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in the midst of a stop and search, then a gun is pulled, and suddenly, | :00:02. | :00:06. | |
your life is in danger. Every year, Britain's bravest cops are honoured | :00:06. | :00:11. | |
for the risks they take to keep us safe. Today, we hear their stories | :00:11. | :00:14. | |
and join them on the streets as they continue to crack down on | :00:14. | :00:24. | |
:00:24. | :00:32. | ||
crime. This is Britain's Bravest Last year, there were over 18,000 | :00:33. | :00:35. | |
assaults on police officers, most of them just ordinary cops who | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
didn't think twice about risking their own lives to protect the | :00:38. | :00:45. | |
public and fight crime. In the week that Britain's most heroic officers | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
are celebrated through the Police Federation's Bravery Awards, here | :00:48. | :00:54. | |
are some of their stories. Coming up, we re-tell the moment | :00:54. | :00:56. | |
when two courageous officers struggled through searing heat and | :00:56. | :01:02. | |
a choking smoke to help a mother and baby trapped in a flat fire. | :01:02. | :01:05. | |
couldn't breathe, the thoughts going through my head at that time | :01:05. | :01:08. | |
were, if she doesn't answer the door, there's a possibility I may | :01:08. | :01:13. | |
pass out at this point. We are on the streets of Aberdeen with an | :01:13. | :01:19. | |
elite police dog unit tackling the most high risk call-outs. | :01:19. | :01:21. | |
And we follow Northamptonshire and Manchester police as they continue | :01:21. | :01:28. | |
their battle against Britain's rising drug problem. | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
But first, how one brave cop's quick-thinking stopped a vicious | :01:31. | :01:36. | |
pair of robbers. Early one December morning in 2007, | :01:36. | :01:39. | |
newly-trained dog handler PC Katie Jones was all set for her regular | :01:39. | :01:46. | |
shift in her home town of Preston. She was due to spend the day | :01:46. | :01:51. | |
training with her supervisor, Sergeant Ian Tinsley. I was on my | :01:51. | :01:56. | |
third day out as an operational police dog handler. I was really | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
excited to be out, as we hadn't had what we call a dog incident where | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
we're going to use the dog to search for offenders. It would have | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
been roughly possibly about 8:20am, 8:30am when we picked up a | :02:07. | :02:09. | |
transmission over the police radio in respect of they believed that | :02:09. | :02:19. | |
:02:19. | :02:33. | ||
there was intruders at the Hospital Inside the Hospital Inn, chef | :02:33. | :02:35. | |
Anthony Gornall and his partner, the pub's landlady, Alison Morse, | :02:35. | :02:41. | |
were being terrorised by armed robbers. | :02:41. | :02:47. | |
I heard them walking upstairs and going into different rooms. What is | :02:47. | :02:52. | |
So I said to Alison, get under the bed. I just heard them open the | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
door and so I started walking towards the door. This guy just | :02:55. | :02:58. | |
filled the door. Here he is! | :02:58. | :03:03. | |
And he said, right, come with me. Where's the money? | :03:04. | :03:06. | |
The masked man was violent well- known criminal Wayne McDonald. He | :03:06. | :03:11. | |
was with his sidekick, David Tyrell. So he took me in the corridor, the | :03:11. | :03:14. | |
other guy handed him his pistol, then he pistol-whipped me down the | :03:14. | :03:22. | |
corridor on my head. So I got my keys, opened the safe. I think | :03:22. | :03:28. | |
there was about �2,000, �3,000 in notes in there. They got the shot | :03:28. | :03:33. | |
gun out. He just said, if you've any more money, you'd better tell | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
me now or I'll blow your head off. So I said, there's no more money, | :03:37. | :03:42. | |
and if there is, I don't know where it is. He turned the gun round and | :03:42. | :03:48. | |
smashed my face. That's when Tyrell bent down to me and said, you'd | :03:48. | :03:52. | |
better do as you're told, because he will kill you. | :03:52. | :03:55. | |
As this horror was unfolding, PC Katie Jones had arrived outside the | :03:55. | :03:58. | |
pub, oblivious to what was going on inside. | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
As I headed towards the main entrance, I overheard somebody on | :04:01. | :04:11. | |
:04:11. | :04:16. | ||
the radio say that they could see At that time, I heard the main door | :04:16. | :04:22. | |
