…Sometime in January 2021.

Location: [Redacted]

Night shift.

….The night is young. I tend to leave for work as late as possible. I recently moved so it is a bit of a trial and error to see how much time I can chip away at the commute before getting to work. 15 minutes is not too bad. The station has plenty of parking, certainly makes things easier. I do feel sorry for the officers who are not so fortunate to be able to park at the station in some of our sister stations. I used to cycle in a lot but these days I tend to prefer to drive. Nothing is more demoralizing then a long shift, sometimes overtime then having to face the realization you cycled in and it will be 40 minutes home.

I walk into the locker room and get kitted up; my locker looks something like something resembling a hoarder’s paradise.  I should probably tidy it up at some point! On goes the DPV and belt. Our kit these days is a mix of Old/New issued vests, with some of us wearing newer issued MOLLE-type and some with the older DPV/kit belt. Eventually we will all match I expect…

I walk upstairs a short distance to the briefing room. It is a large room formerly occupied up until recently by a different team. The room has a large pull-down projector screen and an assortment of chairs in a COVID-19 friendly social distancing seating layout. I used to brief the team, but I tend to let that be done by the newbies these days to get some experience. Not to brag, but I once got an email informing me how well I briefed the team from an inspector sitting in on our briefing. (Rolling eyes emoji) Haha. There is an art to briefing appropriately without sentence by sentence. Short punchy sentences!

We are issued our callsigns/crewing’s for the night by the skipper. We get the arrest-car callsign which will be to hunt down some wanted persons. I am in a three-officer crewing in a caged vivaro. Not too bad. At least it is not a bed/scene/cell watch or a prisoner…. Could be worse!

One of my crewmates is a PC In her probation who was formerly a special Constable, and an actual Special Constable. Both are eager to crack on with the attempts. I am the driver.

Like any set goal, we spend a bit of time getting to know our quarry. Some of the faces have been outstanding for a while. We decide to travel out of area to a different LPA to do our first attempt and will swing by more local areas on outbound journey. We kit up the van with our kitbags. I have noticed that in the last year or so, a good chunk of PC’s have migrated to using MOLLE rucksacks (Myself included), they are easier to carry and are just as good as the old box-shaped kitbags that used to be popular years back. I do my vehicle checks and then we depart the station on our taskings.

Our first few attempts are negative. We arrive 40 minutes later at our most distant attempt. We disembark and the house is in darkness, with the distant sound of a barking dog the only sign of activity in a rural area a few miles from the nearest town. One of my crewmates tries the door. It is a peculiar premise, a flat above a shop, but it is not actually obvious where the front door is, whether the access is via the store or a separate entrance… We try for 10 minutes to get some attention. There is CCTV, it is probably likely the person will know what we were there for. We get no success, so we depart back to our home LPA, with a tactical diversion via McDonalds. Eat when you can!

We make our way back to our base-station to update taskings. Up until this stage, good portion of the night we have spend driving. An hour or so later we are dispatched to a domestic incident as a triple-crew. We make on immediate graded response and arrive 10 minutes later. It is a domestic incident involving a couple, one of whom is subject of a DVPO that he has allegedly breached. We go upstairs to speak to our caller; her ex-partner has just left the area but had allegedly assaulted her. We know he is not supposed to be there (and has breached his DVPO), so we take an initial account. Body-worn cameras are a great tool and allow you to focus on the person you are speaking to.

A few minutes later, we became aware that the suspect had returned to the location and was stood outside, heckling his partner. We hastily run downstairs to detain the suspect. He is known to us, talks a lot of tripe but normally will calm down and come quietly. Not tonight.

I speak to him and engage; he is quite agitated. Possibly under the influence of drugs. He is smoking and holding a plastic bag that I assume holds some of his living belongings. He is upset at his ex-partner (shouting and swearing) and is unhappy that he thinks POLICE do not listen to him. We make attempts to calm him down and let him finish his cigarette, he is not making any attempt to run but we position him with his back to the door, so he is contained. He begins to become more hostile. The signs are all there and he knows he is about to be arrested

The great thing when you have trust in your crewmates is you do not need to say anything to them, merely a cursory glance at each other and a slight motion will usually emphasize the point. It is time to get this chap under control, we are not going to be able to talk him down and we are going around in circles. Me and my SC crew mate each take an arm and I get the magic words. Your nicked….

