I feel the need

Have managed to get myself in a couple of footchases recently, joys of being let out of custody. Had a right funny one the other night.

Unfortunately can't go into too much detail but it ended up with one chap thoroughly detained, me needing new trousers, and some kind soul catching up with me to give me my sunglasses back.

I did feel like throwing up for at least half an hour afterwards though. Full on sprints half an hour after finishing tea/lunch/snack (whatever you'd call a meal break at 2am) aren't really ideal. Still, it made me happy that I caught and flattened someone younger and if I'm honest leaner than me and who also wasn't carrying all the kit I lug around!

Was a crazy shift. Started off quite dull with a routine traffic stop that developed into an arrest and some decent intel about an up and coming scrote type. It's rare that I'd bring someone in from a traffic stop but I'm glad I did on this one. Fortunately I had spotted him using his phone whilst going along so had a substantive offence to actually bring him in with.

Later on things got really busy with quite a few proper urgent assistance shouts. I was so exhuasted by the end of the night what with the footchase, but mostly because of the level of concentration needed to drive miles at full tilt.

On blue light runs I rarely give it everything I've got. I'm past the "just passed my driving course and can legally exceed speed limit" enthusiasm (if enthusiasm is the right word) and now generally am a lot more sanguine when it comes to blue light runs. Don't ge me wrong, I don't pootle and get fed up to the back teeth of having to deal with the incessant paperwork to bin various speed camera 'offences', but I don't give it 100% and don't take the car to it's limit. I don't bully people out of the way and always try to keep enough in reserve so there's time to deal with something completely unexpected. The way some people react to blue lights in the mirror is completely unpredictable. All you need to do is move over to one side, preferably the left! However, there is often also a reaction of hitting the anchors and being rooted to whichever spot you've ended up in, even if that is the outside lane.

Proper urgent assistances are the exception to the rule where shaving off half a second here and there make the difference between another punch or kick to a colleague. I'll remember one particular run down one of the main trunk roads for a while, thundering down the carriageway, strobes bouncing off the street signs, flashing my lights at cars miles in the distance hoping they'll get the hint and get out of the way before I'm up their backside palm on the horn.

I was back in Custody the following shift after the one above and for once was grateful. Well, at least I was until I sat down in the chair upon which point Police and Criminal Evidence Act Hell broke free.....