Custody Duties – A Response Officers View From The Other Side Of The Desk

I am a proactive member of my team. I like to harrass, terrorise and scare the living sh*t out of the criminals on my Division. That said I am fully aware that policing is not all about locking people up and that the role is about dealing with people in a respectful and dignified way, even those who to put it blunt deserve a bloody good slap! There are a few reasons for it, but I am for a short while working in the Custody Department and boy am I seeing this vital area of the service in a different light.

I decided that I would Blog about this work as to be honest I really do not think it gets the recognition it deserves. That, and having read the recent article in the news of yet another G4S balls up that nearly cost a prisoner their life made me realise that the only time custody gets any publicity is when a prisoner dies or a complaint of excessive force is made and I wanted to try my bit to clear up some of the negative thoughts towards custody.

Recently a Sergeant who was showing a new Probationer around the station stopped and introduced the new officer to me. The Sergeant said something along the lines of Terry (not real name) this is Robert Peel. He is our most prolific officer. Having met the new officer and later in the shift I pulled the Sergeant to one side and said what was that prolific comment about. He laughed and said that I was a good man and that he was referring to my recent performance. Taking that as a compliment I left and hit the streets.

As a regular visit to the custody cells I have on many occassions got extremely upset when I have been kept waiting on arriving with a new prisoner, especially if they are playing up, or I can hear the control room trying to assign immediate response jobs and there are no officers to take them. I have before now waited over an hour from arrival to a charge desk to start booking in.

For those of you who do not understand the custody booking in process I have attached a short video that the British Transport Police have produced that explains a little bit about it.

Now this process sounds simple in theory and can be completed in around ten to fifteen minutes if you have a compliant prisoner. Every arresting officer should search their prisoners properly prior to arrival at the police station however in my career I have heard of prisoners managing to conceal drugs and other things about their person which have made their way into police cells, and on a more serious note incidents such as the one in this short video.

With a volatile or evasive prisoner the booking in process can take up to an hour.  This added to the other list of tasks that custody staff must do such as releasing prisoners whether it be on bail and having to explain bail conditions, charging someone and having to remand them in custody overnight for court, or even releasing someone with no further action. They also must conduct other tasks such as supervising prisoners who require the services of the force Health Care Professional (HCP) who is a medical professional who specialises within the custody environment, overseeing private telephone consultations between prisoners and lawyers, conducting visits to cell as defined in the risk assessment and ensuring that prisoners are fed and watered. This delay causes delays for everyone including the likes of me waiting with a new prisoner. It was only since my time in custody that I have developed a respect for these delays.

When I found out that I was to work in custody I was not happy. I had the image of a grumpy Custody Sergeant (as they always looked grumpy but now I know that is pressure and not them personally) and having to deal with people I do not like. What I mean by dealing with people I do not like is this. As a frontline officer you will deal with people you do not like but once you have arrested them you can book them in and walk away unless you are to interview them. Then they are a custody problem and you can start your paperwork. Working in custody you cannot walk away and that person is there for the duration of your shift unless they happen to be released before.

Day 1 of custody and I went home KNACKERED! I thought that working between 8 and 12 hours dragging body armour and belt kit around was hard work especially if I had been running during the shift but after eight hours of running up and down custody wings dealing with prisoners I felt that I had burned more calories than going for a run.

In the video showing the booking in procedure they mentioned risk assessments. A risk assessment is done by establishing things such as alcohol and drugs use, medical / mental health issues and any medication that a prisoner may be taking. This information is then used to assess the risk level and that in term dictates the frequency that the prisoner will be visited or even if they must be under constant supervision. These visits are VITAL and should be stuck to religiously. This is the most important task in the custody world as failure to conduct visits can lead to prisoners coming to harm or even worse death. Have a read of this recent news clip that talks about a G4S Detention Officer who did NOT complete a visit and worse still then wrote a FALSE entry on the custody record stating that he had visited. You will see the seriousness of conducting visits and what can happen if ignored. Thankfully this incident was not fatal. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jul/17/g4s-investigated-over-prisoner-collapse?CMP=twt_gu

I cannot go into detail about the booking in process. My experience of booking in has mainly been from the arresting officers point of view and often the arrested person has taken a dislike to me so I have backed off allowing the Detention Officer to do the talking. Whilst I have been trained to conduct things such as taking of fingerprints, DNA, photos and footprints I am no computer wizard and leave that to the professionals.

