On the BBC today was a story about two police officers who had stopped off to get a cup of tea on their way to a call. Unbeknownst to the officers a female was deceased and hanging at the address they were due to attend.
The call had come from a concerned friend who had received a suicidal message from the female in question. The call was originally directed to the ambulance service but was also passed to the police, most likely due to their ability to force entry into an address if required.
Police call handlers graded the call using normal the police triage. It was graded 'S'. This is the second highest grading a call can receive ('I' grade being the highest) and gives officers up to one hour to arrive on the scene. Whilst the limit is an hour, officers should arrive as soon as possible. ('I' grade calls have a 14 minute limit).
Lack of police officer numbers and recent cuts means that the officers out on the street, namely the response units, are almost always en route to one call or another. Whether its an 'I', 'S' or 'E' grade. ('E' grades have a 72 hour limit, they are unofficially known as "E-ventually" calls). That means that over a 10 hour day officers are constantly on their way to one call, diverted to another of higher grading, stopping at something they have come across direct such as a damage only road collision etc etc. Hardly ever are they 'On Patrol' - or free for whatever call comes out.
So this beggars the question, is it really that unreasonable that these two officers stopped to grab two cups of tea from Mcdonald's, which they probably drank whilst en route? For if officers only ever went to the toilet, had a drink, or ate whilst they were 'On Patrol' they would never do any of the beforementioned necessities.
Had PC Tony Stephenson and PC Gavin Bateman not stopped to pick up the two teas, the female would still have been dead in her home. She had died before the original call was made.
A 2 day hearing is due around the conduct of these two officers next week, costing God only knows how much. All because they dared to stop to get a cup of tea, before making the 'S' grade within the allotted one hour time slot. At a time when the public needs every police officer possible out on the street protecting them, this seems like a waste of everybody's time.
Police officers eat, drink, smoke, urinate and defecate just like everyone else. They are not entitled to any official break and often manage a constant flow of calls and people needing help by stopping and doing these things whilst en route to lesser graded calls such as the one in question.
An unprecedented attack on police officers on the street from within, the public and the media continues, and now it seems that despite the difficult work we do, we aren't even entitled to the most Englsih of constitutions, a simple cup of tea.
Anonymous Bobby
Showing posts with label mental health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mental health. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Saturday, January 21, 2017
The Man Who Cut His Nose Off To Spite His Face
People do bizarre and unexplicable things.
There was a man who was wanted by police. He knew police were looking for him and so he took a knife and stabbed himself. Whether or not he intended to die I do not know. How he thought this would help if he did not intend to die, is also beyond me. Sadly, in this case it appears that he would have been better off if he had died.
His injuries were extensive and he suffered a stroke moments after self harming.
The stroke was catastrophic and he was left unable to communicate and was left, for want of a better word, a vegetable. He was only a young man and he had drawn his life to a partially premature end. Doctors would later predict that the man would not recover to his former self.
It's hard to understand how or why a person may take such drastic action. The offence for which he was wanted was relatively minor and he had not suffered any serious mental health problems prior to the incident. His family were left to pick up the pieces for the rest of his life because of one ridiculous and emotional outburst.
As a police officer I find myself regularly surrounded by such tragedy. It is most difficult to rationalise people's actions in one's mind. It is also difficult to explain to people the effect being around such events has on me. What am I supposed to tell my wife when I get home after each shift? I, like most police officers with 'non-job' wives, simply say nothing.
Anonymous Bobby
There was a man who was wanted by police. He knew police were looking for him and so he took a knife and stabbed himself. Whether or not he intended to die I do not know. How he thought this would help if he did not intend to die, is also beyond me. Sadly, in this case it appears that he would have been better off if he had died.
His injuries were extensive and he suffered a stroke moments after self harming.
The stroke was catastrophic and he was left unable to communicate and was left, for want of a better word, a vegetable. He was only a young man and he had drawn his life to a partially premature end. Doctors would later predict that the man would not recover to his former self.
