[FYFPSUNK]
Right Mr [UNCLEAR] erm Have you always lived in Nottingham ?
WMN: FYF_66
Dialogue: FYF
[PS262]
Well I live in in live in Nottinghamshire , born and bred at a place called [ANONYMIZATION] which is it 's about er twenty four miles North of Nottingham . A small mining town . Brought up well as I was actually born in the village and that 's where I 've come home to roost when I left the army .
[PS261]
So you when did you join the army ?
[PS262]
Nineteen er s nineteen seventy two . I came out in nineteen eighty four .
[PS261]
And th did you join Group Four then ?
[PS262]
Yes yes I was I had a month 's terminal leave er [UNCLEAR] I 'd er I 'd heard that there was a job going , er phoned them up on the on the Monday , had an interview Tuesday , started the Friday .
[PS261]
So were you a sergeant when you started ?
[PS262]
Yeah . Yeah everybody starts off as a sergeant . And er you do you do probation for three months in in which time you 're vetted thoroughly . And if your if your vetting does n't come up to scratch , then you can be terminated , it 's in your contract . And er I 've been with them ever since , just come up to two year period . I 've enjoyed it quite a lot . Seen a a lot of other things I would n't have seen if I 'd have been working down a pit or behind a shop counter or something . Met a lot of er different people . .
[PS261]
Is that the sort of thing most people [UNCLEAR] ?
[PS262]
Well at the moment with the the mining industry as it is , unless you 've got had you 've got or had a relative working at the pit , the local , you have n't got the s chance of [UNCLEAR] in . When I left school er if you went to the pit , it was the last of the last jobs . But now to get into the pit it 's one of the jobs to go to . I would say ninety five percent of people in the village are employed at the local colliery .
[PS261]
Mm . Erm er [UNCLEAR] . Erm what was actually you brief when you move onto the flats .
[PS262]
Well our main brief was that we was to try and minimize and control the vandalism , or any property belonging to the county council . Er to make sure none of the empty flats was broke into , and items removed such as copper tanks , electrical fittings . To reassure the remaining tenants who were left behind , or moving out er [UNCLEAR] Mm . Tt . What 's the word ? Well try and look after [ANONYMIZATION] flats for the council . As [UNCLEAR] . Erm make sure there was no vandalism done . But we found out that most of the vandalism was done in the daytime when we were away . And er reassure reassure the tenants that that that are left behind .
[PS261]
So when did you actually move on to the flats ?
[PS262]
We started the contract in April of last year . I think it 's the around about the first or the second of April . Er so that 's over a year now . About what ? Fourteen month fifteen month ? Mm .
[PS261]
So what 's you what are what are your actual powers ?
[PS262]
Well we 've got no s we 've got no more powers than what a a normal person civilian has got . Er our main thing is , if we see something happ happening which we justifies erm the police being called , then we will call the police . But if we see an office that 's being committed by y somebody breaking into an empty flat , or we actually see somebody breaking into a occupied flat , then as a as a citizen , you can enforce a citizen 's arrest . [UNCLEAR] . We 've never arrested anybody yet , I think erm the uniform does the job . And it deters more people than u use actually having to er resort to different means . But erm the police react very quickly . If we say , There 's somebody suspicious knocking about the flats , or , There 's a person on such a walk doing something we think 's a little bit er mysterious , then they 'll sen they 'll send somebody round as quickly as they can .
[PS261]
So you 've got quite a good relationship [UNCLEAR]
[PS262]
Oh we 've got a fantastic relationship with the police . Because also we can act as eyes for them as well . Er I do n't know but I would i I would reckon the crime rate since we 've been on the flats , even though the the flats are emptying out , h h has dropped er dramatically . Erm as you know yourself you walk round the flats now , it 's dead . There 's hardly anybody about but if you was here a year ago , this was a little island on it 's own little concrete island on it 's own . And there was activity twenty four hours a day . You could go out to the walkways , you could talk to somebody twenty four hours a day . If you was here .
[PS261]
So you think the community 's certainly gone down since you [UNCLEAR] ?
[PS262]
In number-wise ?
[PS261]
Well in the way people act .
[PS262]
Well you i it took a a while for us to be accepted about six month I would say six month [UNCLEAR] . Because when they first saw us we was eve everything from the the D H S , to the police , to the probation office . Anything that could could check up on people and ru that 's what we was called . Gradually the people realized that we was here to look after the flats . And we were n't gon na you know , bust the door down at six o'clock in the morning and do a drugs raid . Or other illicit things that 's going on . And they accept us for what we are and we 've got a good erm relationship with the the people w who are left in er the flat complex .
