Untold: The Police
To encourage more people with diverse backgrounds and experiences to join the police, we've teamed up with Channel 4 to create a series of films featuring members of the public interviewing serving officers about their experiences in the police service.
Watch now to learn more about...
Life as a Black police officer
View the full video transcript
T.J., a serving police officer, and Rowan, a member of the public, sit opposite each other in a dimly-lit interview room. They begin a conversation.
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T.J.: Being a police officer teaches you how to accept
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that people are different, that they live their lives differently.
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You get to share moments with complete strangers.
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Rowan: I couldn’t do your job
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T.J.: Why?
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Rowan: I was just worried about...
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what my family would think about me.
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T.J.: People are gonna have an issue with it.
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I know that from personal experience.
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I lost friends when I joined the police.
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It was difficult.
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It is difficult.
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But I fight on
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because if... I don’t do it then
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everything will be the same for the next generation.
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You are me, 14, 15 years ago.
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You know, saying:'It can’t happen.'
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Rowan: I know for me, when I was thinking about
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joining the police,
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I wanted to be a dog handler but then my look started changing,
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started to get tattoos, grew dreads.
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You don’t really see Black police officers with dreads.
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T.J.: There’s loads of Black officers with dreads.
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Rowan: Really?
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T.J.: Yeah man.
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Rowan: What like long formed? Or...
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T.J.: Yeah. Long down to their back, dreads.
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Rowan: Wow, OK.
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Rowan: So I got stopped and searched a lot.
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T.J.: Yeah.
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Rowan: Just, you know,another Black guy,
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looking suspicious, I guess.
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T.J.: Yeah, I’ve been told that I fit the description of a recent robbery
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and I was wearing dark clothing.
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I wear dark hoodies all the time.
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Rowan: Yeah.
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T.J.: You know,
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Why? Why have you stopped me?
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Now I have the knowledge,so I ask the right questions.
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Rowan: Uh-huh.
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T.J.: Personally believe that stop and search is a good tool to be used
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in the right way,but at the same time,
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we have been stopped and searched unnecessarily.
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I have been stopped and searched unnecessarily.
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I don’t want my children,nor their children after them
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to be concerned about that.
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I want them to drive past,you know, a police car,
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‘ah there’s a there’s a brother in there, there’s a sister in there’.
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It will be natural to see ourselves in these roles,
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it will be natural to see high ranking
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police officers who can effect change.
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But it can’t be done from outside,
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it has to be done from inside.
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We need people like you,
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so that we don’t have to feel uncomfortable.
We see a brief close-up of a whirring tape deck recording the conversation, before cutting to a wide shot of the two men.
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Rowan: So being a Black police officer,
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what do you think about the whole BLM movement?
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T.J.: It pains me that, you know, I had to see somebody that is me
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lose their life again for the vehicle to start up again
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and I just think that we need to keep the pace with that.
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Conversations like this,
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are giving us seats at tables that we
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should have been sitting at a long time ago.
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And I am just
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aware that we need to make sure that the correct voices
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are sat at these tables.
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Rowan: Have you seen more Black police officers joining?
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T.J.: Yeah man, yeah definitely.
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We are in areas that we wouldn’t have been before;
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Firearms. You know, detectives and...
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We are in these roles and we are excellent.
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At everything.
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Rowan: What’s your proudest moment so far?
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T.J.: Proudest moment in the job was
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stopping a murder.
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It was a domestic incident.
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On the way to the actual flat itself, we could hear screams.
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Eventually gained access, ran up to the second floor,
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Just got there, what would have appeared to be, in time.
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You know, what she kept saying afterwards is:
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‘He probably would have killed me in the house.’
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So that is my standout moment
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from my career up to this point.
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Rowan: So what is your most favourite part of the job?
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T.J.: Strangely enough just
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being able to communicate with different people.
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Communication, you know, is what we use to solve things.
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Being a police officer teaches you how to accept
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that people are different, that they live their lives differently.
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You get to share
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moments with complete strangers that blow your mind.
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You get to do things in special ways for people that,
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You know, will literally,
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they will come back and tell you that you changed
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their life for the better.
We see a close-up of the tape machine, clicking as the recording ends, before cutting to a shot of Rowan.
Life as a female detective
View the full video transcript
Kimberley, a serving police officer, and Jennifer, a member of the public, sit opposite each other in a dimly-lit interview room. They begin a conversation.
