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Hi, This is my first blog in my journey to become a police officer. I have attemped to become a officer in the past but fell short. I have not let this get me down and I am giving it one more try. I have been studying on my SET books. I purchased some books from How2be. It was really helpful to have practice papers. I have been studying information handling, maths and language. I have also began to run outside, I am using a app called couch to 5k, this is to build my fitness level up. I used to run 5 miles without stopping and stopped due to shin splints and became lazy. I go to the gym and lift weights but there is a difference in fitness and looking fit. I have got blisters in my heels, this was caused by wearing worn out shoes, It was stupid of me but I am letting it heal. I have been running last week and also did a practice bleep test. Overall my fitness is not the best. I have started early to give myself a head start and to ensure I can be the fittest version of myself. I think preparation is key and crucial in improving cardiovascular fitness, it does not happen overnight, you need to train consistently. I have been studying the SET tests and have struggled a little, I suffer with dyslexia and other disabilities but I will not let this stop or hinder me from my journey. I will rest 2-3 days from running until the blisters heal up as there is no point in rushing. I will be resuming my gym schedule and doing cardio in the gym to maintain fitness. I am also working at my job as I need money. I am moving homes soon, so I have that going on in my life, a police job would help me so much and give me the confidence. I train in the gym 5 days maybe 6. I also do running outside 3 days a week. I do cardio in the gym as well. I find on the machines, you can increase the resistance to build some anerobic levels but also outside.

Rank: Special Constable Length of service: 6 Months Duty time: 1700-0200 All times are estimates due to PNB not being handy... 1700: Get kitted up and head down to briefing. Say hello to early turn who are now finishing up. Begin briefing, one in the bin who was arrested by the night turn for drink drive who blew 162 on the intox machine… he is still unfit for interview! The section I am on with are good and always make me feel welcome, I supply the cakes for the briefing…with some tesco finest belgian cookies! (I highly recommend) 1745: After checking emails etc we head out. I am crewed with a regular who I have been with a number of times and have a good laugh with while on duty. 1900: Comms shout our callsign up for a job concerning a young girl with learning difficulties who lives out of our patch with foster parents. The foster parents have called in worried for her welfare as she has not returned home from school as expected. Her sister has said that she was seen getting into the vehicle of her biological parents, who we find live on our patch. We are made aware there is an order against any contact from the biological parents with this girl and under no circumstances should she be with them at this moment in time. A history of abuse between the father and the young girl is uncovered and seems a very complex situation, all we know is that we have a duty to protect this young girl and she will be coming with us no matter what tonight. After conducting some research on the address we go code 5. My colleague says to me under no certain terms the young girl will be coming with us out of that house no matter what and asks if I am okay if it does “go” as it has potential to do so. I nod and respond “not a problem!” and swiftly throw my bag into the back of the car. We turn up to the address and a male no taller than 5’2 answers the door, This we establish is the biological father, the mother is in the living room with the older brother of the young girl all sitting on the sofa watching television. I introduce myself and my colleague and ask if we can come in to have a chat. He responds with “I have been expecting you lot!” He continues as we enter into the house explaining how there is a ongoing court case concerning where this young girl will be living. We knew all of this already after being checking the log but listen to his side of the story. My colleague brings the male into the kitchen which is at the rear of the property to talk to him in further out of earshot of the rest of the family as I sit with the young girl and begin to talk to her…the living room is taken up by only her and myself now as the older brother has gone upstairs to his bedroom and the mother exited the house in tears claiming to go to her friends house as she can’t deal with this ass we “are taking her little girl away again” This worries me, who is she going to come back with? but I focus on the young girl and begin to talk to her about what is on the television. She says she wants to be a police officer one day… She repeats what the biological father says that she took a bus directly from school to get here, all of her own accord and she wants to live with her biological mother father and brother and how her foster parents are awful to her. I hear the male in the kitchen begin to raise his voice to my colleague as he sets the kettle to boil “I only want a effin cuppa!!!" he states all I can imagine is this male throwing this boiling water at either me or my colleague, lets move this conversation into the living room. My colleague has explained what will be happening this evening… This young girl is coming with us and there is no two ways about it and we believe he has taken her here today from school. He refutes this and becomes aggressive again “bloody ask her!! she said how she got here didn’t you love?!” the young girl looks frightened and just says "yeah, I got the bus like I said" At this point I hear an almighty smash from upstairs…where the older brother has been for the past 20 minutes in relative silence we hear him scream out “You are not taking my sister again!!! you scum!” My colleague draws his captor and I draw mine in the living room as we hear him make his way to the stairs. We anticipate the worst and I ready myself for a roll around, my captor drawn I shake it and hold it behind my right leg, I glance to my right to see the little girl looking terrified…I give her a smile and reassure her things are going to be okay… well I hope they will be at least. A nearby unit with taser shouts up and asks if we need assistance we gladly accept the shout and they make the 10 minute ride over. Things begin to die down just before the back up unit arrives. The older brother makes his way downstairs and apologies for his behaviour saying he is just upset and doesn’t want to lose his sister again…I take him into the kitchen to talk one to one and explain there is a way to go about these things and this isn’t it as there is a court process to follow, he nods in agreement and sips on his tea. The female officer explains to the young girl what will happen tonight that we are here to protect her and she has to go back to her foster parents. The male is standing behind the female colleague looking at the little girl and begins to but in and it is clear he is trying to influence her. No more, we are leaving. The male begins to rant at how we are scum and worse than peadophiles he tries to stop us leaving and promptly receives a shove out of the way… we get out of the front door and the girls mood changes immediately. She is no longer the scared little girl who we saw in the living room in the house that is behind me she becomes cheery and I got a sense of relief from her to be out of there. She explains how she was picked up from school, and how the whole story about the bus was what she was told to say. It also becomes apparent that there has been contact through social media from the male for a long time now which constituted grooming. This will all be followed up but right now our priority was the safety and wellbeing of this young girl. 2230: The girl is now safe at her foster parents house. We make our way back to our patch to get some well needed food! We bump into a male on the main street of the town we patrol he is sleeping on the side of the road. I get out and begin to talk to him and run him through the system. He is well known and came out of prison that day. He has been released to the nearby probation accommodation but is unsure where it is so we give him a lift over and wish him all the best in his new beginning as he put it. 0200: Book off duty after sorting paperwork etc from the main job of the evening. Hope this was a good read, A duty which left me with real satisfaction and has stuck out to me as a highlight so far in my time as a special. Tempo.

