I'M BACK!!!
What a night!! though have to say unfortunately I was supposed to have gone out in the IRV (instant response) mobile with an officer I have known for well over ten years from being in my job but he was committed in custody and said he will pick me up in 10 minutes but the sarge wanted me out to get as much experience as possible so went in one of the divisional cars, the officer I was with has only been with us for a few weeks (up from the Met) so had not been blue light cleared by the force!! :-(
Went to a number of incidents but one thing that is the most time consuming and unproductive part an officer has to contend with and Eddie will no doubt agree, is the amount of paper work that has to be completed, I won't go into detail but to say a lot of productive time is
'wasted' is an understatement, rules and procedures all come into it. :doho:
One high-light for me was that we went to an ambulance to give assistance and the female technician on board (I have not seen her for well over two years) welcomed me with a kiss......Should have seen the officers face!!
All very innocent I have to add but that is the person she is and therefore well suited for her role as (currently) Ambulance Technician. A very caring soul for people........And no, I'm not going to identify her just so that you lot come up here and complain of all sorts of ailments!! :roll:
All-in-all it was an experience and has given me a greater insight into the work of an officer away from the prying eyes of cameras equally, from that perspective you do not get to feel the atmosphere of an incident, the shouting, swearing and drunken slur of some-one you have just picked up from the floor only to nearly end back on it through drink...I had to grab hold of him three times (he fell my way and not the officers') in order to stop him going over with the risk of ending up with a head injury if he contacted the ground (drunks
never put their hands out as we would to cushion the fall).
All too soon it was time to hand back the body armour which incidentally and contrary to my previous post was not heavy, the one I tried on belonged to an officer with all his kit attached, mine was just simply the vest.......rather like wearing a corset you know, and certainly kept the bulge in!!
Left the nick at 03.45hrs but spoke to the officer I was supposed to go out with in the IRV and he said I can come out with him next time maybe in six months. I am certainly going to speak to the sarge again to see if that can be arranged.
Finally, for all those who watch-fly-on-the-wall documentaries of Police in Action, just remember that what they show is only what they want you to see, they don't consider that other policing duties are important or interesting enough to keep the viewer entertained. If they did show everything including the dreary side of paperwork then the public perspective of the police would change overnight.
Kind regards
Nigel.