It's hard to understand how or why a person may take such drastic action. The offence for which he was wanted was relatively minor and he had not suffered any serious mental health problems prior to the incident. His family were left to pick up the pieces for the rest of his life because of one ridiculous and emotional outburst.
As a police officer I find myself regularly surrounded by such tragedy. It is most difficult to rationalise people's actions in one's mind. It is also difficult to explain to people the effect being around such events has on me. What am I supposed to tell my wife when I get home after each shift? I, like most police officers with 'non-job' wives, simply say nothing.
Anonymous Bobby
Thursday, January 19, 2017
The Murder/Suicide
It was late 2012. A man had been found dead in his home. It was clearly suspicious yet nobody had pieced together exactly what had happened. Our radios came to life once more and informed us that there was a fire in a large detached house. We raced to the scene.
Upon arriving I noticed a large house completely ablaze. The London Fire Brigade (LFB) were arriving at the same time as us. A neighbour ran toward us screaming that their was a man trapped inside. A few of us entered the house, with LFB, and dragged a screaming man out of the house.
He was badly burnt all over. I could smell his burning flesh. He was still conscious and begging us to let him die. I'll never forget the way his white skin had burnt away revealing the muscle underneath. We applied burn packs to help the wounds but the male had to be restrained as he tried to pull them off. Flames were still licking up the windows in the house as the LFB tackled the enormous fire. Luckily, there were no other houses around the property which could have been effected. The LFB did a fabulous job that day. We didn't know that the male was trying to kill himself. We thought the fumes had caused him to become delirious. I was with him, with a large team of firemen, paramedics and police for about 30 minutes as we restrained this badly burned man so that he could be appropriately treated.
He died from his injuries later that day.
As it turned out, the male had recently broken up with his partner and that morning had travelled to his home and stabbed him to death. He had then gone to his own home. He had poured petrol everywhere, sat on his sofa and set fire to his house.
People often think of suicide as selfish. I don't. These people are in crisis and desperate and need help. Nobody will ever know exactly what that young man was thinking that day (he was only 23). Whatever he was thinking was not normal and he destroyed two young lives in a matter of hours. He also gave me something to think about, as well as a lot of other Emergency Responders.
Anonymous Bobby
Upon arriving I noticed a large house completely ablaze. The London Fire Brigade (LFB) were arriving at the same time as us. A neighbour ran toward us screaming that their was a man trapped inside. A few of us entered the house, with LFB, and dragged a screaming man out of the house.
He was badly burnt all over. I could smell his burning flesh. He was still conscious and begging us to let him die. I'll never forget the way his white skin had burnt away revealing the muscle underneath. We applied burn packs to help the wounds but the male had to be restrained as he tried to pull them off. Flames were still licking up the windows in the house as the LFB tackled the enormous fire. Luckily, there were no other houses around the property which could have been effected. The LFB did a fabulous job that day. We didn't know that the male was trying to kill himself. We thought the fumes had caused him to become delirious. I was with him, with a large team of firemen, paramedics and police for about 30 minutes as we restrained this badly burned man so that he could be appropriately treated.
He died from his injuries later that day.
As it turned out, the male had recently broken up with his partner and that morning had travelled to his home and stabbed him to death. He had then gone to his own home. He had poured petrol everywhere, sat on his sofa and set fire to his house.
People often think of suicide as selfish. I don't. These people are in crisis and desperate and need help. Nobody will ever know exactly what that young man was thinking that day (he was only 23). Whatever he was thinking was not normal and he destroyed two young lives in a matter of hours. He also gave me something to think about, as well as a lot of other Emergency Responders.
Anonymous Bobby
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
The Recession and Police Cuts
Just a quick note on the recent cuts to police budgets in the UK.
There aren't enough police officers on the streets of London. The public know it and police officers know it. The current trend in supervisory policing is to cut. Cut cut cut. Save save save. The problem with this is that the public don't get the police service they deserve and the officers that are out there are stretched too thin.
