Policeman My Story

THEME MUSIC PLAYS

This story belongs to Jack

and his Grandad John.

It's a tiny tale about Grandad John

and the things he used to do.

Very good, Jack.

-Great catch, Jack.

-Good boy.

HE LAUGHS

And now it's time for Grandad John

to take Jack on a journey of discovery

and share his stories of when he was younger.

-Jack, your grandad used to be a policeman.

-Wow!

-Would you like to be a police officer?

-Yes, please.

Grandad's brought some hats today.

Would you like to try and find some in a hat hunt?

-Yes.

-OK, Jack. Off you go.

Ooh, it's a bit cold. Ooh!

You're getting very warm.

Very, very hot.

Found it!

Ooh. So, bring that to me and let me explain that one to you.

This is called a police helmet,

and that's what Grandad had to wear

when he used to walk around the town and the streets.

So this is what it looked like when grandad used to wear it.

HE LAUGHS

See? You've done very well. You've found one hat,

but there's another one to find, so do you think you can find out?

-Yes.

-Off you go.

Er, no, it's cool.

It's cool...

-Ooh, you're getting warm now. Very good.

-Found it!

Hat hunting is so much fun!

Let's have a look at some very old photos of Grandad John.

Grandad John was a policeman for many, many years.

Doesn't he look smart?

Police officers walk around the streets

to meet people and help them.

They help people when they're lost,

they help keep cars and traffic moving,

and they help out at accidents.

Police sometimes even use specially trained dogs

to help them find people.

The police make sure that people are not naughty

and don't break any rules.

They are there to make sure

that people don't take things without asking permission

and they don't hurt anybody.

If they do, then the police officer will catch them

and try and make sure that they don't do it again.

-So, would you like to see Grandad's really old uniform?

-Yes, please.

Then I'll go and put it on.

That's lucky. It still fits.

Yes, I think I've done well

to squeeze into it after all these years.

So I think it's time for you to get into your uniform, don't you?

-Yes, I do, too.

-Come on, then.

Wow, Jack! You look absolutely fantastic!

-Do you like your new uniform?

-Yes.

Now I'm a policeman just like you.

You really are, and I think

-we're ready for duty, don't you?

-Yes, me too.

Oh, Jack. You'd make a brilliant police officer.

Here's an old photo of Grandad John as a baby with his daddy.

I was born in a police station,

and that's where your Great-grandad Ronald was a policeman

and your Great-grandma Mary used to have to help him at times.

Things were very different in Great-grandad Ronald's time,

because you didn't have mobile phones or walkie-talkies,

and he had to stand outside a telephone box

for people to contact him.

Great-grandad Ronald was a fantastic policeman

and he received a special medal for helping people.

What a brilliant award to get.

Jack should be very proud of his Great-grandad Ronald.

Let's see what Jack and Grandad John are up to now.

After a few years of being a policeman,

Grandad didn't need his uniform, because he became a detective,

and a detective had to dress up in different disguises

so people wouldn't recognise him. Do you want to see some of my disguises?

-Yes, please.

-I'll show them to you, then.

-How about this?

-Very funny!

-Do you know who it is?

-Grandad.

-What about this one?

-Very funny!

HE LAUGHS

-What about this one?

-Ha-ha! That's the best disguise yet!

Nice sunglasses, Grandad John.

It's time now for Grandad John to take Jack on a trip

to see a real police station.

-Do you know why the police take fingerprints, Jack?

-No.

Well, the reason is that they can find out that it is Jack

and that it's not somebody else who's pretending to be Jack.

-Would you like to have a go at that?

-Yes, please.

-OK.

So what I used to have to do was to have ink,

and we used to put it on here.

This is a piece of equipment

that Grandad John used back in the olden days.

This looks like it could be messy.

So, let's do that fingerprint.

Shall we put that there? And let's do that one.

Ooh, there. That's made a splodge.

We make it ever so messy.

We do all of those on there...

..and there's the other four...there.