[PS261]
Mhm . Er you said about breaking into them and things like that , erm er a lot of tenants we 've spoken to er seem to be er they seem to thing there 's a lot of [UNCLEAR] flats . Er do you do you get a lot of breaking into flats ? [UNCLEAR]
[PS262]
[UNCLEAR] when we come we come on duty . Approximately we a we start on at six o'clock . By which time the tenants have come home from work or they 've been out for a few hours , say they 've been out from twelve till six . And they come home , they find that the the flat 's been broke into , and that 's the first thing we know about it . Er we 've had one or one or two erm break-ins while during the night . But on such a large complex like this , we ca n't be everywhere at the same time . And er the [UNCLEAR] the problem is we get round who who do you know who lives in what flat . Erm if we see you know , if we see somebody walking down a walkway , and he 's got a stereo in his arm , arms should I say , and he puts it into a car then obviously it a it arouses our suspicion , we 'll take a quick note of the car 's registration number , and we 'll pass the relevant information through to [ANONYMIZATION] Police Station . It 's up you know and they 'll act on that . Erm we had one morning , one of our sergeants saw what he thought was a break-in . Was in in the [UNCLEAR] . We got on on to the phone to [ANONYMIZATION] Road Police Station , and within possibly two , three minutes , there was four , five police officers round there . And it turned out chap had been locked out and he forced one of his windows himself to get in . But they they surrounded the flat cos they thought that it was a bur a burglary was in process . So er we achieved something there , even if it you know it it put the frighteners up the chap , police [UNCLEAR] looking out the windows and you know , saw our reaction when the police turn up , it makes them think again .
[PS261]
Erm what actually happens if someone comes up to you in the night and says , My house has been burgled . What do you do ?
[PS262]
Well first thing we do is we 'll if I 've got two two sergeants at the flats , I tell the occupant to go back to the flat , and wait for the two s two sergeants turning up . They 'll go back to the The two sergeants 'll turn up . They 'll go in with the with the occupant , at the same time we 'll inform [ANONYMIZATION] Road Police Station . And then erm it 's up to Road Police Station to deal with it . If we find a flat that 's been broke into . And it 's an occupied flat , then we will not enter it or we will not enter it until we 've had erm till [ANONYMIZATION] Road Police Station 's been informed , and then we 'll work on their advice . And then they 'll say , Right we 'll have a bobby in there in ten minutes , or , We ca n't get anybody there till such and such , so what we will do is we will secure a door , until somebody can come and have a look at it . Erm if a window 's been smashed , then we 'll we 'll get the window boarded up to secure the flat the best possible way .
[PS261]
You do all that yourself do you ?
[PS262]
No we we we 've got er a contact phone number and er a contractor comes in and boards it up . Or secures the door . If we ca n't put a clamp on it , then we we ca n't do a clamp . Say the doorframe 's been busted , then er we 've got authority to contact the board the people who board it up . And then they 'll they 'll get the flat secure .
[PS261]
Now in what what other things go on in the flats that you get involved with ?
[PS262]
Er what other things go on in the flats ? Fires . Erm unknown people have got their little things about setting chutes on fire , the rubbish chutes . What they normally do is they get some paper , they light it , they 'll drop it , and it falls straight into the rubbish chute underneath . [UNCLEAR] appropriate action . Er nine out of ten you can see it . Cos there 's smoke . Well I mean first of all you 'll smell it . [UNCLEAR] you find out where it is , and you inform base which is here , that there 's a fire , say in one of the chutes , [UNCLEAR] and er the fire brigade will be informed . And the fire brigade 'll turn up and deal with it . And we put in a report to the county council in the morning saying there was a fire . Erm we 've had a couple of flat fires . There again [UNCLEAR] er there was smoke seen coming out of a bedroom , so we first of all informed base again , that there 's a fire , in a flat , secondly we did was break down the door . Cos we took it that there was somebody probably take it that there 's somebody inside the flat . Until either the the emergency services turn up and say there 's nobody in the flat . Or that the occupant turns up himself and says there 's nobody in the flat . Er and this this case the there was a fire in a flat , the chap had gone out to work , we did n't know he 'd gone out to work , so we broke First of all we informed the fire brigade [UNCLEAR] was on the way , we broke down the door , quick look in the flat , best possible way we could look , and the fire brigade turned up and dealt with the flat . We secured the door . [UNCLEAR] . Erm we 've had one attempted well one arson attack in the the period which we 've been on the flats . Er disagreement between er two partners er one partner set fire to another partner 's flat , by smashing a window , [UNCLEAR] setting alight the curtains . We were I was I was patrolling at the time , with me partner . We heard the glass being broken . So we we moved towards the sound of the glass , and there 's there 's two people in the the garden , so we went down to have a look at them . As we as I approached them , I saw flames coming from the the curtains . And the two people in the garden started to walk away . So rather than cause er an incident there and then , I informed my partner to follow them back to wherever they went , which time I got on the radio back to control , [UNCLEAR] that we required the police and the fire brigade . Er but he followed them all the way back to a flat on th on the on the complex . The police came and dealt with them and the arrest was made . So therefore , in my mind , we saved probably forty , fifty family lives that night . And er it was a good night 's work . The fire brigade eventually turned up , because the police had cancelled [UNCLEAR] they tu turned them ou turned them out again . And and things [UNCLEAR] settled nice and quietly and all the blue lights come flying down here , and so we had to they was about to chop down this blokes door and we said , Whoa whoa whoa . Said , The fire 's out mate . And we showed them where the fire was , they checked that out . Because er under no c circumstances if we have a fire , do we say the f we put the fire out out ourselves . Even if we 've had a fire and if it 's burnt itself out then we will we will call the fire service to make sure it is out . And they 're the specialists we 're not .