More is being asked of officers on a day-to-day basis. The response team shift pattern, for instance, has recently been changed to 7.5 days on then 2.5 days off. That's 7 and a half days of intense, non-stop reactionary policing before 2 days rest. The work/life balance is gone and been replaced with a work/sleep balance. This doesn't leave enough time for their families and loved ones, especially as the hours they work are unsociable to start with.
Police officers have seen budget cuts that have affected their personal lives recently. The pension schemes they were paying into for up to 10 years have suddenly seen the terms changed beyond recognition. Having planned their retirement, they are having to have a complete rethink as they are expected to pay more money towards their pensions, receive much less and work for a lot longer. As well as this they have seen wage freezes and an unprecedented attack on overtime incentives and other benefits such as free travel.
All a good saving to the public purse though is it not?
Officers have their few days off cancelled for lots of reason, and often at short notice. They are working with faulty, outdated equipment such as cars, computers, and toilets that constantly clog and overflow. Conditions are poor and morale amongst police officers is lower.
I've been a police officer for around a decade. I have never seen morale in the police as low as it is currently. I have spoken to many officers who have served for over 20 years and they concur. Morale is important. To the public more than anyone else. At best officers are more tired and have less time to dedicate to crime prevention. They do a less thorough job of reporting as the next incident is always outstanding and supervisors are pushing them to arrive in the designated response time. At worst, we have a mental health crisis amongst police officers just around the corner as they suffer from a complete burnout.
Cuts effect the service the public get from the police. One day you might need the police. You might need them in a hurry. Who knows, your life may even depend on it. It will take longer for the police to get to you now then it would have 5 years ago. There is no debating that. But, more importantly, what if when the police do arrive they are too tired, or downtrodden to help you, or what if they don't even care anymore?
Anonymous Bobby
There aren't enough police officers on the streets of London. The public know it and police officers know it. The current trend in supervisory policing is to cut. Cut cut cut. Save save save. The problem with this is that the public don't get the police service they deserve and the officers that are out there are stretched too thin.
More is being asked of officers on a day-to-day basis. The response team shift pattern, for instance, has recently been changed to 7.5 days on then 2.5 days off. That's 7 and a half days of intense, non-stop reactionary policing before 2 days rest. The work/life balance is gone and been replaced with a work/sleep balance. This doesn't leave enough time for their families and loved ones, especially as the hours they work are unsociable to start with.
Police officers have seen budget cuts that have affected their personal lives recently. The pension schemes they were paying into for up to 10 years have suddenly seen the terms changed beyond recognition. Having planned their retirement, they are having to have a complete rethink as they are expected to pay more money towards their pensions, receive much less and work for a lot longer. As well as this they have seen wage freezes and an unprecedented attack on overtime incentives and other benefits such as free travel.
All a good saving to the public purse though is it not?
Officers have their few days off cancelled for lots of reason, and often at short notice. They are working with faulty, outdated equipment such as cars, computers, and toilets that constantly clog and overflow. Conditions are poor and morale amongst police officers is lower.
I've been a police officer for around a decade. I have never seen morale in the police as low as it is currently. I have spoken to many officers who have served for over 20 years and they concur. Morale is important. To the public more than anyone else. At best officers are more tired and have less time to dedicate to crime prevention. They do a less thorough job of reporting as the next incident is always outstanding and supervisors are pushing them to arrive in the designated response time. At worst, we have a mental health crisis amongst police officers just around the corner as they suffer from a complete burnout.
Cuts effect the service the public get from the police. One day you might need the police. You might need them in a hurry. Who knows, your life may even depend on it. It will take longer for the police to get to you now then it would have 5 years ago. There is no debating that. But, more importantly, what if when the police do arrive they are too tired, or downtrodden to help you, or what if they don't even care anymore?
Anonymous Bobby
Monday, January 16, 2017
The Oxford Graduate on the Roof
Many years ago I was on patrol with my colleague Robert when we were called to an address where the informant's flatmate had climbed onto the roof of their block of flats. Nothing else was known when the call came out. Robert and I rushed to the scene to find out what was happening.
