The UK Policing Thread
Silhouette Man
The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,644MI6 Agent
I know that we have a good number of ex-police officers and perhaps even current police officers here from the UK so I thought it might be an interesting idea to start a separate thread where issues concerning policing in the UK (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) could be discussed at length as it comes up quite a lot on other threads. This thread could therefore act instead as a "one-stop shop" for all matters concerning policing in the UK. -{
So who wants to get the ball rolling?...
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
Comments
Here are some instagram pictures from Reykjavik police, Iceland. Some years they get a murder on Iceland, but 2015 seems to have been one of the less hardcore years:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/holy-cop-conundrum-police-pull-772751
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
Which led me to wonder if anyone here has had to revive a lady ? )
( Basically it was a tube with smelling salts )
Theres a joke in there somewhere but I can't think of it ....
:v
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
Apologies for blanking out the central numbers. This issue was pre PACE days when a police officer turning out in shirt sleeve order wore one of these shirts, a clip on tie (as protection against strangulation - ties had to be worn) & epaulettes. He would carry no other items of kit other than a pocketbook, pen(s), handcuffs & a wooden truncheon - kept in a special pocket in the right hand side of the trousers.
PC's & Sergeants wore blue shirts, Inspectors & above white (WPCs also wore white shirts - oh & the police band wore them too)
I think the Met used to wear blue shirts but changed to white many years before other forces.
Oh I forgot the two way radio - Burndept at that time.
As for the radio, we used a Storno which was only useful for throwing at people )
Big heavy blue things. I'm certain the PTT button was red on ours as the one on the photo doesn't look right. In service when I joined (1975) they were phased out in the late 1980s in favour of Motorolas.
Interesting but I suppose that "duty has no sweethearts" and it put the poor animal out of its misery.
The ladies truncheon was half the size of the mens and we too had a pocket in the side of our skirts so it bashed against your leg all day.Useless bit of kit and I done think I ever bothered with it.All different these days mind ... they let women have guns and everything ) )
I've been giving a lot of thought to the incident in North Wales were the police purposely ran over and killed the dog that was on the carriageway.
I would love to know what the reasoning for this was. I worked in traffic as part of the motorway control for a few years and we often had problems with animals roaming onto the motorway because we were obviously surrounded by countryside and farms. Everything from horses, sheep, geese, dogs etc but not once did we decide to kill the animal. The motorway was always closed until the animal was secured.
My only guess with North Wales is perhaps they didn't have the units available (they were probably the only unit on!) to do a proper closure and the animal was causing problems (which I believe it was and vehicles had had to swerve to avoid it)
( recently shown on bbc2 ) in which they stated, about police women ............
" They can do everthing a policeman can do !" ) just leaving out.....
" They take up less space, smell nicer "
I heard on the news on the radio (I think it was BBC Radio 4) that an officer had already tried to catch the dog a number of times but that it had bitten him. I think they did the right thing as they felt the only safe thing was to destroy the dog.
When I first went on the beat my mentor was an old time bobby who was nearing the end of his service. I couldn't have picked a better tutor had I been given the choice.
I remember one of his stories about when he first joined what was then the 'City' police force. On his first day (this would have been about 1950) his own mentor had told him to make sure that when he next came on duty he had plenty of pennies on him. Bemused but not wanting to go against the order of this man - who himself was an old timer - Chas dutifully did as he was told. The old boy then showed him how to fill one of his gloves with coins before heading for the bus station. Bobby senior ordered all the people who were hanging about after turning out of the pubs to get their respective buses home. Almost everyone complied without question however according to Chas a couple of likely lads didn't move quite as quickly as the old Bobby liked so were treated with a clump round the head with this coin filled glove!
Sadly the owner saw him.
He never got rid of the nickname: Flat Dog
Arriving at a house break in, the policeman tells the the home owner what he's going to do.
" I'll chase the burglar on to the roof, when he falls off, the dog here is trained to rip his b*lls off !......
... Now take this gun "
" what's the gun for ?" asked the home owner .
" In case I fall off the roof first, you're gonna shoot that fooking dog !"
We had a combined operation on our patch ,involving MI5,C.I.D.FIREARMS ,dog units ect ect (you get the picture)
any how reports had said that spies from the Moldovian intelligence network(M.I.N.) had been operating in our area ,and word from upstairs was ,that these spies ,needed to be arrested and deported . So on the designated evening ,the front door was smashed in ,lots of Police shouting POLICE STAND STILL and lots of swearing ,the 3 men from M.I.N were arrested and taken back to the factory . They were then according to PACE presented before a ruddy faced old skipper in custody . who looked up from his cross word puzzle and his mug of tea ,and said "Constable ,take these men upstairs to the canteen ,and pour custard over their heads !!
to wich the P.C replied bemused ,"whys that sarge " Coz I like custard on my MIN spies came the reply .
But I'm going to pinch it for myself!!!