14 replies to this topic

[Romeo99]

Hey Ho Readers

I've started this topic as a sort of mini-diary so that any potential L&B specials can get an idea of what to expect and hopefully sign up to join our fine constabulary. Didn't really want to put it in the main diary thread as I feel there are so many diaries already.

I'll post all the training day's descriptions in here along with my stories once I'm out on the streets.

If everyone could refrain from posting in here, I'd like to keep it just training information, no chit chat.

Thankyou

RJ99

[Romeo99]

Saturday 1st October 2005

First intake had our first day. It was really really good. Got a talk from inspector d****** then had to do the icebreaker. It was interesting to hear about everyone's lives and the training officers had a good laugh at making people stay up there for the full 2 mins. We even got some instruction on dance moves from one of the guys .

The intake is very varied, good mix of ages, gender, ethnicity and personal skills. I'm the baby of the group though.

We went straight into our teaching inputs on Common Law crimes. Crimes such as Assault, Breach of the Peace, Housebreaking, Theft. We studied what constitutes the commital of the crime and if there are any aggravations of them. The lessons were easy to understand and the sarge and pc's even humoured us with our barrage of what if? scenarios. I find it amazing that they have the patience .

Given our uniform and checked it. A huge big holdall with jackets and trousers and gloves and so on. Stab vests are custom made and will be with us in approximately 10 weeks. The only thing we actually took home was our shirts, trousers, ties/cravatts and eppaulettes so we can all attend on Wednesday in uniform. Gonna be weird seeing everyone looking like police officers. It's arrest/detention practicals on Wednesday and then OST at the weekend.

Can't wait.

Edited by romeojuliet99, 13 October 2005 - 06:14 PM.

[Romeo99]

Wednesday 5th October 2005

Well, so ends Wednesday. Arrest and Detention practicals. I don't think I've laughed so much in a long time .

Everyone turns up in their uniform bar a couple who had only just had their fittting and were collecting it that night.

First off we studied what constitutes an arrest and a detention and the correcting caution wording.

Then we were set two roleplays. One for an arrest for BoP and the other detaining a suspect over a suspicion of assault. Training Sgt would be the culprit and suspect.

The Sgt chose 3 couples to arrest him and they each dealt with him without seeing how the previous lot handled it.

Immediately the sarge let go with lots of swearing (he was very convincing). The first guys kinda got stuck at the end of the scenario but didn't do too badly for a first time, 1.5/10. The second pair were quite good and got scored 2/10 and the last pair tried not to arrest the offender but he pushed them to arrest him, they got 1/10 i think. The scores sound really awful but we'd been told not to expect much and our attempts would range between god awful and pretty poor.
The training pc's then showed us how it should be done. Both women, they were very forceful with the offender and i think they must have set a record for arriving on scene to arresting, they took no nonsense. Mucho impresso .

The last scenario the Sgt wanted volunteers. One of the women volunteered and since no-one else would I thought I'll have a go. I unintentionally took the lead talking to the suspect and giving him the detention spiel but my colleague was very assertive, getting a hand on him once we'd informed him of his detention. Sarge said we didn't do at all badly, was quite impressed at the fact we decided my colleague would get hold of him, male being less likely to make a fuss with a woman on his arm and said I kept up the chat and kept it nice and friendly by using his first name to address him. Was shaking a bit though through nerves and suspect decided to make a comment about it to try and wind me up but stuck to my guns.

All in all a good session. Had some laughs, learned a lot and feel more confident doing the spiel. Strange how nervous you are with someone who doesn't even have any ill feeling for you, just play-acting, makes you realise how much practise you need.

We all got our duty belt and cuffs coz it's OST this Saturday and Sunday.

Roll on the weekend.

Edited by Whopper MacBig, 25 October 2005 - 07:09 AM.

[Romeo99]

Saturday 8th October 2005

Well, day one of OST over. DON'T MAKE ME GO BACK, PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME GO BACK!!!

Nah it wasn't that bad. The drive home was difficult because of how sore my arms, shoulders and wrists are :happy:.