Upon arrival we noticed the address was a large block of flats, nine floors in height. The roof was in two parts, it had a pointed, triangular section and a flat section. I could see the silhouette of a young man standing on the edge of the flat section of the roof.
We went inside and up to the flat of the original informant, a flatmate of the male on the roof. He did not know the young man well, as he had recently moved in. We made our way to the top of the building to try and communicate with the young chap on the roof. Access to the roof was gained via a ladder to a hatch in the ceiling of the communal hallway (it was quite an old building). Unfortunately, the young man had somewhow wedged the hatch shut from above, it was not budging.
Robert and I knew we had to get a line of communication open with the young man so we resorted to leaning out of a living room window on the 9th floor. The poor residents of that flat were flabbergasted. I remember they were particularly worried about the paint on their window sill. I leaned out first and could just see the male. Robert held my legs tightly from inside the flat as I strained to make myself known and gain eye contact. I could see that the male was now sitting on the edge and was rocking back and forth. He was mumbling under his breath. I asked him his name and he told me his name was Kevin.
I told Kevin he would be OK and asked him to let me up through the hatch. But he had stopped talking to me. He was rocking, precariously, on the edge of the building and mumbling to himself under his breath. It was clear that he was having some sort of mental health breakdown.
His details were unknown to the police system and his flatmate said that he was usually healthy, as far as he knew. A quick look around Kevin's room gave us enough to work with. He was an Oxford University Graduate. He was keen on politics. Clearly an intellectual and academic. Robert and I guessed that something traumatic must of happened to cause his sudden breakdown.
Robert tapped a key on Kevin's laptop and it whirred into life. His computer's background was a picture of Kevin and a beautiful young blond. Could this girl be the reason Kevin was now rocking back and forth on the edge of a deathly drop?
Robert and I took it in turns to lean out the window and talk to Kevin. We continued for around 3 hours while other contingencies, such as the fire brigade, were put into place. It is excruciatingly difficult to talk to somebody that you barely know, without any form of response, for any length of time. Especially when you are trying not to irritate or upset them. It is a skill in itself. You quickly realise how repetitive you have become, and the spaces between the most calming and reassuring words you can think of becomes longer and longer. After a number of hours, I was leaning out when Kevin quickly stood and suddenly scrambled to the top of the triangular section of the roof. I watched him dart up there and was convinced he was going to leap off the top.
He sat on the point of the triangular roof and continued to rock, and we continued talking to him, just a little louder. He was now in an even more precarious position as the slightest slip would see him fall from the point of the roof.
Eventually he came in when the fire brigade made their way to the roof in a cherry picker. He simply got in it as soon as they reached him. I don't know if we had worn him down or he was just ready to come inside. All I knew was that I was exhausted and I couldn't feel my legs.
The beautiful young blond had, in fact, been the cause of Kevin's breakdown. They had been at Oxford together, studying politics and Kevin had then moved to London for a rather prestigious job. Due to the distance involved the blond ended the relationship. That was enough for Kevin to seriously consider ending his life.
We took him to a Mental Health Hospital to get help. He tried to run away when we got to the hospital so I hugged him. He was only small. I hugged him as if he were my own son and as I did so I walked him into the secure unit, without letting go.
Anonymous Bobby
Upon arrival we noticed the address was a large block of flats, nine floors in height. The roof was in two parts, it had a pointed, triangular section and a flat section. I could see the silhouette of a young man standing on the edge of the flat section of the roof.
We went inside and up to the flat of the original informant, a flatmate of the male on the roof. He did not know the young man well, as he had recently moved in. We made our way to the top of the building to try and communicate with the young chap on the roof. Access to the roof was gained via a ladder to a hatch in the ceiling of the communal hallway (it was quite an old building). Unfortunately, the young man had somewhow wedged the hatch shut from above, it was not budging.
