Page 65 - Once a copper 10 03 2020

“PC Bennett reporting Sergeant”. I said, trying to sound more confident than I
felt. “kin’ell best mate you’re fresh out the box ‘aint ya”. He joked. And that
was my introduction to Erdington. He ushered me though the office, telling
me I need never come in the ‘tradesman’s entrance’ again.

I remember Ted asking me if I liked tea. I said I was ok thanks and he laughed,
meaning that I would have to like making it as the new boy. Now that one, I
was expecting.

Most everyone on the planet has been (or will be) the new guy or girl on the
job at some point in their lifetime.

And there is one certainty when you're the newbie: you instantly become the
prime target for pranks. It's a rite of passage across every profession.

The world of policing, as you may imagine, is no different, but the pranks are
WAY better.

In those days, prior to the advent of centralized custody blocks and control
rooms, there were three main sergeant roles on a response shift.

1. The Custody Sergeant was in charge of the cell-block and responsible
for ‘sheeting’ prisoners, their rights, welfare and managing the custody
side of an investigation and charge decision.
2. The Controller sergeant was in charge of the incident logging
computer and radio, controlling officer deployments. This was a very
busy role requiring incidents to be assessed and graded, deciding how
and who to deploy, managing the incidents on control and entering
details of the incident outcome or result.
3. The Patrol Sergeant(s), responsible for the outside supervision of any
incident requiring it, and management of shift paperwork and
administration

Ted took me to meet three other Sergeants on D Unit, Patrol Sergeant Trevor
Lane, Colin Whitehouse, who was acting Inspector as the Unit Inspector was
on annual leave, and Roger Clemerson who manned the radio control room.
The majority of the shift PC’s were out on patrol, so I only briefly met a couple,
who were busy bashing away on ancient Olympia typewriters. A quick smile
and ‘hello mate’ was as much as they could spare. That was ok, I wanted to
be that immersed in the job too! Everyone was welcoming and I started to
feel I had dropped lucky being posted at this nick with these people.

I was taken to the locker room where I was allocated a locker in which I hung
up my uniform and then taken over to meet the administration staff and
typists. My last port of call was to be introduced to the man in charge of
Erdington Police Station, Superintendent Colin Ashenden and his deputy
Chief Inspector Mike Richardson. Pleasantries and welcomes exchanged, I Page65