Policing in the Eighties - anyone remember it?

dazman · Nov 24, 2013

Every time I look back through old diaries, I see and remember more about policing in the late seventies and eighties. I don't know if any ex-coppers post or browse here but if they do, I wonder if the following mean anything to them

Clip-on ties
Rupert Bear lapel badges
Police-issue 'macs'

Would anyone remember cramming all the weekend defendants arrested for public order offences into the back of the magistrates court on a Monday?

Things that just wouldn't happen now
Having your socks checked before a shift - you always knew when someone had bought a six-pack (different meaning then) because they'd have three days of black towelling socks, then the grey pair followed by the light blue pair and finally, if brave enough, the white socks
OR
Putting on a pair of borrowed 'station' boots if things looked to be getting a bit too dodgy for your ordinary shoes

What about the "things that no-one would believe unless they were there...

An officer calling in because he'd got lost and wanted directions to get him back to the nick!

A young officer asking if he could leave his uniform - and all the other 'bits' - at the court overnight as he was "going out" that evening and wanted to go straight to court in the morning!

A frantic young PC actually wetting himself (literally, 'doing it in his pants') in court because you just didn't ask to be excused whilst the court was in session!

I wonder about the reaction now? From those in the job, and others.

lawros left foot · Nov 24, 2013

Being able to give a scrote a kicking, and no mobile phones to record it.

The Legend that IS Lawro · Nov 24, 2013

'Contemporaneous notes' had a certain amount of flexibility with regards to definition of contemporaneous, and notebooks were ALWAYS completed at the time.

wehatepalace · Nov 24, 2013

I remember my dad having a silver pocket whistle on a chain and an old style wooden truncheon.

Miximate · Nov 24, 2013

Had a cape in the early 80's, it was great in the cold weather !

wehatepalace · Nov 24, 2013

Miximate said:
Had a cape in the early 80's, it was great in the cold weather !

Oh shit, yes the cape ! My dad had one too, back then if I remember rightly their uniform was their tunic, now only worn for ceremonial duties.

dazman · Nov 24, 2013

wehatepalace said:
Oh shit, yes the cape ! My dad had one too, back then if I remember rightly their uniform was their tunic, now only worn for ceremonial duties.

That's correct - and it looked a lot smarter than the modern-day look, although less practicable, probably.

Seagull over Canaryland · Nov 24, 2013

Policing in the 70s and 80s wasn't perfect but at least you actually saw Officers on patrol or on the beat - and generally when you called for them to attend an emergency they actually turned up.

Now Police numbers are being far too stretched to give the public proper confidence. While they are very brave and worthy, I'm afraid I don't find PCSO's patrolling all that reassuring.

I'm grateful that I now live in a very low crime area but I do fear that we are gradually drifting towards a society where punters will feel obliged to administer their own law. I'm not suggesting we all become DIY Tony Martins but at least do more to make crime less easy.

Oh - and I'm not falling for the Govts claim that PCCs are a huge success, its far too soon to claim that.

Beach Hut · Nov 24, 2013

SPG anyone

Blues Rock DJ · Nov 24, 2013

yes, I remember it, I was there, but I don't see what you're getting at ?

dazman · Nov 24, 2013

So, did anyone here actually work for the police?

Prince Monolulu · Nov 24, 2013

ahem...could not possibly comment

dazman · Nov 24, 2013

Blues Rock DJ said:
yes, I remember it, I was there, but I don't see what you're getting at ?

I was simply suggesting that a current police officer would probably not be able to relate to any of the things I mentioned.

Harry Wilson's tackle · Nov 24, 2013

I was walking down the Fulham road in 1978, and was bumped off the pavement into the road as I waved to someone I knew on the other side of the road.

'Come here, ****' said large policeman.

I was the subjected to two minutes very nasty verbal abuse. I stood very still and said nowt.

Then him and his 2 mates smirked and sidled off.

I was bumped for, presumably, having hennaed hair, a bit spikey, drainpipes, DMs, and a generally punkish appearance.

No, chums. Them days were not clever. I was just a geeky student with slightly left of centre tastes in music and clothes. Lucky I'm not black (or I'd probably be dead).

