Monday

Monday

Got to work at Six thirty am, Shift starts at seven.
Changed, showered and at my desk by Six fifty.
Fire up the computer log in with one of my many passwords
I have to remember this month.

Log in to the crime reporting system to have a look at my assigned work today. 32 Crime on the books, five left over from last week.

Break down is 22 Burglary type offences, 10 reports of stolen mobile phones. Oh hum.

Fire up my email - 147 emails since Friday, over half are stupid administrator emails telling me my email account is full and I need to delete emails, sent every hour on the hour since late Sunday afternoon. ( pointless message ) Delete all the crap.

Rest of the team arrives in drips and drabs and the call for tea & coffee goes out.
I review my work file and Identify which of the 32 crimes require my immediate attention in order of seriousness of the offence and any time constraints or possible leads/ chance of solving the crime. Out of the 22 reported burglaries I identify that only half are actual burglaries and the rest are possible criminal damage but reported as burglaries due to stupid home office counting rules. Conduct basic checks on the address and victims and intelligence system checks.

I start ringing around the home owners and I make 5 appointments to visit their houses , leaving messages to contact me at the rest.
(Each visit will take about 1 hour including been present with the Scene of crime officer )

So far I have spent 2 hour's at work and have accounted for the next 5.

Various trips to peoples homes, asses the crime, look for leads, door to door enquires , list stolen items , give crime prevention advice and give the member of the public the police service they expect.

Five hours later, only two of the burglaries has possible forensic leads one in the form of a fingerprint the latter even better , spit left in the kitchen by the scummy burglar.

Return to station Via Costa coffee and Nando's for energy supply's , Update the crime reports with my findings so far. Pick up left messages from the other victims and arrange to attend during various times during the week and tomorrow.

Spend the next half hour responding to Senior management team emails that are running around like headless chickens about the weekend figures been so high, reassure them by pointing out only 11 burglaries actually happened in the last 2 days ..

Update my appointments book, ensure the Crime scene officer has sent of the fingerprint and swab for testing.

Log off.

Gone.

Soft on Crime, Soft on the causes of Crime

With recent events in the news of escapee's from prison the home office to be split in two and now that Mr Reid is asking judges to reduce the numbers of criminals sentenced to custody ,

I have to ask .. is this the labour government who was voted in ?

Are they really tough on crime ?

I also remember another catch phrase " education etc.." and look at that ? Now I don't generally comment on politics but one has to wonder where the hell is Blair taking us ?

Is this the legacy he is really going to leave ? oh do you want a PND ?... I have targets to make before the end of the counting year... I'll do you a special deal ( Honest )

Show me the money

Greetings, I hope you are all well and looking forward to the seasons festivities and that you were all smart enough to have booked your holidays now for next years Christmas last minute aid interferences.

We enter the time of the office parties, the department dinners, the teams pissups and the units trip to the seaside resort of your choice, no doubt the usual batch of stories will filter up, the police service is not immune to the Christmas party mistakes ... we are also in full fly of the annual antidrink drive campaign that lasts the festive period then we are tasked to some other equality meaningful priority as soon as possible, and begs the question where are all the traffic officers gone?

Of course all this drink and fun brings its usual community policing skills to the fore of the lost mobile phone while drunk revilers crawl in to the stations shouting “ honest officer it was pick pocked, can I have a crime number for my insurance please “ – which then inevitably follows the “drunk” later after reviewing cctv and speaking to the network provider resulting in their arrest and £80 fine or charge. Why report a crime that did not happen? We do check you know…

Myself I have had my head firmly stuck in Blackstone’s and various other books in the vain attempt to get bits of obscure law in to my grey matter as the 2007 March OSPRE Part One exam looms on with ever increasing speed… I must be mad to want to be a sergeant; this of course has meant I have neglected this blog however I have not forgotten about it.

Thanks to all of you who sent emails of concern regaling my welfare, I am still alive and no I haven’t been carted of some dark coroner of the Met.

Have a fantastic and safe Christmas, and I will write before then I am sure.

PS. Oh we got the 3% .... lucky us.

TTBL.

Oh dear

Oh bugger.

Any one got some tips for air travel ? I had planned on flying with Ryan air and skipping out on the extra charge for luggage by using hand luggage however it appears some naughty people have scuppered that idea. I would love to hear from anyone who was affected by the recent actions and restrictions now in place, drop me a line.
On more interesting news the Proceeds of crime act has lowered the bar for cash seizures , This has dropped from Five thousand to a meager One thousand pounds (Or believed to be that amount) that can be seized under POCA if it is believed to be ill gotten gains. Interesting times ahead I think here. Just dont forget to bring the court fee when you make your application, filling in an expence form later is a right pain in the backside.

Once again in this post I am drawing attention to the fantastic BIKESAFE program.
If your a fellow 2 wheel head, you should - nay must get yourself on this program at some point
It will save lifes.

Blessed sleep

I envy my response/team colleagues, Shift patterns mean they get sleep at some point.
Late hours and long working periods , weekend on - cover & night duty all on top of prisoner that are proper long cases have meant that I am cream crackered.

This time of the year its not helped with people on holidays and annual leave meaning that the work of 4 is been done by two - just.

Yea sure there are all the regs about workhours etc , but I can tell you Mrs TBL is not best pleased. I am sure new shoes will be the order of the day with my pay packet no doubt about that.

There has so much been going on in the media that I leave it to those better able to argue points to address all the goings on, but I do despair with the level of violence of the assaults I have been dealing with lately.

I think I am just dog tired.

There is light at the end of the tunnel and its not that of an on coming train.
Holidays loom for myself towards the end of the month, Mrs TBL and I will be getting out of this country to some where not quite so hot !

Oh I am rambling now.
Good night, sleep well.

e-MAIL

A special thanks to a reader for sorting me out a free google email address
thethinblueline@gmail.com

Cheers! Spam away folks !

It is now.

Its all over now ..

Is it now time for Sven to go ?

Should Rooney get a kicking ?

Any one off to Nandos for refs ?

... bring me back some peri peri nuts.