[PS261]
Erm do you have much trouble with erm squatters and vagrants and [UNCLEAR] .
[PS262]
When we first moved in , April last year , it was a bit bit cold . Problem with the stairwells is that they 're heated . The heating pipes coming through for the the central heating and the hot water . We had one or two , one or two vagrants knocking about , and we just asked them to move on , and they moved on . We 've had one or two juveniles that 's run away from home sleeping in the in the outhouses . There again , rather than wake them up , and the they do a runner , we get on to the phone , tell the police that there 's a a juvenile or what looks like to be a juvenile , sleeping in in part of the flats but where it 's a a stairwell , an ou outhouse , erm even under the stairs , then they 'll come along and check it out . Nine out of ten it 's a runaway . And they 'll just , they 'll eit you know , just hand it over to the police and that 's as far as we 'll go .
[PS261]
Mm . Erm [UNCLEAR] erm when you 're patrolling the flats erm have you ever come erm into any sort of physical danger yourself ? You and your your patrol ?
[PS262]
No but erm I 've had one or two people swear up to us . Er I had [UNCLEAR] or trying to provoke us , and erm what our lads have been informed is rather than take a situation on like that , it 's better just to turn around and walk away . If they call you names or they spit at you , or or whatever , it 's better to walk away and live another day than to get your head kicked in and end up in hospital . Erm y you get a lot of well we did get a lot of verbal abuse from the young the youngsters . But there again you you just let it go in one ear and out the other ear . That 's why you 've got to have somebody who 's a mature natured person , for this for this k kind of job . You know probably if you got a younger person , he probably would have been after him , square up to him , and erm [UNCLEAR] . Cos if you ever squared up to one of these or anybody in the flats , people 'd just come out of the out of the woodwork . And as far as as er physical threats , what , somebody actually being hit ? No .
[PS261]
I mean you read you read a lot in the press erm about people being mugged on the flats and er break-ins and all this sort of thing . Are they actually as bad as the press makes out , the flats ?
[PS262]
Well before we came on the flats I would imagine they was . But now we 're on the flats , no . There again , how long does it take to mug a person ? Ten , fifteen seconds . And you can do a lot in fifteen seconds , you could murder somebody in fifteen seconds . Erm nobody 's gon na mug a person if they see us coming , or if they see a bobby coming . Nine out of ten they 'll wait until we 've gone passed , or even the police have gone passed , before they 'll commit an offence . But since we 've been on the flats , there 's probably been half a dozen muggings . Some in the daytimes , some at night . But there again , it 's people walking through the flats , who do n't live on the flats , that get mugged . Erm or people attending the blues , walking from one end to the other . You know people who 's coming in from o the outside to come on to the flats , they 're the people at risk . Erm but er we 've had one or two people come to us , and report that they 've been mugged , there again we get straight on the phone to the police . And let them them deal with it . We we 'll do the reporting and that 's that 's as far as we 'll go . But if we there again if we see somebody that 's being mugged , and we think that we can assist , or we can deal with it , then we will , you have to take every situation as it comes . Y erm it 's like you do n't go running up to something if you 're gon na come worse off . If there 's half a dozen of them and there 's two of you , and there 's one person being mugged , erm then it 's better to to stand on and watch , and report b back to the base here , who can inform the police , who can get the necessary assistance out to deal with it . And er that 's what we do .
[PS261]
Erm how do you think the people in the flats erm look at er you patrolling them ?