Police, I love them. But they need to be directed and managed, like any attack dog. Left to their own devices they go feral.

Seagull Stew · Nov 24, 2013

Harry Wilson's tackle said:
I was walking down the Fulham road in 1978, and was bumped off the pavement into the road as I waved to someone I knew on the other side of the road.

'Come here, ****' said large policeman.

I was the subjected to two minutes very nasty verbal abuse. I stood very still and said nowt.

Then him and his 2 mates smirked and sidled off.

I was bumped for, presumably, having hennaed hair, a bit spikey, drainpipes, DMs, and a generally punkish appearance.

No, chums. Them days were not clever. I was just a geeky student with slightly left of centre tastes in music and clothes. Lucky I'm not black (or I'd probably be dead).

Police, I love them. But they need to be directed and managed, like any attack dog. Left to their own devices they go feral.

I was of similar appearance in the eighties (although more of a goth than punk). I was obliviously walking along with my walkman headphones blearing into my ears, when I get a tap on the shoulder. I turn round to see a copper asking me something, so naturally I put my hand in my pocket to turn my walkman off. Out comes truncheon followed by "What are you doing?". I hold out my walkman and say "turning this off so I can hear you". Guess it was my lucky day he put the truncheon back into its holder.

Harry Wilson's tackle · Nov 24, 2013

Seagull Stew said:
I was of similar appearance in the eighties (although more of a goth than punk). I was obliviously walking along with my walkman headphones blearing into my ears, when I get a tap on the shoulder. I turn round to see a copper asking me something, so naturally I put my hand in my pocket to turn my walkman off. Out comes truncheon followed by "What are you doing?". I hold out my walkman and say "turning this off so I can hear you". Guess it was my lucky day he put the truncheon back into its holder.

There is nothing more reassuring than watching a copper put his truncheon back into its holder. As long as it doesn't have bits of your scalp, skull and brains on it, of course.

Very difficult job, being a coppers though. I went skiing a few years ago and teamed up with a couple of very entertaining lads who eventually admitted to being Bill. They told me that far too many of their chums mixed only amongst their peers. Regarded the public as criminals or potential criminals. I suspect a lot of that has changed. Any comment from serving officers?

loco61 · Nov 24, 2013

i had my head shaved for a fancy dress party shortly before the worthing 2nd rd fa cup game at oxford
meeting my dad and brothers before the game , i was the only one thrown up against the wall and searched :
when my dad politely intervened ... the copper said something about not discriminating

i remember my dad noting their number in the north stand when he took exception to their behaviour

kill the bill was a favourite north stand chant, wasnt it?

dazman · Nov 24, 2013

Harry Wilson's tackle said:
Very difficult job, being a coppers though. I went skiing a few years ago and teamed up with a couple of very entertaining lads who eventually admitted to being Bill. They told me that far too many of their chums mixed only amongst their peers. Regarded the public as criminals or potential criminals. I suspect a lot of that has changed. Any comment from serving officers?

I suspect that was almost certainly the case in days gone by. Back then, there was a real stigma admitting to being a copper so it was easier to stick together. Not quite the same now.

Harry Wilson's tackle · Nov 24, 2013

dazman said:
I suspect that was almost certainly the case in days gone by. Back then, there was a real stigma admitting to being a copper so it was easier to stick together. Not quite the same now.

Quite. We are all in the same tent. Viva the present and the future.

edna krabappel · Nov 24, 2013

dazman said:
Every time I look back through old diaries, I see and remember more about policing in the late seventies and eighties. I don't know if any ex-coppers post or browse here but if they do, I wonder if the following mean anything to them

Clip-on ties

I still have a clip on tie

I don't wear it daily as the standard kit now is the black zip up shirt, but if I'm in court, the clip-on tie comes out (it's more of an anti-strangulation measure than because we're too thick to do a tie up).

I've heard stories of coppers back in the 1980s who would compete to see how far they could get away from their designated patch in a single shift. There is an infamous tale where I work of a couple of beat officers who returned to the nick one day with a photograph of themselves and the job car in front of the Eiffel Tower.

No idea if it's true or not, but I love the idea that it might be

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