Please note, this entry provides description of an RTC which some may find distressing - No significant detail/location/names have been written It is not a fatal RTC So as the duties continue, everyone knows that it is not always blue lights, fights and bringing offenders to justice. sometimes it just falls that you aren't in the right place at the right time. So for the first duty in this blog, I got the station, grabbed a car, crewed up with a probie and set out hunting.... 5 hours later having done nothing but burn through diesel we call it quits and book off, having conducted a fair amount of high visibility patrol Now onto the duty where I went to jobs! So again, I am still based out of the outstation (again, I don't mind it really, it gives me time to think) I come in, a little late due to traffic, only by 15 mins mind, and my oppo is at the station, they'd only just got in before. We sit and catch up, the usual how are you, what you been up to, have you seen the new cars, do you think we'll ever get to drive one.... you know the drill. As it's still 'late in the year, still cold we both agree that first point of call is to the petrol station to grab some coffee for us and some others that we know are out and about and will be coming by the station shortly. So we get in the car, head down and grab some coffee, and it smells so nice, it was from a filter machine so no expense spared! We head back to the nick to wait for our colleagues and as we drive up the road we happen across an RTC ..... So coffee down, lights, lids and High vis on and out we get. it's a two vehicle RTC a Audi estate and a Jag,.... it's only just happened the Jag has hit the nearside rear of the Audi. We get out, I go to the Audi my oppo goes to the Jag. I look at the damage, the airbags have gone off in the car, the driver is still inside, there is significant damage to the rear of the vehicle, I look through the back window, there are children inside... Fortunately everyone is conscious and breathing, I immediately request ambo. The driver gets out of the vehicle of their own accord (much to my disapproval) but we cannot get the rear door open. The driver is the parent and is speaking to the children in the car and the child seat seems to have taken the brunt of the hit, it was lucky the cars collided to the rear quarter rather than the door itself. Ambo arrive and assess the parent, whilst my oppo has managed to move the other vehicle to a safer location, they now come and take over at the vehicle with ambo whilst I speak to the driver, I breathalyse them ..0. The children are out, another ambulance has just arrived and everyone is being checked over, its time to throw out some cones and signs and get traffic moving again. We establish what has happened and how, and arrange recovery. Non injuries sustained declared by paramedics on scene, however children are taken to hospital with another relative who has arrived, just to be safe. now we wait for recovery.... Both recovery vehicles arrive and we have to full shut the road again so that the vehicles can be removed, Insurance details have been exchanged and the vehicles recovered, both drivers now on their way and an investigation booklet sorted outlying the scene. I run around and sweep up debris whilst my colleague grabs the signs and cones. we get back in the car and the job is done. 3 hours it took mind, my coffee is now closer to an iced frappe but I drink it non the less and we go back to the station as per the original plan. Luckily our colleagues are already there, turns out they'd driven past us and didn't want to interrupt for their coffee and it looked as though we had it in hand (which we did of course) so they had continued. we have a joke about it and give them their cold coffee. So... that was the start of the shift... About 10 mins after we get back to the station we get called to an Immediate incident, ASB, so back in the car, blues on and off we go. Report is of 3 persons fighting. we get there and the fighting seems to have ceased. we speak to three persons who are at the location who state to have seen nothing, however.. they all seem to be incredible nervous, avoiding eye contact and there is a distinct smell of something in the air. we have a chat, they admit that they may have smoked something recently but they weren't too keen to hang around. needless to say they were searched, nothing was found though and they were all given the relevant paperwork and let on their way. It seemed to die down a bit after that, and then 3hrs after doing high vis patrol someone pushed their red buttons...... "RUNNER, MORE PATROLS" is all we hear over the radio, comms give the location and off we go, along with pretty much everyone else in the surrounding area. turns out this officer had found a known person who was wanted for serious assault. it takes us about 2 mins to get to the area, we spend half and hour searching but they seem to have gone to ground. we call it and book off the incident, head back to the nick and decide that it's time to call it a day. we both inform comms we are booking off, de kit and go home. I'd say it was a pretty productive shift, it seems to be that you never know what may happen, It can either go steady or from one extreme to another.

