Alphabetism

The final Policing post from the West Yorkshire Police Ops Support open day is the CBRN team. CBRN stands for Chemical, Biological Radiological and Nuclear. This is the team that responds to incidents that could be terrorist related, or possibly industrial accidents causing hazards. Their main role is for initial assessment at unknown substance incidents in conjunction with partner agencies (undefined, but presumably the Armed Forces and Agencies like the National Radiological Protection Board which became part of the Health Protection Agency in 2005. The team demonstrated a range of their equipment for detection and protection, including protection suits and gas masks.

Despite all the interesting stuff with dogs, horses, hi-tech gear & choppers, this is a reminder that it is all for a serious purpose and often ties in with violent behaviour, really horrible incidents and sometimes death. The Police need to be able to handle most things thrown at them, expected or otherwise.

The centre at carr Gate had lots of other teams dealing with motorway patrols, logistical support, a VIPs, collision investigation, motorbikes and even a wildlife officer. It is a little village with several buildings sprawled across the site and it is rare that the Public would get an opportunity to go there. The site had been earmarked for a new Force Headquarters building a few years back but all of the likely Force merger plans (that came to nothing) scuppered that.

No doubt all 43 Police Forces in England and Wales have similar arrangements to a greater or lesser extent (some Forces share Helicopters, for example). I found it re-assuring- I didn’t feel that the facilities were ostentatious (far from it) or neglected, giving us good value from taxpayer money. If you need to do a job, best to do it properly.

Dive… dive… dive…

The Police underwater search unit are used whenever water is involved, whether searching in boats or diving for search & recovery of victims or evidence. At the Carr Gate open day, they had their large incident support van, some canoes and a large container tank with viewing windows (hired in, presumably they have other training facilities that are not so eye catching to the Public. Officers are selected with a one week suitability course then an eight week national diving course.
Looking into the tank (which had a number of fake knives and pistols in it), the submersible camera swung round and came to the window and faced me. I waved and it flashed its lights back at me! It was capable of very delicate movement and had a claw arrangement at the front, although it proved not very adept at picking things up and needed a bit of help from the diver.

Looking in the support van, we found the mini-sub operator. The picture on the control box screen was very clear and sharp indeed, although in murky water I imagine it is a bit harder to see, especially as the thrusters will shake up the sludge on the bottom.

I’m always interested in the minutae of other jobs and seeing these storage bins, I was curious to know what strops are. (I thought it was something that you did with a razor blade on a leather thing, or something that people throw when they are very grumpy. It turns out it is a type of Lanyard).
Here is a demo of using a lifting bag, notice the mini-sub camera mooching round in the background.

Armed and extremely dangerous…

At the Police Open Day at Carr Gate, members of the Firearms Support Unit were on hand to show us their equipment, let us hold them and ask questions. Needless to say, most of the audience were boys. The Officers showed us their protective wear, including flak jackets with removable ceramic inserts for absorbing the impact of high velocity rounds. They also had baton rounds, also known as “rubber bullets”, although they are generally made of plastic. I’ve seen them before but they are surprisingly large, blunt and apparently painful. (If used incorrectly they can be lethal).

In order to become a Firearms Officer the Police have to undertake intensive and vigorous training and the use of weapons is always regarded as a last resort. Police don’t shoot to kill, they shoot to stop- aiming for the central body mass. (Of course, that can be lethal if vital organs are damaged. Someone asked about shooting people in the legs but the reply was that it was hard to hit people in the legs, you had to be a very good shot.) They had two types of weapons on show, a Glock pistol made in Austria and the short semi-automatic gun that had the legend “for law enforcement/ military use only” engraved in the side. (That’ll frighten off the criminals).
Interestingly, the weaponry on show varied when we walked past as it had to be locked in the Police Car Safes when the assigned Officers were on breaks. Two other more mundane items were also part of the armoury- an immediate method of entry door buster (a sort of in-line hammer/battering ram) and an extensive first aid kit. No bullets were in evidence other than the baton round, although paint balling was happening nearby. What was creating some interest, however, was the Taser. (According to Wikipedia, Taser stands for Thomas A Swift’s Electric Rifle, follow the link to see why). The tazer looked a bit like a toy but the Officer assured me that it was the most horrible experience you could have in life. He had received it once in training and he had no desire to do it again. To use it, a clip on disposible blue box is fitted and when triggered, it fires two tiny barbs which drag tiny filament wires behind them. When they make contact, a very high voltage (about 30,000 Volts but a very small current) temporarily disables the victim. The BBC have a video of the Chief Constable of Manchester agreeing to be tasered in 2005, you can watch it here. With the cartridge off, the officer demonstrated firing the weapon and large sparks jumped between the terminals. The advice from New Scientist to avoid getting tasered is to wear medieval armour, although they haven’t tried it!

Four legs good, six legs better…

The Police Mounted section provides a strong tactical option during outbreaks of disorder, potential or actual. They are regularly used at football matches and assisting with searches over large areas.

The riders have a 16 week basic course and get regular refreshers on public order training. Surprisingly, the riders don’t need to have any previous riding experience. Everyone is allocated a specific horse but will ride and care for all of the horses.

At Carr Gate, there are a number of stables arranged in a U shape around a curious circular structure which appeared to be the horse version of a hamster wheel. In it, a number of horses could be seperated into curved corridors in the quadrants and the innards appeared to be able to rotate. I forgot to ask what it was for but I imagine it is to get the horses used to noisy jeering crowds without anyone getting harmed.
The courtyard also leads off into a large training arena and seeing the soft soil I immediately thought of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show at Disneyland Paris, despite it being outdoors without a roof, seating, lighting or Red Indians.

We were able to watch a training exercise where the horses trotted around the ring and the front one would veer off to join the rear. (The Horses have to overcome the urge to follow the leader when this happens). A more complex arrangement of going down the centre and then alternately turning left and right was also carried out.

The Tack rooms were less shiny than some, being working horses rather than show horses. (No polished brasses, but the horses do wear the West Yorkshire Police emblem below their necks and some pendants were evident on the walls). Each one was named with a white board on the stable door for any special instructions (mostly about damping down the feed). Police Horse boxes are very large, the size of furniture vans. We saw at least three, one you could look in and two others parked in a side street.

Canine capers

(Some details from the open day info packs, and the website.)

The Police have used dogs since the 1890s and they remain crucial for certain types of police work. The West Yorkshire Police dog training team train both dogs and their handlers. The general purpose police dogs are trained to track search and detain, not always by biting. They behave in pasive crowds and will react to disorder. Firearms support dogs can carry remote cameras in the case of armed suspects. Drug search dogs do what it says on the tin, as do explosives search. It is stressed that the dogs are not used to eliminate suspect packages! The team also has a specialist body recovery dog, used to find bodies, but also victims in collapsed buildings.

The favoured general purpose dog is the German Shepherd (Alsation), whilst Spaniels are used for sniffer duty.

At Carr Gate, a sort of multi-disciplinary operational village, there are a number of inside and outside kennels, a couple of dozen at least. On our visit, a number of the younger dogs were roped off on the basis that they are not fully trained and will bite! They get between 8 and 14 weeks of training and once they are accredited they live at home with the handler and stay with them afterwards as pets once retired from active duty.

Surprisingly, the Police are always on the lookout for people to Foster puppies until they are 12 momths old, when they return to the Police for training.