Ask a Police Officer

Hello World, I'm Anonymous Bobby.

I'm a serving, front line police officer in London, UK where I have worked for a little under a decade. I work in response policing, meaning that I am out on the streets in a patrol car responding to your 999 emergency calls.

I have plenty to tell you. I've Tasered people. I've performed CPR on people (sometimes successfully, sometimes not). I've chased hardened criminals through the streets of London. I've arrested people for most offences from attempted murder down to burglary. I've carefully led a boy who had been abused through the reporting process. I've hugged your loved ones as they cried. I've been in car chases. I've met death so often that he and I are like old friends. I've talked people off the edge of a bridge, I've watched others jump. I've stood toe to toe with maniacs with knives. I've seen you at your best, more often at your worst. This is a cruel and dark world and I want to share it with you.

Why am I anonymous? Because I want to be honest with you. There are some hard truths about policing, and human beings in general, that I want to speak about on this blog and I fear that those within the Metropolitan Police will be displeased about me doing so. The police in England are all about transparency, so an experienced frontline officer should be free to share his thoughts and experiences without censorship. A blog such as this is rare as everyday police officers are everyday people, with families and commitments. One wrong word against 'The Job' (this is how officers refer to their occupation) could be your last as a police officer. Officers are warned repeatedly against Facebook, Twitter and all social media. What is it we are scared of people finding out? The thing is, I don't care anymore. The UK would be a better place if the public could see the world through the eyes of the men and women who police their streets.

So come with me. I'll take you through my day to day life as a police officer. I'll reminisce on the last decade and recount the stories and people that have stuck with me. I'll address, frankly, the controversies that surround policing in the UK.

Some names and minor details may be altered in order to try and maintain both my own and others' anonymity but I will keep this blog as factually correct and honest as I can, despite how difficult to swallow some truths may be.

Welcome. Buckle up. It's a stormy world out there when you're on the frontline.

Anonymous Bobby