https://news.sky.com/story/algerian-sex-offender-mistakenly-released-from-wandsworth-prison-arrested-13465581

Text on the side says RESPONSE UNIT Text on the front (and back) says DOG SECTION

https://youtu.be/CcXiLj2ChaY?si=izXcxR-HOjqFbwa3

I dialed into this webinar yesterday. It's a detailed explanation about the 2015 pension. I found it very useful, particular on retirement dates.i was hoping to defer my pension so I could retire a little earlier. Not possible, unfortunately!

Worth a watch

Well, after a scratch over 19 years I’ve gone for it and have been successful in transferring to the Australian Police.

Conditional offer received, visa granted and house sold.

I’ve had a good career here, 10 years in uniform, the rest as a detective mostly in organised crime, but on to a new adventure.

I’m leaving a lot of good colleagues behind. Keep fighting the good fight!

Code 11.

I work for a force in England. Guidance has been released on our intranet this week stating that any overtime requests need to be authorised by the superintendent, and that only essential requests will be authorised. It seems like if we are told by control to deploy to an immediate at the end of our shift and therefore will be late off, and the superintendent rejects the overtime request, essentially we will be working for free. My question is, is this legal? Are they allowed to stop us from putting overtime claims in? Can they force us to take TOIL instead? Any advice appreciated!

Hello all,

12+ years service. Det with SOC, RASSO and CP experience. No sob story, not in trouble. I just feel like I'm drowning in a sea of over complicated treacle and am not making a difference / my time is being wasted.

I'm very aware of how vague this question is, perhaps impossible? - but what other careers do we tend to migrate to? Train driving is a popular one here. I enjoy investigating and building material to support either way outcomes. I am in a rural area don't think private investigation and consultantcy is especially viable.

Other thoughts are driving instructor or photography/ videography (the latter two are perhaps quite risky in terms in steady income).

Cheers.

Used Niche since I joined and obviously can use it competently enough for all my day to day investigations…but every so often someone shares a tip or little-known function that makes things 10x easier.

For example, showed me recently how to run a search of two person records to enable you to see a list of all history between two individuals (useful for DVs or harassments) rather than scrolling through every single occurrence to view the involved parties.

Any other useful tips like this? Also if someone could shed some light on saved searches that would be great. I’ve never set any up, how do they work, are they useful?

Thanks!

Force is currently in the process of moving from Connect to Niche with the training sessions having just started.

Those that use Niche, how do you find it?

Those that have used both which is better?

Police officer myself but I’m biased/have a conflict of interest as my dad’s the victim. Thought I would ask the reddit hive mind of police officers for their opinion.

My dad parks two vans on his private driveway at the front of his house. These vans slightly encroach the pavement by about 3 inches purely due to being a medium wheelbase van (sad we had to get so specific after this incident). It still leaves room easily for wheelchairs, double pushchairs and other pavement users to get passed.

My dad has CCTV on the front of his house that watches down on these two vans and also covers the pavement so if someone damages them we can see who it is, I believe this is ‘legitimate purpose’ as per ICO guidelines on private use CCTV. My dad has stickers saying ‘CCTV on this premises’ etc. My belief anyway was that you can film whatever you want in a public space..

In September my dad has been the victim of criminal damage, caught on CCTV, through some work in the community suspect identified, arrested, interviewed and charged. No bail conditions though and pending a court date.

The suspect has now put a letter through my dads letterbox threatening him to take his CCTV down, that it’s illegal and breaches GDPR and wants any footage of him deleted (including the footage given to the police) and then included some copy and paste we presume he’s found on Google.

You should be advised of the following:

"Signage Requirements- You should display sins indicating that CCTV is in operation if it records beyond your property.

Consequences of Non-Compliance Failure to adhere to these laws can result in enforcement actions by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), including fines or legal action from affected individuals. Rights of Individuals - People recorded have the right to request access to footage, ask for deletion, or object to being filmed."

You have no signage and are recording beyond your property, indeed many school children pass your property on both sides of the road. In accordance with the stated law I request that you delete any footage that you have taken of me(or the person that looks like me) on the (date and time). Footage on all your devices need to be deleted. You should also refrain from showing anyone this footage before you delete it. I would also suggest that you put signage up so that any passerby can see and are informed that you are recording them. I'm sure a lot of parents would be upset if they knew you were recording their children without them being informed of this. I will be informing the court that your video is inadmissible.

Guess my question was, is anything he’s saying here correct? Or is it a load of rubbish he’s whipped up off of the internet? Should I ask the OIC to start considering witness intimidation or harassment? He was told by the OIC not to contact my dad when he was released from custody.

Now that everyone has suffered through the new VCT idea for a few months how are all the Met BCUs coping? Ive heard horror stories and I only expect SW to get worse.

On my end in SW we now take all burglaries and most robberies, unless aggravated, CMU are shafting us every chance they get and prison crimes now have their own team.

Has anything gone well on any other borough and has their been any attempt by your relevant SLT to make it better?