I am still very much learning about the custody environment from the opposite side of the desk and to be honest I am learning alot. I have arrested many people who are drunk, high on drugs and want to chew my nose off but before now I did not have an appreciation for the abuse, threats and violence that my custody colleagues would have to put up with long after I have booked in and disappeared. I take my hat off to you all!

One thing that I have been on the receiving end of a few times that has now made me carefully choose words I use to people I arrest is phrases such as “dont worry it will only take a few hours” and “it wont take long and you will be out by tea time”. I have heard arresting officers say this many times and what upsets me about this is the fact that they do not know that what they are promising that person will happen. There may be enquiries to take place, a persons criminal history may mean that they get remanded or the person may even be getting transferred to another force area if the offence happened elsewhere. Arresting officers say these things if someone is being unhelpful with a view to getting them to come without fuss. I for one will now never say anything like this to a prisoner and if I can ask one thing of my followers who are officers is please follow my lead. The grief custody staff get when a prisoner kicks off is really unhelpful, and if the custody suite I am in is anything to go by the staff ALWAYS remember the arresting officers name as it is on your paperwork. You may find yourself being added to “The Custody List”, a list of officers who must make the tea!

I plan to write a Blog about a typical shift in custody and my experiences working within it. If my experience so far is anything to go by I have realised that custody staff are special people who are often under staffed and overworked. They have alot of pressures and to be honest they do very very well. I have had a number of shifts where I have taken my lunch home with me at the end. The prisoners rights seem to be a higher priority than mine and often getting five mins to use a toilet can be hard work. The delays that I experience when waiting to book in are for a reason and staff being lazy is not it and it is only until recently that I have understood why.

Yes I am proactive when on the street and when being grilled by a Custody Sergeant as to why I have arrested someone I now understand why they do it. They have a busy department and if there are other ways of dealing with a prisoner they will look to utilise those. I am going to close by thanking you for reading. I will write another post about custody and I am still researching into the Scarman Report so Part 2 of my Police and Community Relations Blog will be released shortly.

As always I value your comments and feedback.

Police & Community Relations – Part 1 – The Brixton Riots 1981

This is the first part of a staged Blog that I am writing covering community relations between the police and the communities that we serve. I have started with the Brixton Riots as feel that this was a very important mile stone in British history and the events of April 1981 can in some ways be linked to the recent rioting.

I will be examining what happened, why it happened, the lessons learned and what has changed since then. I hope that the mixture of text and video interviews is informative and educational.

London, January 1981.

A party is under way at 439 New Cross Road and in attendance are a number of black youths. It was Sunday the 18^th of January, and it was a birthday party for one of the occupiers and they had music on as is the case in many parties. People were enjoying themselves but nothing could prepare the party goers for what would happen later that night.

Complaints had been received early on in the evening about the noise levels coming from the party. At this time in history racial tension was at an all time high and groups such as the National Front were active.

The noise coming from the party continued into the night and at some point a fire started at the house that resulted in the death of 13 black youths. The Community were very quick to say that the fire was intentional and that the black people had been targeted by a racist (although to this day this theory has never been proven and no one has been convicted). This video explains more.

The Country was in recession. Unemployment amongst African Caribbean members of the community was high (higher than white people) and the quality of housing was poor. Combined,  the above lead to an increase of criminality as people struggled with little or no money.

Over the next few months the Metropolitan Police investigation into the fire at 439 New Cross Road was critised by the community. Allegations were made that the Police did not care about the fire, covered things up, and did not treat the investigation seriously. This lead to increased tensions between the community and the Police as to put it bluntly the public did not trust the police.