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Jenifer: Has anything ever made you feel scared on the job?
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Kimberley: We have these red buttons on our radios,
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if somebody presses that red button, your heart stops
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because you’re just like ‘where is that officer?
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Where are my keys? I’m going
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Jenifer: Do you think the police are sexist?
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Kimberley: No. In a word.
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I can only talk about my experience in our force.
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But I think every sort of issue that might be in policing
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in relation to sexism or racism or against disabilities
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or any of those kinds of issues,
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there’s something in place to try and tackle that.
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So, I just know with policing now that there’s a zero tolerance to it.
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If someone was then to report it to a manager, it’s then dealt with.
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Things are in place to not allow that to continue
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and that is the difference.
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Jenifer: Has anything ever made you feel scared on the job?
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Kimberley: Oh yeah for sure like absolutely.
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You’re only human at the end of the day.
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But of course, when you’re driving to something
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the adrenaline is going,
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you’re like ‘what am I going to be facing?
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What gets you through that is knowing that
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you’ve got a team behind you so you’re never on your own.
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It’s almost like a family, as cliché as it sounds, it really is. If something…
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I’ve heard things over the radio.
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We have these red buttons on our radios, they're like an alarm which
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if somebody presses that red button, your heart stops
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because you’re just like ‘where is that officer?
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Where are my keys? I’m going’
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It’s just your mentality because you just look out for each other.
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The fear is there but you’ve got people to back you up.
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Jenifer: That’s amazing.
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Did you always want to be a detective?
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Kimberley: Yes, I think I always did.
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I kind of knew that was where I wanted my career to go.
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Getting an investigation, getting a case
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and really picking it apart, who’s done what
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and who’s involved and why?
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Not knowing really what you could be going into.
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You could come into work one day and think:
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‘right this is what I’m doing today, this is my To-Do list’.
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Then something happens and you’re going
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it doesn’t matter what you’ve planned
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and you have to switch into that mode
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and deal with that and you know, there’s not many jobs really where it is like that
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and that’s what keeps it fresh, even for like 15 years in the job.
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Jenifer: Do you think there’s anything that
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gives you an edge over your male counterparts?
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Kimberley: From a personal point of view, I think
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being a female from a black minority ethnic background
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and having kids, I think that makes me quite unique.
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I’m quite proud of the opportunities I have to do things
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that can potentially open doors for other people
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to see that actually you being somebody unique
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can have a really big voice in somewhere like policing.
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If you are new coming in and you want to see
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those women in those managerial positions,
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you want to see them high-ranking and think:
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‘Actually I could get there’, it isn’t just all men at the top.
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Jenifer: Do you find it difficult juggling being a mother
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and being in the police as well?
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Kimberley: Yeah. Yeah definitely. My husband’s in the police as well
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and we’ve got three children. So, for quite a few years
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we have had to be on opposite shifts
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and literally passing ships at the night at times.
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But the police is good for,
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there are opportunities to do flexible working.
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They do recognise that obviously most people are
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going to have children or other caring responsibilities
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so there are things in place to make it easier, but it is hard.
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Jenifer: Do you ever feel like you’re a detective mum?
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So finding out whose done what?
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Kimberley: Yes, without a doubt.
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I do find myself questioning my children
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in an interview technique style at times.
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I can actually see like an interview process
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going around in my head and I’m like these are my kids.
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But to be honest it works!
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So I’m going to probably carry on with that.
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Jenifer: It is great training!
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Kimberley: Good training yeah!
We see a close-up of the whirring tape deck recording the conversation. It clicks as the recording ends.
Life as a gay police officer
View the full video transcript
Tracy, a serving police officer, and Ali, a member of the public, sit opposite each other in a dimly-lit interview room. They begin a conversation.
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Ali: I don’t see anyone like me in the police force.
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I didn’t feel like I would fit in because I didn’t feel like I was masculine enough.
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Tracy: I don’t feel like I fit, I don’t want to fit.
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Ali: Are the police homophobic?
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Tracy: Now I think there is a perception that the police have certain views as a collective,
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but I think it would be unfair to say that the police, you know I’m a police officer.
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I’d say there are times when we may be clumsy and when we don’t get things 100%,
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Let’s unpick it and look why.
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If it’s ignorance and it’s anti something, then we’ll deal with that as well.