Now every good story starts from the beginning, however, this is not something I can do as my mind does not stretch that far back and I would be making it up otherwise. And with this being the first blog I have ever even composed It may not read fantastically so you'll just have to put up with it I shall go back as far as I can remember... once upon a time in a land far.... no wait that's something else It's about 2230hrs, late in the year so by this point it was dark and it was cold, now having been a special for some time I am independent and can crew with other specials. I get into the station, which is an outpost so it's just me there, and kit up. I put on my Stabby, fleece, grab my bag and coat and look for a set of keys. As my luck would have it there is a set of keys for brand new car! [yes actually new] with only a few miles on the clock. I grab the keys and my radio battery and head out to the car, after checking emails and making sure my PNB is up to date. I put my kit bag in the boot of the car, do the walk around checks to make sure everything is working (lights, sirens, horn, wheels....etc) turn on my radio and tune in to the local channel. At the moment my oppo is not due for another hour. I hear comms asking for units to attend an ASB where there has been injury , I head to back up in the first instance. I get there and all is as was described over the radio, it is a small version of chaos. I attend to a male on the floor with a head injury whilst other officers start trying to sort everything else out. Ambo arrive, this male is going to hospital, no questions about it. Off goes the ambo with me in tow behind. We get to the hospital and me and the male have a chat he's going to be patched up and it may take some time so details given and we arrange for him to come to the station to give a statement at a later time, I leave him in the capable hands of A&E staff and off I trot. By this point my oppo is at the station ready and waiting, so I head back and pick them up, apologising for the..... slight... delay. we both the go out searching for wrong doers and awaiting the next job to come in. it gets to about 0200hrs and comms shout up asking us to help in the search for a missing person who has vanished from where they were supposed to be, as I said at the beginning it's dark and cold and late in the year, so there is concern for this person and their welfare, after 45mins of searching along with other officers we do not locate them. comms redeploy us to a possible criminal damage whilst other officers continue the search. We spend a good 30mins searching for any signs of any damage to anything and turned up nothing, so whatever it was that had been damaged had long gone before we got there. At this point I am starting to flag, I haven't had a coffee all shift and it's been a long day at the day job before so we both call it a day. I drop my oppo off at the main station and head back to my outpost, where I de-kit, turn my radio off, hang up the keys and find I've done about 150 or so miles... I get in my car, turn on the heating and put on some planet rock where I head home for a coffee, some food and some much needed sleep

On the 29th of March 2016, it will be one year to the day since I started training to become a Special Constable. I was on a training course recently and my colleagues, who are far longer in service than me, were asking me if the job was what I expected it to be. I replied that it was, but it got me thinking about the changes I've seen in the last year and the lessons I've learned. I thought this might be handy advice for those of you looking to join, or a throwback for those of you "old sweats"! 1. "Regular customers" are often the most polite and compliant custodies you will have. I cannot count the number of times I have been sworn at, borderline assaulted, and been obstructed by people who have never encountered or had little contact with the criminal justice system. On the other hand, I might deal with someone who has 30, 40, 50 previous convictions, who is the most compliant and cooperative custody around. Just because someone is a career criminal, doesn't necessarily make them a bad person. 2. Don't believe everything you hear. This goes for everything. Caller reporting 20 males fighting with baseball bats in the street? It's more likely 4 or 5, and it's most likely a bit of fisticuffs over nothing. Female complainer making a claim of repeated domestic abuse over the past 20 years? It transpires that she'd been plotting to leave her husband for several months and had exaggerated claims of his controlling and possessive behaviour in order to get him out of the way to move her new man into the house. People make things up, people lie, and people are good at it - more often than you'd like to think. 3. Don't panic. Might be a bit of an obvious one, but I used to go into calls fearing the worst. A concern for welfare would result in a body. A missing person would result in a kidnapping, or a body. A knife call would result in a desperate roll-around trying to avoid being stabbed. A 20-man fight would result in a panic button activation. I'd be deploying baton and spray left, right and centre. The truth is, you don't know what you're dealing with until it's in front of you. I've learned to stop assuming the worst and think of a logical plan without any assumptions. Think on your feet, don't try and plan everything before it's even happened. 4. OST is not real life. I felt way more equipped to deal with violent situations after my OST, but the truth is that I've never used any of the techniques when I've been out working, except the use of cuffs and restraints. I can't count the number of times I've rolled about with someone trying to get a cuff on them and you end up cuffing them "any which way but loose" as my instructor used to say. So you've cuffed them rear back to back and both palms are facing the same way? It's fine, we can swap that round. Don't worry about doing it perfectly, just worry about doing it. 5. People do live in poverty in this country. I have been in houses where children are being brought up with holes in their clothes, not enough food, a filthy house, and bare walls. I've seen homes that are at the point of ruin. I never expected to see it, but it does exist, and not always through fault or criminality. 6. You don't need as much sleep as you think you do. I used to sleep for 10+ hours at the weekend. Those were the days. Now I survive on 6 or 7 hours over a lateshift weekend - with some assistance! 7. Caffeine is life. See above. If you join and you don't like coffee, I hope you like Monster/Red Bull because you're going to need it. 8. Sometimes it's boring, but sometimes it's really busy. You might get a locus, or a constant ob. You could drive around for an entire 10 hour shift and not catch a thing. Your partner might get stuck in the office with paperwork that you can't help with. It's not always as exciting as the telly would have you believe! But then you get shifts where you don't stop - I have been on a 13 and a half hour shift before. It was not ideal, but I was busy the whole time. I've been bounced about from call to call, bottoming out jobs and on to the next one. It happens. And it doesn't necessarily happen at the times you'd expect it to. 9. Your "normal" friends and family might not get it. I don't have any friends who I knew prior to the job that were specials, so when I started working every weekend and fitting my friends and family around that, they really didn't understand like I thought they would. I'm pretty sure I've lost some friends over it, but at the end of the day it's only happened because they weren't true friends to begin with. You will learn quickly who is important enough to make time for and who isn't - not everyone thinks it's admirable, and not everyone likes the police. 10. You would do anything for your colleagues, and they'd do anything for you. I used to think that the job would be like my regular day job - I have colleagues who are great, but I wouldn't go out of my way to help. In the police service the only time I find myself really fearing the worst is when a red button goes off or an assistance shout goes out. Everyone will pile out of the office for two people, race across the city and run to help no matter what they're running into. It's worse being on the receiving end - I've put out an assistance shout myself, and what was happening wasn't as bad as listening to the panic in the voices of others as they made their way over. The service really is like a family and no matter how long you've been in, everyone always helps their own. What lessons did you learn compared to when you first started?