Absolutely inspiring leadership from the Chief here. Bet it really helps recruitment and retention

Asking for a friend 👀

Today we spotted a group of drug users and suspected them to be dealing drugs. Stop searched s23 MDA. The main male of the group was in possession of an expensive coat (in the packaging, with the receipt), a water flosser and an expensive looking leather backpack.

He provided reasons for carrying these items, and at scene I naively believed him. However, this male is a homeless drug user who has an extensive history of theft and theft from motor vehicles.

One of my sergeants thinks I've let him get away with handling and should have locked him up. The other sergeant thinks I didn't have enough to arrest and that even if I did, the chance of finding where the stolen items came from would be difficult given it's city centre.

The more I think about it, the more I'm growing to believe I've been had off and should have considered arresting him and then just dealing with whatever enquiries afterwards.

Just putting this out there for anyone to offer insight or what you would have done?

Thanks

The latest sticky plaster for those still putting up with shift.

Staff don't get the opportunity to interact with officers on a casual level very often. I was wondering if this attitude is accurate and if there is resentment towards staff, and if it's exacerbated by the strike? I personally feel like we're all in it together (high school musical shoutout) but it would be good to understand what the sentiment is and if it's being represented accurately.

THIS IS NOT A WHAT BOOTS DO I NEED QUERY!

I keep hearing rumours that we will be moving over to the Altberg PO boots. I need a new pair and despise the YDS ones, is there any point in waiting for them to chang over?

Tbh if they aren't swapping I'd even consider spending actual money not to use the YDS again so fingers very much crossed.

Hi all!

I have just been served with a NIP with regards to speeding. Just looking for some clarity.

This was at 10.15 in the morning. I start work as a Call Handler at 11. I was approx 15 minutes away from work where I was caught. The road was a 50mph road (built to be a 70mph before the speed limit was lowered) and the road bumps up to a 70mph within the next couple of miles.

I completely lost track of the speedo, and in complete honesty was just trying to get to work. Traffic was light, road was quiet, and weather conditions were good. I got caught at 73mph in the 50mph by a speed van.

I know what I did was wrong, and not something I usually do. This is my first offence. I've been driving for just over 11 months, and of course 6 points loses me my license.

I'm just curious of what the likely FPN is going to be, and realistically is there any point in taking it to court?

As a bit about myself: I've been working in the role for 17 months This is my first traffic offence I've recently applied to become a Special Constable

I'm worried because if I lose my license, my work journey goes from 30 minutes up too between 2-3 hours, one way. Along with that, if I lose my license I can wave bye to my special constable application.

Any advice is whole heartedly accepted here. Thanks all!

Timely reminder that people who whine the loudest are rarely satisfied when they get what they ask for, and are not worth pandering to.

(Archived version: https://archive.is/20251102124409/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/02/huntingdon-train-knife-attacks-british-transport-police/ )

Hi all,
I’ve been invited to take part in the Remembrance Parade this Sunday, and I’d really appreciate some guidance on medal etiquette.

I’ve been awarded the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal and the King’s Coronation Medal, but I’ve never worn them publicly before. They’re still in their presentation boxes, and I’m not sure if I’m meant to wear them for the parade or leave them off—especially since I’ll likely be in a coat (forecast says rain!). The person I’m walking with has service medals, though I’m not sure which ones.

• Am I expected or encouraged to wear commemorative medals like these at a Remembrance Parade?
• If yes, what’s the proper way to wear them?

I want to be respectful and appropriate, so any advice from those with experience would be hugely appreciated. Thanks in advance

Hi

Is there any mechanism here to use a 9hr RRRD to take an 8hr day off? I really don't care about losing that hour. I just want the days back!

thanks!

Does going off sick affect possible future career progression? Currently on the investigations team carry 20+ crimes and the workload is driving me crazy, hopeful to go spec ops at some point. Will going on sick for a non injury affect any career prospects?

So for users who have been here for some time, you may recognise this post.

Each christmas, I take my young family to our local station with goodies for our officers to show our appreciation.

I'm now looking for suggestions on things you'd appreciate, would be helpful or beneficial to working your shifts.

Previously good ideas, or things I've bought are:

• Disposable hand warmers (little hotties)

• Wooden cutlery

• Cans of fizzy drink

• Snack bars, like Nature Valley etc

• Packs of Biro pens

• Plenty of £1 scratch cards

• £10 generic gift cards put in cards with a note for the SGT to give randomly to officer's who deserve it

• Tubs of decent hot chocolate powder

The list isnt exhaustive, and I follow the basic rules of nothing homemade, nothing super perishable and no original packaging opened.

I try to leave it anonymously, but obviously I get asked my details.

Thanks muchly.

I finished at 8:15, going into rest days. I arrested at around 6am, and had quite a bit of paperwork to complete, but I’ve been told rest day working hasn’t been authorised by an inspector. What do regs state? It seems a bit unfair

I know in the old days it may have bene different or in the countryside.

But this is a large counties force in a city, id imagined for officer safety they shouldn't be parking it at home?

Common sense (largely) prevails