Saturday night and I’m crewed with one of the lads who is a taser officer. It starts off pretty ‘Q’ and we get time to have our briefing, check our emails and catch up with any admin left over from yesterdays manic shift. I go out and get the vehicle sorted. We’re the ‘response unit’ tonight which means theoretically we’ll be the first to get sent to any immediate jobs. Our car has an enforcer, ladders, stinger, RTC signs, crime scene kits, perry water rescue lines and plenty of evidence bags in the boot. In practice in just depends what we’re tied up with and who’s free at any given time.
The first job of the night has us both groaning when comms pass it over the air. We’re asked to attend an old peoples home to assist the ambulance. They’ve been called by a female suffering from alzhimers who’s now being aggressive towards them and has spat at them so they want police assistance. We start to make our way and just as we’re turning the corner comms shout us up again. Fortunately ambulance have sorted it and are cancelling us.
I’m driving tonight so I start to head to one of our estates. It’s been identified as the current burglary and car crime hotspot so we’ve been asked to patrol it as often as we can. But before we get anywhere near the first immediate of the night comes in. Suspects disturbed trying to force a back door. Caller is a terrifed 86 year old women who’s at the house on her own. We start making it as does half the division and the neighbourhood officers. One of our lads on team gets there first and confirms the break. He gets a decent description from the old lady who has clearly seen the offenders as they barged into her kitchen. We start to conduct an area search. Then one of the neighbourhood officers shouts up. He’s dealing with a break that happened just before we came on shift. Same MO, forced the back door and just grabbed whatever was on show. That address wasn’t too far from the home address of one of our divisional targets who enjoys that MO so their name is thrown into the mix.
As we’re searching one of the neighbourhood officers spots 2 lads matching the description and gives chase as they make off. The offenders go garden hopping and as we’ve got so many units available we get the area boxed off in no time. We’re confident we’ve got them contained so we call for the helicopter which turns out and a dog handler is rushing over as well. I’m stood on a road facing the line of houses on my side of the containment and just as the helicoptor arrives and starts it’s search one of the neighbourhood lads has collared one of the offenders trying to break out from the cordon. And who does it turn out to be? Our local target who was named earlier. Shortly after his mate is arrested as well, and it’s no surprise he’s also very well known. Both are taken into custody and the dog who’s arrived starts a search of the gardens for the outstanding property. We then start searching for some kind of vehicle as it’s unlikely they’ve both been wandering around on foot. Too much of a chance they’ll be seen and turned over. Comms give us so info that earlier in the night a motorbike was stolen from the same area of the division. Just as they’re passing that info I’m stood right next to the bloody thing! I check the ID using the chassis number and it’s confirmed as the outstanding stolen. A good result for everyone involved, two target offenders arrested and a stolen motorbike recovered. Just goes to show what we’re capable of when we have numbers of officers on the ground free and available to attend. If this had happened on mid week nights when there’s only a couple of our shift avaiable then it would have been a very different story.We have to then wait around for half an hour while recovery arrives to take the bike. It’ll be checked forensically in the morning.
When it’s been picked up we manage to head over to the hotspot and spend a grand total of about 5 minutes there before we get sent to an immediate domestic. We start to make our way but then a second immediate comes in, a disturbance in the street and the informant thinks they’ve seen a knife. As my oppo has taser we cancel ourselves from the domestic and make the disturbance. Other units attend the domestic and others back us up as well. On arrival we find about 10-15 people in the street all screaming at each other. It’s spilled out a nearby pub and no ones telling us much at all. Clearly somethings gone on, there’s ripped T-shirts and a few bloody noses but, as these things always are, it’s chaos. As I’m trying to calm people down I hear a further commotion and there’s another fight kicked off in front of the pub so we run over and start separating everyone. I eventually manage to find out it’s because the landlady got assaulted when trying to eject someone. As I’m trying to take a few details some pissed up moron doesn’t like the fact his wife won’t let him into his car in the car park and starts to punch the windows. My oppo goes over to tell him to calm down and he launches at my mate. My mate manages to push him back and I run over to assist. Together we get him down on the floor and cuffed up. He’s arrested for public order. The van has arrived and we chuck him in the cage. By now there’s plenty of offices on scene and the Sergeant has arrived as well. The pub gets shut for the night and one of the other lads gets stuck with taking details from the landlady for the assault. Apparently it’s a known offender so we might have to assist with arrest attempts later.
We get back to custody and get our lad booked in before we both provide a statement detailing his actions. He’ll get charged in the morning when sober. When we’ve done that we manage to get back out and about. The rest of the night is relatively ‘Q’ compared to the friday. But just after 3am a suspects on call comes on. Someone’s breaking into a restaurant via a back window. We’re not too far away so we start making it as does some officers who are in plain clothes in a plain car. Our informant gives a description and CCTV manage to pick someone up matching it stood next to a taxi office on the same parade of shops. The plain clothes officers get there before us and confirm a smashed window at the back of the restaurant. They check the area and there’s no trace of the offender. The officers make enquiries with the taxi office who confirm they’ve taken a fare in the last couple of minutes matching the offenders description. We get the destination and race to try and intercept the taxi. I travel the most direct route to where we think they’re heading and as we get to a set of traffic lights there’s a taxi waiting at the red light. I pull out to check the signage on the side and it’s the right one, the same taxi firm. As the lights go to green I put the blues on and the taxi pulls straight over. I’ve already got my seatbelt off as I thought the suspect would run for it but he doesn’t move. He stays sat in the front passenger seat and as I approach him I see straight away who it is. Another of our well known offenders who only got released from prison 2 days ago. I’ve locked him up previously for shoplifting, he’s a heroin and crack cocaine user and seemed out of it. I arrest him on suspicion of burglary and during the s.32 search find loads of loose change in his pockets which I seize.
He’s taken to custody and I book him in. I then go about getting the file ready for handover. One of the other lads has met the owner of the resturant and gets a quick statement from him and also from the informant. Unusually he says nothings been taken from his place, he doesn’t keep any change on site in the tills. SOCO arrive and confirm although the windows been smashed no entry has been gained, it looks like the offender was disturbed. The dog handler has arrived and searches the area in case he has dropped anything. He finds another resturant that has been broken into and it looks like the change has probably come from there. We are unable to contact the owner so arrange board up and await a call in the morning. We get a statement from the victim, the informant, the taxi driver and all the officers involved and manage to put together a decent handover pack for earlies. All that will be left for them to do is speak with the owner of the other resturant and confirm whats been taken from there. That takes me through for the rest of the shift. I get away slightly late but you don’t mind for some proper police work.
Response Officer 