I joined GMP in October 1977, just about the time of the Edmund Davies Enquiry into Police Pay & Conditions, and 3 years after Manchester & Salford Police combined with parts of Lancashire & Cheshire Constabularies to form GMP. Up till a week before I joined, I had never dreamt of being a police officer, but a chance remark by a friend in the pub over a game of pool got me thinking.
Although a graduate, I joined in the normal way by walking
into the Police Station I've ended up working at now, but which was then the
Headquarters of GMP. I remember it well, since I was wearing
standard student uniform of grubby jeans and a
sweat-shirt, and still had hair half-way down my back. I can only guess what
the Recruiting Officer thought, but we talked for a total of four hours, during
which time, I was completely sold on the idea. I returned a week later having
had a bath and a haircut, and signed on the dotted line.
It was a decision I've
never regretted for an instant, and it's a career I would unreservedly
recommend to anyone who feels they have the necessary qualities and aptitude.
Yes, you need to be able to accept the disciplined environment, and as a
vocation it's sometimes unpleasant and makes demands on your family and social
life which few other professions do.
As the Edmund Davies enquiry stated,
however, the police officer is unique amongst subordinates in the degree of
discretion and initiative they are expected to exercise. the average PC makes
more critical decisions during a week than most people make in a year. It's
challenging, interesting, varied and, above all, incredibly rewarding. Being in
a situation where you can look forward to the working day is something rare
& priceless.
I've been a Police Officer for 19 years now,
and still haven't done everything the job has to offer. I became a specialist
in communications fairly early on and have now moved sideways to dealing with
computers as well. Promotion also places some restrictions on ones ability to
gain experience in different departments. Having said that, I've worked on 3
different divisions, in both uniform and plain clothes departments, and have
seen more of life than most people get in a lifetime, so I'm quite happy.
When I joined I was
living in a somewhat dubious student flat in Whalley Range, on the fringes of
Moss Side. It was decided that this wasn't an ideal environment for a bobby,
and so I moved to the single-men's hostel in Bury. After my initial training at
Bruche I was transferred there, and spent the first 5
years of my service there, initially as a footpatrol and later as a panda and
van driver. I also spent some time working in the Communications Suite there.
Towards the end of my time at Bury I spent six months in the CID, and also 3
months working in the Force's undercover Licensing Squad. This last attachment
was particularly challenging and interesting, visiting a variety of licensed
premises to see if licensing conditions were being complied with, and also
doing a certain amount of undercover work for other Force departments, such as
the Drugs Squad.
I passed my Sergeants Exam fairly early in
my service, and entered the promotion rat-race! At my first promotion board, it
was suggested I should have some inner-city experience, and so I was posted to
Salford. I spent 2 years working from the Crescent, mostly driving the
divisional van; then I did 6 months as an Acting Sergeant at Eccles, my first
taste of supervision; then another 6 months at Swinton as a van driver, 9
months in the Salford Communications and lastly 6 months working from Park Lane
Police Station, mainly on the divisional van, at which point the powers that be
decided I had done enough and I was promoted to Sergeant.
On promotion in January 1987, I was posted to Bootle Street Police Station in the City Centre of Manchester, where I have worked to this day. I spent about 12 months as a patrol sergeant and then 6 months in the Central Detention Centre, a prisoner holding centre attached to the City Magistrates Court - terrible place. On my release from the CDC, I went back to my old Relief, but as the Communications Sergeant, and spent over 3 years working there. I was went back onto the streets for a short time and did some Custody Sergeant work before being given the task of training the whole Division for a new computer system the Force was adopting.
One thing led to another and since 1992 I've effectively been doing IT Support for the Division, providing support on PC's the networked systems we have, and writing databases for various divisional departments. I represent the Division on various Force working parties relating to computers and communications and also look after communications matters & special control rooms, known as Silver Controls, which are set up to control major incidents.
When the bombs went off in Manchester in 1991 and 1996 I was involved in running the Silver Control for those incidents and the Division's involvement in Euro '96. I'm currently involved in planning the communications side of the City Centre's involvement in the Commonwealth Games in 2002
The City Centre Division merged with the Collyhurst Division in
1994 to create one of the largest and busiest Police Divisions in the country,
the North Manchester Division. We deal with more crime than several small
regional Police Forces put together, and working there in any capacity is
particularly challenging.
In April 1997, my office was completely "civilianised" and I went back supervising a uniformed shift at Bootle Street. A lot has changed in the past 8 years, and working a full shift pattern after 6 years of days is taking some getting used to, but it's really great to be back on the streets! I still have to spend a fair amount of time dealing with problems arising on the computer side of things, since databases are difficult to maintain if someone else has written them. I'm now happily esconced in the Charge Office as one of the Custody Sergeants. This is very busy at times, as you might imagine, but leaves me the time to take care of computer-related matters.
In 2002 after the conclusion of the Commonwealth Games I was seconded to a project to replace our Personnel System, which was about 5 years past its sell-by date. I've now transferred full-time into our Personnel Department to co-ordinate the implementation of the Duty Management module of that system. The likelyhood is that I will become the System Administrator and finish out my service slaving over a hot computer - bliss!
If you are interested in finding out more about the Police in general, your local Police Force, or any matters relating to Law Enforcement, you can follow one or more of the following links. The Police Federation in particular has some good and extensive links to Forces around the UK who have a presence on the World Wide Web: