deal with the crazy people of the area i work in having a few fun vehicle and foot pursuits.
I've had mountains of arrests, most which to no avail as going past custody sgts then CPS then Court and expecting your case not to be thrown out somewhere along the line is like throwing a box of eggs at a house and expecting them to be intact when you retrieve the box!!!
I have decided to change tact and go after the bigger fish.
For the well known drug dealers and thieves i've become a sworn enemy as im always there. One dealer who calls himself biggie, i had the pleasure of nicking on his christmas day for being a twoccer then the following day which happened to be his birthday (yes i did wish him happy birthday before nicking him!!) for possession of naughty drugs.
He now realises its not fun to open his front door and see me smiling at him, or to pull into his road and see me waiting for him, or when he goes to see his 'friends' (drug runners) i'm lurking nearby watching him.
To further my quest in getting back at those who believe the law doesnt apply to them and as my force so nicely states "deal in death" i am changing department from the lowly lows of shift work which every police officer will tell you is fun exciting with a great team spirit and real sense of direction(apart from every monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday..........) to a problem solving intelligence led department known in my area as the BAT TEAM.
Well enough rambling, i will update with some more real life policing stories shortly.
I'm currently finishing up a night shift and writing this is all that keeps me from
a) falling asleep
b)losing the will to live
c)going home to sleep and forget all about policing.

earlies

2005-06-08T20:47:00.000Z

Ok i havent posted for a few days but there is a very good reason for this.
Firstly i have now moved back into police accomodation and no longer have constant internet access.
Secondly bar the crazy team night out during rest days nothing much fun has happened.
In a quick summary, firstly the first early i was on a cell watch for someone in for supply of class a drugs and murder. Nice!!
Second early i was an immediate car but only really had three jobs to goto. The first was an arrest request and house search for CID which was amusing, the person we were after wasnt there, his parents were on holiday and his little sister had all her friends round and were in semi naked states when we arrived!! Next we took a supposed racial incident which ended up not being a crime (honest we didnt just fob him off so we could go and have breakfast) Then finally a domestic where i got an arrest for ABH nothing too brutal just your everyday run of the mill husband hitting wife.(i know it sounds cold but we do see it everyday and are somewhat hardened to it all)
The third early i didnt go in for as i had to go and be interviewed by professional standards, which was immense fun.
Then the final early which was due to be a training day was cancelled so i stayed in bed!!

Quick Swing

2005-06-03T17:33:00.000Z

Ok i've left it a couple days and a big night out which conincidently ended up being two entire teams from our nick being in the same place (about 40 coppers!!).
For that reason my recollection of quick swing is a little hazy but here goes.
Got in early and was sent out to an immediate before briefing and about 20 mins before i was due to start. It was a damage only RTA so didnt take too long just gave a couple producers, ran checks on the cars and that was it.
We were told by our skipper to come back in to pick up some slow time jobs so we took the long way round and saw a car 4 up (4 occupants) that looked a little dodgy, so we pulled it over. Long and short of it, the driver got nicked for possesstion of an offensive weapon as he had a baseball bat and a knife.
Got back to the nick and found the prisoner handling team were too busy to deal, so he was dearrested and we did a contemp note interview(basically interviewing whilst writing it all down, instead of tape recording) then let him go on his way.
This took a little while and after we then took a couple slowtime jobs from our sgt, but we were diverted to an immediate shout of youths setting off fireworks towards electricity power lines. Searched the area couldnt find them so called up to say we were about to attend a slow time job when another immediate came in that nobody else could take. It was an IRTA (injury road traffic accident). Two cars had crashed both were writeoffs and one of the drivers was bleeding from her ear and going into shock. The ambulance took 20 minutes to get there but luckily there was an off duty paramedic who stopped to help out.
Well after gathering witness details and helping to clear the mess and direct traffic we went back for a quick meal break.
The next shout we had was to a dog handler who had nicked someone for burglary but it was getting a bit heated and he needed urgent assistance. We got there and took the guy to the ground and cuffed him before taking him back to custody. Firstly this guy was the worst smelling person i had ever come across and secondly, in his pocket i found a spray labelled STUD, which on closer inspection turned out to be an erection enhancement speay, needless to say we all had a good laugh at his expense.
Well following that we sat around in the briefing room for the next two hours as the overlap shift had taken the cars, so we had plenty of time to gossip and plan our night out, ......... errrm i mean do some paperwork!!

The calm before the storm???