On the 2^nd of March 1981 a demonstration took place that had been arranged. It was the Black Peoples Day of Action. The demonstration itself was fairly successful with only a small amount of disorder taking place, however what did not help was negative reporting by the media.

The media reports that followed would only succeed in increasing tension further and it created a larger divide between the public and the police. Things were made worse when the Metropolitan Police arrested and charged the demonstration organisers with Inciting a Riot. These charges were subsequently dropped at a later stage.

Worried about the increase in offences such as Robbery at the beginning of April 1981 the Metropolitan Police launched Operation Swamp 81. This was a operation that saw plain clothed police officers literally swamp the Lambeth Borough. People were subjected to stop searches under the Sus Law Power of 1824. Type this into a search engine to see a full description of this power.

This operation would turn out to be the start of a massive revolt against the Metropolitan Police. In the first few days of Operation Swamp 81 nearly 1000 stop and searches took place on the streets of Lambeth, most on black people.  This created further resentment towards the Police and this video will help you to understand the reasons why.

The 10^th of April 1981 signalled the start of what was to become a full blown riot. Pc Margottia was on patrol in Lambeth and came across a black youth who had been stabbed. Pc Margottia tried to help the stabbed youth but was unsuccessful. This was because the youth, who feared he was being arrested ran away.

This youth was stopped by two more officers in a neighbouring street. The two officers had done what limited things they could do to help the stabbed youth and were waiting for a Ambulance to arrive. Before the Ambulance arrived a group of black youths had seen what was happening and had failed to see that the officers were trying to help the stabbed youth and as a result they ganged up on the officers to “rescue” the stabbed youth.

The two officers then came under attack from bricks and bottles. Rumours started to circulate that the two officers had refused to help the stabbed youth, that they had prevented him from being treated, and even that the two officers had even caused the injury themselves!

The violence on the street lasted for roughly a hour and a half and by the end of it six arrests had been made and six police officers had been injured.

Operation Swamp 81 had continued throughout the night. The following day was the worst day and was later described as being the “first serious disorder in the history of the Met”!

Two officers witnessed a man conceal something inside of his sock and decided to investigate. They stopped the man and conducted a search of him under the Sus Law of 1824. The man claimed that he kept money in his sock for safe keeping. Having searched the man and finding nothing illegal the officers then searched his car.

A group of bystanders took offence to this and started throwing missiles at the officers. This developed into a full riot that would later be called Bloody Saturday.

As many as 5000 people took to the streets. 2500 Police Officers from across London rushed to the area to try and keep the peace. It was war between the black community and the people they hated – The Metropolitan Police.

Full scale rioting continued until it ended on the 12^th of April 1981. It  had resulted in 280 police officers being injured, 45 protesters being injured, and 56 police vehicles being burned out. Buildings had been looted and set on fire, people had been robbed and Brixton ended up looking like a war zone.

The riots happened for a number of reasons that collectively  took the community to breaking point. Within days of the rioting ending the Government ordered a report into the riots which was to detail recommendations to prevent further disorder. This report was called the Scarman Report and I will be examining the Scarman Report and what it contained in the next stage of this Blog.

Thank you for reading and if you would like email notification of the release of the next part of this Blog please click on the Follow button at the top right hand side of the Blog page.

My Shift On 7th of July 2005

I woke up on the morning of 7/7. It was like any other day and I was due to give evidence in the local Magistrates Court for an assault I dealt with a few weeks before.I got up and got ready for work. I put my uniform on and went to the station as usual and got my kit on. I have spoken before about the unpredictability of a Police Officers work and 7/7 certainly reinforces that claim. NOTHING would prepare the Police for what would happen later that morning.

I arrived at court and as per the building rules my radio and mobile phone were switched off as I sat in the witness room with witnesses in the case and other Police Officers. I cannot recall the time but a Court Usher walked into the room. The man had a very serious face and for some reason I knew that what he was about to say was not good news. The Court Usher then said “You lot had better switch your radios on. Court is cancelled and you are all required to return to your home stations as a matter of urgency”.