rattle. So I automatically turned round with my dog, Chaos, at the | :04:22. | :04:27. | |
side of me. Don't move! | :04:27. | :04:30. | |
I was faced with a very large masked male pointing a shotgun at | :04:30. | :04:33. | |
his shoulder height straight towards me. | :04:33. | :04:39. | |
Get out of the way now! Katie's life was on the line, but | :04:40. | :04:42. | |
she stood her ground and challenged McDonald. | :04:42. | :04:46. | |
Drop the gun! I shouted at him to drop what he | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
was holding. I'm warning you, I'll shoot you! | :04:51. | :05:00. | |
:05:01. | :05:14. | ||
At the same time, he shouted at me When I heard the shot and a | :05:14. | :05:17. | |
helicopter in the background, I thought he was going back upstairs. | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
Because there was police there. And that's the last thing he said to me, | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
if there's any police out there, I'm coming back up here and I'm | :05:23. | :05:26. | |
going to shoot you. When I was shot, it was | :05:26. | :05:34. | |
excruciating pain. I felt like I'd been hit with a red-hot poker at | :05:34. | :05:37. | |
150 miles per hour. The whole leg went numb. I just kept thinking to | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
myself, don't look down, don't look down, because if I see a gaping | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
hole in my leg, I'm going to pass out here and now. You know, I did | :05:45. | :05:49. | |
think, this is it, my life's over with. You know, I'm going to die | :05:49. | :05:54. | |
here, that's it had. And your life does kind of flash before you. And | :05:54. | :05:58. | |
albeit it happened in a millisecond, everything did kind of come to me | :05:58. | :06:03. | |
all at once. You know, my family, my friends, complete fear set in | :06:03. | :06:07. | |
really. I was petrified I was going to lose my leg, frightened of what | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
it was going to mean, if I was ever going to be able to walk again, was | :06:11. | :06:15. | |
I ever going to be able to do my job again? | :06:15. | :06:22. | |
But her ordeal wasn't over yet. McDonald was still on the loose. | :06:22. | :06:26. | |
I was then aware that I had to get away from where I was. I had to | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
kind of flee from the scene, because I was so frightened of him | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
coming back out to try and do what he'd just done again. | :06:34. | :06:36. | |
Seriously wounded, Katie mustered up the strength to get herself away | :06:36. | :06:46. | |
:06:46. | :06:49. | ||
It was obvious that she was injured, she was dragging her leg. So | :06:49. | :06:52. | |
straightaway, my concern was for her. I'd no idea where the offender | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
was who'd done the shot, I didn't know whether he'd immediately left | :06:55. | :06:58. | |
the premises, I don't know whether he was still in the premises, so I | :06:59. | :07:04. | |
was screaming at Katie to take I managed to get myself into a | :07:04. | :07:10. | |
ditch at the rear of the pub car park, along with Chaos. And then I | :07:10. | :07:15. | |
was aware of something going on behind me. And all I could hear was | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
PC Tinsley shouting, armed police, put your gun down! | :07:19. | :07:27. | |
Suddenly, the two fierce armed robbers were standing at the door. | :07:27. | :07:30. | |
The offenders, McDonald and Tyrell, appeared from the same direction in | :07:30. | :07:35. | |
which Katie had come. My initial thoughts at that particular time | :07:35. | :07:39. | |
were that they were going to shoot her again. I adopted a firearm | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
stance. I pointed two fingers, probably like kids do playing | :07:43. | :07:46. | |
Cowboys and Indians, saying that I was an armed police officer, put | :07:46. | :07:50. | |
the weapon down. On a couple of occasions, McDonald actually raised | :07:50. | :07:56. | |
his hands above his head in like a surrender type mode. I remember | :07:56. | :07:59. | |
thinking, I hope he's got bad eyesight, because if he had good | :07:59. | :08:05. | |
eyesight, he would think, no, he hasn't got a gun. | :08:05. | :08:09. | |
Sergeant Ian Tinsley had taken a huge and extremely risky gamble. | :08:09. | :08:13. | |
Put the gun down, put it down now! Thankfully, it did have the desired | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
effect, because at that point, both of them then dropped the bag and | :08:17. | :08:24. | |
turned tail and ran. The men fled empty-handed and a | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