2005-06-01T12:54:00.000Z

Got in extra early at about 2000 hours to do some paperwork then went to the station canteen to watch the first half of the England match before briefing with a few lads from shift.
Well went to briefing then did more paperwork til about 0100 hours.
Went out on patrol after this and stopped nearly everything that moved without any success.
Attempted an arrest in the morning which was a negative result. Finally i helped one of the sgts plan an operation which is being executed during quick swing.
After such a quiet night i half expect the area to explode with activity later, especially as its quick swing!!

Same old.

2005-05-31T12:15:00.000Z

After the excitement of the past few nights things were bound to quiten down a bit and tonight is when that happened.
I was crewed as one of the immediate cars for the night.
Well cracked on with paperwork for a while before heading out into the unknown!! We stopped quite a few cars and people milling about but didnt really find too much.
About 0100 hours we were sent to assist an ambulance crew in assessing some bloke who was supposedly loony.
Well we got there and three stunning paramedics got out of the ambulance, which is always nice!!!
Well this guy seemed normal enough and he voluntarily went to hospital to get the once over.
Well after that we sat up at various spots hoping to catch people speeding through the night but no such luck.
Our next commitment was to attend a burglary at Nationwide Building Society. They had smashed the lock of the door in and nicked a laptop, they were never going to get into the safes so that was ok!!
Well after taking a couple of statements we resumed and soon had a call from a colleague that he had a motorbike making off. We made to them as quickly as we could and saw there car parked in the middle of the road.
As we raced out of the car one of them had caught one of the riders but he said his crewmate was still chasing the other guy.
We got sounds of fighting and shouting over the radio but couldnt hear where from so were running blind really. We soon came across the motorbike on its side in the middle of the road and just continued sprinting straight up the road hoping to hear or see him.
As we neared the end of the road we began to hear shouting and sprinted towards it to find Mark wrestling with the guy. Mark was clearly relieved to see us arrive as he was breathless and we soon had him *under control!!!* after a little more struggle.
More units soon arrived and the prisoners were taken back to the nick. We sat with the bike which turned out to be stolen during a burglary, until recovery arrived.
Whilst waiting at about 0430 hours one of the well known faces came walking past and refused to stop when i asked him. I chased him a short distance and carried out the normal checks but unfortuntely he wasnt wanted. He was a right idiot and we nearly ended up fighting with him, but had to let him go in the end.
After that we were done for the night as we went back to the nick and had some food then floated around for a little while longer not turning anything up. At about 0530 hours a suspicious fire came in which ended up being arson with intent to endanger life, but we steered well clear of that and went home on time.

undercover

2005-05-30T13:08:00.000Z

Ok take the two youngest officers on shift, let them work in plain clothes and a plain car and they'll have lots of fun!!!
I'm not going to go into too much detail as all these logs seem to be getting longed but we stop checked and searched a number of people who had been smoking cannabis, we pursued one car that jumped a red light after overtaking 5 cars stopped at the light, on the wrong side of the road, and took his license from him.
We also pursued a subaru that had been involved in an armed robbery and had made off from police at 150 mph earlier. We managed to get the helicopter up to follow it and i believe they were caught as a result.
We stop searched a few more people before going to a domestic where husband had broken into wifes house and was beating her up with a bar.
Had a nice little scrap with him before carting him off to custody.
That pretty much ended the shift, back for more tomorrow.

The attacks.