He begins to tense up, I have seen this too many times before, and it is time to roll the dice once again. He is warned about tensing his arms, but he is not having any of it. He refuses to put his arms behind his back. I make the decision he needs to be on the floor to obtain full control of him. He does not like this. He is surprisingly strong for a chap who is shorter and skinnier. I suspect drugs have something to do with it. He is goading us with his alleged fighting experience and is trying to pull away and is shouting /screaming. I am struggling to get him on his front, I stumble and fall holding his arm, he begins to try and get up and run. His resistance is more than expected, our Special Constable crewmate who was on the other arm is also struggling to keep him down. My crewmate loses his grip and then deploys captor on him. I make a call for assistance. (I had not heard, but my PC colleague here also called for assistance) The chap stood up 2-3 times before I was able to get his arm in a pin position and he began to fatigue, but he was still aggressively resisting. We are rolling around in the mud. The only other option would be a distraction strike but fortunately he begins to tire and with one last heave he is on his front with my full body weight on his left arm. I am plastered in mud and resemble a mud wrestler. I am exhausted. With how we fell, I was the main driving force to get him down on the ground, a little one on one. The captor did not have any effect until much later. He was far too agitated/wired to pay any attention to it. We get his arms behind his back and finally have him under control. He is also arrested for resisting arrest. We were probably rolling around with him for 1-2 minutes.

The cavalry arrives and assist with moving him in to the cage. I am battered and bruised but can drive the vivaro. Although I do cringe at the amount of grunting, I was doing in the body-worn video later. My trousers are coated in mud.

We arrive back at the station; I depart to clean myself off and write my statement. I later learned he was a delight to deal with in custody and was positively bouncing off the walls as he was being booked in. There was a welcome party for him in the custody dock….

I spend the next 1-2 hours writing my statement and sorting other enquiries related to the matter. My knees are swollen and bloody, but relatively superficial. I book off relatively on time. I slept like a log!

I have served with my force for approaching 2 and a bit years. My last blog documented a ride-along in February 2016 before I joined. It is interesting reading a blog pre and post joining.

It is 9 pm I begin work with a trudge to my night shift.  I had been on the rota to be doing a late shift but was moved to cover a lack of resourcing. I am very tired. Early shifts straight into night shifts without a shift to transition body clock is always unpleasant and difficult.

I sat down at the briefing. Comically we were not able to brief properly due computer problems, and the night springing forth with immediate jobs before we even deployed to the town. This was a sign of things to come. The first arrest of the night by the team was a male for Drunk and Disorderly and Criminal Damage at a premise on the edge of town. I sat and listened but there were sufficient resources at this time fortunately so I grabbed keys, sorted out a few bits before the night got underway.
Later we deployed with my crewmate to the town. I was on driving duties as knowing the area a bit better than my crewmate who had been plucked from a different area. First port of call was to get a coffee from a certain establishment, namely high-quality service station coffee

The night rolled on. Just past midnight, a call was received of a fight in progress at a pub in the town. We called up and made on immediate as the first unit on scene. The situation was chaotic, with there appearing to be a fight or a commotion going on inside, with the door-staff pulling people one by one out of the building. They pointed out an aggressive male who had blood on his face, with door-staff stating he had been involved in a fight. We placed him against the area next to the door to try and calm him down and talk to him. I request a unit to assist with crowd control and observe more people being plucked out of the building by door-staff who are eager to present the involved.
As I return to the male to assist my crewmate who was speaking to him but getting nowhere due to the male's level of intoxication and agitation, a unit arrives to assist with the other persons involved. Shortly after this, the male who we were talking to firstly lashes out past my head and catches the side of my head with his arm. I later learn that he was trying to assault somebody else who was stood behind me out of my line of sight. He is taken to the ground and I make the first official town arrest of the evening for Assaulting a Police Officer. No injury or pain but a glancing blow, fortunately. I later learn he was involved in another assault and later further arrested for that.

After the fellow was taken to custody and booked in,  I suggested we return to the town to assist and carry on patrol. Another mistake, this would come back later. Should have stayed to do the duty-statement and had a breather and perhaps the evening would have played out differently maybe.

...Should have stayed at the station.

We return to the town and continue mobile patrol. Later in the night, we received a call from door-staff at an establishment requesting assistance with a fight in progress. We make on immediate. Pull up and I put the high-vis jacket on so that cameras can track us and then make our way to the club.

The sounds of shouting and swearing is always a good sign, right? 🙄
I arrive to see another crewing identifying a male who was allegedly involved in an assault. He stands his ground and his friends / other patrons who had been inside the club are huddled around him preventing the police officers on scene going hands on. I start prizing people away from the male try to give them space and so that they can affect the arrest. I pull 2/3 people away who form their own group and then start to swear shout and attempt to obstruct the crew. The other crew deploy incapacitant spray which goes everywhere as always and is struggling to get him down to the ground and under control.
The crew get to the floor with their suspect, and other officers, including myself, forming a perimeter to hold back the crowd of varying builds attempting to aggress the officers and stop my colleagues arresting their friend. Threats of violence are made to me and some of the males begin rolling up their sleeves. And one threatens to 'destroy' me, or something derived. Some people have belts and shirts off around us and multiple danger signs in front . Swearing continues and the males refuse to move back. I stand my ground.
I repeat for the males to get back until my voice is blown. I am fairly isolated at the top of the perimeter with a crewmate to my right. At one stage I believe I was surrounded on 2 sides. The males refuse to comply and continue to approach. I push multiple people back countless times but this only angers them more. They return and I draw my incapacitant spray. I threaten to captor them if they do not move back, and am forced to deploy a burst to the face of one of the males which splash another after the verbal command fails. He immediately backs away and it appears to have an effect. The situation is tense with aggressive friends of the male still intent to cause violence or obstruct. During the situation, I heard an emergency shout on the radio from behind me. Two of the persons in front of me have fallen back with the effects of the captor. I also pushed my emergency button during the affray, I hear the troops being rustled on the radio and everybody and their mums are making on immediate. Was close to drawing my baton.
More units arrive and the males start to back away. The situation is tense but as more police arrive to maintain a presence. A strange sensation being there, adrenaline pumping. I anticipated coming to harm but control was restored. I have not had to use captor before today, but I am thankful it worked this time. My bodyworn footage will make interesting viewing I am sure.

