Page 75 - Once a copper 10 03 2020

opportunity to make a fast buck though criminal activity. Memories of those
first glorious successes would be replaced with many more and the buzz of
locking up the bad lads (and occasional lass) became like an addictive
drug.

The only pressure I found myself under was to report offenders for traffic
offences and submit plenty of ‘traffic process.’ I couldn’t get excited about
this aspect of the job. I recognised the importance of vehicles and drivers
being road legal, but I couldn’t see my future in it. All credit to traffic officers
and those who focused more on this area so it’s each to their own, I guess.
No, most definitely, preventing/detecting crime and locking up baddies
would be the role that would bring me most fulfilment.

Life is strange though and by a quirk of fate and circumstances, years later
after leaving the police, I would be involved in career paths that involved
traffic and assisting victims of vehicle crime. Perhaps somewhere deep in the
inner reaches of my mind, I sensed I should squeeze as much out of dealing
with crime or more likely, it was a case of Que Sera Sera.

When each shift was over, officers would return to the station to be checked
off as ‘home safe’ by one of the Sergeants. We’d then hand in our radios,
hang up our gear in our lockers, don the half blues an either have a quick
drink in the station bar or disappear homeward.

As we were booking off one day, I saw a familiar face among the shift about
to book on. PC 8849 Trevor Davies (who passed his entrance exam on the
same day as me) had been on a course behind mine at Ryton. He was
posted to B Unit and this was his first day. Smiles all round and I wished him the
best of luck. We were to stay great mates for years to come and would find
ourselves working together on lots of occasions. Trevor wore a natural grin,
had a filthy but hysterical sense of humour and would be very popular for the
years he would remain in the job. More importantly perhaps, he was to
become an industrious and successful Police Officer.

THE THIEF TAKERS

If the staff on D Unit Erdington thought themselves good or great coppers, the
arrival on our shift of one character would put everyone to shame. PC 2692
Terry Cleaver a fast response Zulu driver appeared on the shift.

Terry came to us from another shift and his reputation arrived days before he
did. Apparently, he didn’t suffer fools gladly, despised idle police officers an
wasn’t keen on probationers who he felt got in the way and slowed him
down. Added to his he was famous for being direct. If he thought you were
lazy, he said so. If he spotted a weakness, he could be merciless. If he didn’t
like you, you soon knew it. If he felt something or someone was wrong, he Page75
wouldn’t beat around the bush. Whilst many of us more cautious types