Page 146 - Once a copper 10 03 2020

minutes, three men were pointed out to us by the witnesses, so we stopped
and all three were detained. I arrested my prisoner and the three were then
conveyed to Bradford Street police station in Digbeth. A DS from the station
conducted the interviews and after completing our part of the paperwork I
was given a lift back to Erdington where, exhausted physically and mentally
by the events, I booked off duty.

In a strange footnote, my wife and I were invited to
a fancy-dress party that night, so it was clear we
were going to be later than expected. I had my
outfit of tin foil already prepared, as the tin man
from the wizard of oz. My face caked in silver
Leichner stage make up, I hoped my cauliflower
ear would escape attention. The party go-ers were
mainly police and their families, so were aware that
I had been in the thick of the troubles. Sure
enough, it was my over-sized lughole that drew
more attention than my costume that night, with Figure 64 Steve 'Tin-Man' 11 May 1985
many folk commenting that I should have gone as
Dumbo the elephant. Laugh? I nearly bought the beer.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Summer of 1985 was filled with activity of the more routine type. Any chance I
got to get out onto the beat I grabbed it hungrily so determined was I to
squeeze as much experience out of the time I felt I had left. Acting Sergeant
duties were plentiful, but as it was mainly supervising the paperwork
submitted by the beat team, I always aimed to get it sorted early into my
shifts so I could escape to the streets. There was never a shortage of duties
and obligations to fulfil, but the increasing levels of jobs I considered trivial
began diminishing my fervour for the work.

I’d always told myself that I would only want to remain in a role for as long as
it challenged me, and I felt I was increasing the quality of contribution I could
make to he job.

The experiences of a year-long miners dispute, witnessing peoples’ lives
crumble around them, followed by the extreme violence at the Blues match
resulting in the death of an innocent youngster caused me to reflect on my
position. Comparing the extremes of those experiences to the routine of beat
work brought home a stark reality, I needed more to be able to give more
back.

Acting Sergeant duties also introduced me to an element of the job I simply Page146
couldn’t get enthused about. More and more frequently, I was being asked