Page 67 - Once a copper 10 03 2020

A few minutes before 5:30, Gary and I made our way to the locker room,
where we put on our tunics and headgear ready for parade. Gary had a flat
cap with a chequered band which I was instantly envious of. He explained
that he was posted as observer on a car all week and I’d be able to get a
flat cap from the stores.

I followed him into the parade room, and he introduced me as the new
‘sprog’ (affectionate term for a new pro-con). Gary had only been on the
shift a few weeks and was already accepted and settled in. I found myself
wishing the next few weeks away in my head. I counted twelve of us PC’s,
ten male and two females. The room was filled with smoke, chatter, tea cups,
the two old typewriters, bits of paperwork and ashtrays. Then I heard a voice
outside the parade room say loudly “On Parade”. I copied the others and
stood up. They all took out their pocket note books and truncheons and held
them up. Sergeant Lane walked in, followed by Sergeant Whitehouse who I
was told was acting Inspector. “Ok sit down everyone” Sergeant Lane said.

He welcomed me to the shift, and they looked around having already met
me, and nodded their acknowledgement. PS Lane then read out events of
the last 24 hours from the station occurrence and telex book, referring to
people and vehicles of interest. I saw others scribbling notes as he spoke, but
not knowing any different, I waited to learn what to do on parade.

It was usual for the patrol sergeant and inspector to take ‘parade’. Pocket
notebooks would be produced and signed to the effect that they were up to
date, a serious business, as these were relied on in court and the notes made
in them were to be entered as close in time to an actual incident as possible.
Solicitors routinely asked officers giving evidence from their pocket books in
court, when they had made their notes up. I remember hearing of a new
recruit who had answered the question with “They’re not made up they’re
the truth sir!”

Another ritual of parade was the production of ‘appointments’. This was still
being celebrated into the late 80s at Erdington and involved officers on
parade holding aloft their truncheon, and handcuffs, to prove that they were
properly equipped for patrol. ‘Parade’ eventually became another name for
the briefing session prior to a shift leaving the station on patrol for a tour of
duty. It was accompanied by cups of tea, usually made by the newest
probationer, sometimes biscuits and cakes and, on early mornings, a
symphony of flatulence known as the ‘dawn chorus’!

The D3 sub division, though parading at Erdington covered quite a large area
all with Birmingham post codes, extending to Kingstanding, the bottom, tip of
Streetly, Great Barr and of course the larger part of Erdington itself. To police
the area, there were four double manned cars and two single manned. Two Page67
of them were fast response vehicles driven by advanced police drivers. Each