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We are very robust in the police around discrimination,
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around racism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia.
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Ali: Right, so how do the police deal with the LGBTQ community then?
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Tracy: For me, the word community is often something that can be misleading
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I think because LGBTQ people are everywhere, we are part of society,
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we are in amongst the daily world aren’t we?
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But I think engaging with communities is something that’s really important to the police.
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One of our fundamental principles is that you know we are the community and the community are the police.
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And if you don’t see people like me in the police,
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you’re not going to believe that’s it’s OK to tell the police things are you?
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So for me we have to be that visible person, I have to be that role model,
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I have to be that image, because otherwise if you
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can’t see it, you’re not going to think you can be it, are you?
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Ali: But I don’t see anyone like me in the police force,
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I don’t see that representation there. So do you have any colleagues who are South Asian and gay?
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Tracy: Yeah absolutely.
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I think sometimes some of us don’t necessarily want to be like the poster person for the police
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but you need to see you to think you can be
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part of us as well don’t you? So you need to see that.
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Ali: When I was 16, at that age I didn’t feel like I would fit in because
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I didn’t feel like I was masculine enough in order to be a police officer.
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So again like I said, at that age, especially at that age,seeing someone like myself
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would have made me…Maybe I would have taken a different path.
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Tracy : But I think it’s really interesting that you feel like, as a young lad,
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and you’ve got your identity and who you are,
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and you’re thinking: ‘I need to fit to be in the police’
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and I think that’s maybe where we need to listen to that and go:
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‘why are people feeling they need to fit?’
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this isn’t about…I’ve been in the police 24 years,
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I don’t feel like I fit, I don’t want to fit.
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I want to bring me to the table and say:
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‘Listen, these are the skills I’ve got and this is what I’m good at’.
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Ali: So what was it like for you coming out whilst you were working for the police?
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Tracy: Initially, when I first joined the police, I was really conscious of my gender
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more than anything I think. I didn’t really think about my orientation or identity.
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I thought more about being a woman in a man’s world.
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I wasn’t really out or open for the first few years in the police.
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Didn’t feel like I could be, if I’m honest.
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And then I kind of just became more aware of other people like me
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and of the support that was available as well.
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Like other networks, you know we have a lot of support
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mechanisms in the police service and I became aware of that.
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But yeah went into investigations
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and I just felt like I found my place. The little girl detective
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then was becoming the big girl detective
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and I felt like how can I expect someone to be honest with me
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about what’s happening to them if I’m not being honest with who I am?
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Ali: How would you describe that feeling of when you did like finally come out? Like, how was it?
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Tracy: I became a better police officer,
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I felt like the police got more from me
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because I wasn’t hiding anything.
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I was in an organisation which is about truth and honesty
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and I was going to gay clubs and hiding if the police came in.
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You know, it was just at work.
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Ali: So you led a double life?
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Tracy: Oh yeah absolutely, absolutely I did. Now I can’t imagine it, I can’t ever imagine it.
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It’s helped me professionally as well, I get victims of crime coming out to me,
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telling me things about themselves because they identify something in me.
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It’s almost having another little skill set as well you know.
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Tracy: I think career wise I’ve done some things that I probably never ever dreamed possible,
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and I had an experience that probably changed me as a person as much as it did a police officer.
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We ended up with a conviction at court that involved
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young people as the perpetrators. That was a real highlight for justice I think
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but as a detective I kind of felt,
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this is kind of what I wanted to achieve professionally.
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And I think when I look back now, I’m hugely proud of
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not only becoming a detective but some of the cases
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I’ve been involved in and some of the lives I’ve been able to influence and change
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and have an impact on.
We see a brief close-up of a whirring tape deck recording the conversation, before cutting to a wide shot of the two people.
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Ali: What’s your necklace about?
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Tracy: This is really special, I was given this back in 2009,
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when I got my award in Seattle for the International Police Officer of the year.
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I’d spoken to an audience where some police
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in the audience were working in countries where it’s still illegal to be gay.
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And a person unknown to me, to this day,
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put a little bag in my hand and passed it to me and said that the speech I’d given had inspired her
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and it’s Joan of Arc, it says on it: ‘I am not afraid, I was born to do this’.
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Just feels like my epitaph if you like, it’s kind of my meaning.
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Ali: I love that, really got me then.
We see a close-up of the tape machine, clicking as the recording ends.
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