I would like your help with a dilemma that has arisen because of my most recent ride-along, this time with TSG U5:4 out of Larkhall Lane on their late turn Commissioner’s Reserve. Read on…
Insp. Niall McParland invited me and James Barham from our asset managers, Schroders, to join one of his teams, and so Sgts. Keith Williams and Paul Bowen each allowed us to join their buses.
This ride-along started from a slightly different point than mine usually does. Mine are because I – and my board – feel that to do the best job I can for our Police Family, I should have some understanding of what they do. I find these attachments extremely valuable; they reinforce my respect for Police Officers and Staff, what they do, and why Metfriendly needs to do everything it can to help them. I usually go out alone, but when we went through the process to select our new asset managers, we did so on the strength of their ability to deliver a great return for the £300m of our Members’ money but one of the interesting additional elements with Schroders was that three of the team looking after our account are ex-Police Officers, giving them a little more insight into what our Members are looking for from their investments. James was one of the three, but his experience was somewhat older than his colleagues’ and he… ahem… didn’t stay in for long. He worded his exit as, ‘Well, the MPS and I agreed that we weren’t ideally suited to a long-term relationship’, so he left 42 years ago after about 18 months. We thought his knowledge needed to be a little more up to date, and he was game enough to accept Insp. McParland’s invitation.
Having declined U5:4’s kind offer to join their PT session (I am 53, unfit, and was nearly sick when I joined U4:2’s session three years ago), we went out with Sgt. Williams and his team: a driver, operator, and three other Officers. I was interested that there were fewer Officers per bus than there had been when I first went out with TSG in 2021, and I wonder if this was an indication of the recruitment issues we often hear about.
The evening was another one that illustrated the nebulous nature of the TSG’s work. The plan was to deploy to an area that had suffered a surge in thefts from robbers on adapted e-bikes, but the first bus never got there. Anyone who has read my first account of going out with TSG will remember that I was struck by their observation skills – I was reminded of this again. Within two minutes of leaving Larkhall Lane, Sgt. Williams saw a couple of people looking like there might have been some drug dealing going on. Five minutes later, after a combined foot-and-van chase, the man was caught. He was detained, searched, and a quantity of crack, heroin and money was found, and the man was then taken to a station for processing. Going to be honest… this was quite exciting for James and me – just a few minutes in and there was a prisoner on the bus. This was going to be an exciting night!
What I hadn’t appreciated was that this arrest, while a good result, would take the bus and all five Officers out for the next 5-6 hours while they processed the arrest and completed the documentation. They would rejoin their colleagues in U5:4 at about midnight, with only three hours of their nine-hour shift left. James Barham was astounded by the difference between this process and the ‘drop off at a station’ one he would have followed in the early 1980s.
Sgt. Bowen rescued James and me from a fate of waiting in a station for hours; we joined his bus who were able to get to their deployed destination, and spent the rest of the evening looking for the problems the shift was meant to.
Once again, I found the TSG to be a close-knit group of highly professional Officers who have an obvious respect and fondness of each other. Several of the U5:4 team have worked together for very many years, and this shows in their easy interaction, both out on the bus and in the briefing, which was free-flowing and collaborative.
So, … that leads me back to my dilemma.
I have been out with the Met Police’s 4:2 unit of the Territorial Support Group several times in the past, and they have always told me that they are the best TSG unit in the Met. They may have intimated that they were the best Police unit in the Met, and I can’t remember if they restricted themselves to the Met, or I have just assumed that is what they meant. While I have been out with other Police units, I had never been out with another MPS TSG unit, so I didn’t have any reference point for comparison and, therefore, never felt the need to consider the veracity of their claim. That changed with my latest ride-along, and now I am not sure what I should do to make up my mind about the best TSG unit, best MPS Police unit and best UK Police unit.
POLITE views and suggestions would be welcome!
Annette Petchey, CEO
