2 wheeled Rant

I’m a keen cyclist and do a 12 mile commute through central London a few days a week. Truth be told I despair of other riders, 80% of them are complete idiots, jumping red lights riding on the pavement, weaving through pedestrians trying to cross the road - It’s a complete nightmare and totally unnecessary, Id love to summons someone for furious and wanton cycling..that would make my day.

The media and the cyclists pressure groups make a big noise when a cyclist is squashed by a lorry, everyone wants to fit extra mirrors of cameras to the trucks and re train the drivers even make them ride around town on a bike to see what its like. The simple matter of it is cyclists get squashed by lorries turning left because they filter down the left hand side to get in front of the lorry and save a few seconds at the lights...simple solution...don’t bloody do it and if you do don’t complain if you get crushed!. 

And Boris bikes..don’t get me started..great idea..very commendable for tourists etc in the west end...but it's created a great wobbling army of clueless peddling zombies, its like trying to fly a hang glider through a Kamikaze festival.

A nice change

Sunday was a funday, on duty at a family event a police headquarters… dog displays, helicopters food, vintage vehicles, happy people and smiling children…… a bit of traffic directing and a BBQ

Makes a change being waved to by children instead of being given the v’s…..

although the BBQ was put on by the dog section.....draw your own conclusions

Van man

Why do people, deny they have anything they shouldn’t have when we ask them, when they know they are about to be searched? It’s obvious we are going to find it, so why not save the bother and just tell the truth?  Friday night, pissing down, windy we get a call to look out for a certain van reported by a mop for acting suspiciously in an area known for drugs deals.  Like most of these calls we kept an eye out not really thinking we would see it. The first thing I knew about it was when my head hit the side window as Inspector X threw the van around 360 degrees as he had spotted a vehicles which as we say ‘fitted the description’, we followed it for a while and then gave it a tug.  Inside where two very fidgety looking bodies in local authority uniforms, as sit was a council van. While Inspector X talked to them I noticed one of them smartly pull his huge hairy hand from between the car seats. 

We got them to the side of the road and asked them did they have anything they shouldn’t have..

”no not us guv” etc. 

we gave them several chances to tell s whet they had. A regular unit arrived to assist us and as we searched driver and passenger they searched the van, lo and behold three bags of ‘herbal remedy’. We where all for dragging them off to custody, seizing the van, informing the council, etc.etc. But before we could do so the regular officers said we should issue a cannabis warning……ho hum… so a cannabis warning it was.  

They guy we took into our car was more worried about his wife finding out than anything else and kept apologising for lieing to us.

Back at the station, this simple warning translated into about two hours of form filling and report writing…in effect taking two units of the streets who could have been doing something useful, instead of filling box files with dead trees.

Having a riot

The first thing that struck me as we motored down the road in a convoy, was how well the people we passed where driving, no one seemed to be going to quickly everyone wore a seat belt and all mobile phones where safely tucked away. The second thing that struck me was how heavy the rain was, and the fact that very soon 150 colleagues and I would be standing out in it.

PSU level 3 training is, the basic crowd control training for all officers, no riot shields no crash helmets and no long batons, just normal everyday kit and should the worst happen a grim determination to hold the line until the cavalry arrives.

Our training took place at a bleak and windswept disused army barracks about 30 miles from HQ, a rather forlorn looking place in an advanced state of decay. After some basic training in the fundamental tactics of different styles or cordons, and some fantastic lunch we were split into two groups, one to be the crowd and the other to control them. Suffice to say, crowd behaviour was bad and armfuls of ‘stolen’ kit had to be returned after each session. Although obviously miles away from the prospect of a genuine hostile crowd the event gave us a taster of the noise, aggression, and problems of containment we would be up against in a real situation. Each of us learned a lot and hopefully took something positive from the day other than wet trousers aching limbs and the odd missing collar number.

As a slight footnote It made us realise how the lack of 'uniforms on the street' may effect our ability to control such situations, it took 40 or so people to mount an effective cordon across a normal width road. When did you last see 40 bobbies down your street?