My Metropolitan Police History

Having started my career in the Metropolitan Police Force in 1974 PIRA, the Provisional Irish Republican Army, were to play quite an important part of my early police career, maybe not face to face confrontations, but the way I would have to carry out my duties.

PIRA, also known as the provos were waging guerilla warfare on mainland Britain and in 1975 I was to come into close proximity to the IRA on two occasions. The first I mentioned about was yesterday’s blog entry and you can find the link at the bottom of this entry.

The second time was the Balcombe Street Siege on 6th December 1975. The hierachy had to deal with a fatal bomb explosion at Scotts Restaurant in Mayfair on the 12th November 1975. So there was an active IRA cell working London causing mayhem.

The hierachy realised that there was a good possibility that the IRA would strike again, so leading up to christmas they arranged to flood areas of London with hundreds of police officers in plain clothes. Obviously I was one of them.

The IRA did in fact hit the same restaurant again and fired shots into the premises. I was extremely nearby because my colleagues were in the doorway at the time. Now I could weave a sexy story here and say that I had to dodge bullets and chased after the IRA members, but that would be creating a novel. In fact I was shot (only joking) and became a hero (I wish).

But I was extremely nearby, probably as close as 100 metres and I was totally unaware of the incident, until somebody told me. So my entire dealings with the IRA were tenuous to say the least.

But, there was a funny side to this story also and yes I am afraid to say that alcohol did play a small part, sorry. Each street around mayfair at least 40 officers in it and they were not large streets. Now, there were a lot of pubs in the area and each pub was totally packed with plain clothes police officers.

You had to laugh because I had never seen so many, they were hanging from the rafters.It was like the first day of the new year sales at Harrods, but just for police officers.

I remember saying to my mate just before the attack, “They must be bloody mad if they think they can get away with attacking this area tonight of all nights, with all these police officers here.”

Yes they did attack and were caught like rats in a trap. It was actually nice to be part of something that really worked, although in the end it was a bit fortunate that quick thinking from two officers saved the day.

See PART I of Metropolitan Police History: The IRA, my history

My Metropolitan Police History

I began my police service in 1974 and right from the beginning it was clear that there would be problems with the IRA. Now as I remember it the IRA did not really have a quarrel directly with the police service in England and Wales. But obviously if we got in the way, then it may would be a different story and several police officers lost their lives to members of the PIRA.

In 1975 I was extremely close to the IRA on two occasions, but not really that close, let me explain:

Thursday 23 January 1975
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) placed a large time bomb at the Woodford waterworks pumping station in North London. Three people were injured in the explosion and there was substantial damage. Original source came from http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch75.htm

My recollection of this event was this: I was posted to uniform police are car call sign Juliet 2, which covered Walthamstow and South Chingford. I was the front passenger/radio operator and the driver was Ray P.

Our shift normally started at 11pm (Night Duty) and the other officers on our shift started at 10pm, so our ealier car covered the shift change.

The Late Turn L/T crew who would be finishing at 11pm would pick up the other driver from his or her home first and then drop off the L/T operator. Then the car would pick up the night duty operator. Then last of all the L/T driver would be dropped off.

All I can remember was the bomb exploded. We took the original 999 call and arrived late after the bomb had gone off.We had missed it by minutes and if we had been there when it had exploded then we would have been cut to pieces by the blast and flying glass. You have to realise that at this time we had hundreds of calls every day to suspected bombs.

There was one funny incident that followed this bomb explosion.

The bomb squad were called and quite a lot of detectives arrived at the police station and seemed to spend most of their time in the canteen. However I was still the boy of the team and designated to make a whole tray of teas for the bomb squad, which I did willingly.

A short while later the van driver George J came in, a miserable old sod (loved him really) and normally the van driver made the tea on nights. The Bomb Squad asked for some more tea and George looked over at me and said, “Bursey will make it.”