I think we'll keep our hands just like this for the moment

until we get them clean, Jack.

Have a look at the tips of your fingers.

Can you see the tiny patterns?

Everyone's fingers have a special pattern on them,

and when people touch something, a mark is left behind.

This is called a fingerprint.

Everyone in the world has there very own set of fingerprints.

Fingerprints are not always easy to see,

which is why the police sometimes use

this special powder to try and find them.

When your fingerprints are collected, they're stored away,

nowadays on computers, and can be looked at

if the police need to catch somebody being naughty again.

Grandad John and Jack have gone to have a look around a police museum.

Here are some handcuffs Great-grandad Ronald used to use.

So what do you think is the difference

between Grandad's handcuffs and Great-grandad Ronald's handcuffs?

These are older and yours are, like, shiny and cleaner.

-They are, aren't they?

-His are all dirty.

-And that's because they're very old, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-So, would you like to put the handcuffs on Grandad?

-Yes, please.

-And which ones would you like to put on?

-Yours, please.

That's it.

-So now you've handcuffed your grandad.

-Yeah!

-It's a good job I've got the key, isn't it?

-Yeah, very good job.

It's time for Grandad John and Jack

to have a look around the police museum,

which has lots of things the police used many, many years ago.

Look at the very old police helmets. How fascinating.

-Ooh, look, there's a policeman here, Jack.

-Wow-wee!

And he used to wear what's called a cape.

That kept him very warm.

And there's lots of things on this table. What do you think this is?

-A hairdryer?

-Well, it's actually a speed gun.

-Do you want to have a look at this, Jack?

-Yeah.

And that tells you how fast cars are going.

Let's go and see some more things.

Great-grandad Ronald knew all about speed guns and police cars

because he used to work in the traffic department,

and he used to watch how fast cars we're going

by using a special machine.

Nowadays, there are speed cameras at the side of the road,

and also road traffic police cars,

which can tell how fast cars are travelling.

Look at this old police car.

Police officers are specially trained to drive police cars fast

and practise driving round traffic cones.

This is because sometimes they have to drive quickly on an emergency.

Other cars know to move out of the way

because of the flashing lights and the wailing siren.

The police don't just use cars to get around.

Sometimes they use boats, motorbikes...

and even horses.

But today, Grandad John is taking Jack

to see a very brightly coloured car.

So, Jack, we're in a very special car.

This is for road traffic policing.

Your Great-grandad Ronald used to be in charge of police cars.

Look at this very old picture of Great-grandad Ronald

standing next to one of the cars.

I think the police cars that he had might have been different

to the one you're sitting in now.

How do you think they might be different?

They have a siren.

They do AND they have lots of other things as well. Blue lights.

Do you want to press the button for the blue lights?

Press that one.

And all the blue lights are on.

Shall we just see if the siren makes a noise?

SIREN WAILS

So, that was really noisy, wasn't it?

-So, would you like to have a drive in a police car?

-Yes, please!

Well, I think we can arrange that.

SIREN WAILS

Wow! You're very lucky, Jack.

Not everyone gets to ride in a police car.

Jack, I've really enjoyed our time together

talking about being a policeman. Have you enjoyed it?

Yes, I've enjoyed it a lot.

-Excellent! Can you remember all the fun things we've done?

-Yes.

-What sort of things have we done?

-We played catch.

We saw lots of old things at the museum.

I handcuffed Grandad.

We went in a police car.

I went on a hat hunt.

I got dressed up as a policeman.

I laughed at Grandad wearing silly wigs.

-And what have you enjoyed most of all?

-Getting my fingers inky.

Ooh! Well, I've got your fingerprints here,

and you can take those, and thank you so much

for giving Grandad such a lovely time. Thank you.

What a fabulous heap of fun!

That was Jack and Grandad John's tiny tale about being a policeman.

Now Grandad John has shared his story with Jack,

it's time for Jack to start his very own story.

Do you know someone with a story to share?