Lates

Well the likelihood of a busy shift was always on the cards for a late on thursday that was unbelievably hot. Before anyone even made it to briefing we were all sweating under our stab vests!!!
Well we had two jobs allocated to us during briefing. The first to do with a dangerous dog, we did not have to deal with and the second we slowly headed out to, which was a report of threats made to a family. Well we got there and there was nobody home, good start.
Next we made on immediate towards the town centre as a disqualified driver was making off from police. Unfortunetely the officer that saw him had been on foot and we couldnt find the car.
Next job was a report that someone had spotted an offender riding on a bike he had stolen from them and was following them through the town. It was a bit of a wild goose chase as they told us they were on the high street then hung up the phone and wouldnt answer so we had a quick float around the area and got out on foot through all the alleyways but could do little more.
No sooner had we got back to our van did we get another immediate to the other side of town due to reports of kids smashing up a construction site. Well after racing across town at breakneck speed, the smashing up had involved a few kids knocking cones over and their dad had got to them before we had done. I was quite certain that the action their dad was taking/about to take was going to be a lot more severe than the ticking off we were going to give them so we left them too it.
To keep a busy day going before finishing talking to the father we were diverted to help an ABO (area beat officer) who had just had reports of someone being threatened with a knife. We searched the area and found the guy. He obviously had mental health problems and was a drug user. We searched him but found no knife. All we did get was a handful of abuse!!
Well we had about 5 mins to have a little drive around and follow a fire engine to see what they were up to before getting a call to another immediate on.... you guessed it, right on the other side of town a good 7 miles off. Well long blue light runs are always fun but this was just plain ridiculous trying to negotiate rush hour traffic on blues. We got there after about 8 mins. It had been a report of someone chasing kids after they had smashed his car window. Well by the time we got there he had lost them and gone back home. We drove him around for a while to see if he could spot them but had no joy. CCTV were less than helpful, despite having cameras that could have monitored the whole incident they wernt listening to the radio so missed it all.
Well after a quick statement we were again rushed off to another immediate this time only a couple miles off, this time it was to a very well known domestic household where 5 of 6 kids had been taken into social services care the day before and the father had kicked off big style so we had three units making at breakneck speed to get there. We met at an RV point at the top of the road then all went down together. Turn out nothing had actually happened and the mother was just pissed off about the kids having been taken and wanted to talk about it. Well we didnt give her the usual bollocking as our inspector told us to take it all very softly softly as the 6th kid was going to be taken into care in the next few days and they were going to be evicted from the house, so he didnt want her upset before that.
Well i then had the task of writing up everything i heard and saw whilst there in a report to the inspector, while my crewmate grabbed some food.
As soon as i had finished we were off to a robbery/attempt theft/assault.
Details were sketchy but basically someone had seen a guy under his dads van with bolt cutters trying to nick the spare wheel. He went out and challenged them and the guy threatened to hit him with the bolt cutters before running to the car. The aggrieved stood infront of the car and said to the offender your not going anywhere. The offender was going somewhere and just drove sending the aggrieved flying.
Well we got to the house to find out more precise details and spoke to the aggrieveds father who stated his son was at the cinema and didnt want to be seen until tomorrow!! oh well.
Still no rest for the wicked, we were sent straight away to another job to try and prevent a breach of the peace over a civil dispute. Well by the time we got there all was calm and it was basically a dispute over a shoddy MOT job. Not a police matter we advised them and told them to speak to citizens advice bureau.
By now it was just past 2200 so we went back into the station to hand the car over to the next shift.
Usually at this point we'd all go out in the transit for the next few hours but we decided for a change so me and my crewmate took a couple of bikes and went out plain clothes to see what we could turn up.
We didnt get any real results but stop checked about 20 people and searched a few under misuse of drugs act and for offensive weapons.
Well by 0115 we were both absolutely knackered and decided to call it a day and took a slow cycle back to the nick where we nearly collapsed and waited for 0200 to roll around.
Our Sgt brought the transit back in with the rest of the shift and said we could go early at about 0145 so off we went.
I dont know how, but its likely to be even busier tomorrow!!!