If you have ever played Chinese whispers then I bet you can imagine that there are times when a message gets passed to us incorrectly and it seems to be a lot worse than it actually is. There has been many times where I have gone to a disturbance where the operator will tell us on our radios that someone has "Punched a gate over" or "Punching a child" and it seems that the original call taker, in their speedy typing has written "Puched" on the incident which should have been "Pushed" or "Pushing" but because of the speed we work we have no time to clarify and have to assume they mean "Punched"
I can recall a particular incident where we received a call what the operator told us was a concern for a son in law from his in laws. They stated that the relationship between their daughter and him had broken down and they received a text message of a body of water saying "This is my view now." Obviously we went all out with a marine unit, helicopter, people searching the all local bodies of water and we were all asking for the informant to be contacted and the message be sent on to us as we may be able to identify the lake. It was at this point we managed to ascertain that the son in law had just sent a text saying "loving my view now" and nothing had been said about water. We called the son in laws mobile which he answered and said that his in laws always overreact when him and thief daughter have any issues and that he was happily shopping in the next village. Not to be outdone we "pinged" his mobile phone which is a way of triangulating his position and he was in fact in that villiage which was at leave 10 miles from any body of water. Taxes well used again due to a Chinese whisper.
26 Nov 2011
20 Nov 2011
Quit your yapping
As you can tell by my name I am a police constable, I have never had any wishes for a position of power but sometimes responsibility gets thrust upon you.
The only time I was in charge of a shift it became apparent to me that police officers are a notoriously whiney bunch. This one time was one of extenuating circumstances where a large fire had happened and we needed to ask our officers to stay on later, which it states in the regulations we signed up to when we joined is fully expected. It was at this point I received a barrage of contacts via my personal radio saying "Are we going to be much longer? I need to put my dog out" or "So who is going to take over from us and when" to "How much are we getting for this overtime? Double pay?" and "If I don't get off soon I will be working into a rest day" To be honest on their own all valid questions BUT when you have 10 officers all asking these questions over and over then it gets tedious. That coupled with the work I had to do gets tiresome. This incident in particular I do admit I did stop answering my radio to certain people for fear of yelling swear words down the radio.
The only time I was in charge of a shift it became apparent to me that police officers are a notoriously whiney bunch. This one time was one of extenuating circumstances where a large fire had happened and we needed to ask our officers to stay on later, which it states in the regulations we signed up to when we joined is fully expected. It was at this point I received a barrage of contacts via my personal radio saying "Are we going to be much longer? I need to put my dog out" or "So who is going to take over from us and when" to "How much are we getting for this overtime? Double pay?" and "If I don't get off soon I will be working into a rest day" To be honest on their own all valid questions BUT when you have 10 officers all asking these questions over and over then it gets tedious. That coupled with the work I had to do gets tiresome. This incident in particular I do admit I did stop answering my radio to certain people for fear of yelling swear words down the radio.
19 Nov 2011
People help the people
There are times in my job that I wonder what makes people tick. I mean mainly when it comes to the disgusting way at which some people deal with other human beings. We all know that every now and again you get a murder, usually domestic but the worst tales are ones where people are left with life changing injuries from unprovoked attacks.
I recall one where a man was set upon in his own home by burglars that he disturbed. They stole all his belongings and then all 3 of them began to beat him with snooker balls inside a football sock. I bet your thinking, strange tool to use but from a few blows with this home made implement the victim lost an eye, had his jaw, ribs and hand broken and was left in his home to die. All for £15... That's all they stole... The victim was found 3 days later, still alive as his neighbour called us as his milk was stacking up outside. Makes you sick!
I recall one where a man was set upon in his own home by burglars that he disturbed. They stole all his belongings and then all 3 of them began to beat him with snooker balls inside a football sock. I bet your thinking, strange tool to use but from a few blows with this home made implement the victim lost an eye, had his jaw, ribs and hand broken and was left in his home to die. All for £15... That's all they stole... The victim was found 3 days later, still alive as his neighbour called us as his milk was stacking up outside. Makes you sick!
12 Nov 2011
Paper is time and time is money
When I speak to members of the public about my job the thing they say more than anything else is "lots of paperwork" which normally I say "not really" but I think this is only because I am used to it. I look at some other jobs my old school friends have and they say how they don't have paperwork anymore. Some say they dont have work that lasts them past one day!