We started off with open hand jabs. Pushing a suspect away with either your right, left or both palms. That soon knackered you coz it was into big thick pads that you're partner held.

We did a gladiator style gauntlet run with 6 people holding the pads and you had to push the first away with you're leading hand, the second with you're strong hand, the third with both palms, the fourth you had to parry away, the fifth you had to do all three then the sixth you had to all of them until the instructors told you to stop. Tiring or what?

We did some spacial awareness excercises after that. Basically that action is faster than reaction so give yourself space.

Arm locks and takedowns was next. It really is amazing that with certain holds and pain compliances you can as one person take control of another. I know it will be different on the street but I was completely overcome when one of the trainers and one of my colleagues were 2 up on me in an escort position. They both put armlocks on me as I struggled and then piled on me as they took me down!!!! . I could not move at all!
I've found that I now have a great toolkit for getting prisoners to be compliant.

The next thing we were shown was ground pins. This included leg restraints, which are incredibly tough pieces of velcro. Also, wrist locks and positioning your knee to hold a subject on the floor.

There was also instruction on how to breakaway from certain maneuvers. All worked very well, which I was actually surprised about.

One of the last things we did was cell extraction. This is my favourite technique by far . You team up in a very close three man/woman group and work together to get a violent prisoner moved. It feels like some sort of special forces task, 3 out, 2 out and all that (once you've done it you'll know what I'm talking about).

Having now done one day of OST it has changed the way I would tackle an arrest/detention incredibly. I would be now looking at how I place my feet, reactionary gap, his/her body language, signals that an attack is coming and if he/she was being aggressive using the palm jabs and open hand techniques.

Tomorrow is baton and cuffs plus other stuff like vehicle extraction.

Looking forward to it.
(it's also an 11am start rather than an 8am, WooHoo!)

Edited by romeojuliet99, 13 October 2005 - 06:31 PM.

[Romeo99]

Sunday 9th October 2005

It's been hot showers and ibuprofen and i'm still sore from yesterday.

Well anyway, on to Sunday, day 2 of OST.

We started off with a recap on our takedowns and I quickly realised it was a bad idea to wear my luminous orange Holland football top, I became a prime target for demonstrations. Could remember the open hand stuff quite well but not what they are all called. OST instructor also managed to break one of the guy's wrists so off he trotted to A & E with our PSU OST instructor. Two injured, twenty two to go!

Speedcuffs was our main input today. We did compliant cuffing first, so front palm to palm and front stacked. We were shown how important it is to approach a detainee from the rear once you have told them that they're going to be cuffed. Next was non-compliant. Cuffed to the rear palms outward and rear stacked. We did exercises in each.

The next exercise was to get a realistic experience of cuffing. We grouped into fours and three people took pads. The one without a pad was to be the police officer and had to fend off the other three with open hand jabs for 30 seconds. They then had to handcuff one of the group. It was designed to get your heart rate up so that you lose your fine motor skills, as in more like a real life situation. It was definitely more difficult but you just had to concentrate.

After a quick break we started search techniques. Standing and face down on the floor. Some points made about getting suspects to open their mouths because certain ones are known to carry razor blades in there. Also not to slide down arms or legs because of the risk of sliding into sharps. Quite a useful point also made was that it's best when asking if somebody has anything dangerous on them not to say " have you got any sharps/needles" as the usual reaction is " what d'you think i'm a f*****g druggie like?".

There was also the cuff takedowns shown, very painful. Remember if someone gives you a present (as in grabbing you) what do you do with presents? You keep them (use it to take them down or give them pain).

One of the best bits was getting to scrap with the instructors. It was all done on your knees so you were already close to the ground. There was some serious hair pulling and armlocks going on. It was really to put into practise the skills we had learnt of pain compliance, takedowns and breakaways. Myself and the colleague I paired up with got too far apart and therefore I became an easier target and I caught a punch in the face. Owww! But I got the instructor aswell, I must have caught him with my elbow.

