Friday, October 28, 2005
NORMAL SERVICE...
will be resumed.
Now that traffic has returned to a more acceptable level, I'm putting up the archives again and letting loose with a devastatingly satirical picture that has already done the rounds in Notts and will now (I hope) be reproduced in a thousand custody blocks and parade rooms up and down the land (thanks to Chris):
PS The flood of e-mails has now slowed, so if you have any questions or comments please let me know and this time I'll be able to get back to you.
(0) comments (No swearing please.)
Now that traffic has returned to a more acceptable level, I'm putting up the archives again and letting loose with a devastatingly satirical picture that has already done the rounds in Notts and will now (I hope) be reproduced in a thousand custody blocks and parade rooms up and down the land (thanks to Chris):
PS The flood of e-mails has now slowed, so if you have any questions or comments please let me know and this time I'll be able to get back to you.
Friday, October 21, 2005
NEW ARTICLE
(0) comments (No swearing please.)Friday, October 14, 2005
THE FUTURE
Many thanks for all the comments and e-mails. I don't have the technology for an auto-reply, but I'll try and get round to answering them all. I haven't actually been "outed" yet: I'm still going to jobs and filling in forms, but with so many e-mails asking whether I worked for x, y or z police force, I thought I would wait for things to blow over. At the moment, the (Mrs. C approved) plan is this:
1. Keep the virtual real estate of the blog, but bin the archives.
2. Go and see a lawyer.
3. Get an invoice out to the good folk at The First Post so that I can make good on my promise to UK Cops (taking money from good people and giving it to good people).
4. Carry on writing for The First Post until I sort out something else.
Finally, one of those "you know you've made it when..." stories.
I'm sure all those shift working police officers out there with access to cable or satellite TV occasionally watch Street Crime UK, Cops or those other reality police shows. They're shown in the afternoon, when most people are at work, so I fondly imagine that the only people watching are the cops and the offenders. Anyway, this e-mail arrived only the other day:
HI OR BETTER YET --- HELLO,
I WAS POINTED TO YOUR SITE BY A BUDDY AND WAS KNOCKED OUT OF MY SOCKS BY WHAT A GREAT OPERATION AND INTERESTING CONTENT THERE. IT WAS NO MEAN FEAT KNOCKING ME OUT OF MY SOCKS SINCE I WAS BAREFOOTED AT THE TIME. MY BUDDY REFERRED ME TO THE SITE BECAUSE YOU MENTIONED MY NAME. I AM REY , OR RAY VERDUGO , THE HOST OF POLICE BEAT. THOSE WERE NICE WORDS AND IF YOU WOULD LIKE I WILL SEND YOU A COMFORTING COFFEE CUP.
AGAIN , CONGRATULATIONS ON THE GREAT SITE.
R.A. VERDUGO, SGT., (RET.) L.A. COUNTY SHERIFF'S HOMICIDE
So, there we are, an e-mail from the half-man, half-crime fighting machine, 100% policing god that is Rey Verdugo host of "Police Beat". Surely I can now say I've made it.
(1) comments (No swearing please.)
1. Keep the virtual real estate of the blog, but bin the archives.
2. Go and see a lawyer.
3. Get an invoice out to the good folk at The First Post so that I can make good on my promise to UK Cops (taking money from good people and giving it to good people).
4. Carry on writing for The First Post until I sort out something else.
Finally, one of those "you know you've made it when..." stories.
I'm sure all those shift working police officers out there with access to cable or satellite TV occasionally watch Street Crime UK, Cops or those other reality police shows. They're shown in the afternoon, when most people are at work, so I fondly imagine that the only people watching are the cops and the offenders. Anyway, this e-mail arrived only the other day:
HI OR BETTER YET --- HELLO,
I WAS POINTED TO YOUR SITE BY A BUDDY AND WAS KNOCKED OUT OF MY SOCKS BY WHAT A GREAT OPERATION AND INTERESTING CONTENT THERE. IT WAS NO MEAN FEAT KNOCKING ME OUT OF MY SOCKS SINCE I WAS BAREFOOTED AT THE TIME. MY BUDDY REFERRED ME TO THE SITE BECAUSE YOU MENTIONED MY NAME. I AM REY , OR RAY VERDUGO , THE HOST OF POLICE BEAT. THOSE WERE NICE WORDS AND IF YOU WOULD LIKE I WILL SEND YOU A COMFORTING COFFEE CUP.