When my radio had logged on to the network the first transmission I heard was the Force Control Room Inspector talking to the Divisional Inspector telling him that an emergency briefing was to take place as there had been multiple explosions on the transport system in the London area. My force along with others were preparing to send emergency aid into the City.

The attacks were committed by four home grown Islamist terrorists who were called Hasib Hussain, Germaine Lindsey, Mohammad Sadique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer. All but Germaine (who was of Jamacian orgin) were from Pakistan but resided here in England. 52 people died in total and 700 + were injured in four bombs that went off on Underground Trains and a double decker bus in Tavistock Square.

Although I was not deployed directly to the City I was given a equally as important assignment. I was deployed to a railway station that was on a direct link from Gatwick Airport into London. Stop and Search powers under the Terrorism Act had been granted by the Chief Constable and my briefing was to challenge any suspicious persons carrying rucksacks and investigate any suspicious packages.

Take a moment to watch this news clip on the attacks.

I had started my shift at 7am that day and at arond 2PM (two hours before I am due to finish for the day) I have been told that NO officer or PCSO is to book off duty until further notice. I am tired and I have not eaten. I arrive at the railway station, which was a large train station with about six platforms. Once there I commence my patrols and start conducting basic searches of litter bins and waiting rooms to check for unattended bags etc.

My patrols continued over the next few hours and I had received a few phone calls from family members who were worried thinking I was in the thick of it. To be honest I knew I had a important task but I felt like a spare part as I really wanted to be in the thick of it helping those in need. It was frustrating as I knew that people were still trapped and that my Met colleagues could have used every pair of hands they could get.

At about half past six that evening a train came to a halt at one of the platforms. I remember this woman running towards me screaming. As she ran towards me she shouted there is a bomb on the train. Immediately I contacted the control room and having switched my radio and mobile phone off I boarded the train.

I will openly admit that I was frightened and suddenly all I could think about was seeing my son. I had no idea what I would be faced with, or even if I would be luckily enough not to be blown up. The woman had said to me that she had found a cardboard box wedged between two seats and that it had some sort of Islamic writing on the box. She felt this box had been concealed intentionally.

I locate the box and I will be honest my heart sunk!!! There was a cardboard box wedged between the two seats with Islamic writing on it. This looked very out of place and I had formed the opinion that this may well be a bomb of some description. I was not taking any chances so I ordered a evacuation of the train and the station.

The Control Room had informed the Control Room Inspector who contacted me directly for a full description of the box and its location so that he could deploy Bomb Disposal Personnel to the scene. Whilst most people were happy to leave the train station as quickly as they could I was gob smacked by the attitude of some passengers and one man in particular will always stick in my mind.

This man was wearing an expensive suit, was carrying an umbrella and a briefcase. He was upset to say the least at having his journey stopped. He was going nuts at me screaming that he had been at work all day and he wanted to get home. I remained calm and after nearly five minutes of mixed emotions, stress and fear for people’s life I snapped. I said something along the lines of telling him to shut up and that I was trying to save the life of others and that I had far more important things to worry about than him being late. The man continued to scream at me to the point I threatened him with being arrested for obstruction if he continued to prevent me from doing what I needed to do.

Having successfully evacuated the train station and halting all trains due to travel through I stood on a cordon at the front of the train station to prevent anyone re entering. We waited for what seemed forever until the Bomb Disposal Team arrived.

The Bomb Disposal Team are some of the bravest people I know. I had joined the Territorial Army, I wanted to do Bomb Disposal but my family soon put me straight on that so I joined the Military Police instead. I escorted the soldier to where the package was. I was not comfortable going back on that train but a Police Officer has to do things they are uncomfortable with everyday of their life.

The soldier looked at me and the next words out of his mouth made me even more scared than I already was. “Oh Fuck” he said! I was then ordered away from the train. A man wearing a bomb safety suit then went to the train carrying some equipment. He conducted his assessment and decided that he needed a portable X ray machine.

