Page 107 - Once a copper 10 03 2020

Figure 42 Beat 33 My home for 2 years 1983-5

In 1983, one officer was responsible for a geographical area known as a
Beat. The D3 Erdington and Kingstanding area comprised about 15 beats,
each patrolled by an Officer, reporting to a Sergeant and an Inspector. They
were very much like a ‘Unit’ but working different hours to suit the needs of
the area.

As a policing resource, a team of beat officers or individuals would frequently
be pulled off their beat to supplement shifts that were short staffed or perform
office reliefs so regular office PC’s could go to lunch.

Due to the flexibility of their work patterns, beat officers would also be called
upon to assist with policing public order situations, to other Divisional areas
with the West Midlands and on what was known as ‘Mutual Aid’ where we
would travel to another police force area when larger numbers of officers
were required to preserve order.
Multiple examples of this cropped up during my tenure as a beat officer,
some of which we enjoyed, others less so. It was always difficult to manage
the expectations of a Police Officer due to changing circumstances out in
the wider community, but this is part of the variety we signed up for.

My expectations were that I would spend however long was required to work Page107
my area to assimilate as much knowledge as I could on all the local ne'er-do-