[PS262]
Well I think they 're helping us erm possibly if this system had been started a few years ago , then possibly [ANONYMIZATION] flats complex , would n't have got the bad reputation it has today . Because I go home and I people say , Oh where are you working ? I will say , Oh I 'm doing a job at [ANONYMIZATION] flats . And , Oh ! flats like then . as if you walk round with a shotgun armoured [UNCLEAR] tank . And I say , No it 's a quite pleasant place to work . And they say , Ah come off it , we 've heard about it , we 've read it in the papers . [UNCLEAR] one small aspect in the paper of [ANONYMIZATION] , can [UNCLEAR] into a page a full page . But whereas say something that happens say Well say take for example where I live in [UNCLEAR] . Er somebody being attacked there might make a paragraph . It 's it 's it 's er quietened down , and people do accept us . And [UNCLEAR] people have stopped us and have said , If this i if you 'd have been on on the flats , say six , ten years ago , erm it would n't have got the reputation it has now . Because the senior members on the flats that have been living here since it was put up , when they came to live on [ANONYMIZATION] complex , they reckoned it was the place to come and live . And they was proud to come and live in it . But er things have deteriorated . Till we 've got the situation we 've got now .
[PS261]
Do you erm have you got to know people a bit on the flats ?
[PS262]
We we we know one or two people erm more or less by face , not by name . Er there was quite a few people moved out now . There was a a an old lady down [UNCLEAR] we talked to , she 's out most nights . There 's one or two people knocking around that 'll talk to you . Erm we more or less know the young the young thug element as such . Er and they seem to stay well clear of us when they see us walking round . Yes we know quite a few . In those areas .
[PS261]
[UNCLEAR] you said you got quite a good rapport .
[PS262]
Well I think we have now . Yes . Er without having a good relationship with the people in the flats , er if I mean some people if they say see something going off , they 'll turn their you know , turn their back and they do n't want to know . There again , on the other hand , if some one or two other people see something going off , they 'll come and tell us . As I 've said before , we ca n't be all over the flats at the same time . So we rely on , to a certain degree , on a bit of help from the tenants .
[PS261]
Now , how do you patrol the flats ? Erm do you go out in teams ?
[PS262]
Well at the moment we 've just started a new patrol programme and er we [UNCLEAR] two two sergeants wal patrolling the the walkways . And I had one sergeant downstairs patrolling the er street level . Er The sergeant downstairs , if he sees any trouble or he finds something that 's going off or bumps into something , then he can radio back into base again . And then we can take appropriate action from there . Erm the two lads on the flats , there 's two of them together , so that anything that they they meet or come up against , they can handle themselves . But in our time , it 's very quiet now so we 've we 've moved into a different routine again , where I have two two sergeants out at one time , changing over er frequently so they do n't get bored .
[PS261]
Is it is there not that much to do now in the flats ?
[PS262]
Well yeah there there 's a there 's a lot to do , erm with half the flats being empty and Or say two thirds of the flats being empty . Erm you 've got quite a few people walking through . Erm these people are possibly the element we do n't want on the flats . Cos they 're walking through the area and they 'll if they 've had a few pints [UNCLEAR] , Let's go down Oh we 'll walk through [ANONYMIZATION] Flats and we 'll smash one or two lights up , smash one or two windows . Erm I would n't say it 's it 's gone quiet at night , we 've got to be more aware now anyway . Than what we had we was doing last year . As I said last year , there were quite a few people out on the walkways , so it was very rarely you got anybody walking through . Now two thirds of the residents have gone , there 's a lot of walkways open , there 's a lot of windows there to smash , there 's a lot of you know , [UNCLEAR] try setting fire [UNCLEAR] setting fire . So we 've got to be more aware during the like what we call the silent hours .
[PS261]
Erm just [UNCLEAR] really . Erm d now the flats are quieter , do you find there are as many blues on the flats ?
[PS262]
Well erm At the moment we 've got one one blues on . Erm and that is not half as what it was last year . But then again , we can say that we 've had a quiet week [UNCLEAR] Saturday and Sunday , or from Friday till through till Monday morning , it can be packed out with people just visiting the blues .
[PS261]
Do they do they seem to create much trouble , these blues ?
[PS262]
Yeah . Er as I said before , if we get some verbal abuse from people going to the blues , then we know that it was outsiders coming in . [UNCLEAR] they just accept us for what we are , they know that we 're not gon na upset their lifestyle , we 're not gon na start raiding their place at six in the morning . They accept us for what we are , and that 's it .
[PS261]
Mm . So you 've got no powers to go sort of talk about their noise , [UNCLEAR] ?
[PS262]
No . If somebody comes and reports to us that erm that the music 's loud , all we 'll do is refer them to [ANONYMIZATION] Road Police Station . And let them do [UNCLEAR] .
