Diary of a former Bow Street Runner

Sorted it so my final shift is on Sunday now, not next week - from 0300 hours on Monday June 12th I will no longer be a police officer. Woo hoo! Since these sorts of things come around full circle, I'm getting the same adrenaline rush and feeling of elation that I had when I joined the police.

Now I won't have to worry about wasting time getting KFC for people, arresting World Cup fans for racism or apologising for doing our job of protecting people.

"Why didn't you arrest the terror suspect who was about to blow himself up?"
"I didn't want to cause disruption to the community"
"No, you let him do a damn fine job of that himself didn't you!"

You'll be pleased to know, however, that I've used my initiative and have already implemented Liverpool's Trivial Crime Squad tactics myself - I'm often telling people that the pile of crap trying to pass itself off for something we should gave a damn about won't be investigated, and why. Since being on notice period, if they really start to annoy me I tell them the real reasons rather than trotting out the polite and rehearsed corporate spiel about lack of evidence - it is because they are wasting our time with one-upmanship allegations against whoever happens to have offended them this week, and really should get a life. Surprisingly, they don't kick up as much of a fuss about that as I'd have thought - maybe they appreciate being given a reality check? Nothing's come back to me yet anyway, and I don't care now because most of PSD don't work weekends.

I've decided to keep this blog going after I leave - will update it every so often with more inside info on policing as most of what i know won't be going out of practice within weeks of leaving, as well as little tidbits about life as an ex-cop and what I'm up to. There's a few things I'll miss:

1 - Collegaues - hard-working, dedicated, and put up with a world of crap. But I can stay in touch every so often via the Internet.
2 - Free travel on public transport - has saved me an absolute fortune over the years!
3 - Scrapping with people in such a way that no marks are left on them (hint - pressure points), the force is fully justified and they don't complain afterwards because they have something to hide/are drunk.
4 - Telling pain in the arse prisoners a few home truths in the old custody suites before CCTV and sound recording.
5 - Erm...
6 - That's it.

Will reveal my reasons for leaving after I've left, when I'm no longer under control of the force.
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