Now you see me... When I'm waiting for my coffee at the petrol station at the start of a shift. Now you don't see... That I've already worked an 8-hour day, and this is just the start of another. Now you see me... When I'm stopping you in the street asking you questions, making you late, checking your details. Now you don't see... That I'm looking for someone who just broke into a garage or a home, and took treasured possessions to sell for drugs. Now you see me... When I stop you from walking your usual way home and make you walk the long way round. Now you don't see... The guy who's just been beaten up, unprovoked, waiting for an ambulance that isn't coming for a while. Now you see me... Dragging someone out of a house shirtless and bleeding along with 5 other cops. Now you don't see... What he did to the three cops that were here before me. Now you see me... Queuing up at McDonald's for a bite to eat, laughing with a colleague. Now you don't see... The other three times I tried to grab something to eat, only to be diverted to something else. Now you see me... Breaking down the door of your neighbour and waking you up. Now you don't see... The seizure he was having when we found him, or all the pills he took to end his life. Now you see me... Wrestling with someone on the city centre streets whilst you film it on your phone and scream "Police brutality!" Now you don't see... The bruises I explain away to my partner as "just a little scrap at work". Now you see me... Standing outside your neighbour's house, waiting to flush out the thieves you saw climb in. Now you don't see... The tremble in my legs as I wait alone, in the dark, one female against four males. Now you see me... Leaving a drunk and emotional patient in your ward, causing a hassle and disrupting the other patients. Now you don't see... When I go home and cry because that patient told me he wanted to die. Now you see... The uniform, the vest, the cuffs, the hat. Now you don't see... That I do this for free, for you, for all of us. Now you see me. Now you don't.

So I arrived at the station for my first ever shift as a fully attested special constable. Although my rank still stands as "trainee" special constable, it still feels good to finally be allowed out on the streets. So it was a Sunday afternoon at 14.45. I made my way to the second floor of Maidstone police station and knocked on the LDPT (local district police team) sergeants office. I informed the SGT who I was and he told me to go wait in the office in the next room. 10 minutes went by, which felt like an hour. He called me into the briefing room and my first ever police briefing had begun. Who got told of some potential wanted people and I got told who I'd be crewed with. We got a vehicle and off we went. My crew mate was a regular PC and a great one at that. Very funny and welcoming. We done a bit of "hunting", as he liked to call it, and mainly went to the more rougher parts of Maidstone to see what we could find. To sum up the evening, I carried out a s23 MDA persons search, s1 Pace persons search and assisted my colleagues in the vehicle searches for both the above. We also had a failure to stop however this didn't make off at speed. When the guy finally stopped he blamed it on the blue Xmas lights hanging off his mirror and claimed he didn't see us. (Ok then!) After a stern warning, we could smell alcohol coming from him and noticed a can of Stella in the driver side door. A breath test revealed 23mgs of alcohol in his breathe, very lucky indeed. Overall, a very good first shift and looking forward to my morning shift on Tuesday.

Ok - write a blog in the next 7 days and two members will be chosen at random to receive a £10 voucher for Police-Supplies.co.uk Every blog entry regarding what you did on duty will be entered so if you write 4 blogs you will have 4 chances of winning. Its as simple as that, write a blog talking us through one of your shifts to be in with a chance of winning. To start your blog visit our Blog Section here http://police.community/blogs/ Draw will take place next weekend. Closing date for entries will be Friday 20th November 2015 at 21:00 hrs. Good Luck

Rank: Special Constable Length of service: 3 months Duty time: 1500-2200 All times are estimates: 1500: all kitted up head on down to the briefing room. Say Hi to the skipper and a few of the guys who are in and ready for briefing. Find who I am crewed with, Ive been with him before and he is a good laugh 1540: First call of the day…comes through as an assault so make our way towards on blues. 1550: Arrive. Greeted by a large group of people in the street claiming the male who has been assaulted was attempting to steal from a near by building site and the workers did not take to kindly to this so decided to give him a bit of a pasting for it. I take some details of some witnesses in case they are needed. Turns out the male has had a bit of an accident during the whole incident and managed to soil himself. He claimed that he was only in the building site to go to the toilet but the workers claim he was seen trying to take a drill from the site. Long story short neither party wanted to take it any further so colleague got a signature from the male who was assaulted and have a few words with the builders. All in order so we are on our way! 1740: Asked to make our way to a sudden death. This would be my first call of this nature. 1750: Arrive at the address. Friends of the deceased are there and are understandably upset after finding their friend deceased. We make our way inside and are greeted by a paramedic who arrived before us and has confirmed the male has passed away. Paramedic passes us the paper work we needed and he is on his way. Colleague lets me take the lead on the job and I complete the relevant paper work for the coroner as he called for the undertaker to come, I placed the tag onto the male and made some enquires as to who was the next of kin. 1845: Undertakers arrive. Give them the paperwork they need and then gave them some assistance with moving the deceased into the bag so he can be transported. Undertakers make their way off. We secure the property with a friend of the deceased and make our way off too. 1910: Refs break, I was starving! got myself a nice curry and a fanta. 1930: Back at the station to email the paperwork to the coroners office etc… 2200: Book off duty! Hope this was a good read Tempo.