Now I had only just made one tray of teas and I wasn’t about to make another one, on the say so of George. So I looked at him and said, “You make the f**king teas you lazy bastard.” By then I stood up for myself and didn’t take any crap from anyone.

There was a Commander in the room with other senior officers and detectives and they stood there gob smacked. But I stood my ground and walked out. Oh by the way George made the tea.

Ray P, my driver and a bit of a snob, just walked out of the police canteen mumbling, “I don’t know the youngsters of today show no respect for their elders.” Ray was laughing when he said that though. Both George and Ray had over 25 years service and I had 7 months at a station.

Now I have to say George was soured faced and came across as miserable, but he did see the funny side of it later on and acknowledged my impertinence with a smile. I really liked George and I had just wanted to make a point at the time and not be trampled on.

See PART II of Metropolitan Police History: The IRA, my history

My Metropolitan Police History

Now there are many stories I could tell you and a lot I cannot tell you because I am not sure whether I would get in trouble (not seriously). Some stories I cannot tell you everything for obvious reasons.

However when I was out of uniform on a squad we decided to target petty thieves. Quite legally we set up a van with some dummy cigarette (branded) boxes and left the vertical sliding door open slightly.

I have to say this was one of the funniest things I have ever seen and other officers and myself went home with aching stomachs from laughing so much.

I was like a series of scenes from Candid Camera and every petty thief was interesting in their own way.

One particular thief was named Martin H and he was a very greedy man. Now most thieves looked in the van and stole a few boxes. Not Martin he was a local face and we all knew him well.

Martin decided to steal all the boxes on show and he made a stack of boxes first and then he tried to walk down the road with all of these boxes, much taller than him, that blocked all of his view so that he couldn’t see where he was going.

Martin had so many boxes that he staggered along the road like a drunk.

We should have put him out of his misery but we decided to see where he went. we followed him without his knowledge for about a mile. His intention was obvious, because he was aiming for his flat in Wapping I believe.

Anyway we let him run for a long way until we arrested him a few hundred yards from his flat. When we arrested him he was completed finished physically.

We were all laughing so much we couldn’t read him his rights (caution).

The look on his face was amazing and worth a fortune.

Anyway the good news for Martin and the other 23 thieves we caught, was that they either received a caution or a minor conviction at court.

Even Martin did see the funny side of things later on and had a laugh.

Martin was really trying to make crime pay and on this occasion it didn’t.

Another Story From My Metropolitan Police History

I have to give you a little bit of earlier history first. I went to Lavender Road Primary school in Enfield and up until then I had never met a black person. So I had no preconceived ideas about anyone at that stage in my life, mainly because my adopted parents had no challenges or obstacles with anyone.

The first black kid I ever came across was Geoff and all I remember about him was that he was the only black kid I knew and he lived in the house next to the school. Geoff was an excellent football player and we used to play football over the park behind his house for many years. I have no idea what happened to him, one I left that school.

However during the next 8 years I do not remember any occasions where I had occasion to speak to any black people. I just never really came across any to speak to.

So the next time I met some black youths was one of my first days on duty as a police officer in Walthamstow. I was walking across Selbourne Park and came across a group of black youths and stopped to have a chat with them. They were in their early twenties and weren’t being a problem at all.

Now I have always dealt with people as I find them and never had preconceived ideas about anyone.

Now, with any group you always have someone who appears to be the leader and this group was no different. The leader emerged and asked for a chewing gum, as I was chewing on one.

So I then proceeded to give all his mates gum but not him, which endeared me to all his mates but not him initially. In the end I shared some gum with him for his cheek.

Now after a short conversation I walked off, having felt that I had enhanced community relations and made some acquaintances, rather than upsetting  anyone.

Over the next few years, this supposed leader turned out to be a bit of a thief but funny with it. He was basically a good guy and we got on real well. (I cannot remember his name unfortunately, but I can picture him as if it was yesterday)

One night I was on duty on my own and attempted to arrest two drunks who turned nasty and aggressive.