AGAIN , CONGRATULATIONS ON THE GREAT SITE.
R.A. VERDUGO, SGT., (RET.) L.A. COUNTY SHERIFF'S HOMICIDE
So, there we are, an e-mail from the half-man, half-crime fighting machine, 100% policing god that is Rey Verdugo host of "Police Beat". Surely I can now say I've made it.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
RADICAL CHANGES
Hello again.
Sorry about the lack of archive and the fact that there is only one post up at the moment. Recent events have somewhat caught Mrs C and myself by surprise and I am virtually submerged by the large number of friendly e-mails. I never suspected that the blog, written as it is by a police officer with no secret or even special knowledge to impart, would become quite so well read and appear in the national press.
I always thought I'd be able to type in my own brand of nonsense and nobody would take the slightest bit of notice, like what happens at work. Anyway, to my surprise, this hasn't happened and I'm faced with a few choices I never thought would come my way: despite it all, I actually like being a policeman. It will come as no surprise to any of you to know that after 5.00pm on a Friday and before 9.00 am on a Monday only the very best are actually on duty and they're all funnier and more industrious than me: this blog is about them and I don't want it to be about some copper who thinks he can write.
Finally, don't think that this is goodbye because it isn't, but if you can think of a good reason for me to stop, then let me know. Mrs C and I will have a think about what to do next and if you have any suggestions, as always, let me know.
PS The Mail on Sunday never even asked...bastards.
PPS Unlike the Sunday Times who did
PPPS Come to think of it, so did the Guardian
PPPPS The Sunday Telegraph apologised afterwards
(0) comments (No swearing please.)
Sorry about the lack of archive and the fact that there is only one post up at the moment. Recent events have somewhat caught Mrs C and myself by surprise and I am virtually submerged by the large number of friendly e-mails. I never suspected that the blog, written as it is by a police officer with no secret or even special knowledge to impart, would become quite so well read and appear in the national press.
I always thought I'd be able to type in my own brand of nonsense and nobody would take the slightest bit of notice, like what happens at work. Anyway, to my surprise, this hasn't happened and I'm faced with a few choices I never thought would come my way: despite it all, I actually like being a policeman. It will come as no surprise to any of you to know that after 5.00pm on a Friday and before 9.00 am on a Monday only the very best are actually on duty and they're all funnier and more industrious than me: this blog is about them and I don't want it to be about some copper who thinks he can write.
Finally, don't think that this is goodbye because it isn't, but if you can think of a good reason for me to stop, then let me know. Mrs C and I will have a think about what to do next and if you have any suggestions, as always, let me know.
PS The Mail on Sunday never even asked...bastards.
PPS Unlike the Sunday Times who did
PPPS Come to think of it, so did the Guardian
PPPPS The Sunday Telegraph apologised afterwards
Sunday, October 09, 2005
I LOVE MY KIDS...
...is something I get to hear rather a lot, especially in the Church Road Estate. It usually means one of two things:
“I’ve got no idea where my kids are.” Or, “My kids didn’t do whatever it is you say they did.” Round these parts, love for one’s children is articulated at high volume to save turning off the television and peppered with expletives. It’s a love that has quite defined limits though: insufficient to warrant the serving of meals at regular times and without chips, for example; but at the same time effusive enough to ensure the provision of great quantities of designer sportswear.
I once spoke to an NYPD officer about the problems associated with youth crime and in particular, the locating of appropriate adults for interviews. Needless to say, he looked at me with a blank expression. I explained:
“Well, when you arrest someone under 16 years old you have to find an adult before you can interview them.”
“What for?”
“So you can get them charged and out of police custody.”
“Why do you care about getting them out of jail?”
“Well, it’s not me so much as the custody sergeant.”
“So you ring the mom and tell them their kid’s in jail?”
