Crewed Oscar, Zero Zero

The golden rules of being crewed on your own as a uniformed police officer:

• Don't stop vehicles with more than one occupant until you've got backup on the way.
• Always know what road you're on.
• Always make sure the control room knows what road you're on.
• Make sure another officer is on the same road as you, preferably in the same car.

In other words, single-crewing on the front line is not an option. Not a safe one, at least. Back in December most UK police bloggers wrote about this topic, as the government announced that single-crewing was a better way of policing (and as a lucky coincidence, cheaper too).

[Paragraph removed pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation.]

Officially, Neighbourhood is not the same thing as Response. Unofficially, a motivated neighbourhood officer will attend the same amount, if not more, spontaneous and dangerous incidents as her response colleagues.

Officially, officers are asked to risk assess the incidents they attend and wait for backup or 'contain' an incident if they cannot attend on their own. Unofficially, if you're behind a vehicle that needs stopping, you'd better hope you're equipped for that vehicle to stop, and that you know the name of the unsigned part of the unsigned country road you're on (you know, just up from a bush and opposite that tree). Because once they see you, they might just pull over. They might just get out, take a dislike to you, and start to punch and kick you until you fall to the ground unconscious, where they might kick you a bit more. As you fight them tooth and nail, spray and baton, for your life, alone in the countryside, you might well think your number is up. You probably didn't want to die that way. Your colleagues might find you lying on the ground not moving, and for a moment they might think the worst, and wonder why they hadn't driven quicker, got there sooner, got in the car with you, saved you.

I've been writing this blog for some time, and what I've gleaned from colleagues across the nation and world has brought me to a bit of a conclusion about Neighbourhood policing. I'll share it with you:

There's no such thing as Neighbourhood Policing. There is only Policing.

Alan Johnson, there is no place in the world where a police officer, in uniform, in the city or in the countryside, in people's homes or on the streets, is not in danger. At least, in pairs, we have a fighting chance.


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