Rank: Special Constable Length of service: 3 months Duty time:1800HRS-0115HRS 1800: Get to the station and say hi to the skipper and a few of the guys who are on this evening. I had never been on with the section who were on, but they all seemed nice and welcoming! Go and kit up and get crewed with a regular. About to check briefing but we are called up to deal with a disturbance at a property nearby. Arrive to the property to find a female at the door who is angry about claims she is due to be a grandmother which when she has arrived to the address of her son and his girlfriend the claims have been denied...among all this she has claimed to be assaulted where the other party are claiming she has forced entry. Female is advised to move along as there are better ways to get to the bottom of her questions. Told she can make a allegation if she so wishes but can expect one to come straight back at her if thats the case! She duly agrees to move along and is escorted to her home by her son. 1910: Respond to a call of a male who claims to have people outside his address who are being threatening...Colleague says the male is known to us and has a a history of MH issues. Arrive to the address and first thing that I see is a stanley knife by where the male was sitting...that can move straight away! He explains how he is hearing males outside his house at all hours saying his name and explaining in great detail what he is doing in his home, the stanley was there incase anybody tries to get into his address. Reassure the male that there were no males outside his property when we arrived and say we will make sure to patrol around the area. Explain that he is to call 999 if anybody tries to gain entry to his property and we will be right around. The male claimed to be taking his medication due to be a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic and explained how he was not going to harm himself or others. My colleague put in information to the MH team in regards to the male to follow up with him. 2000: Back at the station briefly as colleague needed to follow up some crimes he had...I used the time to update my PDP. 2030: Called to respond to two males being detained by security staff at a supermarket after being caught shoplifting. One of the males was said to have assaulted a member of staff and is being highly aggressive Blue light run to the call(adrenaline running a bit :P)...arrive to one male being cooperative and being supervised by two of the store staff in a side room. The other male was being detained on the floor with three staff lay on him to make sure he was going nowhere! myself and my colleague take control of the male who is swearing an awful lot but is begining to calm down now we are dealing with him, result! my colleague cuffs him and we bring him to another side room. My colleague places him under arrest on sus shoplifting, the male takes a disliking to a female officer and is promptly told to shut up and is swiftly lead to the back of the van! We talk briefly about the second male and decide to bring him in also. Another officer asks if i wish to make the arrest and i gladly oblige! we make our way in and I place the male under arrest on sus shoplifting, he comes without issue and is placed into the back of a car and escorted to custody. 2130: Arrive to custody and book my prisoner in. 2230: Complete a arrest statement with the help of a awesome regular officer who was really helpful! print it off and hand to my colleague who will be heading up the interviews. I am asked if i wish to sit in on the interview of the male I arrested to which I say yes. 2300: Section have their meal for the evening...I just have some water as I had ate before coming out to shift but quickly regret this as the kebabs smelt so good! 0010: Interview begins with the male who I arrested, He fully admits the offences and the interview lasts no longer than five minutes. It was still good to see how the interview process works though and how my colleague put questions across to the male. 0030: Decision is made on both males on how they will be dealt with. The male who was at first aggressive is RJ'd along with a cannabis warning after a further search at custody found the smallest amount of cannabis on his person know to man, it was found out a bit later on he had not assaulted any of the staff but "looked like he may assault someone!". Male 2 is cautioned for the offence as he had similar previous so could not be RJ'd. I found this a really good experience as it was the first time to see a crime through from arrest to the end...even if it wasnt the crime of the century All in all a pretty productive shift 0115: book off duty. hope this was worth a read! Tempo

Rank: Special Constable Length of service: 1 month Planned duty time 1700HRS-0300HRS All times are estimates: 1645: Arrive at station to get kitted up, this will be my second shift out on section with regulars and I have never met the section before so get myself sorted then make my way down to the briefing room as early shift is about to leave. Introduce myself to the team and the sarg. Find who I am crewed with, he is a ex special and a good laugh! Get my order in for the chinese later in the evening - Chicken curry, Chips and egg fried rice box meal! 1730: First job - a abandoned 999 call. Dispatched as a prompt, get to the address and everything is in order, child has picked up the phone and dialled 999 but when the operator has answered she has panicked and dropped the phone! words of advice given and on our way. 1800: On to the next job, a woman has been having issues with her ex partner who she has not heard from in the past year or so but has came out of the woodwork. On the way to the job my colleague says he will let me take the lead on this one if I like which I am happy to do! As we are on route to the RP comms call up to say the RP has just called again to report another incident that has happened today so the log is updated to a prompt. Arrive at the address and have a chat with the lady, she is with a new partner and wants nothing to do with her ex. I go through DASH form with her which was good experience for me to complete my first one! 1900: At the station putting all the paperwork together for the previous call and email it off. 1940: Circulation comes through of a sus DUI we are in the area of the registered keepers address so make our way toward but the vehicle is not there, area search no trace. 2030: Respond to a sus drink driver at a wedding. Arrive to the wedding to find the male in question with his car parked up. He is in the foyer of the venue with his keys waving them around, my colleague and myself ask him to sit down and have a chat with us he isn’t really having it and is talking about how he wishes safeguards to be put in place for his daughter from the mother. No real evidence of drink driving, but the call is now coming to be a domestic incident between the male in question and his partner who are making allegations against each other, the male heavily in drink. Male is given strong words to leave the party now. He gets our shoulder numbers, still unsure as to why! and before coming very close to going in the bin for the evening for breach of the peace finally gets into a lift and makes his way home. Colleague decides to complete DASH with the mother while I get some details of the children for 121A form. 2200: Finally done with the job, all paperwork completed and emailed off! 2345: Boy racer type comes flying around the corner, follow him and decide to pull him over due to the manner of his driving and also his exhaust looks a bit dodgy. I run the vehicle through PNC and all comes back okay (later find out from a colleague the car should have came up as having a s59 order against it) words of advice given. i.e. stop buying all of halfords stock and putting it on your car as it isn’t a good look! only joking haha. 0010: Respond to a call of alleged damage to vehicles on a street, 4 youths with hoodies seen to hit wing mirrors of a number of cars and make their way into the town centre. We are close to respond. Area search, no trace for the youths but go to have a look at the cars and only one vehicle seems to have sustained some damage to the nearside wing mirror. Take vehicle details into PNB and close the log. 0040: No sooner are we done a circulation comes through of a sus drink driver making his way down the main A road in the area, coming our direction, with the registered keepers address just around the corner. We call up saying we will wait near the registered keepers address. The vehicle also comes up as having no MOT or Insurance…what a catch this could be! 0050: Strategically position ourselves near the address, I’m thinking to myself this is pretty cool, I’m not ashamed to admit it! haha. 0110: Have a look at the address to see if the vehicle has made its way back another way, no trace. Have a look around the area to see if it may be in a hedge or somewhere but no trace. Call up to say we have had no luck, boo!!! 0130: Called to assist with a prisoner escort, make our way over. Domestic incident, both parties are being brought in as both have sustained injuries and have made allegations against each other. 0150: Arrive at custody, Male is cooperative. I don’t really get involved just watch the guys way of booking in. 0250: After a coffee, book off shift! very good shift for me personally and really happy to be out on section. Hope this was a good read