“Yes, but often they don’t have a car.”
“So, you guys actually drive round to their parents house, pick up the mom, take her to the police station and drive her her home again?”
“Err…yes, pretty much.”
“At least they don’t make you give the kid a ride home.”
“Well of course we give the kid a lift home.”
The public’s understanding of police procedure in relation to young people is poor, and even if they know the score because their children have developed quite long criminal histories, they seem to think that the law can be suspended with respect to their own offspring; offspring who are, all too often, “misunderstood”. I like dealing with parents whose children have been arrested for the first time, it’s one of the few times that one can make a difference, so I try to make the experience so terrifying that they never want to come back and at the same time point out to them that they are at the top of a slippery slope (the feeling of terror soon fades the next time they’re in the shopping centre and temptation is on the display in front of them).
Regular readers won’t be surprised to learn that we in the Newtown police have specialists who deal with youth crime. Uniformed officers like myself make the arrest, arrange the appropriate adult, conduct the enquiries, do the interview put together the file and conduct the follow-up enquiries, but “youth-crime coordinators” also perform a valuable service by doing…coordinating and follow-up work and addressing the root causes of offending behaviour. They have been on specialist courses and their knowledge of child psychology makes a mockery of my own ham-fisted attempts to set them on the straight and narrow.
Surely then, one can presume that if a child has been charged with a criminal offence, then the youth-crime team has failed, the child having already been warned and then reprimanded for his first and second offence respectively? Sadly, this isn’t how the public sector sees problems, instead, it will conclude, the youth-crime team will have to be bigger and a form will have to be created which will have to be completed by uniformed officers.
(0) comments (No swearing please.)
“I’ve got no idea where my kids are.” Or, “My kids didn’t do whatever it is you say they did.” Round these parts, love for one’s children is articulated at high volume to save turning off the television and peppered with expletives. It’s a love that has quite defined limits though: insufficient to warrant the serving of meals at regular times and without chips, for example; but at the same time effusive enough to ensure the provision of great quantities of designer sportswear.
I once spoke to an NYPD officer about the problems associated with youth crime and in particular, the locating of appropriate adults for interviews. Needless to say, he looked at me with a blank expression. I explained:
“Well, when you arrest someone under 16 years old you have to find an adult before you can interview them.”
“What for?”
“So you can get them charged and out of police custody.”
“Why do you care about getting them out of jail?”
“Well, it’s not me so much as the custody sergeant.”
“So you ring the mom and tell them their kid’s in jail?”
“Yes, but often they don’t have a car.”
“So, you guys actually drive round to their parents house, pick up the mom, take her to the police station and drive her her home again?”
“Err…yes, pretty much.”
“At least they don’t make you give the kid a ride home.”
“Well of course we give the kid a lift home.”
The public’s understanding of police procedure in relation to young people is poor, and even if they know the score because their children have developed quite long criminal histories, they seem to think that the law can be suspended with respect to their own offspring; offspring who are, all too often, “misunderstood”. I like dealing with parents whose children have been arrested for the first time, it’s one of the few times that one can make a difference, so I try to make the experience so terrifying that they never want to come back and at the same time point out to them that they are at the top of a slippery slope (the feeling of terror soon fades the next time they’re in the shopping centre and temptation is on the display in front of them).
Regular readers won’t be surprised to learn that we in the Newtown police have specialists who deal with youth crime. Uniformed officers like myself make the arrest, arrange the appropriate adult, conduct the enquiries, do the interview put together the file and conduct the follow-up enquiries, but “youth-crime coordinators” also perform a valuable service by doing…coordinating and follow-up work and addressing the root causes of offending behaviour. They have been on specialist courses and their knowledge of child psychology makes a mockery of my own ham-fisted attempts to set them on the straight and narrow.
Surely then, one can presume that if a child has been charged with a criminal offence, then the youth-crime team has failed, the child having already been warned and then reprimanded for his first and second offence respectively? Sadly, this isn’t how the public sector sees problems, instead, it will conclude, the youth-crime team will have to be bigger and a form will have to be created which will have to be completed by uniformed officers.
