This is an almost impossible subject to address, because of its very nature; Police work varies drastically from one day to the next. What I am trying to address is the life of a country cop in a small inland town on a day when nothing out of the normal occurs. Every phone call or radio message could alter your plans for the day in a moment.
The majority of my service was in small country towns. I first went to the country to serve at a three man Police Station, although it was very rare that the three of us worked at the same time. Mostly it would be two working and one having a day off. Somehow the Sergeant seemed to be on permanent rest days or sick leave. He had things going his way pretty well; he got paid well and did very little.
From there I went to a two man Police Station, which often led to you working on your own, while the other had his rostered days off. Police are entitled to four rest days every fortnight so for eight days out of each fourteen, there would only be one Officer working.
I was later transferred as Officer In Charge of a one man Police Station. Each Police Station controls its own Division. Several Divisions made up a Police District, which was under the control of an Inspector. A number of Police Districts made up a Police Region, under the overall authority of a Superintendent. That was the chain of command, and I was therefore responsible to my District Inspector. If I did my job, and received no complaints, I rarely, if ever heard from him. (Unless he wanted to go fishing in one of the many rivers in my Division).
My own Division covered an area of about five thousand square miles. A huge area for one man to cover, but that was my job. It was also one of the busiest one man stations in the State. Some one man Stations are really a holiday home, nothing ever happens and the Officer has a leisurely life style.
Other than the school teacher(s) I was the only State Government employee in the town and wore so many different hats, I sometimes wondered if I was a cop at all.
I was the State Government Insurance Office representative, and as such had to issue insurance policies in respect of various matters.
Of course we had guidelines, but they were continually being amended, so in the end I filed them in the "circular filing cabinet" (Trash can) and simply rang the head office for quotes and information.
I was the Fire Warden for the area, and as such had to issue fire permits if someone wanted to light a fire. Unless there was a total fire ban in place there were no guidelines, it was purely a judgement call on my part.
I was the State Transport Department representative, and as such attended to the testing of new drivers and the issue of driver's licences.
I was the Main Roads Department representative, so was responsible for the registration of motor vehicles. In Queensland a certificate of roadworthiness in respect of the motor vehicle must accompany all applications for registration. Because of an anomaly in the Act, the fact that my own town did not have a registered roadworthiness inspector within a thirty-five kilometre radius, then they were exempted. I had to make a judgement if the vehicle was roadworthy or not. I have some knowledge of motor vehicles, and of course there were the obvious things such as tyres, lights etc, but a proper inspection really needed the opinion of an expert in the field. I certainly was no expert in that field. Again it was purely a judgement decision.
I was the local Clerk of the Court, responsible for overseeing all court orders. If someone was sentenced to perform community service, I had to find them something to do. Not an easy task in a small town with very little community property. I even had one person mowing the Police Station yard, although that might have been stretching community service definition a bit far.
I was the Agent for the Public Trustee, and as such I had to oversee the execution of wills, which had named the Public Trustee as executor. If a person died intestate (without a will), then it would be a combined Police and Public Trustee effort to try and track down any next of kin.
And somewhere in all that I was a Cop.
Naturally Police work took precedence, but as general rule I would try to be in the office from 8.00 am to 12.00 midday daily for all office and non Police duties. Afternoons were reserved for Police work, whatever that might entail.
Most evening I would patrol the town, simply to try and deter those who had been drinking at the hotel from driving home. Sometimes I drove them home instead and that earned me a lot of respect.
I was on seven day, twenty-four hour call out, and by agreement between the Police Union and the Police Department, Officers in one and two man stations were not able to claim overtime for the actual hours worked. Instead we received an overtime allowance equivalent of eight hours overtime every fortnight. That was fine in the quieter Stations, where the Police Officer rarely left his home, but in my case many more than four hours overtime a week were worked.
The next day it would start all over again, four hours in the office, six or more hours on patrol
Unless the phone rang, then anything was possible.
©Copyright
Dark Blue Knight
15th January 2005
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