Robert and I knew we had to get a line of communication open with the young man so we resorted to leaning out of a living room window on the 9th floor. The poor residents of that flat were flabbergasted. I remember they were particularly worried about the paint on their window sill. I leaned out first and could just see the male. Robert held my legs tightly from inside the flat as I strained to make myself known and gain eye contact. I could see that the male was now sitting on the edge and was rocking back and forth. He was mumbling under his breath. I asked him his name and he told me his name was Kevin.
I told Kevin he would be OK and asked him to let me up through the hatch. But he had stopped talking to me. He was rocking, precariously, on the edge of the building and mumbling to himself under his breath. It was clear that he was having some sort of mental health breakdown.
His details were unknown to the police system and his flatmate said that he was usually healthy, as far as he knew. A quick look around Kevin's room gave us enough to work with. He was an Oxford University Graduate. He was keen on politics. Clearly an intellectual and academic. Robert and I guessed that something traumatic must of happened to cause his sudden breakdown.
Robert tapped a key on Kevin's laptop and it whirred into life. His computer's background was a picture of Kevin and a beautiful young blond. Could this girl be the reason Kevin was now rocking back and forth on the edge of a deathly drop?
Robert and I took it in turns to lean out the window and talk to Kevin. We continued for around 3 hours while other contingencies, such as the fire brigade, were put into place. It is excruciatingly difficult to talk to somebody that you barely know, without any form of response, for any length of time. Especially when you are trying not to irritate or upset them. It is a skill in itself. You quickly realise how repetitive you have become, and the spaces between the most calming and reassuring words you can think of becomes longer and longer. After a number of hours, I was leaning out when Kevin quickly stood and suddenly scrambled to the top of the triangular section of the roof. I watched him dart up there and was convinced he was going to leap off the top.
He sat on the point of the triangular roof and continued to rock, and we continued talking to him, just a little louder. He was now in an even more precarious position as the slightest slip would see him fall from the point of the roof.
Eventually he came in when the fire brigade made their way to the roof in a cherry picker. He simply got in it as soon as they reached him. I don't know if we had worn him down or he was just ready to come inside. All I knew was that I was exhausted and I couldn't feel my legs.
The beautiful young blond had, in fact, been the cause of Kevin's breakdown. They had been at Oxford together, studying politics and Kevin had then moved to London for a rather prestigious job. Due to the distance involved the blond ended the relationship. That was enough for Kevin to seriously consider ending his life.
We took him to a Mental Health Hospital to get help. He tried to run away when we got to the hospital so I hugged him. He was only small. I hugged him as if he were my own son and as I did so I walked him into the secure unit, without letting go.
Anonymous Bobby
Thursday, January 12, 2017
A Mental Health Crisis
Mental Health care in London is in crisis.
As a response police officer I would estimate that at least 50% of call outs are to people from suffering with mental health problems. It appears that no matter how in need of help they, they are soon released without adequate support and we are soon picking them up once again. I once section 136'd a male who was attacking passers-by with a mallet. He was violent towards any passing public and police and could easily have killed somebody. It was clear that once he was detained safely that he had major mental health problems. We were glad to section the male and take him to a place of safety at a mental health hospital where he could receive help. A couple of months later a colleague text me and told me that he had just had to section the male again, in the same place, doing the same thing. Luckily nobody was harmed on either occasion.
This example is not a rarity but, instead, commonplace. There is a distinct lack of funding and care which leaves a hole that police officers are expected to fill. Whilst officers are usually dynamic and communicative, the very presence of police can often aggravate a person with poor mental health. They need a response from mental health specialists.
It has often hit the media that police cells are used as a 'place of safety' for persons whom have been subject to Section 136. The truth is that often there is 'no room at the inn' at designated mental health suites, hospitals don't tend to want to know and the only option remaining is a police cell. However, since negative media attention on the issue this practice has all but ceased.