[PS261]
Erm do you have erm much to do with the housing people ? That are on the flats .
[PS262]
Yeah we 've got the daily You mean the council staff ?
[PS261]
Yes .
[PS262]
Yeah we 've got the daily contact each morning with one of the , one of the er council employees , they 'll come up approximately between eight and nine , and we 'll hand over any incidents reports that have been made during the night . And we 'll er inform them of erm the state of the flats during the night , whether it was quiet busy , erm anything we 've seen knocking about , erm and things in general .
[PS261]
So does it work quite well for them ?
[PS262]
Oh yes we 've they are subscribing , and if we was n't keeping a good erm a good liaison with them , then I do n't think we 'd be here now .
[PS261]
Erm wh wh what what 's it like working on [ANONYMIZATION] Flats , I mean , have you worked anywhere similar ?
[PS262]
No I have n't worked anywhere similar , in in this employment . Er but working on [ANONYMIZATION] Flats , [UNCLEAR] taken to the job . Erm when I came on to the flats I came with an open mind and I was gon na you know take things as I as I met them . Erm we treat everybody the same , we look after everybody as I say , the best we can . Erm and it 's just a normal job .
[PS261]
[UNCLEAR]
[PS262]
Yes t to a certain extent , I expect . Erm there 's nothing hard about it , there 's nothing easy about it . Erm the best thing about this job is , you do n't know what 's round the corner . As I say one day it might be quiet , and the next day , something might happen . Erm since we 've we 've worked the flats I think , the the lads who 've worked up here have dealt with a a very broad erm a very broad aspect of incidence . And th they will they will have dealt with more incidents up here than I would imagine any other erm place of employment that they 'll go to . And it probably beds them in slightly to go off to somewhere else .
[PS261]
Is there anything you have n't worked with on the flats yet ?
[PS262]
Well we have n't had a murder , and we have n't ha a rape . And er erm that 's about it I think . But er who knows we 're probably here for another two years , we might find a dead body somewhere . Erm it 's a bit frightening when you if you find somebody dossing down somewhere . You can see a body and like , Oh what 's that ? and then you you know , you 're a little bit er relieved when it moves . . Or it stands up or you know you you go and put it in the cupboard , and all of a sudden there 's a there 's a there 's a face looking at you , you know . Yeah , you 're hoping Your heart er beats [UNCLEAR] rising . [UNCLEAR]
[PS261]
[UNCLEAR] I think personally erm I mean yo would you like to live on the flats ?
[PS262]
No there 's no gardens . Of such . Erm the tenants are not allowed to keep animals . But er as you know looking round the flats , they do . Erm and I But there again , if it was a controlled access to the flats , and people was n't allowed to wander through the flats . Er probably yes . Erm but then again , if anybody 's got any kiddies , which I have , it 's not it 's not a Well I do n't reckon it it is a place to bring children up in . Erm [UNCLEAR] if there was probably me and me wife on me own , and it was a co controlled access , and there were n't people walking through , [UNCLEAR] probably come and live here .
[PS261]
What do you mean by controlled access ?
[PS262]
Well er if take it as if threw a b a fence all the way round the the flats . Well that this starts off by keeping the outsiders out . They do most of the damage , knocking on doors , daub writing all over the place . So what I mean by controlled access is nobody comes on i within to this flat complex , without er the se the security team knowing . So say for example you was a tradesman . And you was say I 'm going to come to the exit point , I 'm going to say [UNCLEAR] come in here . And unless [UNCLEAR] has told us that you 're coming , then you do n't get on the flats . That 's one way to keep traders out . I mean how many times has somebody knocked on your door , Oh I 'm Joe Bloggs I 've come to sell dusters ? You know , [UNCLEAR] . And people do n't want it . Er it 's like kids or people walking through from [ANONYMIZATION] Road to [ANONYMIZATION] Road . They 'll ni they 'll nip through the flats . They 'll deposit their rubbish , you know . If they 've had a few beers , they m they may leave something else behind . People do n't want it . Erm and that 's what I mean by access . Controlled access . Erm are n't complexes , in my view in my view only , in complexes of this size , it should be a controlled access . And er you just do n't get bad people wandering round the flats . The only people you get on the flats , is the people who live on the flats , and the people who 's been invited into the flats . Erm and that 's that 's my view .
[PS262]
And that 's right down here .
[PS261]
Wh what what 's this [UNCLEAR] ?
[PS262]
[UNCLEAR]
[PS261]
And this is all sealed up as well is it ?
[PS262]
Yeah it 's all sealed up . All these doors . We used to have a a dosser [UNCLEAR] here .
[PS261]
Yeah .