Rank: Special Shift: Response The previous week I collected most my operation uniform, minus my CS and radio from the central store at the forces HQ. I had taken it home opened it all and possibly tried it all on my bedroom. I looked like a police officer but I didn’t feel like one! Finally after what seemed like the longest week ever I was driving to the station for the first time, I drove through the metal gates and parked. I got all the gear id been given and attempted to carry it all towards the station, not that I knew where the door was. I found someone and just followed them, it’s a small station really but at the time it felt huge. I introduced myself and found my tutor officer who showed me were all my stuff goes and gave me tour of the station. I got kitted up and followed my tutor into the briefing room. It was like the first day of school, except everyone seemed to like me, to my face at least. After introductions the sergeant gave the briefing and off out we went, first job was to get my CS and radio conveniently from two stations on opposite sides of the force, still it was my first time in a police car so it wasn’t all that bad. At this point I still felt a con artist, people looking at me assuming that I was a cop… fools. Once I’d collected the bits I needed we headed back to the station I was based at. The intention was to get coffee and go through my folder with my tutor when some cops who were not in the briefing asked if we could assist with an arrest attempt as there are only two of them in today. Perfect my tutor seemed to think, I was less sure. Anyway we went outside and it transpired the other cops worked on an offender management team they and now we were off in the van to try and lift a wanted man who was a known fighter and runner. At the address we cover the back and the others go to the front. The man did think about running as he opened the back door, however he saw us and was sensible enough to go back in and let us all in. I watch and try my best to learn ‘the way to do it’. We get dropped off at our station as the van goes to custody. I get properly introduced to the rest of the section and had some coffee with everyone. I don’t know why but I though they’d all be anti-specials and miserable and grumpy. Turns out not one of them are and welcome me onto the team. We head out in the car to tour the area and look for anything suspect. Almost straight away we get a job on the radio, a domestic, and it’s my first blue light run. My adrenalins pumping and I feel like I’m ready for anything and everything. That’s until we pull up and I remember I still have no real idea what I’m doing. It turns out it’s a verbal argument of access to a child and nothing major, however it’s in at the deep end as I do my first (of many) domestic forms under the guidance of my tutor. We resume and drive around some more, and then some more. My tutor has me check almost every vehicle we pass to get my radio confidence up, much to the annoyance of the control room operator. We eventually return to the station and look through my folder and wait for change over time. Still I feel like I’ve learnt a lot but I’ve also realised training school was less helpful than I expected and that I knew very little. I put my kit away in my locker and just before I went I introduced myself to the local inspector and advised my sergeant and tutor that I’d be in for the next two shifts as casually as I could. Secretly I really enjoyed myself and seamed to get on with the team really well, and couldn’t wait to be back.

I've just caught this on The Lad Bible. What do you guys think? Is it fake as he seems to know exactly where everything is? If it is real, has the guy made a mistake by blogging this? Do you think having this video will make him any easier to catch?

Hi guys, so here is a write up from my second shift that I have recently had and thought I would share with you all as it was quite an eventful one! Rank: Special Constable Length of Service: Second shift Planned duty: 1500HRS - 2300HRS All times are estimates as PNB is not to hand. 1500HRS: Arrive at station…forget the code for the changing room…OOPS! pop down to the response room and see the person who I am crewed with in there so have a quick word and get told the combination so go to kit up quick to catch briefing. 1520: Briefing completed. DS comes in and asks if my colleague and myself would like to go and complete an arrest on a female wanted for questioning over an alleged assault that has taken place and caused some serious injuries to the other party, we say yes! Go to get briefed on circs and all that, run the person and address through systems for warning markers, previous etc then pop down to custody to let them know we will be bringing one in within the hour and how it will be my first. 1600: Get a marked car and begin to make our way to the address, nerves beginning to kick in as we have decided I will take the arrest! go through the procedure and the custody routine. 1620: get to the address and knock on the door, the female answers and lets us in but needs to get dressed, she is compliant and we wait on her landing for her. She comes out ready and I make the arrest and deliver a caution which came out so fast I didn’t even understand it myself at the time so when I asked her if she understood and she said “yes” it was quite a shock! All of this happens just before the female breaks into tears due to the fact she was under arrest (I don’t blame her, it can’t be nice to have your liberty taken away from you) We wait for her to secure her property and get to the car to put the cuffs on and do a quick search. Some teenager is snooping around asking whats going on he is swiftly told to move on. 1650: Arrive at custody, sweating quite a lot! booking in goes well even though I was very nervous! wait with the DP to get booked in and wait for a female DO to come to do a more thorough search and we are then let loose. 1720: DS asks for a arrest statement so get on writing that up which was good experience for me, get it checked over by the SGT who brushes it up a little. Print another copy for my PDP file as it will come in handy. 1830: REFS! mcdonalds which consists of a chicken legend and coffee. 1915: Back on patrol. respond to a call of a male in distress and begin to make our way 1930: Arrive to the address, quite out in the sticks! two dogs running around which makes me edgey as I must admit I’m not the biggest fan of dogs! but they are playful and not nasty. We begin talking to the male who is complaining of chest paints and talks about his mental health, claims to have PTSD, Depression amongst other issues and is shaking a lot and clutching at his chest the whole time. We decide to get a ambulance called so I make the call through my radio. 1945: Paramedic responder car arrives, very quickly too! finds the male to have a heart rate of 175, very high! Ambulance still en route. 1955: Ambulance arrives, looks like the fella is off to hospital for the night to get himself sorted! we wait around for them to leave then head off ourselves. 2115: Go code 5 for a reported RTC involving a pedestrian and a vehicle. Arrive on scene to find no trace of either… call the number of the RP who is heavily in drink and says the problem is sorted! and is a mile and a half down the road now. Lovely. Close the log on that one! 2210: Respond to a call from a Female saying a motorbike is loitering around her property and keeps looking into the drive. Worried as has had a bike stolen recently. We respond and make a note for the neighbourhood team and have a look around the area for said bike but no luck. 2230: DAMN! just as we were going to go back to the station to write some stuff up and book off we are called to respond to a incident involving a dog that has been sold over the facebooks. We arrive and I begin to talk to the couple who have had the dog off of the other party involved after posting a Facebook ad asking for a dog to rehome. The original owners respond and offer a dog and say they will allow the couple to have the dog for the night to see how it settles. The evening comes and the original couple text saying they want to meet as they want the dog back (I think, it was quite confusing!) so they meet at a public location and decide to call the police. After much deliberation my colleague decides, after speaking with a superior, that the dog should go back into the possession of the original owners as they have all of the relevant paperwork still and there is nothing really in paper to support the other couple. Words of advice given to both parties and we head back! 23:30 Book off duty

