Tuesday 5 August 2008

Level II

Here is my level II kit, washed and ready for action again.













Look closer... is that an issued t-shirt?

It is Ruralshire issued kit, which, lets face it, is more comfy and practical than the kit from my force, and at least turns up within the decade I order it.










Thanks to the Guvnor for authorising the uniform request.


Mutual aid is a wonderful thing, not least because coppers get to moan to a new audience, play tricks on new victims, and show off their kit/get depressed about other forces kit.

Sometimes it makes you proud.

Driving along the A-road, watching carriers come the other way.
From many forces, travelling from far and wide.

A couple of kent carriers, glorious in their battenburg markings, officers with ties on, speeding past at a decent speed.

Ditto the South Yorkshire van.

Ditto the two carriers from Wales.

Ditto the van from Thames Valley Police.

Then the met... two dirty, twelve year old carriers - one with a van load of coppers asleep in the back, the second with no ties and window lickers.
Ten minutes later, another Met carrier. This one leaning to one side at an alarming angle, as though it was tacking against the wind, making a rattling sound that carried over the busy road and through the car's soundproofing.

God Bless the Met.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know! What IS that all about?We're supposed to have an almost bottomless pit of £££ but we can't a couple of decent vans for PSU.

Anonymous said...

Money seems to be spent not where it is needed most, but where it is seen by the public most ...

Nevertheless, MET carriers certainly are crap.

However, it's a glorious thing to have a MET carrier turn up, irrespective of how naff it is. Last year, off duty in MET-land, I got into a 'scuffle' with a shoplifter, who I had chased through a shopping centre and apprehended in a sweet shop. As we rolled around in a blur of skittles and maltesers, a big fat, breathless PCSO turned up, followed by about 11 other proper officers (no offence to PCSO's) and saved me from a chocolatey death. I'm not sure what the point of this tale is, but thank God for the MET!

Hope you had fun in your babygrow, Area.

Metcountymounty said...

nothing to do with the fact that we get the knackered old TSG hand-me-downs!! On the bright side, we'll soon get the long wheelbase carriers as they change over to the god awful silver ambulance looking things and we can get rid of our leaky rusted out sheds!

Anonymous said...

Ah, but lets face it, the Met Carriers get regularly used for what they were invented for. I transferred out of London Town a while back to a small rural force....lovely fleet of gleaming, battenburg carriers all over the Force....which don`t get driven for weeks.....and weeks....and weeks (apart from moving furniture around and things like that). And they`re never likely to get within a couple of hundred miles of serious disorder.

Anonymous said...

MCM - I knew it had got really bad when we recently got a "Y" reg carrier on loan and we were all nearly coming to blows over who was driving that and who was driving the "N" (yes, really) reg!

Anonymous said...

Oh my God I could live in that jumpsuit/overalls/kit!!!

Not that I'm saying you're fat or anything!

I'll stop digging now.

Nice t shirt :o)

thinblueline said...

we have carriers ? and here I thought we just use hire vans and trash them...

Anonymous said...

We had a new type of public order van on trial a few years ago,where you could write something on the computer and it would flash up on the screens at the front and the rear roof bars, much like the "POLICE STOP" on traffic/ARV's

The SMT were not impressed when we changed it to "STOP ME AND BUY ONE"

blueknight said...

The biggest Police blue light convoy (that I know of) was when all the PSUs on Mutual Aid at the Miners strike in Notts did an emergency dash to stop a potential mass picket at the Immingham steel works in Humberside.
It was led by motorcycle outriders who cleared the way and shut off the junctions. We were not going to stop for anything.
Our Force was about halfway down the line and when we stopped I counted the vehicles in front and behind.
There were all sorts of prison vans, personel cariers and dog vans and most Forces were represented. I made it about 85 vehicles.
We had to stay over the weekend a well so that was another 32 hours at time and a half plus two more days in lieu.
I'm sure others will remember this.

Area Trace No Search said...

xtp, metcontymounty, ex-met anon et al - very true, the Met carriers do us proud throughout the met.

Steve - I want one of those matrix things. For all the reasons you don't have them anymore...

thoughts running through my head.... said...

at least you dont have to get the train............

Anonymous said...

Mr Area, you have given yourself away... now I know you are Met like me... you must have been down in Kent looking out for soap dodgers... We truly have an amazing fleet of knackered old sprinters. I regularly get them delivered from Lambeth for aid with flat tyres, no oil, massive unrecorded dents etc... but we all love them. Lets go for the BH caaaaarnival..... I wanna be on rampage.

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