| 1 | 1 | | To judge from television, all policemen must be deaf after a year in the job. When |
| 2 | | they 're not shouting at suspects or each other, they're slamming car doors as they race |
| 3 | | into action under wailing sirens; occasionally, people fire noisy guns in their direction. |
| 4 | | Yet most real policemen must go to work each day with much less fear than an inner-city |
| 5 | | teacher, and some of the best make their jobs sound really enjoyable. |
| 2 | 6 | | Alan Godfrey (K 423) has been walking the beat1) in North Woolwich2) for 24 and a |
| 7 | | half years now. He would fail any screen-test for a part as a television policeman. |
| 3 | 8 | | North Woolwich is still a small community. 'Everyone knows everyone round |
| 9 | | here,' he says. 'You can't sneeze without three people hearing it. And it helps us to know |
| 10 | | the villains, and to say hello when we see them. Then, when you've got to arrest them, you |
| 11 | | say hello, and then ''I'm arresting you for whatever".' |
| 4 | 12 | | We walk through shabby alleyways past nailed-up and graffiti-covered sheds to a |
| 13 | | seven-storey block of flats. At the top of the block live the Akbar family, as they have |
| 14 | | done for the past eight years. They have been the victims of the sort of small-scale |
| 15 | | violence against Asian families that hardly ever makes news and is difficult for |
| 16 | | conventional policing to stop. |
| 5 | 17 | | 'You've got to catch them at it,' says Godfrey. 'I've spent so many hours waiting; |
| 18 | | drunk endless cups of Asian tea and eaten more curries than you'd believe, but they never |
| 19 | | come when I'm around.' One of the disadvantages of being a policeman who knows |
| 20 | | everyone on the beat is that everyone knows you and your rounds, which makes life |
| 21 | | rather easier for the local vandals. |
| 6 | 22 | | 'Those kids have not even finished school or they have no jobs,' Mrs Akbar says. |
| 23 | | 'We have a much greater right to be here than they have. But they 're not criminals. In a |
| 24 | | way I feel sorry for them. They've got nothing to do round here.' |
| 7 | 25 | | As we walked away, I asked Godfrey what he considered the worst side of his job. |
| 26 | | 'Weil, some of the sudden deaths can be pretty awful,' he says. 'But there's a switch in my |
| 27 | | head, and I just turn it off. I can remember every dead face I've seen in the job. But when |
| 28 | | you're there you just tell yourself that it's not your family, and somebody's got to clean |
| 29 | | the whole mess up. |
| 8 | 30 | | Bringing bad news to people can be pretty awful too. I mean, you can't just go up to |
| 31 | | a house and say "Mrs Bloggs? I've got some bad news for you. Your husband's just died |
| 32 | | in a car accident." No, what I do is go next door first and tell the neighbour, and get her |
| 33 | | ready to come round with me and make a cup of tea. Then you knock on the door and say |
| 34 | | "Mrs Bloggs" and she says "What is it?", and you say 'I'm afraid I've got some bad news |
| 35 | | for you", and she says "My husband!" 'I'm afraid so.' "Is he dead?" "Yes, I'm afraid |
| 36 | | so.' And she says, "I told him not to go out today. I told him it was too rainy.' And you |
| 37 | | see, she's telling you what she wants to hear. All you have to do is listen. And after a while |
| 38 | | I leave her with the neighbour, someone she knows, who makes a cup of tea.' |
| 9 | 39 | | 'There's a great divide in the force between the old-fashioned people like me, who |
| 40 | | came in because they thought it was avocation - I had had jobs, I had done National |
| 41 | | Service - and the young one s who think it is a career,' Godfrey says. 'I came in naively |
| 42 | | thinking that I was going to serve the public - and I've ended up serving the public!' |
| | | |
| | | from You, April 27, 1986 |
