Yesterday I spent a shift with Emergency Response officers from Central West BCU (North). The experience was a powerful and poignant one from the moment I arrived. The ‘early turn’ officers were sprinting out the door to attend a report of persons who had been seriously injured.

This invoked a response from London’s Air Ambulance and Firearms officers too. It was an immediate insight into the world of response policing. How many other young people are rushing towards this danger and trauma on a Monday lunchtime?

Policing is often described as a job like no other and this moment really underpinned that analogy for me. Police officers are exposed to sights and smells no human being should see, and this can be multiple times a shift, circa 400-600 times in an average career.

40% of our ‘late turn’ team were immediately abstracted from responding to calls to deal with the serious incident that had just occurred, that immediately puts a huge amount of pressure on the remaining IRV’s to service the sheer volume of calls.

The call volume far out weighs the resources available and so calls are triaged against risk, with officers attending calls where there is a serious danger to life, and/or there is an immediate response needed.

For example we attended calls involving mental health concerns, various requests for emergency assistance from other officers attending calls, a suspected child abduction, and a false imprisonment/domestic incident, to name but a few.

In truth we did not stop for the 8 hours until ‘night duty’ officers arrived at 10PM to take over. We did not have a chance to eat, I was exhausted by the end. ‘Early turn’ officers who had rushed out to the serious incident were still writing statements at 7PM.

I cannot imagine how they were feeling and yet as I write this they’ll be back on duty already. There is a relentless and overwhelming feel to policing at the moment and the societal cracks in which policing often operates within seem to be getting larger. @MPSWestminster

Thank you posting Tom and standing up for troops.

Always a pleasure to shine a light on the wonderful work that goes on and the challenges officers face.

You’re a good man Tom. Thanks for showing how it really is. 👌

I do the easy part, it is vital we objectively see more about the realities of policing and the people behind the uniforms.

Phenomenal thread as always Tom. We need more of this from others.

Thank you Casey, we must hear more about what these officers do and the human stories too, they are heroes.

Well done, Tom. Excellent video, and coverage. I would be on the edge of my seat all of the way round. Were you breaking with your right foot whilst being a passenger..? They all do an outstanding job and we would be so lost without them. While others are running away from the danger, these officers are running towards it, always putting the safety of others first…👏👏👏💙

@PD_DexterWBDOG It is an 'interesting' experience being a passenger, there is so much going on and officers are attempting to digest information/intelligence en route too. Inner city is not as bad as the high speed runs in the counties 😅

Many years ago, during intense training for some challenging and hostile environments, we practiced escape and evasion tactics. I always played the role of the driver, never the passenger. I vividly remember the adrenaline coursing through me as I envisioned putting my foot through the floor, propelling us to safety… 😆

@PD_DexterWBDOG There is no feeling like a bluelight run, still gets me every time 👌🏽

@PD_DexterWBDOG Pure adrenaline, even pulling up at the end, they say a roller coaster of a ride...😉👍

Thank you Tom. You shine that desperately needed light. 💙 @obbsie @grahamwettone @Cole_Jim_1 @Brick_Cop @RajSKohliexcop @remmy_308 @ResponseMonkey @fifi_shaik @PD_DexterWBDOG @DavidRhodes_MPS @policecommander

@obbsie @grahamwettone @Cole_Jim_1 @Brick_Cop @RajSKohliexcop @remmy_308 @ResponseMonkey @fifi_shaik @PD_DexterWBDOG @DavidRhodes_MPS @policecommander I do the easy part, vital we see more.

Great to have your reports on things - brings perspective 🙏🏻👩🏻‍⚖️

Thank you Jo, I have the easy part raising awareness and it is a pleasure to shine a light on what officers are dealing with day and day out, they deserve the upmost support and respect.

@cater_paul 🫡🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👍🏻

Only people rushing Tom are people rushing to film it and complain about the officers.

👏

Well you certainly absorbed the police obsession with abbreviations! What, please, is a 'BCU'?

Basic Command units, the Met is split into 12 BCU’s ….

Love your vids need to do met d0g section next @MetTaskforce

@MetTaskforce Thank you ☺️

Well done Tom. Any cop will tell you that the majority of their time is NOT dealing with crime. It’s all the other stuff that needs to be done that doesn’t get any credit.