2005-05-29T12:15:00.000Z

Ok Saturday afternoon into saturday night was again looking like it was going to be a very busy shift.
Well to make things all the better i was crewed as one of the immediate cars for the day.
Well the first 20 minutes wasnt too bad as we went to try and take a statement, which we couldnt take as the person wasnt in, we were then going to go to a slow time job when we were diverted to a police domestic violence alarm. We had about 3 cars make to it and had a 2 mile blue light run but when we arrived it turned out to be a false alarm.
Well we didnt even have the time to turn around before we were sent to another immediate, landlord tennant dispute that was gettin violent. We went in convoy to the address having a couple of very close shaves on the way in. Pulled up at the address and knocked on the door.....control sent us to the wrong address, so off we went again, luckily we were just around the corner and got there to find a landlord trying to kick his tennants out on the spot and had tried breaking his door down. We informed him that under tenancy law he needed to give them 30 days notice or apply to the court for an emergency eviction order and that he cant just turn up with his mates and kick them out or he'd be arrested for a breach of the peace.
Well with that resolved we still had no peace and were sent to a report of a Misper (missing person) who was a 13 year old kid with a mental age of about 5 years old.
When we arrived i wasnt too surprised the kid was missing as the front door was open with an 18 month old toddler playing by herself next to the door, whilst the father was upstairs sleeping and the mother was in the kitchen.
Well we started filling out the misper report and had been there for about 30 mins when the kid came back with several africans, who he regularly goes to church with. Apparantly they had come to take him to church and didnt think to tell his parents they were going.
Well with that aside we decided we were going to go and get some food. On our way to Mcdonalds when we were diverted to reports of a large fight outside a house with 15 asian youths with baseball bats, cricket bats and knives beating up the occupants of the house. We were only half a mile around the corner but the offenders had already gone by the time we got there. They had smashed up the front of a house, putting the windows in then when the occupants came out they were set upon and hit with the bats and slashed with the knives. They were extremely lucky to escape with very minor injuries.
We had a dog handler on route to try and track them but he crashed his van just as he was pulling onto the road as someone decided to ignore the blue lights and sirens and pull out in front of him despite it being his right of way.
Well while we were trying to get past the language barrier of the aggrieved partys (Polish) they suddenly pointed out a car and said "THATS HIM" i wrote the car index down and passed it on the radio and we quickly ran to our car and gave chase. With the help of 2 other units we managed to block the car in just onto the next road. The driver was arrested not only for the assault and criminal damage but also for being a disqual driver.
Well as we were taking him back to custody about 4 999 calls came in reporting a group of about 15 asian youths with baseball bats and knives had stormed a house not to far from the first attack and had dragged three people out and were beating them up.
All three were hospitalised one with a very nasty broken arm which was spurting out blood everywhere as well as cuts and stab wounds.
Two of the offenders were caught at least this time so adding that to our prisoner we had three in custody for the attack.
Well we had a lot of paperwork to prepare for our prisoner and whilst doing this another call came in from another location reporting the same thing, about 15 young asian lads had stormed a house and were armed and appeared to be smashing the place up.
Well police attended again but didnt catch anyone on scene. This time things had got a little worse though as they kidknapped one of the occupants. (as i went off duty CID were still investigating this one).
Well we soon finished our paperwork and were asked by our inspector to go out on bikes high vis in the areas that had been attacked.
We did this for a while before heading into the town centre to assist with pub/club kicking out times.
There were a couple minor scuffles but nothing to serious. There was one incident that made me chuckle.
After a 6 or 7 man scuffle one of the offenders who i had arrested pleaded his innocence and tried reasoning with me saying "I was the one being attacked, i dont want any more trouble. If you pay for me to get a taxi home i'll go , i dont want to be involved in this any more!!"
The thing was he was actually being serious.
Well onto nights tomorrow.....errm actually that'll be tonight!!!
thats gonna be fun with it being bank holiday weekend and all!! bring it on!!

COME ON!!!!

2005-05-28T10:45:00.000Z

Well friday evening shift 1600-0300 in scorching temperature always promised to be a busy shift and it was.
Straight out of briefing amd we had to shoot off on immediate to an RTA turned fight.
Apparantly some old dear had been trying to reverse out of her drive, in a rear service road between two rows of houses and had stepped on the accelerator instead of the breaks and had crashed into a concrete fence snapping her door off then caried on into the neighbours fence destroying it. her two sons apparantly went to the neighbours to apologise but the neighbour lost the plot and started waving a knife around threatening them.
Now this is where things became unclear as the neighbour claims the two sons (one ex copper just retired after 30 years in service) beat him up hitting him with the broken fence posts. However the two sons say he fell over.
The two sons had no injuries and didnt really look like they had been fighting but the injuries the neighbour had were consistant with both having a nasty fall and getting hit with the fence posts, so the two sons had to be arrested. It wasnt a plesent scene with lots of arguing but it didnt really kick off so wasnt too bad!!
Well after those niceties we did our statements and were supposed to go for an urgent arrest but were diverted to an immediate domestic, husband beating up wife.
We got there and there was no answer at the front door. I tried the door and it opened. I walked in and shouted is anyone home its police. There was no answer and i started to fear the worst. I went into the living room and saw the husband asleep on the sofa apparantly very drunk.
Just then the wife returned home and had a huge black eye.
We took a quick account from her before waking the husband and i arrested him for ABH. He thought it was candid camera and refused to play ball so i had to force him to his feet and handcuff him. Whilst doing this he grabbed hold of my arm and pinched and scratched me. Ok your further arrested for assault on police. He then continually swore at me outside the house so he was further arrested under section 5 public order act.
On the way back he tried smashing the car window so i had a nice little scrap with him on the back seat and held him in a headlock as we made back on immediate.
Well following his pleasantries we had to forcibly search him in custody then return to see the wife and take a statement.
On the way back to the station after that it was starting to kick off on the high street.
We diverted down there and assisted a WPC with a volatile female who had apparantly been involved in an assault and tried to make off in her car.
Well she got nicked for ABH and drink driving and her boyfriend decided to be an arse and try and obstruct us. I wasnt particularly bothered and pushed him down the street and told him if he came back he would get nicked.
Just as we were about to transport the prisoner back reports came from the other end of the high street that males were making off on pushbikes. I ran down the high street to see them but they were on bikes and went through the shopping centre so i called it up and other units made to the other side.
Well we went back to the nick to take the prisoner in and to finish of the paperwork in relation to our domestic incident.
Half way through the paperwork i took a walk downstairs to the car park where i heard shouting from the back of the nick. I went to see what was going on and saw 2 groups of two lads arguing. One group shouted THEYVE GOT KNIVES then the other two lads legged it. I hit the emergency button on my radio to cut in from the conversation going on and chased them for a few hundred metres before finding them hiding in an alleyway between two houses. I drew my CS and told them both to lay on the floor or get sprayed. They complied and i soon had colleagues with me and handcuffed both of them. I searched them both and the dog unit searched the area but we couldnt find anything so we grudgingly let them go. This was not before a traffic unit who had a sky camera crew had shoved a camera in my face whilst i was ridiculously out of breath trying to tell the dog unit where to look.
Well back to the station to finish paperwork before heading out into town on foot to help out before all the clubs kicked out.
Well i stop checked a few people around town before settling outside two clubs and dealing with the usual drunken idiots getting kicked out who thought they were going to go and beat up the doormen.
This theme carried on throughout the night until thankfully at 0330 i managed to get back to the nick and go home!!
Lets hope saturday night isnt as hot or as busy!!!!