[PS262]
Frightened the living daylights out of him when I opened the cupboard .
[PS261]
You say you do n't get any trouble on
[PS262]
No no . See it 's all nailed up now . I opened it one morning , there was somebody looking at me [UNCLEAR] .
[PS261]
You were saying about blues at er night . Is that weekends is it ?
[PS262]
Er you get what what you call a small blues during the week , but Friday , Saturday , Sunday and Monday , you can expect er large blues .
[PS261]
Is that on the flats or is it the [ANONYMIZATION] .
[PS262]
Well you got one on the [ANONYMIZATION] , which has got nothing to do with us . Then you 've got one on [ANONYMIZATION] Walk . Let's have a look round here , check this . Yeah . So what they 're doing now , is sealing the walkways off . It 's a bit of a So you ca n't get through . It 's a bit of a pain in the neck , cos we ca n't walk round you see .
[PS261]
[UNCLEAR] the whole walk 's been sealed off ?
[PS262]
Yeah the whole walkway 's been sealed off .
[PS261]
Which one 's that , is that the [UNCLEAR] ?
[PS262]
It 's erm d der [ANONYMIZATION] I think . And after fourteen months up here I can still get lost . Yeah . and whereas before we could walk round in a on a circular route , Yeah that 's [ANONYMIZATION] Walk .
[PS261]
So you have to you 're just doubling back on yourselves .
[PS262]
Yeah just d doubling back on ourselves . But erm er when the W Winter comes on , the wind starts whistling round this place , it er cuts into your ears a bit . You can feel the cold .
[PS261]
You not have any any trouble with vagrants on these empties ?
[PS262]
Well we 've had one or two , as I say , I found a chap in number fifteen , the outhouse , I just asked him to move on . Er [UNCLEAR] next night so I frightened him , I was gon na nail it up while he was inside , and he soon come out .
[PS261]
You 've not had anybody tear the tin down and [UNCLEAR]
[PS262]
No well not as far we 've we 've found . Er nobody tearing the tin down . [UNCLEAR] . You 'd you 'd probably come in the daytime , and you 'd find some of the tin 's been ripped off a bit , you might find a find a corner 's been ripped off . And then you know , when you check up on it , the following day , you probably find the council 's been back in and forgot to secure it , so we 've got s a nail and some nails and a hammer , and we 'll er just re-secure it and let the the council know in the morning . [ANONYMIZATION] Walk , completely empty .
[PS261]
It 's all this one side of the flats is n't it ?
[PS262]
Yes it 's all this side , er phase er one , two and three .
[PS261]
How do you find it on the parts that are still populated , I mean the
[PS262]
Well they 're more or less no different to what we 're walking down here now . You might see somebody scurrying about later at night or in the morning .
[PS261]
It 's not very lively ?
[PS262]
No .
[PS261]
No .
[PS262]
Creeping off to work . It 's the main problem we get to face in the daytime now , is the windows being smashed . And obviously you can er ascertain that er , when more windows get smashed , the locals are gon na start complaining to the council , that it looks a bit of an eyesore , even though it 's an eyesore now , it 'll be a greater eyes eyesore then . But we 're not on the flats in the daytime ,
[PS261]
Yeah .
[PS262]
So there 's nothing we can do about it .
[PS261]
And most of that goes on in the daytime
[PS262]
Mm .
[PS261]
does it ? And this is [ANONYMIZATION] Walk .
[PS262]
[ANONYMIZATION] Walk yeah . Number six is the loos . You can walk down here , [UNCLEAR] do n't walk down here at nighttime if it 's er if it 's chock-a-block . Alright then . The lady lives over the blues must have a set of earphones somewhere . And she 's got three kiddies so [UNCLEAR] she moves out at nighttime . Yeah we do n't erm antagonize them . If we see there 's quite a few on the walkways , and if we know that they 're outsiders then we 'll we 'll turn round and we 'll walk back the other way . It 's better to walk b back , and look at them for a d you know , from afar , than
[PS261]
Yeah .
[PS262]
try and push your way through . On to .
[PS261]
There 's a cupboard there that 's been ripped open , I mean is that just part of the vandalism that goes on ?
[PS262]
Well no , knowing our [UNCLEAR] it 's probably the er electricity board 's come along , to read the meter , somebody 's put a screw in it , and they 've got a crowbar and just opened it up . That 's not vandalism .
[PS261]
[UNCLEAR] quite a lot of flights around .
