violent incident, for example the Hillsborough Stadium disaster,
the Brixton riots, or the 1980s miners’ strike. Below is an excerpt
taken from a news report from the BBC, which gives some insight
into the policing experience of such an event. Bill King was a Chief
Inspector at the time of the miners’ strike.
We usually left our families on a Sunday, getting on a coach with
all the other officers, returning the following Friday – there was a
lot of couples who separated in police families that year. We were
usually living in such places as drill halls, sometimes sleeping on
the floor, living out of a kitbag. Breakfast was usually taken at
about 1 a.m., so that we could be at the pits before dawn. Days
were long and tiring, usually returning to our accommodation in
the afternoons, to a hot meal and then bed, only to get up again at
about midnight. We were all young and fit, but this routine tired
us all out so that at the end of the week we got off the coaches like
old men. Duty during the day usually consisted of long periods of
waiting, or travelling, or talking to the pickets, interspersed with
short periods of violence or pushing and shoving with the pick-
ets. The exception was that week at Hatfield, when there was a
great deal more action and violence than normal. I remember it
very well: being dog tired; long, long working days; very early
starts in the morning; the bitterness and understandable abuse
from the crowds. I remember the sheer torrent of stones raining
down – the sky just fell on us with stones, sticks, bits of railings,
bricks, ball bearings. At one point I looked up and the sky was
black with missiles. I felt the weight of command and concern for
my officers and personal fear at the level of violence from the
crowd, mixed with the excitement of the situation. I lost a stone
in weight that week and I found holes in the soles of both my
shoes by the end of it.
Police are more likely than most other professions to be con-
fronted with shocking or unexpected events. These one-off trau-
matic events may have a profound and devastating effect. It is
normal to experience some stress and to be upset by devastating
incidents, but if these symptoms (such as experiencing flashbacks of
the incident, sleep problems, feelings of detachment and disruption
42 criminal psychology: a beginner’s guide