Lates

2005-05-27T10:23:00.000Z

Well the likelihood of a busy shift was always on the cards for a late on thursday that was unbelievably hot. Before anyone even made it to briefing we were all sweating under our stab vests!!!
Well we had two jobs allocated to us during briefing. The first to do with a dangerous dog, we did not have to deal with and the second we slowly headed out to, which was a report of threats made to a family. Well we got there and there was nobody home, good start.
Next we made on immediate towards the town centre as a disqualified driver was making off from police. Unfortunetely the officer that saw him had been on foot and we couldnt find the car.
Next job was a report that someone had spotted an offender riding on a bike he had stolen from them and was following them through the town. It was a bit of a wild goose chase as they told us they were on the high street then hung up the phone and wouldnt answer so we had a quick float around the area and got out on foot through all the alleyways but could do little more.
No sooner had we got back to our van did we get another immediate to the other side of town due to reports of kids smashing up a construction site. Well after racing across town at breakneck speed, the smashing up had involved a few kids knocking cones over and their dad had got to them before we had done. I was quite certain that the action their dad was taking/about to take was going to be a lot more severe than the ticking off we were going to give them so we left them too it.
To keep a busy day going before finishing talking to the father we were diverted to help an ABO (area beat officer) who had just had reports of someone being threatened with a knife. We searched the area and found the guy. He obviously had mental health problems and was a drug user. We searched him but found no knife. All we did get was a handful of abuse!!
Well we had about 5 mins to have a little drive around and follow a fire engine to see what they were up to before getting a call to another immediate on.... you guessed it, right on the other side of town a good 7 miles off. Well long blue light runs are always fun but this was just plain ridiculous trying to negotiate rush hour traffic on blues. We got there after about 8 mins. It had been a report of someone chasing kids after they had smashed his car window. Well by the time we got there he had lost them and gone back home. We drove him around for a while to see if he could spot them but had no joy. CCTV were less than helpful, despite having cameras that could have monitored the whole incident they wernt listening to the radio so missed it all.
Well after a quick statement we were again rushed off to another immediate this time only a couple miles off, this time it was to a very well known domestic household where 5 of 6 kids had been taken into social services care the day before and the father had kicked off big style so we had three units making at breakneck speed to get there. We met at an RV point at the top of the road then all went down together. Turn out nothing had actually happened and the mother was just pissed off about the kids having been taken and wanted to talk about it. Well we didnt give her the usual bollocking as our inspector told us to take it all very softly softly as the 6th kid was going to be taken into care in the next few days and they were going to be evicted from the house, so he didnt want her upset before that.
Well i then had the task of writing up everything i heard and saw whilst there in a report to the inspector, while my crewmate grabbed some food.
As soon as i had finished we were off to a robbery/attempt theft/assault.
Details were sketchy but basically someone had seen a guy under his dads van with bolt cutters trying to nick the spare wheel. He went out and challenged them and the guy threatened to hit him with the bolt cutters before running to the car. The aggrieved stood infront of the car and said to the offender your not going anywhere. The offender was going somewhere and just drove sending the aggrieved flying.
Well we got to the house to find out more precise details and spoke to the aggrieveds father who stated his son was at the cinema and didnt want to be seen until tomorrow!! oh well.
Still no rest for the wicked, we were sent straight away to another job to try and prevent a breach of the peace over a civil dispute. Well by the time we got there all was calm and it was basically a dispute over a shoddy MOT job. Not a police matter we advised them and told them to speak to citizens advice bureau.
By now it was just past 2200 so we went back into the station to hand the car over to the next shift.
Usually at this point we'd all go out in the transit for the next few hours but we decided for a change so me and my crewmate took a couple of bikes and went out plain clothes to see what we could turn up.
We didnt get any real results but stop checked about 20 people and searched a few under misuse of drugs act and for offensive weapons.
Well by 0115 we were both absolutely knackered and decided to call it a day and took a slow cycle back to the nick where we nearly collapsed and waited for 0200 to roll around.
Our Sgt brought the transit back in with the rest of the shift and said we could go early at about 0145 so off we went.
I dont know how, but its likely to be even busier tomorrow!!!