There are problems around legislation and police power. Section 136 of the Mental Health Act gives officers the power to take a person who is deemed an immediate danger to themselves or others to a designated place of safety, by force if necessary. This, however, only applies if the person is in a public space. If someone is at home and threatening to kill themselves, the police, nor the ambulance, have the power to forcibly take them to get help. The ambulance service have a Section 135, however this only gives them the power similar to a 136 if that person is unable to make a decision for themselves. This would include if they were physically unable to communicate, or mentally unwell enough to be unable to communicate. If they were sat on their bed, lucidly communicating how they intended to end their life, 135 would not apply. This often leads to a stalemate whereby police and paramedics remain at a mentally unwell person's home for hours and hours, trying to convince them to go to hospital, at least voluntarily. This grey area needs addressing and legislating for immediately.
Police officers, in the main, are all rounders and are equipped with problem solving skills and communication skills that get them through these incidents. However, officers are not trained in mental health to any kind of degree whereby they are truly equipped to do anything other than deliver people in need to the deficient services that are currently available.
Anonymous Bobby
As a response police officer I would estimate that at least 50% of call outs are to people from suffering with mental health problems. It appears that no matter how in need of help they, they are soon released without adequate support and we are soon picking them up once again. I once section 136'd a male who was attacking passers-by with a mallet. He was violent towards any passing public and police and could easily have killed somebody. It was clear that once he was detained safely that he had major mental health problems. We were glad to section the male and take him to a place of safety at a mental health hospital where he could receive help. A couple of months later a colleague text me and told me that he had just had to section the male again, in the same place, doing the same thing. Luckily nobody was harmed on either occasion.
This example is not a rarity but, instead, commonplace. There is a distinct lack of funding and care which leaves a hole that police officers are expected to fill. Whilst officers are usually dynamic and communicative, the very presence of police can often aggravate a person with poor mental health. They need a response from mental health specialists.
It has often hit the media that police cells are used as a 'place of safety' for persons whom have been subject to Section 136. The truth is that often there is 'no room at the inn' at designated mental health suites, hospitals don't tend to want to know and the only option remaining is a police cell. However, since negative media attention on the issue this practice has all but ceased.
There are problems around legislation and police power. Section 136 of the Mental Health Act gives officers the power to take a person who is deemed an immediate danger to themselves or others to a designated place of safety, by force if necessary. This, however, only applies if the person is in a public space. If someone is at home and threatening to kill themselves, the police, nor the ambulance, have the power to forcibly take them to get help. The ambulance service have a Section 135, however this only gives them the power similar to a 136 if that person is unable to make a decision for themselves. This would include if they were physically unable to communicate, or mentally unwell enough to be unable to communicate. If they were sat on their bed, lucidly communicating how they intended to end their life, 135 would not apply. This often leads to a stalemate whereby police and paramedics remain at a mentally unwell person's home for hours and hours, trying to convince them to go to hospital, at least voluntarily. This grey area needs addressing and legislating for immediately.
Police officers, in the main, are all rounders and are equipped with problem solving skills and communication skills that get them through these incidents. However, officers are not trained in mental health to any kind of degree whereby they are truly equipped to do anything other than deliver people in need to the deficient services that are currently available.
Anonymous Bobby
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Taser Taser!!!
Disclaimer: Some details have been changed to render this incident difficult to recognise in order to protect the anonymity of all involved.
Officers on response teams started to carry Taser a few years ago after an officer in Harrow suffered horrific injuries in an attack by a man with a knife. When the Commissioner (Sir Bernard Hogan Howe) visited that officer in hospital he asked him "What could have prevented your injuries?" the officer replied "a Taser". To the Commissioner's credit, Taser was soon available to a limited number of response team officers, of which I was one.
People often ask if I've Tasered anybody. My answer is now "a couple of people".