Rank: Special Constable Planned duty time: 0830HRS-1630HRS Length of service: First duty So I have recently had my first duty, I have had good fun reading other members blogs on this site so I thought I would begin to put down some things from my shifts for others to read and also for myself to read back in the future perhaps. Do bare with me I'm not a talented writer and this is the first one! All times are estimates as my PNB is at the station. 0830: Meet with fellow special that I will be crewed with, he has been great and has made the settling in at the station really painless so I was feeling pretty clam about the upcoming shift we went though some of the paper work I will need to get together such as stop and search forms, DASH forms etc. 0900: Check emails. Talk to some of the regs that are on duty and let the sergeant know we are around today and will be taking up foot patrol in the town. Check briefing for any nasties that we could maybe see on our travels and note down details. 0930: Begin foot patrol, the public are very happy and surprised to see two police officers actually walking through the town, we engage with members of the public giving directions and just general chit chat. It was nice to see the public feeling reassured to see a officer presence which is becoming less and less these days. 1100: Foot patrol takes us through the graveyard a hot spot in the town for drug and alcohol use. Lo and behold as we walk through we find two males sitting behind one of the out buildings with a open bottle of cider and a few other cans with them, both heavily in drink but compliant. We get them to pour the alcohol away and clean the area they have been in, turns out one of the males was at court only the day before on shoplifting charges and was giving a suspended sentence for the second time. Colleague runs them both through PNC, neither are wanted but markers on one of the males due to having uncapped needles on him in the past and a history of drug misuse for this we decide to search him under s23 MDA. Colleague completes the search and I completed the form which was good for me. 1200: Head back to the station to give sergeant the paperwork from the search and to make sure it was completed correctly, thankfully it was! ask if we can get a car to go over to the next town over, there is one available so we take it. 1230: refs break consisting of a large chicken pasty and a bottle of water...now we just need to find somewhere to eat it! while we are finding a place to park to eat loads of reports of RTC's in the area are coming through, probably due to the conditions and people not driving appropriately for them. 1315: Head over to the other town and show our face at the station, talk to the sergeant there and get briefed on persons of interest in the area at the moment 2 took our interest in particular one was a female who has been in the town around school kicking out times heavily in drink causing problems and another was a male who is a prolific shoplifter in the area at the moment. We decide to start a foot patrol in the town on the off chance they may be around. 1400: No trace on either POI, once again public are happy to see police on patrol engaging with them. Head back to the station and decide we are going to go back to the main station. 1410: serious RTC comes over the radio possible fatalities, we call up saying we can go code 5 as we are only 10 minutes away. We go code 5 and make our way to the collision. 1425: Code 6. 2 vehicle collision on a busy A road between a hatchback travelling eastbound and a tipper truck which was travelling westbound, it seems the truck has had a mechanical issue and the driver has said that he couldnt keep it from going into the opposite carriageway and has hit the hatchback with his nearside hitting the offside of the hatchback. Speak to sergeant on scene who asks us to begin with controlling traffic with my colleague and myself going either end of the collision and directing them through between us. 1450: Fire/Ambulance leave the scene. Eastbound carriage is still shut but westbound carriage is now open. The amount of rubber neckers is unbelievable and some more accidents almost happen! 1555: Recovery vehicles arrive for the vehicles. 1612: Highways arrive to clear the carriageway and fix the road which has taken some damage from the collision. 1635: Leave scene, have to go to a local station to drop of some cones that were used in the scene 1710: return to the station 1730: Book off duty! I will add there where thankfully no fatalities at the RTC and only minor injures were sustained in the end which was very lucky judging by the state of the hatchback. I had a really good first duty and learnt that even when it is "Q" anything can come in at any time as it did with this serious RTC. I learnt alot today and cant wait to get back out there! Hopefully this was at least barely readable and interesting!

What else can we add? Could there possibly be anything else to add? It's just a mere two weeks since we upgraded the site, originally it was going to be this weekend but wanting to be the best and most up to date UK Police related site we grasped an opportunity to upgrade sooner. The upgrade wasn't without it's hiccups but nothing we couldn't cope with and everything should be working now. We are so confident with the site and the new platform that we are adding things all the time, some of them small tweaks that you can see, some of them bigger things like the communities and some of them in the background to keep us safe and secure. One of the biggest changes to any iteration of the site is the new Force Communities. Areas that are designed as a one stop shop for everything about a specific force. Our wonderful Community Leads are beavering away in the background to create new and interesting content for the Force Communities some of it you can see and some of it you can't. That's right, you can't see some of the content in a force specific community. You can't see it because you aren't a member of that force, that's how specialised the Force Community areas are, they can even make private areas for verified members of a force. This is something we don't believe that any other site offers and is quite unique to us. The communities are proving to be so popular we are looking at ways of expanding these to other parts of our forum so keep your eyes peeled for any new announcements from Chief Bakes. So just two weeks into the new software and we have ensured we keep as up to date as possible with forum software and all the apps and gadgets that we can. To answer my opening questions, yes there is more we can add so as the site continues to grow and grow and get better and better stick around, keep watching, because who knows what may be coming next.