We moved onto batons after that. Lothian and Borders are moving from the PR-24 to the autolock so it was those we trained with. Our PSU OST instructor showed us how to block high, side, low and thrust attcks. Quite a threating noise when you rack the baton . We learnt the 40-10 rule. 40 percent of your strikes will be high, 40 low, 10 will miss completely and 10 will be spot on so always aim at the midpoint of the attack. We finished up with strikes into the pads and the proper technique to strike.

Batons continues next Saturday.

Hopefully I will be pain free by then!

A week of rest. Woo Hoo!

[Romeo99]

Saturday 15th October 2005

Hey folks. I'll update on the second weekend of OST.

We started with more recaps on our open-hand techniques. Basically so that we feel comfortable that we know all the takedowns, ground pins and pain compliances.

It was then onto recaps of our cuffing. Got shown some extra little pointers on body position when putting handcuffs on someone.

We all ventured outdoors for instruction on cordons and low and behold.........it WASN'T raining or cold . Without going into too much detail we were shown the 4 types of cordon used and how to form up. Must be quite scary forming a line like that when all the rowdy MOPs start trying to break through and you've got to hold them back. We were told if things got riotous usually the PSU powerhorses would form up infront of us and we would be disengaged.

Pads came out again and it was back to our Autolock batons. We were taught jabs with the tip and hindi cap(end of the handle) and creating distance by driving through someone with a horizontal baton held across them. Would think they would be pretty damn painful when hitting someone in the abdomen.

Then came the real test of dexterity and hand-eye co-ordination. It was a defensive move that involves you linking open hand jabs with closed baton strikes finished with the coup de grace, a solid punch straight into someone's stomach. Our instructors made it look really easy but it took quite a bit of skill. Gonna need some practise methinks!

Our final bit of the day was FIST suit time. I tell you, as soon as someone puts that suit on they look like a cross between a bomb disposal expert and a teenage muntant hero turtle. Translation - f*****g scary .

We got put through some scenarios where we had the option of actually striking the suspect because of the big thick pads of the FIST suit. Very good simulation I thought as it gives you an idea of really struggling with someone.

We got to finish up early today but it's back at 11am tomorrow for the final day.

CS EXPOSURE!!!!!!!!! :sad:

Better make sure I bring my hankey!

[Romeo99]

Sunday 16th October 2005

So ends OST for the first intake of L&B specials.

We were told to turn up in our old gear for the CS exposure so there we all were bright eyed and bushy tailed at 11am.

Got split up into 3 groups of 8 and lead out onto the hockey pitch. We all stood in a line and were all ready to get sprayed, kind of. The instructor took out a canister and sprayed down the line then took a step closer and went back up the line. We had to walk through it, turn around, walk back through it, turn around and walk through it again.

Immediately I felt my throat and nose stinging but it wasn't that bad. I continued with no effects really at all for about 2/3 mins apart from sneezing a couple of times. However, as soon as I stopped walking about, it hit me full force. My eyes started stinging unbearably so I had to close them, my nose got rid of all the snot so I had boogers hanging off the end of my nose and I was spitting to try and get rid of the burning in my mouth. It was awful!!!!! After another couple of minutes I tried opening my eyes but they were on fire so I had to shut them again. It took a good ten minutes at least for it to wear off.

Out of our group of 8, 2 were pretty much unaffected (Toastie being one of them). I was definitely the worst off, with one of the girls, SC Barbie, (named because we would send her in to chat up any rioting neds and because of her sexy baton swinging pose ) coming a close second. The rest of our intake had about the same reactions, some being unaffected, some taking it badly.

Well, after that excitement (yeh right) and after we'd all had a shower we went into the ins and outs of CS incapacitant spray.

We were taught how to spray, who to spray, who it won't work on, where we can take it and aftercare.

Then it was onto practical exercises. If any of us looked down to get our spray out of our belt it was 10 press ups. We had to do fend offs followed by spraying our partner then into a takedown so they could be handcuffed. It was really gruelling.

After that it was a question and answer session so we could air any problems and get some advice.