The result after the X ray was what I wanted to hear. It turned out that the box contained Water Melons of some description. This was music to my ears and I quickly started to feel that I had caused a scene for nothing. However the thought of doing nothing and people losing their life as a result compensated for this.

Having removed the box of melons people were allowed to return to the train and continue with their journey. However the man I had snapped at made a point of stopping to remind me what a jobs worth I was and that he wanted my warrant number so he could complain about my making him late to the Chief Constable.

At about 11PM I was given permission to go home. I had been working since 7am and had only managed to eat a sandwich that I was given by the manager of the train station cafe. I remember stood eating it in a cycle shed with the rain pouring down around me. So much for a 45 minute break.

Yesterday was the anniversary of 7/7 and although this happened seven years ago the events of 7/7 were still fresh in my mind. I really do not know what went through the heads of the victims and the emergency services that attended that day.

If there are any doubters out there I ask you to think to yourself – Would I Cope Dealing With That Incident? But more Importantly Could I cope Dealing With That Incident?

Thank you for reading my Blog and I value your feedback.

What Makes a Police Officer?

I am often asked why did I join the Police. Those that know me have before now questioned why I did not go for a career in a area that pays better, does not involve night shifts or working weekends, is more family friendly etc etc? The answer is simply I care.

There are many careers out there that involve caring. Look at the NHS for example, their core role is caring for others who are ill. Firemen / women also care, as do people such as social workers, however none of these roles carry the extra responsibilities that a Police Officer does. I say this not to disrespect anyone in that career and sum this up with this question, would you see on a regular basis a person in another caring career putting themselves in the middle of a fight involving weapons, walking into a house KNOWING that you may come to some serious harm or getting a phone call half way through booked leave saying that you are to return to work as riots have started and YOU are needed on the street to defend property belonging to people you do not know.

When I was a youngster I thought policing was all about driving fast cars, foot chases, fighting with criminals and other things such as drinking beer with the team on a near daily basis. This image was gained from watching programs such as The Bill and listening to family members who were due to retire during the 90’s. I developed this unrealistic view that would change as I got older and actually started looking into the role properly as a career option.

I joined the Police as I always wanted to. Now I started to properly understand what the role was all about. I got upset when I had a short notice shift change, a day off got cancelled, or I was TOLD that I was staying on duty AFTER the time rostered in for due to a incident. They left this out of the small print (although had been told about this from serving family members) and I lost count of how many times I had to cancel social plans due to sudden work requirements.

Like every police probationer I had alot to learn and had to get used to doing my fair share of (quote) shit jobs. It was during this period that I would often ask myself why am I here and not in my bed ready to wake up in the morning for a higher paid job?  I would have to remind myself why it was that I joined in the first place.

Passing out having been Attested (Sworn in as a Constable) was one of the best days of my life. Seeing my children born is the only thing that I would put on the same level. I have experience under my belt now and I have worked in two different force areas, on many different teams, and under many different circumstances. I have met officers with different attitudes, some good, some in need of improvement but ALL have one thing in common. They joined to make a difference!

So what do I think makes a good Police Officer?

The truth is the answer is far too complexed to detail in depth so I will summarise my thoughts. Some may agree, others may not, and others may wish to add to my comments.

Life Experience

For me a good police officer should possess what is often referred to in the Police as “life experience”. Life Experience does not mean that you are old. It simply means that you have seen many aspects of life (good and bad things that you will face daily as part of your role). Having been a victim of crime myself I have experienced how a understanding Police Officer can help to make a bad situation alot better to deal with.

Listening

The ability to listen is also a vital skill to possess. Listening is a MAJOR part of policing. You need to listen in every incident you deal with. It could be a child victim of crime, a person who speaks little or broken English, a angry shop keeper not happy that it has taken three hours for Police to arrive to move some kids on from outside, right the way through to the knife weilding manic who is high on drugs and who wants to kill himself. If you cannot listen to someone you cannot even begin to see their point of view, understand their needs, assess the best course of action, or provide a fair and appropriate method of resolution.