The first time I Tasered someone it was a man in his house, he could be heard by neighbours to be smashing items of furniture in his home. We arrived and he came to the front window of the house, looking out onto the street. He could be seen with a large kitchen knife in each hand. His eyes were wild and daring and he was shouting incoherently. It was clear to my colleague and I that he was suffering a mental health crisis. After failed negotiations through his window with him we had to force entry into his house with an enforcer. As the door flew open my colleague and I feared for our safety. The male had not dropped the knives and had now disappeared deeper into the house. We had to force entry when we did as the male was intimating that he would cut his own throat with the knives. The door flew open and we stood in the doorway with our Tasers drawn. A couple of other officers were behind us, they did not have Tasers. As we slowly edged our way through his hallway the male burst out of a door on our right and charged at us. I shot him but it had no effect as the two probes were too close together.
A Taser fires two 'probes' attached to wires. These probes have hooks on the end which hook into clothes or skin. An electric current is then passed between these two probes through the person's body, disabling them. If the two probes are too close together when they hit a person, the current only passes through a small part of their body. Ideally, you want your probes in two separate muscle groups. That would completely incapacitate anybody.
My shot was enough to shock the male and he ran into his bedroom, with my colleague and I in hot pursuit. The male still had the knives in his hands as I took aim again and this time got an effective probe placement on the male. He was restrained and nobody was significantly injured.
Taser is a controversial issue. Having carried one for a while I have seen the good it has done and the injuries and harm it has prevented to so many people. The Metropolitan Police get a lot wrong. As we go through this blog together you'll come to see how I believe The Met get MOST things wrong. But, the training around Taser is simply world class. An outspoken member of Amnesty International was seen on television to be criticising police use of Taser, so the Taser trainers invited him along to witness the quality of training and policies and procedures around its use. He did a complete U-turn in days.
The male I Tasered was clearly suffering a serious mental health issue but had shown both violence towards himself with the knives, and to us by charging at us with the knives. A situation which could have led to serious injuries to many people was resolved without any serious harm to anyone. All because that officer from Harrow said "a Taser" and, more importantly, Sir Hogan Howe listened.
Anonymous Bobby
Officers on response teams started to carry Taser a few years ago after an officer in Harrow suffered horrific injuries in an attack by a man with a knife. When the Commissioner (Sir Bernard Hogan Howe) visited that officer in hospital he asked him "What could have prevented your injuries?" the officer replied "a Taser". To the Commissioner's credit, Taser was soon available to a limited number of response team officers, of which I was one.
People often ask if I've Tasered anybody. My answer is now "a couple of people".
The first time I Tasered someone it was a man in his house, he could be heard by neighbours to be smashing items of furniture in his home. We arrived and he came to the front window of the house, looking out onto the street. He could be seen with a large kitchen knife in each hand. His eyes were wild and daring and he was shouting incoherently. It was clear to my colleague and I that he was suffering a mental health crisis. After failed negotiations through his window with him we had to force entry into his house with an enforcer. As the door flew open my colleague and I feared for our safety. The male had not dropped the knives and had now disappeared deeper into the house. We had to force entry when we did as the male was intimating that he would cut his own throat with the knives. The door flew open and we stood in the doorway with our Tasers drawn. A couple of other officers were behind us, they did not have Tasers. As we slowly edged our way through his hallway the male burst out of a door on our right and charged at us. I shot him but it had no effect as the two probes were too close together.
A Taser fires two 'probes' attached to wires. These probes have hooks on the end which hook into clothes or skin. An electric current is then passed between these two probes through the person's body, disabling them. If the two probes are too close together when they hit a person, the current only passes through a small part of their body. Ideally, you want your probes in two separate muscle groups. That would completely incapacitate anybody.
My shot was enough to shock the male and he ran into his bedroom, with my colleague and I in hot pursuit. The male still had the knives in his hands as I took aim again and this time got an effective probe placement on the male. He was restrained and nobody was significantly injured.
Taser is a controversial issue. Having carried one for a while I have seen the good it has done and the injuries and harm it has prevented to so many people. The Metropolitan Police get a lot wrong. As we go through this blog together you'll come to see how I believe The Met get MOST things wrong. But, the training around Taser is simply world class. An outspoken member of Amnesty International was seen on television to be criticising police use of Taser, so the Taser trainers invited him along to witness the quality of training and policies and procedures around its use. He did a complete U-turn in days.
