Page 76 - Once a copper 10 03 2020

adopted the principle of ‘ready – aim – are you sure? – aim again – fire’, Terry
was known for missing out the ready and aim bit and firing with both barrels
from the hip.

As a Pro-Con, I was therefore naturally nervous when I was told that on
todays’ 6am – 2pm shift, I would be posted as his observer on Delta Zulu 7. He
looked across the parade room at me with a look that barely concealed his
contempt and scorn. Terry didn’t walk anywhere, it was like he was on speed.
I was almost out of breath as we got into the Zulu where he could finally say
what he wanted out of earshot of others.

“I don’t know what you’ve heard about me and I don’t care. All I expect is
that you pull your weight, right?” was his opening words to me. I think I said
something like ‘absolutely’ and away we went.

On this occasion I was only posted with Terry for a few weeks. Much later in
my service, as you will hear, I was to work more closely with him and my
respect for the bloke would hold no bounds.

As it was, this first short two weeks would be a roller-coaster of policing at a
pace I’d not yet experienced and thanks to Terry, I enjoyed every second of
it. It seemed to me as if he had an almost Eidetic memory, the ability to
accurately recall with a spooky degree of accuracy, local crimes, criminals,
their modus operandi, who associated with whom together with excellent
legal knowledge.

And boy, did he put his skills to great use. In the years of my service there
were several exceptional officers who contributed more value to the tax
payer than most and Terry certainly fitted that category.

He knew every felonious character on the patch and made sure they knew
him. Not an hour would pass without him stopping a car belonging to a thief
or a burglar or he would spot one of them doing something that would alert
his bizarre instinct to investigate further. Often, he found something
incriminating and we’d have another suspect occupying the back seat of
the Zulu.

Terry was one of the most pro-active police officers I ever had the pleasure to
work with. Not content as some were, to merely respond to calls to deal with
matters after-the-event, he was a master at preventing crime and failing that
detecting it within hours sometimes minutes of it taking place.

Terry was the consummate ‘Thief Taker’ – everyone wanted his success but
not everyone had his talent or commitment.

In two short weeks I absorbed more instinctive lessons than I could have
imagined. I struggled to keep track of the local and criminal intelligence that Page76
was pouring into my brain and I had to accept that it would take many years