Who came to my assistance, yes, you guessed it this youth, who believe me could handle himself. He walked over and knocked out both men I was trying to arrest, with one punch each and said, ‘Good evening.’

In fact, he walked off and I never saw him again. I was in one piece and had two drunks secure and semi unconscious in the back of my panda car.

Now the moral of the story is this. Always treat people the right way and with respect, because if you don’t then it can come back and haunt you.

This was been backed up many times since, treat people well and when you need them, they are there. Now this is another part of my Metropolitan Police History and I suppose not exactly a funny story but definitely an important lesson for me

So Where Do You Get Metropolitan Police Retirement Advice From?

Now leading up to your Metropolitan Police retirement you are offered advice from many different people and organisations, as far as I remember.

Two areas where the advice was definitely lacking was health and business.

Now business wise, if you are not thinking of working for yourself then this paragraph is useless to you. But if you are considering starting a business, then talking to an ex Metropolitan Police Officer, who is actually building businesses, rather than an alleged expert who has never built a business, may assist you greatly.

The other subject is to do with health and well being. I do not remember any guidance whatsoever, when it cam to this subject and this is one of the most important, as far as I am concerned.

If you want to talk to me about health, nutrition, fitness and well being during your Metropolitan Police Retirement, then feel to go to my contact page and telephone me

The other aspect of health and well being is contact. It is important you have a person or persons who you can talk to during your Metropolitan Police Retirement.

For some people their whole life is going to change. Now, I know some ex-met police officers that just could not fit in any more socialising into their already busy schedule, if they wanted to. But there are others who will become isolated and it is important that they are not left alone in this world.

So please do not feel awkward asking for Metropolitan Police retirement advice. You are a long time retired and you should be looking to live long, happy and healthy.

You may wish to read an article I wrote, entitled

Metropolitan Police Retirement: Fitness, Nutrition And Health

My Metropolitan Police History (Continued)

One of the greatest things about joining the Metropolitan Police when I did, was walking into Walthamstow Police Station in June 1974 and finding that nearly everyone was a character.

In 1974 the pay was awful and it was no surprise to me that there were officers who were bent. Now let’s keep this realistic and say that generally officers were very good at their job in their own way.

The relief or team I joined had been hit by a scandal. Basically an officer had been arrested for offering a driver or drivers to be let off their drink driving offences for a cash bribe.

The officer in question received a custodial sentence, quite rightly, but it had left a nasty legacy on my team. I was new and it went straight over the top of my head.

But some of the characters were outstanding, interesting  and definitely weird in some cases.

The one thing that most of the officers had in common though was their ability to sniff out a villain and make a crime arrest. Now, I have to say that these arrests were motivated by the ability to earn money through overtime.

I learnt this very quickly and decided to become good at arresting thieves as fast as I possibly could. I earned an absolute  fortune from the ability to arrest many individuals.

Now this coincided with a massive pay rise within 4 years of joining. I think pay went up 73% over two years and added together with arrest overtime, life was looking a whole lot better financially.

Oops nearly forgot to talk about one particular character. His name for obvious reasons has to be partly withheld.  But we will call him John H. I cannot tell you which police station this happened at because it will be easy for some to identify him.

John H came from the West Midlands and was a good footballer, but like a lot of youngsters failed to make the grade in a port he loved. Whether that was because he was lazy or drank too much I have no idea.

Now bear in mind yet again I was reasonably experienced and John had a couple of years in the job.

We were walking along the road in full uniform one day and John said to me, ‘Do you fancy a drink?’ So I am thinking about a cup of tea. Johnny wasn’t, he was dreaming about an alcoholic beverage.

So I said, ‘Yes why not. Where are we going to go to.’ Thinking that he would suggest a nearby cafeteria or similar.

John said, ‘Do you see that pub on the left?’ (I could see a pub about 200 yards on the left hand side) John continued to say, ‘We are going in there.’

