40 Winks
I’ve never fallen asleep on nights in the control room, honestly, I haven’t.
Which is more than can be said for some. It’s not too bad when you’re doubl-crewed because your partner can pick up any jobs or radio traffic that comes in.
It’s not because of any moral duty that I don’t knock out a few ZZZs. It’s more to do with the fact that I have to be in motion in order to enter the land of nod at work.
I can fall asleep at the drop of a hat while sitting in the passenger seat of a fully marked patrol car, but if the car parks up, that’s me instantly awake.
One nick I was at had a guy who drove the area car. On a night shift he’d often drive out of the rear yard & head straight for some woods on the edge of town whereupon he’d park up, switch off the lights & recline the seat. There was me for the next hour studying the local wildlife, counting the stars & trying my best not to look like a dogger.
You can tell the ones who kip on nights. For the inexperienced amongst you, here are some tell-tale signs to look for when the shift comes back at 6 in the morning to hand the keys over.
- they don’t actually come back at 6, or 6.15, or 6.30. If they’re not back by 6.45 start checking the likely spots, secluded parks, multi-storeys without CCTV, police station garages.
- There is dried dribble down their chin.
- There is an imprint on their forehead of the word FORD spelled backwards.
- The switchboard is taking reports of a policeman who appears to be sitting on a petrol station forecourt whilst under the influence of death.
The last one happened to a mate of mine. When he fell asleep it was 5.30 in the morning & the petrol station was closed. When he rose from his slumber it had been open twenty minutes & people were filling their cars with petrol all around him.
Our shift all went round someone’s house after one late shift around Christmas. I fell asleep on the sofa. I still have the photograph of me with a world record for the most Christmas decorations someone can balance on a sleeping person’s face in one go.
I don’t sleep in the presence of colleagues now.
Vicki says:
I sleep on nights instead of taking a grub break. I always tell control room where I am (thought they know anyway now as we have AVLS on our cars). Sometimes they like to shame me by calling on the radio instead of my phone so i sound all sleepy over the county wide channel. No-one minds though, I think we all agree that it is better to have a 40 minutes nap than crash!
April 8th, 2008 at 11:05 am
anonymous says:
Their was I thinking billy burglar can go round stealing with inpunity because your all stuck in the nick doing paperwork. I need to get out more, I really do!
April 8th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Internet Advertising says:
I agree with Vicki. A nice nap instead of lunch is fine.
April 8th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
200 says:
anonymous,
please don’t waste your time putting ridiculous URLs into the comment screen. It takes up more of your valuable time & I delete them.
Just leave that field blank, eh?
(Oh, and the two occasions I mentioned in the blog happened 25 years ago when I was at my first & second posting - I like to post about my whole career, not just the last shift, but I expect you are a paragon of virtue in your job, sorry we fail to maintain your high standards)
April 8th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
200 says:
Internet Advertising,
thanks for the comment but I don’t let commentors use this site to increase their Google page ranking - URL deleted.
April 8th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Officer Dibble says:
Good advice..never fall asleep in the presence of colleagues either sober or drunk.It brings out the devil in them.
April 8th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
anonymous says:
200. sorry I honestly dont know how that got there, obviously I pasted in by mistake but it was not intenional. Was only joking with my comment, though having read it it does across as like I am snow white. Off for a kip now myself, bored rigid
Great blog as well!
April 9th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
200 says:
anonymous, thanks for that. I don’t mind people linking to their personal websites, but not advertising or non existent links.
I did remove a comment last week which mentioned the police getting a 6% payrise & linking to a non existent BBC News page…thought it was a piss-take. After I removed it I suddenly realised it was April 1st the the person was probably just having a laugh - wasn’t you was it, if so, sorry I removed it, it was quite funny in the light of an April Fool’s.
April 9th, 2008 at 2:52 pm