The male I Tasered was clearly suffering a serious mental health issue but had shown both violence towards himself with the knives, and to us by charging at us with the knives. A situation which could have led to serious injuries to many people was resolved without any serious harm to anyone. All because that officer from Harrow said "a Taser" and, more importantly, Sir Hogan Howe listened.
Anonymous Bobby
Sunday, January 8, 2017
The Swinging Man
Several years back a typical shift was coming to an
end. I was in a patrol car with my good friend, and colleague, David. We were
both weary as the calls had not stopped coming in that day, in fact we were
slowly heading back to 'The Ranch' (the police station) to type up the day's
reports. We were moments away from turning into 'The Yard' when the radio came
to life.
"I graded call to Anonymous Park, a member of
the public says he can see a man hanging from the climbing frame".
We were around the corner.
Now, these types of calls are strange. It was
daylight. It was in London, where there were a lot of people about and in 99%
of cases like this that member of the public would be mistaken in some way or
another. An I graded call, by the way, is the highest rating a call can
receive, giving a response unit a maximum of 14 minutes to get to the scene.
We needed no more than 3 minutes. This was not one
of those occasions in the 99%. This was the 1%. The silhouette of a man hanging
from the climbing frame swung gently in the breeze in the dimming light of an
Autumnal day in London. David and I drove straight into the park. Nobody else
was around, except a lone dog walker stood glumly by the swinging man. This was
our informant.
David had fetched our first aid kit from the boot
of the car and unzipped it, turned it upside down and dumped its entire
contents onto the floor rather than search around inside it. Meanwhile, I took
hold of the swinging man's waist and tried to support his weight as best as I
could. He was still warm-ish. It is worth noting that an adult male's body,
completely limp, is an incredibly heavy item and this male weighed in excess of
85KG. David produced a pair of tough-cut scissors from the mess of first aid
items on the floor, climbed onto the climbing frame and began attempting to cut
away at the ligature. After a few seconds I felt the males full weight fall
onto me and we fell to the floor together, I did my best to stop either of our
heads hitting the ground too roughly.
David and I were both experienced officers and so
while we were transmitting the relevant information to our colleagues, and
requesting an ambulance, we lay the man out and I immediately got on his chest
and started compressions whilst David placed a face mask over the man's face
and routinely blew two breaths into his lungs between my 30 compressions.
There was no sign of life from the male as a
paramedic arrived. We continued with the CPR as he did his checks. He told us
there was no pulse. Nonetheless we continued as more and more paramedics
flooded that little park. David and I would occasionally swap over as chest
compressions become tiring very quickly. For about 10 minutes we continued like
this whilst various healthcare professionals drilled into the male, injected
him, and did various other things to him that I did not understand.
Suddenly, the paramedic who seemed to be running
his team's side of the show said "I've got a pulse". I felt a strange
sense of careful optimism for him. Quickly he was scooped onto a bed and we
hurried him to the nearest hospital.
We stayed with him (as is policy) and it wasn't
long before a doctor approached David and I and told us that we had saved the
man's life. He remained on life support for a number of months before dying. So
I guess we didn't save his life after all.
I remember needing a whiskey or two when I got in
that night. It takes time to turn your brain off when you have experienced
something like that. You feel it, touch it, make decisions during it, smell it,
taste it and live it. It becomes a part of your own story and remains in your
psyche. This story is one of hundreds that I wish to share with you on this
blog. I don't recount these things to boast, or tell you all what a hero I am.
I'm nothing of the sort as you will learn as these pages pass. I want you to
understand that policing is a complex and difficult matter which takes its toll
on those who are consistently out there in situations such as the one I have
outlined above. It is not a remarkable story. It is a tragedy and one that is
played out all over London, everyday, over and over again. This blog is for the
regular participants in that tragedy, the police officers.
Anonymous Bobby
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