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Colourful memories of a rookie Derby PC
When John Louch was a young rookie copper with Derby Borough Police nearly 50 years ago, he patrolled the streets equipped with a truncheon, a whistle and a pair of handcuffs. Things has moved on somewhat since those early days when the mere sight of a police uniform acted as a deterrent. But they were certainly colourful times and John (left), of Mackworth, will never forget his first night on duty when he rode shotgun on the 4mph three-wheeler mail “stage coach” from the sorting office to the station – as he told Pat Parkin.
The first time he went on night duty alone on Derby’s streets was in November 1959, when he was put in charge of single-handedly guarding and protecting valuable registered post as it was transferred from the Royal Mail sorting office in Midland Road to the nearby railway station.
Sitting aboard a 4mph, three-wheeler cart, with just a pickaxe handle for protection, he imagined himself as a latter-day John Wayne riding shotgun on the Wells Fargo stage to Dodge City.
After 30 years in the force, from which he retired as chief inspector, John, of Mackworth, often looks back to his early career, comparing today’s world of hi-tech policing to the almost primitive days when a whistle, a pair of handcuffs and a wooden truncheon were all most officers carried when out on patrol.
“But,” says John, “those were the days when the uniform alone was enough to deter most people from committing an offence, which, sadly, is not the case today.”
He was reminded of this fact quite recently when he saw the police helicopter hovering near his home in Mackworth. “It made me think about the equipment available today and how different it was a mere 50 years ago.”
Now, he says, officers go on patrol dressed in high visibility jackets and stab vests, equipped with personal radios and mobile phones, telescopic truncheons, CS gas and snap-on handcuffs.
They have instant access to computers to get information, can use a range of well-equipped motor vehicles and can call on a police helicopter which, half a century ago, was unheard of.
They also have the back-up of trained firearms officers, who can be deployed in minutes, while armed personnel regularly patrol airports and other vulnerable locations with their weapons in full view of the public.
“What a difference from my early days in Derby Borough.”
The memory of that first time on night duty often come back to John.
“I had just completed my initial training and was patrolling the streets of Derby in company with an experienced officer.
“While being shown around, you learned about the beat you were patrolling – the vulnerable properties back doors, alleyways, school crossing points and traffic control points.
“But most important of all was knowing the places where you could get a cup of tea – for no-one was allowed back into the police station during the shift, except for a 45-minute refreshment break halfway through, or if you had a prisoner to deal with or a court appearance.
“One particular Friday night, in 1959, I, along with 15 to 20 other officers, paraded in the Full Street police headquarters ready for the night shift.
“The inspector always stood at a high desk at the front of the parade and said: ‘Produce your appointments’, which meant that, on the count of three, we produced our standard wooden truncheon, one pair of handcuffs and one police whistle.
“They were all held out in front for inspection and proof that we were properly equipped. In addition to these, because it was the night shift, we all had broad leather belts around our waists, from which hung police lamps.”
John’s duty that night was to patrol the London Road and Midland Road beat, alone, for two hours until his colleague came on duty at 11.30pm.
Then he was told he had to report to the Midland Road sorting office, where his sergeant said: “Tonight, 116, you will be solely responsible for the security of Her Majesty’s Royal Mail. Report to the main sorting office and they’ll tell you what to do.”
His instructions amounted to a postman handing him a 3ft-long, wooden pickaxe handle.
When he asked was he was supposed to do with it, the postman replied: “Well, if somebody tries to rob the mail, I suppose you have to hit them over the head with it.”
“So there I was, sitting on the front of a three-wheeled, electrically powered vehicle, open to the elements, driven by a postman towing six porters’ trolleys, loaded with mail bags that contained all kinds of valuables.
“We clattered down Midland Road at a top speed of 4mph, me holding the pickaxe handle in the port position and looking around for possible criminals.
“There was not a soul about – after all, it was 11.30pm on a Friday night – and, eventually, I handed over my responsibility to the railway police as the bags were loaded onto the mail train.”
John believes the handing over of the mail by a single officer to the railway police, who guarded it on the train, was part of a tradition which went back to Victorian times and was something most probably happening in many other towns and cities up and down the country.
“It was as if the mere sight of a police uniform was held in awe by members of the public and the presence of a police officer gave 100 per cent security to the highly valuable cargo being transported by the Royal Mail, free from people with criminal intent.”
However, times were changing and, by 1963, and the Great Train Robbery, everyone knew just how vulnerable the Royal Mail was.
“Immediately, the way we protected the mail stopped. The era of armoured cars, security officers and alarms had truly arrived,” said John.
And the role of the policeman in the eye of the public had changed, too.
“I think it is true to say that, in those days, the police were aloof from the public. We did not go into schools or play football in the playground.
“We would not dream of letting children call us by our Christian names and to get too friendly meant that we could become ‘a soft touch’.
“Then, if you told someone to do something, they usually did it.
“It was because of the respect for the uniform, I believe, that we were allowed to go about our business efficiently and, more importantly, unarmed.”
John recalls, around the same time, three unarmed police officers were shot dead in London and, when he was patrolling Derby’s streets, many people told him how sorry they were about the murders.
“Today, people get shot, knifed or killed by other means and nobody appears to give it a serious thought, especially if the victim is a police officer,” he added.
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