I said, ‘John you are having a laugh. We are in full uniform.’ He said, ‘Trust me.’

Anyway we walked through the pub doors into the public bar and there were two pints sitting on the bar waiting for us. There were also many Irish people already drinking at various tables.

No-one batted an eyelid at our arrival and realised very quickly that this was normal behaviour for our Johnny and he was a regular.

We drank our pints, said our goodbyes and left the pub still in full uniform. Absolutely amazing, because if we had been caught, we would have feced serious disciplinary matters.

However John H and the occupants of the pub were used to these types of occurences and we just continued on with our duties.

I guess some officers learn how to adapt to the environment quicker than others.

John H became a legend very quickly and I have no idea what happened to him.

It just amuses me when I think back to certain incidents in my Metropolitan Police history and all the really memorable ones seem to have revolved around alcohol.

So What Was Leaving Like Really Like?

I always thought I was so set in my ways I would miss being a metropolitan police officer.

The truth is when I retired on December 27th 2006 and I have never looked back. I miss some of the people, but the job, no, I have never missed it funny enough. certain incidents and characters make me laugh on occasions

So is there a different life out in the big bad world? Yes, absolutely, there is and you have to embrace it quickly. There is so much opportunity out there and you have to be brave after so many years, being told what to do. You can understand why soldiers find it hard to adapt to civvy street.

It was weird the day I left. It was that quiet period between Christmas and New Year and I struggled to find someone to say goodbye to.

When I walked out for the last time, my leaving party had not been organised yet and I must admit I found it strange to leave this way. I just said to myself, ‘Oh is that it.’ and I just left with a box of my belongings. No fanfares, no-one waving, just a short walk to the car. Not even a bloody clock (only joking)

How do I feel now, having spent over four and half years as one of the many Metropolitan Police retired officers?

I am extremely glad I had my time in the Metropolitan Police, but I am very happy now with my life moving on. Yes, there have been challenges and a few obstacles personally, but life is for living and the future is rosy.

I have to be honest and say that if I had retired after 30 years I may well have been at a loss and totally unsettled. I retired when it was right for me and when basically I wanted to go. I think all officers should do the same, so they feel comfortable.

My goal is to join the 30/30 club, 30 years service and receive 30 years pension. We shall see as I am coming up to my 5 year anniversary. But the bottom line is I am enjoying life at the moment.

Well, my Metropolitan Police History

This is a short story relating to when I was a young police officer at Chingford in East London, probably around 1977 or there abouts.

I was on night duty driving call sign Juliet Charlie 4 along the North Circular Road, travelling west towards Edmonton and there was a 999 emergency call to a burglary at a post office in Bruce Grove, Tottenham, with suspects. (This was nearby the recent riots, August 2011)

It was about 3.30am to 4am in the morning and no-one answered to take the call. At that time there was a the main force radio and local radios for each station. I volunteered overthe main force radio, because no-one else offered to go and then I drove extremely fast to the location. When I got there I found a women officer standing outside the premises on her own.

I asked her if she needed any assistance and she said words similar to these. ‘If you drive down any road you will probably find an officer chasing a suspect from this burglary.

So I turned down a road on my left and she was exactly right. I saw a uniformed police officer chasing a young lad and not really gaining on him.

Now two things I must tell you. 1. I was in an unmarked car, so you couldn’t tell it was a police car. 2) I never did the obvious thing when chasing suspects. In fact sometimes I would go in the opposite direction. There was always method in my madness and I can assure you my goal was to arrest the suspect.

So I drove up the hill and I have to say it was quite funny watching this officer falling further behind the suspect and apparently out of breath, whilst this youngster was sprinting away.

I drove past them both and up to the top of the hill. I parked the car up and opened the passenger door. I did not get out of the car and here is why.

When you are being chased you expend nearly all of your energy and adrenalin. I knew that when the suspect reached the top, he would be easy pickings.

