Showing 1–16 of 30 results

‘Just an Average Cop’: 30 Years of Policing in London and Hampshire

£9.99

Book overview

Essentially, this book is a memoir of my life and the events that occurred in it, and is predominantly written for my family and my future generations.

Police officers, people interested in crime, and football fans of my era may find some of my stories interesting and be able to relate to them. If anyone else finds my story interesting, then that is a bonus.

Police Officers have lives outside of the Police and hopefully this book reflects that.

In saying that a large part of the book does focus on my 30 years as a Police Officer in the Metropolitan Police and Hampshire Constabulary and covers front-line policing and detective work as a CID officer, including murder investigations and my time on the drug squad.

It covers my involvement in the Hyde Park and Harrods IRA bombings of the early 1980s as well as my brief experience at Broadwater Farm during the Tottenham race riots in the aftermath of the murder of one of our own.

The book also covers my role working as a supervisor in specialised and often complex areas of police work covering Domestic Abuse, Hate Crime, Child Protection, Protection of Vulnerable Adults, and the delicate job of dealing with convicted Sex Offenders when they have been released from prison back into the community.

In terms of what I achieved during my 30 years of service in comparison to my colleagues, I was probably somewhere in the middle, depending on your perspective.

I was ‘Just an Average Cop’.

The book isn’t all about the police. I always felt that it was important to maintain the right work-life balance and hopefully this book reflects that.

Police Officers deal with a lot of challenging situations and they need time away from work to relax. Those who didn’t usually burnt themselves out and ended up making themselves ill.

I used sport and family life to relax and there are chapters in the book that have absolutely nothing to do with the police.

I talk about some personal issues, including my daily battle with PTSD and IAD, as well as my experience of working through the COVID-19 pandemic as an ‘Essential Key Worker’.

I also touch on dealing with retirement from the Police at the age of 48, which wasn’t quite as simple as I anticipated it would be.

Liverpool Football Club also features prominently in the book, as the club has been a very important part of my life since I was 8 years old.

There is a chapter detailing my experience as a survivor of the Hillsborough football disaster told from the perspective of an off-duty police officer who also happened to be a lifelong Liverpool fan. RIP, 97 YNWA.

All Royalties will be donated to Scotty’s Little Helper, a charity that supports children who have lost a parent in war/conflict

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“So You Want to be a PEELER, Eh Boy?”

£10.00

The book is a unique memoir based on the diaries and journals of Police Sergeant William Foyle and his eldest daughter Ellen. In 1887, 19 year old William Foyle crossed the threshold of Winchester Police Station in Hampshire and began a new and extraordinary life.

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“Stand by ya Beds” (Life as a 1970’s Police Cadet)

£9.99

“Stand By Ya Beds” (Life as a 1970s Police Cadet) is now available to purchase. It explores the history of the Police Cadet scheme both nationally and within Hampshire Constabulary. It includes a history of The Priory buildings that later became the Cadet Training School at Bishops Waltham. It also includes personal recollections of the exploits of the Author’s Cadet intake in 1975.

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A Pictorial History of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary

£18.00

COMING SOON (Delivery expected beginning of December)

This new book includes 242 photographs, over 40 in full colour. They provide an insight into how policing has developed over the last 180 years. You will be able to see changes in uniform, equipment as well as vehicles and buildings. Each photograph includes a brief description and details of whom or what is depicted. The book helps to preserve the memory of the thousands of individuals who have served as officers and staff in the various forces that have existed in the two counties, including former Borough ad City forces that have long since been amalgamated into the larger force.  Also included are comprehensive biographies of the fifteen Chief Constables of Hampshire Constabulary, from 1839 to the present day.

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Can I Pee in Your Helmet

£9.99

Book overview

It’s 1981. Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister and police inspectors are picky over untethered pockets. Charity bands and police body armour haven’t been invented yet.
The police service has just come through a difficult decade of low numbers, low pay and low morale. As a new decade dawns Brian Mitchell is propelled from sixth form to uniform – to a two-year probationary period as a PC in Shirley, Southampton.

In this witty, thoughtful and fascinating tale of policing in Thatcher’s Britain, the former superintendent recounts his experiences as a young recruit – from the penal-like homophobic regime of training school to foot patrol work – where he deals with deranged dogs, drunk drivers, domestic disputes – and a knife wielding youth in his first hour on duty.

An exposé of life on and off duty, Can I pee in your helmet? recounts uproariously funny tales of ignominious encounters with “Hells Angels”, IRA sympathisers and exotic dancers, while exposing the grim realities of sudden death in a compassionate and reflective way.

Meet Reg, the racist footie fan; local crime kingpin Val (VD for short) Dromone and back breaking public order shield training drills. Explore the social lives of young men living in single officers’ police lodgings with curries, clubs, pubs, a shift brewery trip and a stag night – all 1980s style…what could possibly go wrong?

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