[PS262]
Oh yes . Our biggest , biggest er threat when we first come up here , was the dog muck which was on the ground . I think we 've walked past the one that 's been set on fire . I du n no . You you walk round the flats , and you know , you walk round them for fourteen months , and all of a sudden you have to stop and think where you are . [UNCLEAR] play area . Er round about Christmas last year , this flat down here , bottom of [ANONYMIZATION] , they had all their present in there . Ready for the Christmas party , and some er some fiend broke in an nicked all the presents . Obviously it was an inside job , cos nobody else knew the presents were there .
[PS261]
Did they get them back ?
[PS262]
No no . There was a lot of toys and that appeared on the flats all of a sudden .
[PS261]
Was that over night that ?
[PS262]
In daytime , in the daytime . Anything happens on the flats , it 'll happen in the daytime . Cos they know they know that we 're not here . Let's have a look along , along [UNCLEAR] . Come right on the ramp you see , we can look on the back of these flats .
[PS261]
Yeah . Right . What walks this ? Is this
[PS262]
Er [ANONYMIZATION] I think .
[PS261]
Have you had much vandalism on the play centre stuff that
[PS262]
No not not mu much as what you can call vandalism , you know people spraying paint on the tinned up windows and that . [UNCLEAR] look down the back here , see if there 's anything . The boy 's club , No . Nothing to do with us . Of course we can see the back of the flats over on [ANONYMIZATION] and er wrong on [ANONYMIZATION] and [ANONYMIZATION] . You 've got to look at them [UNCLEAR] from different angles , see if there 's any smoke bellowing out from anywhere , or somebody 's hanging out of a window .
[PS261]
You were saying about you had a a bomb scare once , what walk was that on ?
[PS262]
That was on [ANONYMIZATION] .
[PS261]
What actually happened there ?
[PS262]
Well I do n't know really . All I know is the reports which the lads filed . Er a chap er reported to our lads that there was a suspicious , something suspicious wired up to his back door . Er they went , had a look , took the appropriate action and er phoned the police and [UNCLEAR] handed it over to the police . Er which in turn the police brought the bomb disposal out . And they dealt with it .
[PS261]
It was actually a fake was n't it .
[PS262]
Yeah it was they call erm a hoax . A hoax er improvised explosive device . [UNCLEAR] if we 'd kicked it , something like that . They [UNCLEAR] the the leads carried out the proper procedure , what 's laid down for them . And they did quite well . The police praised them . I think even when the police turned up , they had n't got a clue what to do with it so , it was a good training training day from This leads down down onto the stairwell . [ANONYMIZATION] Terrace down there , and [ANONYMIZATION] Walk there .
[PS261]
Do you actually go down the stairwell ?
[PS262]
Oh yeah , we go down the stairwells . Drop onto the walk level at night time .
[PS261]
You say it gets a bit busier about two o'clock .
[PS262]
Yeah we get the people going from [ANONYMIZATION] over to the [ANONYMIZATION] . There 's a couple up here at number twenty , a deaf and dumb couple . We were walking round here about three o'clock one morning , there was water pouring all out the the seams of the concrete . Went upstairs and there was water pouring out the electrics . Tried the alarm , their alarm like , obviously they had n't switched it on . So we had to get the bobbies down to kick the door in , and you can imagine at three o'clock in the morning , some some deaf and dumb couple , there 's this big coloured bobby le leaning over and waking them up . The first thing they do is switch the bloody lights on . There was about four inches of water inside . All we heard was one scream for a bobby like you know , and they turned the lights on .
[PS261]
Had all the pipes burst ?
[PS262]
Well what had happened apparently , the er ballcock inside the system had stuck . And the er overflow was n't working properly .
[PS261]
Do you get much trouble like that with water and stuff .
[PS262]
Oh we we deal we deal with all sorts on here . Er water , lights , for any you know the light bulb goes , first thing they do they come running to us , you know , me lights are out . Well , Right love we 'll inform [UNCLEAR] you know we just phone [ANONYMIZATION] up and let them know what 's happened .
[PS261]
This all goes on the report in the morning .
[PS262]
Yeah it all goes on the report in the morning . Flat over on [ANONYMIZATION] , bottom left , that 's where we had the arson attack . It 's all tinned up now . And as I as I told you before , we was on the main concourse , heard the glass smashed , we come down a stairwell on [ANONYMIZATION] , come round the back , saw the two , or saw two persons in the back garden , asked them what they were doing buy which time the the curtain went up in smoke , well up in flames . I dealt with the fire while the other sergeant followed them back to [ANONYMIZATION] . And the police come and we handed everything over to them .
[PS261]
The flat was alright then [UNCLEAR] ?
[PS262]
Yes well we save , we possibly saved that time , most of [ANONYMIZATION] was was completely er occupied , so if we had n't have seen the fire , there could have been forty lives or forty families at risk there . I think it 's [ANONYMIZATION] anyway , I keep forgetting where we are . You can imagine
[PS261]
Yeah I think that is [ANONYMIZATION] .