Off duty king

2005-05-25T23:14:00.000Z

I've got somewhat of a reputation for getting into situations while off duty and before i started posting on here have been involved in 3 off duty arrests. Well the following happened to me today.
After a big night out with quite a few lads from the team i stayed over at one of the lads single quarters, as there was a spare bedroom. Well about 1300 we got up feeling rough as hell and decided on a hangover cure so we got dressed and decided to take a walk down to Mcdonalds.
We literally just walked around the corner from his house when a old Maroon coloured renault 25 pulled up with two occupants in it and an Irish voice said, u lads fancy buying a laptop??
I turned to John(my mate and colleague from work) and said, u speak to them i'll call it in. Well i discreetly gave all the details to control, then helped John with the next ten minutes of stalling them whilst a marked unit made to us.
They had a brand new laptop, a digital camcorder and a digital camera which they were planning on throwing all in for £400.
After deliberation and more bullshiting to keep them there despite their best efforts to go "come on old bill will be here any minute!!" "get in the car i'll drive you to the cashpoint"
we managed to stall them until the marked unit got there.
They pulled their car across the road infront of the offenders vehicle and the driver off the vehicle shouted "shit police go" and started the engine and tried to drive off.
Without thinking i dived in through the drivers door and wrestled with the driver and managed to get the keys out of the ignition to halt their escape.
Well with that excitement aside they were both nicked for handling stolen goods.
On examination of the car we found out they had been running the "water bottle scam" which has been prominant in the area, which is basically where they show you a laptop and camcorder in a laptop case then once you go get the money they swap cases and give you a similar looking case which only contains water bottles!!
Ingenious, pity they tried to do it to two off duty coppers though!!!!
To top of their day i seized £600 from one of them under the proceeds of crime act.
Well had to go back to the nick and do statements but wasnt too fussed about that as we'll be getting 4 hours at double pay for what was essentially 2 hours work!!!
Think we'll have bragging rights for a little while!!!
Back in tomorrow!

surveillance

2005-05-22T18:01:00.000Z

ok got in and was crewed as the tasking car for the day. In briefing i heard there was going to be a cell watch on and grimaced and prepared for the worst, but it didnt happen, for once they chose someone else!!
Well first up i went to try and make a couple of arrests, neither of which were at home.
I then looked up some intelligence about a car on cloned plates that had been sighted so me and my crewmate got changed into plain "rudeboy" clothes, took a plain car and positioned ourselves a couple hundred yards down the street and waited for the driver to turn up. Well a bit of excitement at first everytime someone walked towards the car, but that soon died out. We must have looked suspicious to say the least sitting up in the car hidden in a private driveway surrounded by trees next to the entrance to a park just watching, needless to say control had about 15 calls from worried neighbours and passers by thinking we were up to no good.
Well the hours dragged by and the same tunes played over and over on kiss 100 and we were soon extremely bored and passed the time singing and winding each other up.
Well after sitting up on the car from 0730-1730 we called it a day and decided it would have to wait for another day.
Well a few days off, drinking to do, a champions league final to watch then back onto lates on thursday!!!

The cell watch part 2

2005-05-21T19:05:00.000Z

Well this can be short and sweet. I got in and did a cell watch, then went home.
Last early tomorrow!!!