Reporter Ian Duncan experiences life on the streets with Scarborough’s latest student police officer PC James Duffy

In 2007 I spent a day following a student police officer on patrol in Scarborough. As I recall I first met him when he had completed the first part of his training and I realised he was going to be posted to Scarborough to continue the next stage with North Yorkshire Police.

I suggested I should follow him around and see what he was confronted with on a typical day as well as see how he was finding things. The end result was a decent photo essay and I do like the above image which was taken when I was in the back seat of the patrol car.

What reminded me of this article was the one of our new reporters asked if you ever got the chance to do a ride along with the cops?

Back in the day I went in with officers on drugs raids and other investigations but by my time in Scarborough things had changed and we were kept at arm’s length on raids – probably on the grounds of health and safety.

And by the time I was working in Carlisle we were even kept further away from crime scenes so that we could not contaminate them.

After this article was first published I was appointed as the crime correspondent and as part of that role I would follow police on various operations and I am hoping to have a look back through those cuttings for future posts.

WE’VE all wondered what it’s like to be a young police officer, pounding the Scarborough beat. Reporter IAN DUNCAN went out and about with one young recruit to see the type of tasks he faced on a daily basis.

POLICING is in Scarborough-based PC James Duffy’s blood – his father is the former chief inspector of the Nottingham force and his mother was a PC.

The 21 year old’s first visit to the town was at the end of last year when he took part a special training day in the town centre, which was organised by North Yorkshire Police.

He started in Scarborough in mid-November and is one of the first recruits to be affected by a major training shake-up.

During the past 15 weeks he has had to deal with a variety of incidents, including public order situations, criminal damage, anti-social behaviour, burglaries and several sudden deaths – including the body found in the stream in Peasholm Glen.

PC Duffy said he did not know how he would react to seeing a dead body but he handled the situation professionally, and was struck by how the death had affected the surviving family members.

He said: “We had three sudden deaths in the space of 24 hours. I was slightly nervous before the first one because it was my first time but I dealt with it.

“You don’t have time to think about it at the time but it is important to talk about it afterwards – to get the feelings out of your system.”

On another occasion officers were investigating a spate of burglaries at the Spa Complex. The alarm was raised at 4am and he arrested one of the suspects.

He said: “I just thought ‘nab him’. He was really young, even with my long legs he’d have probably outsprinted me.”

He added he did not really think about the danger and a reflective logo on the culprit’s tracksuit bottoms gave his hiding place away.

“There were so many other officers about that as soon as I caught him they’d be there for me.”

PC Duffy has proved to his tutors that he can confidently handle 44 competencies as part of his Student Officer Learning and Assessment Portfolio (SOLAP) and is now able to patrol independently.

His training will continue as part of the national Occupational Standard in Policing – which is the equivalent of a level four National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) – over the next 18 months.

PC Heather Standing, who has been his tutor at Scarborough, said the young recruit had done “really well”.

“In the weeks he’s been with me he’s gone from not knowing what to say to knowing what to say and how to deal with situations.”

It’s all in a day’s work

A TYPICAL morning for student officer PC James Duffy:

• 8am to 8.30am: Morning briefing;
• 9am to 9.30am: Vehicle check, including filling up with petrol;
• 9.30am to 10am: Taking a witness statement;
• 10am to 10.15am: Patrolling crime hotspots on Scarborough’s south side;
• 10.15am to 10.45am: Radio alert to say a man had collapsed on North Marine Road. On arrival he was found to be back on his feet and a friend offered to help him home;
• 10.45am to 11.05am: A second radio alert regarding a man spotted behaving in a suspicious manner beside a car. The subsequent search lasted until about 11.05am but he was not traced;
• 11.05am to 11.30am: Further patrols around Scarborough;
• 11.30am to noon: Return to station to complete some of his paperwork;
• In addition to this there were further duties until the end of shift at 5pm.

From the Scarborough Evening News on Monday, March 12, 2007.