[PS262]
Yeah you can s you can imagine walking round here for fourteen months , and then one w one back of one walkway looks like another walkway .
[PS261]
Have you had any trouble , I mean , I mean I do n't know if you 've seen [UNCLEAR] erm but does to a deterrent and there 's trouble with motorbikes on the walks , have you found any trouble with peo
[PS262]
Yeah you you you get one or two people with the motorbikes . All we do there again is , we 'll tell them to stop , if they do n't stop we 'll get on the on the the phone to the polices and let them deal with it .
[PS261]
Yeah .
[PS262]
We got erm no authority to
[FYFPSUNK]
Hiya .
[PS262]
stop them . Alright then ?
[FYFPSUNK]
Yeah .
[PS262]
And [UNCLEAR] just [UNCLEAR] get the registration number , pho phone it through to the police and let them deal with it .
[PS261]
Yeah .
[PS262]
[UNCLEAR] down on to I think . Yeah I can see it 's [ANONYMIZATION] cos I can see name plate .
[PS261]
.
[PS262]
Alright . [ANONYMIZATION] and [ANONYMIZATION] , two out on a limb . Alright then ?
[FYFPSUNK]
[UNCLEAR] she 's gone .
[PS262]
Has she gone has she [UNCLEAR]
[FYFPSUNK]
Went this morning .
[PS262]
[UNCLEAR] this morning .
[FYFPSUNK]
Yeah you 'll miss her .
[PS262]
Aye . Got nobody to talk to down here . I 've got no spy in the corner . Yeah Beatrice has moved out .
[PS261]
Is this an old lady [UNCLEAR]
[PS262]
Yes [UNCLEAR] we got her moved out a little bit earlier . She she was a sitting [UNCLEAR] . She did n't know what she was tit entitled to claim for . So when we got the council 's bloke to have a word with her , went to saw he a fortnight ago , and she 's moved today . Last time I seen he on Monday , she was happy as punch she was going .
[PS261]
Have you had any break-ins or anything like that recently ? [UNCLEAR] been very quiet .
[PS262]
It 's been very quiet with break-ins . We 've had one on [ANONYMIZATION] . Let's just check [UNCLEAR] No it 's been quiet on break-ins at the moment . Probably er you know people 's probably got a bit of money so they do n't need to break in to anybody . [UNCLEAR] one on [ANONYMIZATION] Walk . But that was a bit dubious . See there again we can come on here , and we can look down the back of [ANONYMIZATION] . There again make sure [UNCLEAR] nobody hanging out of a window or somebody doing summat daft , walking a to along top of roofs .
[PS261]
Have you ever caught anybody on the roofs .
[PS262]
Yeah we 've seen one or two up there , but all we do is to tell them er to get down . If they want to to fall off that that 's their problem . Er y you know especially if if if they 're living in the flat , you know [UNCLEAR] above . Er we 've got authority to pull them off .
[PS261]
Is it you were telling me about you you you caught kids sniffing methane was it ?
[PS262]
Yes that was over on [ANONYMIZATION] [ANONYMIZATION] walk . We passed that [UNCLEAR] way back . Yeah there was about three kids three kids in a in one of these cupboards , and they were sniffing butane gas . I phoned up the bobbies , told them about it , and the bobbies the is n't a lot much they could do . They 've come down and give the lads tell the lads off . But by time they come down , the lads had gone you see so . Waste of time .
[PS261]
Obviously that had a fire risk to it as well .
[PS262]
Well it does I mean with these light being fluorescent , they give off a small charge , when the you know when the lights come on . You 've only got to have the gas build up and bang . That 's what happened apparently at [ANONYMIZATION] , about a fortnight afterwards . Er couple couple of lads , sniffing butane , and somebody struck a match . And they went bang . We went a lot quicker than what we normally walk round in . We normally take it a bit slower . I 've walked down Shall we go down onto s ground floor . [UNCLEAR] like this . Right down on to Street now . St street level . [UNCLEAR] between the flats and come out the other end .
[PS261]
I mean what what sort of things happen down on the ground ground level ?
[PS262]
Oh you might get er an abandoned vehicle . [UNCLEAR] see a vehicle that you you recognize is not off the patch , they 'll they 'll radio it through to to the base , to our base . Lads 'll get on phone and the bobbies 'll stick it through computer . [UNCLEAR] computer .
[PS261]
Do you get many abandoned cars ?
[PS262]
One or two , we used to we had one or two when we first came up here . But it 's all quiet now .