In my line of work though you easily get used to having lots of paperwork and often see it as normal. It is normal to be investigating up to 9 crimes at one time and having things like prisoners and new jobs to go to every day. If you look at it there is a lot of paperwork compared to other jobs but when you get used to it you are nervy when you hear your force say they are "cutting down the paperwork" as this is surely a sign that they think we are working too much or that the force is using too much paper!!
Things change too often in the police and it is usually a job to keep up with it. I would rather have lots of paperwork as long as it always stayed the same.
In my line of work though you easily get used to having lots of paperwork and often see it as normal. It is normal to be investigating up to 9 crimes at one time and having things like prisoners and new jobs to go to every day. If you look at it there is a lot of paperwork compared to other jobs but when you get used to it you are nervy when you hear your force say they are "cutting down the paperwork" as this is surely a sign that they think we are working too much or that the force is using too much paper!!
Things change too often in the police and it is usually a job to keep up with it. I would rather have lots of paperwork as long as it always stayed the same.
5 Nov 2011
Eyes in the Skies
The police have many tools at their disposal, none are better than the famous Numberplate Recognition cameras. These are fitted at many locations that are obvious, like speed cameras, and some that are so well hidden you would struggle to see it when pointed out.This system works by recording ever number plate that passes, checks it against the police database then stores it.
It can be used to great effect to track people like missing people but it came into it's own when I used it to track a vehicle that had tailgated another for about 20miles before the occupant smashing the other cars windows with a baseball bat. I checked the details of the victims car on the database, which also has the functionality to check 10 cars in front or behind the details you enter. The result of this was that I found the license number of the car following the victim and we went around to their address and arrested 3 people in the address.
After I arrested them I conducted a search of the address and found that the garage had been converted, not into a room like normal people, into a cannabis growing room containing over 100 plants of varying ages. I don't think their landlord would gave been happy about this as he also owned the drug rehab centre two doors down!!
It can be used to great effect to track people like missing people but it came into it's own when I used it to track a vehicle that had tailgated another for about 20miles before the occupant smashing the other cars windows with a baseball bat. I checked the details of the victims car on the database, which also has the functionality to check 10 cars in front or behind the details you enter. The result of this was that I found the license number of the car following the victim and we went around to their address and arrested 3 people in the address.
After I arrested them I conducted a search of the address and found that the garage had been converted, not into a room like normal people, into a cannabis growing room containing over 100 plants of varying ages. I don't think their landlord would gave been happy about this as he also owned the drug rehab centre two doors down!!
2 Nov 2011
Speed Racers
I think I would be lying if I ever said I never speed. I too, even though I'm a police officer have fallen fowl of the Gatso. For the moment I have a clean license and intend to keep it that way. I know some members of the public stray over the speed limit but sometimes stupidity and the Attitude Test come into play when your followed closely by a marked patrol car.
Not too long ago on one of the 50mph ring road's around town I was put in this position by what I can only describe as a Chav BMW Mini. I call it this as they had worked Chav magic on the car tinting the windows, lowering, big alloys etc. I was going along doing the 50mph when the Mini joined at the junction and sped up to at least 70mph. I followed it to be sure and did the usual checks on the license plate.
After a short time I noticed that This car was speeding up to other cars, pulling along side then flooring it again. I eventually stopped the male who got out of his car and I realised he was a 40 year old man dressed like a boy. His first words to me were "So what have you stopped me for?" I replied "I don't need a reason" it was at this point that the male had failed the attitude test as his reply was "Well I want one, I am a busy man, I can't have my time wasted by the likes of you"
As a result of this I wasted as much time as I could checking his vehicle over before issuing a speeding ticket to him. That is what happens when you fail the attitude test!
Not too long ago on one of the 50mph ring road's around town I was put in this position by what I can only describe as a Chav BMW Mini. I call it this as they had worked Chav magic on the car tinting the windows, lowering, big alloys etc. I was going along doing the 50mph when the Mini joined at the junction and sped up to at least 70mph. I followed it to be sure and did the usual checks on the license plate.
After a short time I noticed that This car was speeding up to other cars, pulling along side then flooring it again. I eventually stopped the male who got out of his car and I realised he was a 40 year old man dressed like a boy. His first words to me were "So what have you stopped me for?" I replied "I don't need a reason" it was at this point that the male had failed the attitude test as his reply was "Well I want one, I am a busy man, I can't have my time wasted by the likes of you"
As a result of this I wasted as much time as I could checking his vehicle over before issuing a speeding ticket to him. That is what happens when you fail the attitude test!
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