March 26, 2010
I am pleased to announce that my new book ‘Kilo Sierra Five One’ (Policing Portsmouth in the 1980s) has just been published by Author House Books at £11.30 (plus p&p) and is available at www.authorhouse.co.uk
*KILO SIERRA FIVE ONE *is part auto-biography, part history book on the policing of one of Britain’s toughest cities; Portsmouth. Written by a Police officer who experienced at first hand a turbulent and violent decade, it takes us from his very first days at training school in 1978 right through to the late 1980s and includes national events like the year-long miners’ strike, the Falklands conflict, New Age Travelers, the Greenham Common Peace Camp and the 1987 hurricane. But it is perhaps the local incidents he attended that will make you either laugh, cry or shout out loud in disbelief as he deals with human beings and all their failings, from horrific car accidents to football hooligans he gives us a candid view of what it’s like to be involved in such incidents and how it can affect the lives of those that do.
This book tells the story of his first years in the ‘the job’ and how he very nearly got thrown out because he didn’t measure up. It’s a warts-an-all personal account, a real life Ashes to Ashes.
Steve Woodward
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
STEVE WOODWARD served in the Hampshire Constabulary from 1975 to 2008. He was one of the stars of the BBC TV series ‘Traffic Cops’ and made other appearances in ‘Real Rescues’ and ‘Southern Crime Stoppers’ together with a drama documentary on ‘The Great Storm’. He is an accomplished author and organiser of a large number of charitable events and emergency service shows. He decided to write this book because he says, the Police service, as an organization, fails to tell the public about the fantastic work its frontline officers do on a daily basis.
Volvo Amazon
October 16, 2009
New History Website launched
Throughout this year, the anniversaries of the outbreak of WW2 and D-Day 65 have focused the attention of both the media and the public on the dedication and sacrifice of all the Armed and civilian services who contributed to ultimate victory in 1945.
Many more stories of bravery and service beyond the call of duty have emerged from survivors of a generation that will soon no longer be within living memory. This is one of many reasons that a group of dedicated living history re-enactors decided to portray Home Front civilian police officers. Often overlooked for the contribution they made, the police service was put on alert as early as 1935 and they then prepared for what was called the likely emergency that the country might face. By 1938 in recognition of the fact that in wartime, police duties would substantially increase from their peacetime role, plans were urgently made to massively increase the number of officers.
It was recognised that no other service was so closely linked with the people and none was better able to gauge the mood and feelings of ‘the masses’ than the ‘bobby on the beat’. In time of stress and anxiety, people would turn to the familiar uniform of the law for reassurance, guidance and help in many situations. At the outbreak of war the police had, in addition to the issue of truncheons, been issued with gas masks, helmets and instruction booklets on action required in emergencies.
It was also the responsibility of the police to ensure that the message about and precautions against aerial attacks got into the public arena. With that task came the whole matter of the enforcement of black out regulations. Incidentally, police in a number of Metropolitan boroughs were also responsible for the fire service so additional to their police duties they had to have a basic knowledge of fire fighting.
The Home Guard was under the auspices of Chief Constables and this unfortunately became an uncomfortable alliance in many parts of the country. For every successful working relationship there were many others which were hampered by problems of rank between police officers and former WW1 veterans who were usually called upon to run their local unit of the Home Guard. In other areas of operation however, working relationships were very successful and that was true of the relationship between the civilian and the police units of the Armed Services.
www.policeatwar.com This site is dedicated to the men and women of the wartime civilian and Armed Services police who faced overwhelming challenges in their respective theatres of war. The re-enactors accurately portray police at war and in doing so keep alive the memory and spirit of those times as well as the memory of the men and women who when called into service did their duty without question and for the benefit of this country during those far off yet desperate days.
NOTES
For further details and photographs please contact John on 077 483 10996
Police at War supports charities and the volunteer re-enactors are available for educational and historical projects and events.
8th September 2009
January 13, 2009
Jim Brown is giving a slide show presentation on “Policing Southampton in the 50s” to the Southampton Local History Forum, Civic Centre on evening of 19th March, 2009 and again to City of Southampton Society on 23rd March. 2009, Starts at 7pm
January 11, 2009
Information about current crime suspects can be reported anonymously to:
Crimestoppers free on 0800 555 111 or telephone 0845 045 45 45
January 5, 2009
We are currently moving the Hampshire Constabulary History Society site from the HantsWeb server to this new server and software. The new site has been redesigned, will be easier to maintain and will have more space for us to improve the features.