The final bit of the day was assessment time . Everybody teamed up with a partner and we were called in to be grilled on what we had learnt. As we were all waiting it was a great opportunity to bond with the guys and girls in the group. It really made me realise how brilliant everyone is. We have had some good laughs.........most at gross jokes :grin:.

One of the group had a slight problem with the assessment and I think they might have to do some extra training but the instructors were very pleased with everyone else so that is us OST qualified .

Now it's back next Sunday for more teaching inputs and back in uniform.

Time is really flying and I'm sure in no time at all I'll be sitting here typing up the next training day's activities.

Oh and Flying Cheese Toastie, I hope you see I've put in the fact that I had snot dripping from my nose so that everyone can see I'm a big crybaby and you are a solid CS hardwoman .

Later folks.

[Romeo99]

Sunday 23rd October 2005

Well here we all are back in uniform at Police HQ for more of our teaching inputs.

The day kicked off with a team building exercise. We were split into 4 groups and each given a large sheet of paper. On this we had to write down ;

The definition of the word team
The benefits of working as part of a team
The advantages of working by yourself
The benefits of being in the large team that is Lothian and Borders police.

All the groups were along the right track and it showed that there is actually a need to work by yourself within the team situation of the police.

Next up was vehicle accidents and drink driving. We were told what constitutes an accident that must be reported to the police if you do not give your name and address to the other parties. We looked at Section 172 RTA which covers people being guilty of an offence if they refuse to give any information they have which could lead to the identification of a driver who has committed an offence and action to take at the scene of an accident.

Then it was onto Section 4, 5 and 6 of RTA which covers drink driving, unfit through drink or drugs (must be declared unfit by Force Medical Examiner) and the requirement for a breath test to be taken. It also included the lengthy passage we must give to someone when requiring a breath sample which is luckily in our notebooks so it's just a case of reading it.

After a quick coffee break it was onwards and upwards with our inputs. So much information, hope I can remember it all .

Scene Of Crime next. We discussed how to secure a locus and what we should be looking for to gather fingerprints and DNA; cigarette butts, hair, spittle, possible weapons or tools used etc. There was a photo shown of a crime scene approximately ten years ago. My my my, how things have changed. There was no forensic tent put up, there were some nosey onlookers standing within a few feet from the crime scene and the cop had driven his car up the suspect's vehicle tyre tracks. BRAAAAVO .

There was an input on the importance of intelligence in the police service and how to enter it after SOC but I can't go into that any further for obvious reasons..

Break for lunch then it was search powers and some practical exercises.

We looked at why and who we can search and what we can confiscate. The main lesson here is BE THOROUGH.

The practicals involved volunteers searching the training staff and making sure they didn't miss anything. I was just a spectator this week for the exercise. You could see that none of the group were really confident searching someone yet. I don't think I would be either. The main issues were not letting the suspect put you off or distract you from searching and also searching intimate areas such as the groin and breasts for females. The idea is to have a good feel, it may be uncomfortable for yourself as the searching officer but it's sure as hell better than missing a blade that you get stuck with or drugs that your prisoner subsequently ODs on! This was highlighted when one group missed a CS canister in the person's groin and they, along with all the others who thought a perfect search had been carried out (not me hah hah! :grin:) got sprayed..........................it was only water obviously but emphasised not missing stuff just because you're too embarrassed.

I will warn you now. If you really can't stand the thought of going through lice filled hair, taking apart faeces, having a good look at rear ends and other private parts that may have never seen a wash and stink to high heaven, think twice about joining the police!! These are the joys of searching and strip searching the dirtiest and nastiest of people on this planet.

The last input of the day was preparing and giving evidence in court. This was more or less common sense. Know when, where and whom you are appearing in court for. Read your PNB and statement before you enter the court and look smart and professional . After that it's just your nerves you'll have to deal with.

SC RomeoJuliet99

Over and out!

Edited by romeojuliet99, 25 October 2005 - 10:11 AM.

[Romeo99]

Wednesday 26th October 2005

Another evening of teaching inputs over. Not long to go now .

Tonight's activities were statement taking and interviews.

