British Police Officer

[MattUK]

Hi, Im a serving Police Officer with the West Midlands Police Force in the UK.
I'd love to chat and exchange stories with fellow Officers of the CHP.
Feel free to mail me at mshakes1@aol.com.

Hope to hear form you soon, be safe.
:lol:

[SB 405]

Greetings from across the pond. Are you a uniformed Officer? Pull up a chair and tell us a little something about yourself.

[MattUK]

Hiya, yes Im a uniform Officer, I work on the Response Vehicles, responding to the 999 calls. I've been in the job 7 years now..(seems alot more!!!) The area we cover in the city of Birmingham is mainly residential, with housing estates and a couple of factory lots. Its quite a busy area.
Where abouts do you work form??

[SB 405]

Let me start off by saying I'm not in law enforcement Matt so if it's policing questions you have I'm sure the Officers here will be able to help. Most of the regulars here are CHP Officers and others are in the hiring process. Most of the Officers on this site work in the northen area of the state(I myself live in Los Angeles) and everyone here treats each other with respect and courtesy so it's a pretty good place to hang out....welcome!

[MattUK]

Well Hi SB, thanks for the welcome. How long you lived in LA for? Ive always fancied a visit, but have a young daughter now, so all my money goes on her..lol!
What do you do then? You working at the moment?

[SB 405]

I grew up in Los Angeles. My Mother is from England (Manchester) and came to the states with my Father at the end of WWII (war bride)
I've worked in the hotel business for a little over 24 years. Yes,I'm at work now but I check in here every so often during the day to see what's new. So how long was your training period? The academy for the CHP lasts six months. You say you respond to 999 calls and I assume that's the same as our 911 system here in the states. But Officers here handle all types of calls so are you saying your work is to handle emergency calls only? A little tough on the nerves if that's what you do all shift. I'd be hittin' a pint or two after work If I did that all day.

[RC5150]

Welcome Matt, I've spent some time on your side of the pond. I was stationed in London for about two years and while there went to Birmingham to play the RAF in rugby. I lspent a fair amount of time with some of your fellow officers, I lived on an MOD compound which had a pub in our barracks so we spent some time drinking with the Officers there and had a great time.

[Lucky Seven]

Hi, Im a serving Police Officer with the West Midlands Police Force in the UK.
I'd love to chat and exchange stories with fellow Officers of the CHP.
Feel free to mail me at mshakes1@aol.com.

Hope to hear form you soon, be safe.
:lol:


Welcome to the forum! :cool:

[Cameron]

Matt, welcome to the forum.

I have a question for you. With the death of Police Constable Sharon Beshenivsky (who was unarmed when she tried to stop a robbery), has there been much discussion within your department/government of arming British police officers? I know that some of your officers are armed, and some are not.

Do you carry a firearm on duty? What, exactly, is the policy on who carries a gun and who does not?

Lastly, if you do not mind too terribly, I'm curious what your opinion is on this issue.

[HwyChaser]

It amazes me when I hear stories about the British officers working unarmed. I truly don?t know how you guys do it. I've had a couple of situations, where I know for a fact, the presents of my weapon helped an ugly situation go more smoothly. I?ve gotta hand it to our British friends, you guys working the streets over there without a weapon have my respect.

[SB 405]

Wonder if the Officers keep a little friend tucked away inside a boot...if ya get my drift. ;)

[Flying Pig]

MattUK...

Welcome...Im not a CHP officer, even better....Im a Deputy Sheriff. I like to offer my humble opinion when it applies.

[MattUK]

Matt, welcome to the forum.

I have a question for you. With the death of Police Constable Sharon Beshenivsky (who was unarmed when she tried to stop a robbery), has there been much discussion within your department/government of arming British police officers? I know that some of your officers are armed, and some are not.

Do you carry a firearm on duty? What, exactly, is the policy on who carries a gun and who does not?

Lastly, if you do not mind too terribly, I'm curious what your opinion is on this issue.

Hi Cameron, I dont mind answering at all....It's a mix of feelings over here about whether we should all be routinely armed. Personally I dont have a problem with it, although some of my collegues have said they never want to carry a firearm. I dont carry one at the moment, we have ARV ( armed response vehicles ) who back us up at jobs where firearms are mentioned, although they aren't much help when we are sent to a job where they arent mentioned and then pull them anyway! In 7 years I have only had two cases where I've been threatened with a gun...I'm touching wood as I type...
I think within a few years we may all be armed, although it would cost the Goverment millions to arm us all, and I cant see them paying out quickly.
HwyChaser...thanks for the respect, my head is swelling, but never having had a gun, I dont miss it..we over here Respect you guys more for having to deal with people with guns..thankfully, we dont have many Officers injured or worse by gunfire, apart of course poor PC Sharon Beshenivsky.

[Ratty]

Hey Matt,
I'm a Brit officer too.

Last year I was fortunate enough to spend 3 weeks with these fine folks at the Academy when I took Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) School.

A finer group of individuals I could not hope to meet.

For those that were there, I was the one that nearly threw up after a spin round the EVOC !

Many of our American colleagues could'nt understand how we do our jobs without firearms.
After the increasing number of cases like Sharons', I have to agree.

[Flying Pig]

Hey...British guys.....do your departments have helicopters?

[Ratty]

Some do, some have fixed wings.


On that subject,

Are you a Sac County Sheriff?

I was honoured and grateful to be able to attend the funerals of Joe Kievernagel and Kevin Blount when I was at DRE School. Very sad news.

[Flying Pig]

No, Fresno. I went to Air Crew School with Blount. That was defintiely a shock when that incident occured. That was one of those times where you do everything right and do exctly what you were trained to do, but it still doesnt work.

[ka4993]

MattUK...

Welcome...Im not a CHP officer, even better....Im a Deputy Sheriff.:lol: :lol: :lol: Thats a good one