As the youngster drew level with my car he was nearly out on his legs. The officer was in a worse state and had fallen so far behind now, he was in a different time zone.

The youngster who was aged about 15 looked over and his whole world just seemed to cave in. He knew he was finished and I looked at him and said, ‘Just get in the car.’

He then proceeded to get into the car and collapsed on the passenger seat.

Now the honourable thing to do would have been to hand the prisoner to the other officer who had put all that work into chasing my new friend.

Regrettably, being inexperienced and happy with my night’s work I calmly drove back down the hill and to the police station with the prisoner, leaving the other officer, none the wiser.

I accept now that was a wrong decision. Now, at the time I thought this was highly comical, but thinking back I feel quite ashamed.

However the moral of the story is never do the expected, always do the unexpected. Most people would have done the same thing as this other officer. I stopped and thought, ‘How can I catch this youth?’ I watched for a few seconds and then constructed a game plan.

So, I do not know who that police officer was and I apologise to him now, but it was funny. Even the prisoner had a laugh about it as well.

So In Your Metropolitan Police Retirement Do You Exercise Regularly?

I believe in keeping things real simple and for the best part of my four and a half years of retirement I have not really got this right.

Yes, I have taken care of the nutrition side, but the exercise part, no I have to go back to the drawing board.

So I will tell you what I am going to do and then I want you to think about what you are going to do, starting today.

Today I am driving up to Chigwell Sports Club and going to complete a couple of laps of the grounds. Now that will probably be walking, but it may include some running. That is 2.4 miles of undulating ground and it appears quite simple. The key is what i do tomorrow, isn’t it.

But what about you, have you let your fitness go? How about just walking 2 miles a day, 5 days a week. That is all you have to do to stay in trim.

Two miles will take you between 30 and 40 minutes walking and between 16 and 24 minutes running, but it does depend on your fitness levels.

I would also suggest that you keep your exercise on level ground and if you can get someone to go with you even better.

The other suggestions would be plugging in the ipod and listening to some great music or inspirational speaker, whilst you are exercising.

You must do what suits you and not someone else. It must be your target or goal.

The other thing you may want to do is write it down and place it in a prominent place, so you can see it all of the time.

So let us see how we get on and I personally will report my results.

The are two  reasons why I chose Chigwell to exercise at.

1)  Because of the pleasant surroundings.

2) Whilst I am there I will shoot some business videos

Relaxed and controlled atmosphere, away from the riots, crowds and traffic.

I will be very interested in your results.

Paul Bursey

My Metropolitan Police History

Due to the very difficult incidents that have occurred during the last week. I thought a light hearted note would lift people up a bit and make them laugh.

Around about 1985 or thereabouts I was stationed in uniform at Leman Street, which is London E1. This was the only 24 hour police station on our patch.

Leman Streets ground covered Cable Street, famous for the Battle of Cable Street, Petticoat Lane Market, Wapping and The Tower of London.

However, we also covered two other stations at Arbour Square (Murder Squad) and Wapping (Thames Police).

At night a lone police constable was stationed at Arbour Square for security purposes.

On this particular night the station was manned by Eddie, an ex squaddie. So we thought we would play a trick on poor Eddie.

So at 2am in the morning, one of our team managed to break into Arbour Square and secrete himself in the basement. After a while the officer in the basement started making small noises to give the impression that there was a ghost there.

After a while the noises became a little louder, until Eddie heard them and decided to investigate. He admitted later that he was a little scared.

What happened was Eddie thought there was either a ghost or more probably there was an intruder. After a few minutes he came across the officer who was disguised and was startled.

So what did Eddie do, run or no, he drew his truncheon (baton) and proceeded to attack the intruder. Until the intruder yelled out that it was a joke and identified himself as a police officer.

Then there were laughs all around, but although hilarious at the time, the other officer could have been seriously injured.

Eddie did not require a change of underwear whilst in a scared state and after a while did see the funny side.