We looked at why we take statements, how to take them and what to do with them. We take it in our PNBs then if needed transfer it to the national standard witness statement form.

The training sarge and PCs acted out a role play where a janitor swore at a cleaner in a classroom and then when the teacher intervened, assaulted him by grabbing him round the throat.

We were then to pair up and one was to be the police officer and the other the teacher. Then we swapped around and one was the police officer and the other the cleaner. Our task was to take a statement from the teacher and cleaner to get a picture of what went on in the classroom. It was a good exercise and really made me feel more confident about what is essentially a bread and butter task for an officer.

Had a break then we all got introduced to some serving specials and the training sergeants from each division. They were all at the quarterly specials meeting.

Now it was time for our interviewing input.

Again we discussed why we interview, where is suitable and the force model for conducting an interview.

We had another practical exercise where the janitor had been detained and officers were to interview him. The first couple had a very compliant janny and he was willing to say a lot without much probing. The second lot had a very non-compliant janny and he really did not want to say anything. It must be so difficult to conduct an interview when a suspect is acting up. The third couple was me and a colleague I had done the detention practical with on the 5th October. Now our suspect was the "I'll distract you from the question by hitting on the female officer interviewing" type. Very evasive. I made a big booboo unfortunately by playing the good cop and saying that if he just answered the questions we could all get out of here. . Probably not the best thing to say.

SC Barbie said I looked like an FBI agent in the interview, sitting back on my chair and acting very casually . She really is sommmme laaaady! 5 minutes with her and you seem to contract her dirty mind!

There was a sheet passed round that we could put our preferred station down so hopefully we'll all hear something about our postings soon. Also we got our OST manuals, very useful.

Well it's only Sunday this weekend so that unfortunately means that I have to work on Saturday . Oh well.

Love to hear people's thoughts on my diary. If anyone wants to PM me, feel free.

[Romeo99]

Sunday 30th October 2005

Only two weeks left .

Today kicked off with a DC giving us a talk on drugs and drug related offences.

We then did some practical exercises. The one I was involved in was a roadblock that turned into a Section 23 stop and search.

The DC was the driver of a car that had been pulled over at a routine roadblock to try and catch drink drivers. Upon speaking to the driver there was a smell of cannabis and my neighbour spied some wraps in the passenger footwell. Therefore I informed the driver and passenger that because of this I would be detaining them under Sec 23 and searching both of them and the car. As they were put into separate cars we collected the wraps. Cautioned then questioned both to find out who was in possession of what we suspected were controlled drugs. Both denied it so should have been detained under Sec 14. Unfortunately I went straight to arrest. Oopsy . Just came out before I realised what I had said, must think next time. Sure I won't do it again.

Break for coffee and to take a look at the DC's drug case. Very interesting to see all the different drugs prepared.

Next it was missing persons. We looked at why people go missing and what to do to start a MISPER enquiry. Three levels; green, amber, red. Little, medium and big concern for their welfare. A duty inspector decides where to classify them.

The next topic had me listening very intently. I am under no illusion that I won't be racing from one job to another on blues and twos. Infact I quite like the fact that I will be doing house calls and statements etc. A few friends I have that are considering the police as a career I think still have this false impression that it's all glamour and putting bad guys away. They could really do with hearing this next topic.

Sudden deaths.

When the sergeant started telling us about a case where a young man had been murdered and the reaction of his mother when she went to identify his body it really hit home.

We are the bearers of bad news and we are on the front line to deal with death and destruction. I am sure when many people think of a police officer's duties they think of arresting suspects, not trying to console a father/mother/brother/sister etc. when you have come knocking at 2 a.m and told them their loved one will not be returning home that night.

It's definitely not something that I am looking forward to.

After sitting down in the canteen for lunch and having the firearms boys walk through with their plastic MP5s (obviously training) we continued with warrants.

It was mainly Search and Apprehension warrants. We were given copies of the warrant application forms and told how to go about getting one.

There really is a hell of a lot of paperwork and we've not even seen it all.

