A Uniformed Response: Recollections of a Kent Police Officer from the 1960s - Tapa blanda

How times change! Many will recall seeing the local "bobby" in his pointed helmet, smart tunic and polished duty boots patrolling the High Street and chatting to members of the public who generally respected their presence. They now go round in groups, wearing bright yellow jackets, anti-stab vests, flat hats and unpolished shoes. At the back of their minds, the constant worry that they will not reach the current month's target for arrests. Tony Kirkbank joined the Kent Police Force in 1962-a time when poor pay, poor housing and local under-manning combined to make problems for officers who carried out the many and varied tasks demanded of them. This is his account of the years between 1962 and 1977 covering training, walking the beat in Dartford, driving traffic cars and being a village "bobby" in an idyllic corner of Kent. In the days before occupational stress, Health & Safety rules, overarching administrative layers and target-driven goals, this book presents a picture of basic policing as experienced in those days with examples of amusing anecdotes and recollections that all helped the copper on the beat to see his shift through with satisfaction. February 2012

Tony Kirkbank joined the Kent Police Force in the autumn of 1962 and completed his training at No6 District Training Centre at Folkestone before being posted to Dartford, in Kent, as a beat officer. After serving within various departments, including traffic division, rural policing and specialist vehicle investigation, he completed his thirty years service as a special branch officer at the port of Dover in 1992. He then became a self-employed vehicle insurance claims investigator and is now retired and living near Canterbury with his wife. He has two daughters and three grandchildren.