I remain on scene for a while until the arrested persons are conveyed away from the scene. We took the details from a door-staff member assaulted during the preliminary incident, and I seized the CCTV from the club. Whilst we were inside, there is another fracas outside with two groups of girls making allegations against each other.

We return to patrol later and are then deployed to another town down the road to the sounds of an affray taking place outside another premise, timed perfectly at kicking out time at the main town. There are reports that a male has been run over. After a 15 minute immediate drive, We arrive on the scene, another unit has already made an arrest for an unknown offence of a person at the scene relating to a fight. We make our way to the person on the floor injured across the road, he has friends and family around him and is conscious and breathing. An ambulance arrives shortly after. I take details of the witnesses.

At 6:30 am ish, we arrive back at the nick after a tactical food and coffee stop (We know we are going to be late off) I split with my crewmate and we each write up our different jobs from the night, statements, documentation, investigation handovers, body-worn.

I eventually clock off an hour and a half late off. Absolutely knackered.

A cold Friday evening in February 15:00 - 24:00

13:30 - Arrived at station, supposed to be collected at 13:40 for safety briefing.

15:00 - Actual start time, accompanying officer had a shift change and I was forgotten about. Oops! 

15:30 - Signed the indemnity document, policies and a quick overview of the night's plan of action. Tonight would be an operation to combat Anti-social behavior in the town centre and identifying and arresting a few individuals from a serious assault on a young girl the previous week.

15:45 – Meet and greet the local officers and walk into the neighborhood policing office, nervous at first but very friendly bunch. 

16:00 - Briefing room - Situation and aim of the evening to arrest outstanding individuals, Intelligence and local contacts assigned and distributed by the sergeant. Section 35 authorization is given to disperse youths in the town centre if necessary.

16:30 – Patrols are a dispersed on foot and in cars. Sergeant will be in the van. We are on foot.

7:00 - Arrive at bus station with two PC’s, due to half-term and it being a crossroads for kids at the local secondary schools there is a large crowd of probably 25 teenagers milling around the area.

Identified youths are told to vacate the area of be section 35’d. A few huffs/puffs as people leave and are told to go home. One individual is identified by local security contacts as possibly being a person of interest, false alarm.

Teenagers find ‘Civilian Observer’ tag on the front of the high-vis a laugh and liken it to work experience. Embarrassing but expected.  "So are you like, a work experience bobby"? 

Area is saturated with high-vis and locals are concerned something serious has gone down. Locals are reassured and then it quietens down.

17:30 – 19:00 - Continue to patrol on foot around the area, liaise with contacts at a local fast-food restaurant who have posted security guards for the purpose of trying to combat youths. We Stop and talk to local people who are happy to see the area saturated with police.

Story of troubles in previous weeks given by McDonalds staff. E.g. banging on the windows, large crowds of rowdy teenagers etc. Security staff are advised to stay in contact via radio to local police and assured that the issues will be dealt with.

Speak the local shopping centre security guards who share some Information regarding people of interest.

Back to the bus-station and the remaining teenagers are told to scoot.

We go back to the station to get some better quality images from the CCTV regarding people of of interest and compare the footage to what was seen earlier in the day.

19:30 – Grab a tactical burger/kebab and chips on the way back to the station for a break.

20:00 -  Follow-up meet with the rest of the NPT, as the town is quiet (cold weather) the teams are given new call signs and dispersed further out from the town centre and told to keep an eye out for the group of interest.

20:30 – A home visit is made to a person who tried to purchase an imitation firearm off the internet which was intercepted by RM. Details are exchanged and informed that the gun has been seized by customs. There is no fuss by the homeowner who is told the gun will be destroyed. No further action to be taken.

21:00 – 22:30 – Patrol in the car and observe a bus laden with kids leaving the area. Bus is followed to make sure they leave the area and do not try to come back to the town centre.

They successfully leave the area. Continue to patrol around the area.

I am about to say it is a ‘quiet’ evening and then one of the officers I am with remarks that the word is banned in the station in case I jinx it!

23:00 – Arrive back the station for the end of the shift as paperwork needs to be filled. Shake hands and thank the two PC’s for the evening.

Overall a very standard evening. Was a good experience and was able to ask a lot of questions and got some good nuggets of information!