The last hour and a bit of the day was spent on productions and lost/found property. Yet more forms to fill out and procedures to go through with regards seizing evidence. We spent a good 45 minutes on packaging . Not the most exciting input but valuable none the less.

And the day ends.

[Romeo99]

Wednesday 2nd November 2005

Not a big teaching inputs night.

In we all went as usual to the lecture theatre. However, as we're all sitting there, one of the training PCs comes in and calls all the E division recruits into the corridor. That's 3 of us.

This is followed by the typical school "ooooooh" from our smart a**e colleagues as if we're in trouble . I did actually wonder what it was all about .

We met the divisional training PC for E division and he informed us that we had all been posted to Musselburgh!

To be honest I felt a bit disappointed that I hadn't got my preferred choices.

BUT. Upon actually taking a millisecond to think about it I suddenly thought "Cool!". I like the area (seaside town), it's not too far away, nice and busy so will learn a lot and E division specials all drive so there's the opportunity to get our basic driving permit :-).

So me, SC Barbie and one of the other guys will all be operating in East Lothian .

Anyway, on to the day's input.

Major Incidents.

We studied what examples of major incidents there are and what fits the description and can be called a major incident. The criteria are that it must be an incident that requires multi agencies to co-ordinate special arrangements. Lockerbie, 7/7, Stockline gas explosion etc.

Then we learnt what actions we should take at the scene. How to set up an incident control point and co-ordinating the rest of the relevant authorities required.

The rest of the night was spent with a tutorial where basically we could raise any queries with the training officers. Incredibly useful and I'm sure everyone would say they learnt at least one thing.

All of us got fingerprinted and home we went.

The clock's ticking until attestation.

Oh and us E Division lot have got our first training night the day after our swearing in/passing out parade. Talk about quick divisional training!

Edited by romeojuliet99, 04 November 2005 - 12:04 AM.

[Romeo99]

Saturday 5th November 2005

Remember, remember, the fifth of November.

Yep, here we are at Fettes on the penultimate Saturday.

Diversity was the subject for today. We were doing a slimmed down version on the 3 day training the regulars get. I apologise in advance for the short entry but you really have to be there because there's sooooo much to cover.

We studied topics such as the disabilty discrimination act, sexual discrimination, racism and so on. A lot more interesting than I expected, which was nice. The training staff showed some videos and we had some really good discussions. Our group are incredibly diverse and it's very intriguing to hear everybody's point of view. Too much to go into the day in depth but it was very worthwhile.

A full 9 'til 5 day tomorrow training us on Airwaves. Should be good fun.

[Romeo99]

Sunday 6th November 2005

A day of Airwave training

I was quite looking forward to it as I was keen to see how good they actually were.

We started the morning with a little introduction of ourselves so the trainer had an idea of our backgrounds, then it was the theory. We were shown a video about Airwave and in the start-up it had radio traffic from the analogue system, boy was it awful. I really don't know how the police managed. Then it went on to explain the ins and outs of the new sytem and what benefits cops on the street have from it.

We then got a lesson on the technical stuff behind O2's system. The trainer had tested the terminals on every road in our force area .

After a tea/coffee break it was time to dish out the training handsets. As per every other force in Scotland we use the Motorola MTH800s, great handsets.

All of us did a test call and then some point to points (great for checking that your neighbour's getting you a smoked sausage supper ). The clarity is superb, it's really easy to identify people's voices on the air.

By then it was lunchtime and off we went to the canteen (with our radios). SC Barbie decided to give us commentary on her toilet stop, even broadcasting the toilet flushing on the entire talk group . I almost wet myself laughing!

After we all got back from lunch we were sent out and about in groups of 4 or 5 to do some radio practice. The looks we got from members of the public as we walk past in a group, all with radios squawking away were priceless. They must have thought we were doing something, not just having some radio practice.

Once everybody had RV'd (got to learn the lingo) we were given an input on the Cleartone car sets. Not quite as user-friendly as the Motorolas but they are still good pieces of kit. Maybe not that stupid "power" button that is actually the emergency assistance one, must remember to think before I go to switch on the set.

