A Routine Call

Whenever I was called to a job involving someone armed with a firearm, machete, or other weapon of lethal force, I used to be fairly relaxed. 

 

"Are you wearing PPE?" Control room ask.

 

"Affirmative."

 

You have time to stop, put on your body armour or tighten it up, give your PAVA gas a shake and think about how you're going to approach the address, what cover you will use to hide from harm, and how you and your colleagues may subdue the offender. 

 

Inevitably, on arrival, the weapon is nowhere to be seen or is thrown down quickly.

 

It's the "routine calls" that get you.

 

The domestic that turns into an officer fighting for her life against an axe-wielding maniac.

 

PC Lisa Bates lost a finger and sustained a fractured skull in the attack

 

 

The burglary where officers are pelted with grenades.

 

The vehicle check where the offender suddenly pulls out a handgun.

 

To guard against this type of incident, you would have to train officers to risk-assess like soldiers in hostile territory.  To assume every house, every car, contains an enemy tooled up to the eyeballs.  You would need four times, or ten times, the number of armed officers, to ensure you don't have the ludicrous situation where the police are no more equipped than the public to deal with these incidents.

 

The government wants police officers to now pay to put themselves through a policing degree, and is leaning towards recruits and senior officers with higher level exams and civilian business experience.  How do you reconcile the true nature of policing, the blood, the guts and the ignominy, with the government's view of the white collar police academic?

 

Yet more evidence that the government is not on our wavelength when it comes to police reform.

 

Yet more evidence that the sacrosanct British bobby is on the way out.  How many will continue to do their job, under these conditions?

 

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'Diary of an On-Call Girl' is available in some bookstores and online.