Communication

Listening is the first part of it but equally as important is the ability to communicate with a variety of different people. You will be working a 8 – 12 hour shift, maybe even longer if you are required to stay on. In that time you maybe talking to a trapped person at a serious RTC (Road Traffic Collision) who may or may not live, you may have to within the same shift talk to a lost child, you may be having to talk to a person who just will not listen to you and is hell bent on you listening to their point. You may talk to a person who is a victim of a sexual assault, a elderly person or a violent drunk person. All of the above requires a different approach and it is not unacceptable to say that at times (although thankfully rare) you maybe talking to someone to save the life of another or indeed your own. Getting angry at one call and leaving a house fuming will happen. You need to adapt as that attitude will not help if you need to be relaxed at your next call.

Anger

At times Police Officers will be faced with situations where it would be quite easy to lose your temper. I struggle sometimes with domestic violence and have mellowed a little during my service. I recall losing it with a person I had arrested in my early days. Whilst I did not assault him I will admit that I lost the plot and my colleagues recognised my breaking point and stepped in. The ability to remain calm is vital to a police officer as you WILL be faced with people who will not listen to your requests, thinks that you are wrong because they do not understand your decision, or they are being violent towards you and may even have assaulted you. It takes a bigger man / woman to control this feeling that every human gets whilst remaining professional.

Respect

Respect is a massive essential thing for a Police Officer. I am a strong believer in the fact that respect is earned and not a god given right. My principle is treat everyone with the same level of respect, whether it be the Queen or a tramp until they give you reason otherwise. Even when they give you reason otherwise remember the principle above regarding anger. In your career you will on a daily basis show respect for other peoples thoughts, their situation, reasons for their behaviour (even if you dont agree with it), their religion, their culture, their sexuality, or any other similar aspect. Without respect forget applying.

Resilience

A Police Officer MUST have the ability to accept change and adapt their approach to that change. Change comes in many forms. It may be legislation, change in internal policy (and we all know how often that is), or change in overall image. Equally the change may be a personal situation that is nothing to do with work but has the ability to alter your mindset or behaviour whilst at work. Understanding the importance of change and learning how to adapt is a crucial part of the role.

Understanding

Understanding your community, your colleagues, and yourself is also vital. How can you serve a community if you do not know them. I once was a beat officer for a community that had a large percentage of Muslim residents. I knew little about their faith so I arranged a visit to the local Mosque (on my patch) to develop my awareness. That benefited me massively when 7/7 happened as I was trusted with information that may have helped the investigation. As it happened the very area I managed had been the very area where some of the people involved had lived or grown up!

Understanding people is a massive skill. I once was able to talk to a man dying in a car accident about a Golf Tournement. He loved Golf and I had never even played it, but having read a magazine whilst bored I had taken in enough information to speak to the man.

There are many different factors that make a Police Officer. We are all human, have feelings and what is found in EVERY Police Officer is that hunger to make a difference.

Times are changing and the service is taking a massive hit by those who are elected to run the Country. I ask you all to remember why you joined and in doing so ask you to remain resilient but at the same time let your feelings known. We have the pleasure of free speech (sort of) but on top of all of that control that anger.

Sir Peel leaves you with this final thought – without YOU being out there risking life and limb, what would the streets be like. For those who would like to get a idea please read me earlier Blog titled London – Days Before The Formation of the Met Police.

London – Days Before The Formation Of The Met Police

There are many conflicting views of when the first form of policing hit the streets of London. Policing however can be traced back to before the days of the likes of the Tudor and Stuart periods. In these days policing was traditionally done by the Army. Soldiers would follow basic orders but did not have overall responsiblity for the prevention and detection of crime.

I could spend a lifetime looking back looking for the answer to the question – When was the first form of Policing introduced in London? For the purposes of ease I am going to start this Blog on the days before the official formation of the Metropolitan Police.