The last bit of the day was the exam. Multiple choice and was quite easy if you'd listened during the day. We all got a really handy pocket guide to Airwave that I'm definitely gonna keep in my stabbie, at least for the car set as that is the more complex.

Next Saturday is the class exam, fingers crossed for everyone. Must get back to some revision.

[Romeo99]

Saturday 12th November 2005

Exam time .

We all took our seats in the lecture theatre and were handed a copy of the exam each. It was 30 questions with a time limit of one hour. This was it. This was the decider. The hour flew by but I had about 15 mins to spare once I had finished and therefore could check over my paper. We would all find out our fate after lunch. I was pretty nervous but reasonably certain that I had passed, at least I hoped I had.

The training officers got our papers out once we had returned from lunch and..........


WE ALL PASSED!!!!!

Cheering and shaking of hands all round. Phew! <wipes brow>.

The rest of the day was to be our SPELS training. No, we aren't becoming magicians, it's the police basic first aid.

Absolutely fantastic guy from Telford college took it. He had been a first aider for forty odd years and boy did he have some stories to tell. We learnt the recovery position, CPR, DR ABC how to deal with burns, car accidents, minor and severe bleeding, the list went on. Having had no first aid experience myself I found it very interesting and some of the methods surprised me. The main one that comes to mind is that if someone has a puncture wound they should be rolled onto the wounded side when put in the recovery position. This is something I would have never guessed without the SPELS course.

Now I'm just left wondering when the first time that I will have to use some of it will be.

That was the day finished and we all collected the rest of our kit (hats, jackets, gloves etc) and headed home.

The big day tomorrow!

[Romeo99]

Sunday 13th November 2005

The day of our swearing in/passing out arrives. The six weeks have gone so quickly, seems like only yesterday we were all standing up to do our icebreaker.

As our intake gathered in the main lecture theatre one of the training Sergeants came in. He informed us that in a wee while a Justice of the Peace would be arriving so that we could all be sworn in as police officers. A couple of minutes later he walked in the door and we began the oath taking. Two of the guys in the group had to take a separate oath because of being in the OTC and the Naval reserves.

Well, that's it. We all now hold the office of Constable.

A few other pieces of kit where handed out like batons and slider eppaulettes and while that was going on everybody went in two groups to get our warrant and cs authorisation card photos.

All the divisional training Sergeants were at HQ so that everybody could receive information on which station they are posted at and what future training there is. Since me, SC Barbie and one of the other guys all know which station we are going to be at we sat in on the A division group. I think it reinforced the fact that it's more than likely we won't see most of our colleagues again, so I wish them all the very best .

It was then time for us to get ready to go down to the warrant card presentation. Assistant Chief Constable Tom Halpin was to present us each with our cards. Very impressive. The Inspector in charge of the Special Constabulary said a few words then we were each called up, in front of everbody's family and friends, to collect our warrant card. ACC Halpin then gave a speech about the importance of Special Constables and gave us all a few words of advice and support. Really nice man.

Now the good bit , the buffet. I met SC Barbies husband, he's a police officer aswell and seems like a very nice guy. Had a good chat with the Chief Superintendant for East Lothian, my divisional commander, again a really nice man. Stuffed myself with sausage rolls and chicken goujons. Gave my thanks to the training officers, they have been fantastic. I really have to say that every officer I have come across has been excellent, I think it's a credit to Lothian and Borders that they have so many officers that take the time to get involved with the Special Constabulary. Very much appreciated.

Well that's it folks. It has been great, what is the end is actually just the beginning. There is divisional training for all Specials and obviously there is the main part. Getting out and about, being a police officer.

Hope you've enjoyed reading about L&B and if you're not a Special, and you've got what it takes......APPLY! I am certain that this is one of the best things I have ever done.

Oh and I meant to say, it's another two weeks until we'll all get our stab vests so I'm afraid we've got to sit on our backsides and twiddle our thumbs. I've got a station visit and a training night coming up though, so I'm hoping the time will race by.

SC RJ99 Signing Out!