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y www.ciitheroetoday.co.uk Ciitheroe Advertiser & Times, Thursday, January 4th, 2007 23 K y / i S


An ordinary day in the life of Ribble Valley police officer


YOU can picture the scene. Sirens blaring, blue lights flashing


and a policeman yelling “Go! Go! Go!” seconds before a high-speed car chase through a busy town centre street. Does this scene bear any resem­


blance to everyday life in rural Ribble Valley? Fortunately not. The Ribble Valley is the safest place


to live in the North West with one of the lowest crime rates in the country, according to statistics. The rural borough finished 366th


out of 377 local authorities in a national crime survey carried out last year, making it the 11th safest area in England and Wales. However, statistics are one thing


and people’s perceptions another. Some people say the Ribble Valley’s sate reputation is not always deserved. To find out for myself, I decided to


spend a day with the police to see the level of criminal activity with which the local bobbies are faced. Since the age of 10,1 have always


enjoyed watching British police drama “The Bill”. Not only do I find it fast- paced, well-acted and captivating, hut I feel it demonstrates the life-risking job our bobbies do on a daily basis. “The Bill” may seem highly entertain­ ing to a lot of people, but there is one big problem. While w'atching the ITV programme and more often than not seeing murder mysteries and other ihajor incidents being solved in an hour-long episode, I can bet you that most police officers are falling over laughing. One policeman said to me “What you see on ‘The Bill’ never happens in real life I can promise you”. So, I did not quite know what to


expect when I decided to spend a 10- hour shift with PC (3742) Stuart


Eddleston. PC Eddleston (36), is a response


officer (an officer who responds to emergency calls In the area) and has worked at Ciitheroe tor five-and-a-half


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years. During this time, he has become a


familiar and well-liked face in the Rib­ ble Valley. He admits that he never


n


Reporter FAIZA AFZAAL shares a typical shift with our boys and girls in blue


thought about working for the police when he left school, but after 15 years of working in a factory, he decided to change his career in favour of the beat and has never looked back. The shift began a t noon and I


arrived a t Ciitheroe Police Station, armed with a notepad and pen, eager and raring to go. After introducing me to all the other


officers on duty, PC Eddleston began wading his way through the e-mails and reports about any incidents that had been logged since his last duty. At 1 p.m. we h it the streets of


Ciitheroe in a police van. As part of the police’s ongoing efforts to provide a vis­ ible and reassuring presence on the streets of the town, PC Eddleston explained that when on duty, his job is to patrol the hotspot areas of the town In a determined bid to crack down on any anti-social behaviour, criminal damage incidents and generally tackle crime. “I believe maintaining a visible pres­


ence in the town is important as it enables me to be seen as approachable and to build relationships with local people,” he explained. “If I am out in the car, I can be called out for absolute­ ly anything, anyivhere within the dis­ trict.” The next few hours were spent


patrolling key areas including Hen- thorn Road, Woone Lane, Pimlico Road, Whalley Road and the town centre area, when PC Eddleston spot­ ted a driver not wearing his seatbelt. The male motorist was eventually


stopped and asked to explain why he was not wearing one. He was let off with a caution and ordered to produce his documents within seven days. As a result of his action, PC Eddleston had to fill out a stop and search form. Minutes later he received a call on


the police radio to visit a woman who had been experiencing problems with youths in her neighbourhood. She was very upset because of the abuse she had been receiving from nearby juve­ niles and the tact that her car had been damaged that morning. PC Eddleston noted all the details,


reassured her and completed a crime report, which was immediately sent to HQ in Hutton. At 4-30 p.m., while continuing to


patrol the potential trouble areas in Ciitheroe, we received a call to round up some sheep which were causing delays for motorists on the back roads to Longridge. “Sheep?!”, I thought to myself. “Are


police expected to round up sheep ^ well?” When we arrived at the scene, there were tailbacks of traffic and we were confronted by the woolly invaders, who had escaped from a nearby farm. I decided to stay well “baaa-ck” and watch from a distance as I have no experience whatsoever of rounding up sheep! As PC Eddleston was trying to lock


one of the gates in the field that had been left open, the local farmer appeared and expertly loaded the escapees back to the farm where they belonged. We then decided to head back to the


station. After an hour, we received an emergency call and much to my delight this meant blue lights flashing, sirens blaring and sitting in the front seat of a police van as it sped through Ciitheroe. We were accompanied by p e s o Claire Langton and as we arrived at the destination, a middle- aged man was found to he causing a disturbance outside his ex-wife’s house. He was later arrested and locked up for the night at Greenbank Police Sta­ tion, in Blackburn. On our return from Greenbank, PC Eddleston returned to the victim’s house to fill out a detailed crime report and obtained a lengthy statement relating to the events of the evening incident. p e s o Langton was asked to call in


at the house again in a few days’ time to see the victim. It is true, time really flies when you


are enjoying yourself and before I knew it, it was almost 10 p.m. I must admit, I was shattered. Although I did not really have to do much apart from observe, when I arrived home I felt exhausted. In all honesty, spending a day with


the police was an eye-opener as you often do not realise how much hard work and papenvork is involved. PC Eddleston says he loves working


m


FAIZA checks out the back of a police van before she hits the streets!”(B161106/4d)


as a policeman and cannot think of doing anything else as a career. But he says it is not all about chasing crimi­ nals and policing has changed a lot over the years. “There is a lot of red tape and paperwork associated with the job. Now everything has to be doc­ umented. If you stop and search some­ one, that has to be documented. It you arrest an individual, there are endless forms to be completed which people don’t realise.”


-It' S V


REPORTER Fai/a Afzaal patrols the Streets of


Ciitheroe during her “shift”


(BieilllG/Ic)


FAIZA samples being


locked up in the cells at Clitheroc Police Station (Blt)1106/la)


He admitted working in the force


can be hard work when juggling home life with shifts. “Do not be disillu­ sioned - being in the police will affect your personal life. The shifts can be long and hard.” PC Eddleston added that at times


he feels let down by the criminal Jus­ tice System. “I t ’s frustrating when magistrates


hand out lenient sentences to persist­ ent offenders. We go through a lot of hard work in arresting the criminals, completing all the necessary paper­ work and when the defendant finally appears In court, more often than not he is dealt with lightly. This infuriates me a lot.”


On the other side of the coin, PC


Eddleston said there is much satisfac­ tion to be had from his job. “Any job is as good as you can make it. I would not want another job. “The satisfaction you get when you


try to improve the quality of life of people is unbelievable. We are very lucky in Ciitheroe as people are pro­ police and always seem to appreciate the work being done by us.” Although PC Eddleston should


have finished his shift and headed home at 10 p.m., he spent an extra two hours completing necessary papenvork associated with each incident, which was then sent to the relevant depart­ ment for further action.


AND if you


don’t behave, this is where you will end up!


(BlGllOG/lb)


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