Varied Visits

Mr Bill has been out and about this last week – no posts as Mrs Bill has been sidetracked by Romantic period literature (Byron’s Don Juan and Hemans’ ‘Indian Woman’s Death Song’ in case you are interested – I wasn’t which is why its taken me so long).

Mr Bill has been spending time learning about interviewing. He has had to conduct mock interviews with colleagues who are victims or baddies. He also went to County Court for a day too.
The day in Court was especially useful as it was a ‘this is how you shouldn’t do it’ lesson. PC Forgetful was the witness called; there was a delay as he was unaware the case was today – he claimed he had received notification he was not needed – slapped wrists if he cannot later produce said notification.Mr Bill had the opportunity to see the case go from start to finish; he said it was fascinating to hear the evidence from both sides and hear the cross examinations of all the different witnesses. Mr Bill had a talk with the prosecutor during the lunch break who said that in all his years as a prosecutor he had never seen such a shambles as PC Forgetful.
The lesson is: write down lots of detail, make a proper note of when you are in court and have your pocket notebook with you.

We have had another murder here in rural Llanffuglen and Mr Bill did wonder if he and his probationer colleagues would be called out on standing in the rain duty – but fortunately for him the murderer was apprehended immediately.
This week is another of varying day trips to schools, addiction help centres and a Women’s refuge.

Well Done Mr Bill!

Mr Bill passed his hour-long exam on Thursday and his 'Officer Safety Training' test on Friday. His wrists are sore from his colleagues practising their handcuffing and restraining manoeuvres on him.

Next week Mr Bill is to visit a mosque as part of his diversity training – obviously not that diverse as he is not also visiting a synagogue or Roman Catholic church or any of the tree-hugger places of worship so commonly found around Llanffuglen.


He is then visiting a day care centre to see if he can get alongside the elderly and try and encourage them to be model citizens and prevent some of their anti-social behaviour. You can tell we are not quite sure of the point of this visit. Mr Bill is expecting to hand out cups of tea, eat all the biscuits and play bingo.

He has a day at the Magistrates court to see a case tried; he is hoping there is an interesting case that day.

It should be an interesting week

Drowning in a Sea of Paperwork

Mr Bill has been learning about all the necessary paperwork for efficient policing this week. They have had to compile a file for a case to go to court. The trainers set up a mock incident - didn't go quite as they planned, and the probationers had to record everything that happened: statements, arrest statements and about 15 forms. The end result was a file about 2cm thick for an incident that lasted for about 2 minutes and was minor in the grand scheme of things. It is quite mind boggling to imagine how thick a file must be for a serious case.
The role play consisted of two police officers in a Police Station when, Rupert, one of the trainers entered the station and immediately started being belligerent, then two other probationers entered with their ‘prisoner’, Neville (the other trainer) who was the ‘father’ of Rupert. The incident escalated until Rupert had to be arrested. The trainers thought this would be an opportunity to see some ‘action’ and Rupert was planning to give a ‘true flavour of an arrest’ by being realistic in his use of aggression, however Rupert's plan was scuppered when, after poking the wpc who was behind the desk, Mr Bill grabbed the unruly Rupert's hand twisted it sharply behind his back and lowered him to the floor before he could react, Mr Bill then snapped on the cuffs and that was the end of the action! Rupert had miscalculated how fast an individual of Mr Bill's advanced age could move and just how strong he is too! Ooh! Those cuffs do hurt.
When all the action was over it was time to get on with the paperwork and there was a lot of it….
Each individual involved was required to write a statement, the arresting officer had to also write an arrest statement, the pocket notebooks needed to include all the details too and these were then photocopied and included in the file.


It becomes apparent now why sometimes the police are reluctant to proceed in certain cases as they know that after all their hard work the individual is not going to get his comeuppance when he does appear in court and yet they have spent hours assembling the case.

Happy New Year to All

It has been a busy time in the Bill household with Christmas and New Year celebrations along with continued studying; Mr Bill is finding it hard going to remember all the legislation relating to firearms, and sexual offences too. He has had two weeks off over Christmas, and told to make the most of it as it may be the last Christmas he is off for a few years. He has been spending his time reading his notes, making new notes, making dinner (and very nice it has been too), then back to notes.

He is back to work on Monday; he has a couple of weeks in the classroom, an exam, a couple of weeks on division learning about the correct filing of paperwork – it has got to be more than that, but we are not sure exactly what, and then a week off with the final, big, make or break exam……..