The Current Metropolitan police Logo

The Metropolitan Police (Met Police) was officially formed in 1829 after Parliament passed the Metropolitan Police Act 1829 that had been proposed by the then Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel. As with the question about the first police we do not have a lot of information to answer the question about why the police were formed in the first place.

No crime statistics exist and from information available it would appear that London was seen as a lawless and violent place to be especially at night. What we do know is that in 1798 Marine Police were set up to deter theft from the docks. This form of first Police in London did not wear uniforms but were heavily armed to protect the docks against Pirates.

Although the Marine Police did exist, the same could not be said for the streets. People are said to have run riot committing crime as there was no worries about punishment. People would steal and rob each other and the streets of London were deemed to be unsafe.

A drawing of a Watchman

What did exist were men who operated as Watchmen who would conduct street patrols. Watchmen were not liked by the residents of London as they were corrupt and ineffective. It is said that Watchmen would simply look on whilst women would get forcibly kidnapped in front of them. There were also incidents of Watchmen taking a cut of stolen items that had been stolen by the very people the Watchmen were designed to deter.

In 1805 a foot and horse patrol service started that operated out of Bow Street Magistrates. This service would be the base for Sir Robert Peels Metropolitan Police years later. The Bow Street Patrols were formed by a Chief magistrate called Richard Ford and they wore red coats as uniform.

A drawing showing Bow Street – Source Wikipedia

Prior to the Bow Street runners in 1753 a man called Henry Fielding had formed the Bow Street Runners who are said to be the first organised Detective Service in the Country. They would operate alongside Bounty Hunter type forms of law enforcement who were people who would catch criminals and would be paid a fee on each arrest.

The Bow Street Patrols are said to have been more successful and by 1821 they had around 100 officers who would patrol the streets. The Bow Street Patrols remained in place until the formation of the Met Police in 1829.

This Blog has been written to give you a basic understanding of how things were in the days prior to the formation of the Met Police. This area of history is very unclear and can be researched in more detail. This short Blog provides a platform for my next Blog post that will cover the formation of the Met Police. You can look up The Bow Street Runners and The Bow Street Patrols online using web sites such as Wikipedia.

I bid you farewell and thank you for reading this first Blog into the history of the Met Police.

Welcome to the Peel Blog

Hello and welcome to the Peel Blog. This is the first of many Blogs that I plan to write about the history of the Police (various forces) and Current Affairs such as my views on upcoming changes and Government intervention.

Sir Robert Peel – Home Secretary

I am a serving officer with a large force. I am not by far the most experienced officer, however have service under my belt to enable people to come to me with problems that they require guidance for. I still have a good few years before I can retire, assuming that I do not get injured, get too fat or tell them where to shove the Warrant Card.

What can you expect from the Peel Blog?

I enjoy reading about the history of the job. I plan to write informative Blogs about this subject as well as a mix of my views of Current Affairs. I am interested to hear on potential topics to Blog about. Only last night I was talking on Twitter with Tayside Police’s Pc Euan Mitchell (@BridgeOfEarnPC) about the history of the Glasgow Police. I have already decided on my first Blog topic but the history of the Glasgow Police is next on my list. If you would like me to consider a Blog topic please get in touch with me.

If you do not already do so please follow me on Twitter. There is a Follow button to the right hand side of this screen.

I am not happy to say the least with Current Affairs related to the job and it makes me even sicker hearing today that MP’s want to reduce their working week as they are too busy. I would like to invite Nick Herbert to look at some of my teams Crime Loads (most of the jobs on there that to be honest should not even be there – non crime domestics etc). If MP’s want to see busy they need to see officers struggling to conduct basic crime load enquiries to clear off silly non crimes whilst attending new emergencies and adding more to their workload.

I hope that you find my Blog interesting, informative and on occassions funny. I am going to start the first Blog (that will be staged in sections) on a subject that I am currently reading about, and that subject is the history of the Metropolitan Police formed by Sir Robert Peel.

Thank you for reading.