So we go from strength to strength. First we had an absolutely terrific start and now at only 6 months in we've already upgraded to the latest available forum software. It's an ongoing thing simply because this upgrade isn't just some updated software on top of the old one but a completely new set. A huge amount of work has been ongoing for a while to plan for this and the go live day was frenetic work for a number of us to ensure we could get it up and running as quickly as possible but without compromising the site. So one week after the new software went live it's been updated and we have enabled some more features. It hasn't been without it's small issues but nothing we couldn't cope with. The change from the old software was huge and entailed setting everybody up again from scratch hence why it took all day and hence why we are still making the necessary changes. Even more exciting is that there are more new things to come. In the coming weeks you are going to see lots of new add on's appearing and this is going to ensure we remain the most popular policing forum for UK policing. Hard to believe I know but this place is just going to get better and better. Why would you go anywhere else?

“Urgent Assistance”. Two highly emotive words – instantly recognisable to police officers everywhere. It’s a distress call. It’s the distress call. The one radio transmission guaranteed to cut through the relentless background noise – to prompt any Copper within travelling distance (and some much further away) to drop whatever they’re doing and get to a colleague in trouble as fast as they can. It’s a powerful thing. I think the first time I had to make the call was as a Sergeant in Peckham. We’re going back a while… —————————————- It’s another Late Turn in South East London. I’m out on patrol with my Inspector, when we respond to reports of some sort of disturbance on the Queens Road. Up towards the Lewisham end. We’re the only unit available – everyone else is tucked up with prisoners and other calls. It’s dark. We arrive on scene, get out of the car and find the address up on the left hand side. It’s one of those big old South London townhouses – set back from the road and converted into flats. There’s a young white man standing on the front steps – about 25 metres away from me. Slim and dressed in scruffs, he’s illuminated by a combination of street lamps and the lights on in the building behind him. He’s got a knife in his right hand… Looks like some sort of kitchen knife. And he is sawing it backwards and forwards on his own head – a curtain of blood running down his face and soaking his clothes. It looks like that still image from the Stephen King film ‘Carrie’. Reality more troubling than fiction. That’s when I put it up on the radio: ‘Urgent Assistance’. Give the location. Suspect armed with a knife… The reassurance of knowing that units are running. But time slows down between the call and the help getting to you. I’m a mixture of adrenalin and caution. I draw my baton. Not sure what use it will be if he comes at me – but, somehow, I’ve got a feeling he isn’t going to. Anyway, it’s all I’ve got. I keep it behind me – don’t want to antagonise him – and venture onto the frontage of the house. Keeping my distance. I try to talk to him. I get his name and attempt to calm him down – but he’s highly agitated. Something about breaking up with his girlfriend. And, from what I can tell, she’s somewhere inside the building – together with their young baby. Condition of both unknown. I’m giving updates on the radio… The knife is still going backwards and forwards on his head and neck. Blood and more blood. Just keep talking. He makes no movement towards me and, initially at least, seems to be responding to what I’m saying. But he flat refuses to put the knife down. And the problem is his evident and worsening condition. That – and not knowing where his partner and baby are. Or how they are doing. Just keep talking. They should be here any minute. The cavalry arrive just as the man ducks back inside the front door – still holding the damn knife. No time to mess around. The firearms officers are straight in after him. No thought for their own safety. Concerned only for mother and baby – and for my mess of a man. It all ends OK. At least, as OK as these things ever do. The man’s girlfriend and baby are unharmed (in the physical sense at least) and he is safely in custody. No telling quite what their longer term prospects are though – what kind of a world that child is going to be growing up in. I see the knifeman down in the cells the next day. Cleaned up a bit and in his right mind, he remembers me from the night before. I’m certainly not going to forget him. —————————————- Blood and distress; weapons and violence; heartbreak and trauma; unspeakable wickedness and unimaginable harm; helpless innocents and deeply troubled souls; the frayed edges of society… All daily realities for frontline police officers. Where can you find a Copper these days? Mostly likely in the hurting places… In amongst the broken and the breaking; heading straight towards the very situations that everyone else is trying desperately to get away from – venturing where most wouldn’t dare and not holding back: helping the good people; nicking the bad people; watching one another’s backs; choosing, on occasions, to put themselves in harm’s way. Because that’s what courage means. Because that’s what duty demands. Because that’s the Job. https://policecommander.wordpress.com/2015/02/09/urgent-assistance/ Another superb blog by @policecommander :smiley_notworthy: :smiley_notworthy:

We have another ... PW90 has also offered ONE Lifetime VIP Membership to the best blog judged by PW90 What do you need to do? You need to visit the 'What I Did On Duty' area of the forum and write your blog entry, the more humorous, interesting, and insane the better. The competition will run for four weeks where at the conclusion PW90 will judge all the entries and let us know who they believe is the winner of the competition. We look forward to reading some fantastic entries and remember ONE LIFETIME VIP MEMBERSHIP is on offer courtesy of PW90 http://forum.policecommunity.co.uk/forum/495-what-i-did-on-duty/ Start Writing Your Blog Entry Today Competition closes on the 30th November 2014. Entries received after this time will not be considered so please make sure yours is in on time. Enjoy !!!