police helicopter was scrambled to track them down. Within half an | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
hour, McDonald was caught. Tyrell was found 12 hours later hiding | :08:32. | :08:41. | |
under some tarpaulin near the pub. Katie's bravery had paid off. | :08:41. | :08:44. | |
During the trial of McDonald and Tyrell, it became clear just how | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
close PC Katie Jones had come to losing her life. | :08:49. | :08:52. | |
It was revealed by the firearms expert for the prosecution that had | :08:52. | :08:56. | |
that gun been aimed one degree more to the left, the main impact would | :08:56. | :08:58. | |
have been straight through her lower abdomen and more likely to | :08:58. | :09:07. | |
have killed her instantly. That's scary, it's frightening. To | :09:07. | :09:15. | |
think that, you know, one degree... That's just a slight movement. And | :09:15. | :09:17. | |
it does make you realise, it certainly makes me realise, that | :09:17. | :09:21. | |
yes, all right, I got shot that morning, but I was so, so fortunate | :09:21. | :09:27. | |
and so, so lucky to come out with just ten pellets in my leg. | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
Katie has paid a hefty price for her bravery, but the staff at the | :09:31. | :09:35. | |
Hospital Inn are eternally grateful to her. | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
I think if Katie hadn't had been there and the police and the other | :09:38. | :09:42. | |
dog handler, I dread to think what would have happened. I don't know. | :09:42. | :09:47. | |
She's a brave woman, very brave. I couldn't have done it, I don't | :09:47. | :09:49. | |
think. Tyrell got over seven years for his | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
crimes, while McDonald was jailed for life. Katie's since made a full | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
recovery and she was honoured with a Police Bravery Award. She's since | :09:57. | :10:01. | |
returned to the beat with a new dog, Hero, while Chaos is enjoying life | :10:01. | :10:11. | |
:10:11. | :10:13. | ||
Britain's police are regularly putting their lives on the line. So | :10:13. | :10:18. | |
having a canine partner can be invaluable. In the oil-rich city of | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
Aberdeen, 40 year-old police dog handler George Shearer is on the | :10:21. | :10:28. | |
front line of crime. In the back of his van, two vital police assets. A | :10:28. | :10:35. | |
general-purpose dog called Sparky and a drugs dog called Sam. Often | :10:35. | :10:38. | |
working alone, this tough canine unit are called to deal with the | :10:38. | :10:41. | |
huge variety of dangerous crime in a patch covering hundreds of square | :10:41. | :10:47. | |
miles. Quite often, I'm first on to the | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
scene. The presence of the dogs is a wonderful deterrent. People run | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
off in different directions. So compared to a human, it's a | :10:55. | :11:00. | |
wonderful deterrent for stopping people. I'd be quite happy to | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
control 10, 20 people, even if they're agitated. They just won't | :11:04. | :11:11. | |
come near the dog. That keeps them at a safe distance away from me. | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
It's 8pm and George has been assigned to provide back-up during | :11:14. | :11:21. | |
a raid to arrest someone suspected of drug offences. The location has | :11:21. | :11:24. | |
been under surveillance and the police are worried there may be | :11:24. | :11:31. | |
dogs on the premises, so George is on standby to protect the officers. | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
I've been called upon, one - to control the dogs, and secondly - I | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
have a drugs dog with me and he will be carrying out a search of | :11:38. | :11:39. | |
that property. Although George normally handles | :11:39. | :11:42. | |
police dogs, he's often called in when owners' animals might present | :11:42. | :11:47. | |
a threat. His first priority on the raid will be to locate and secure | :11:47. | :11:50. | |
the owner's dogs using specialist tools. | :11:50. | :11:55. | |
This is one of the pieces of equipment that we would use. We | :11:55. | :11:59. | |
would look to sling this over the dog's head. And this pulls tightly, | :11:59. | :12:03. | |
and then we can tie that off with the screw part here, and that keeps | :12:03. | :12:06. | |
the dogs at a safe distance away from my body to prevent any bites | :12:06. | :12:11. | |
and any contact with me as a person. And once we've got the dog set | :12:11. | :12:15. | |
aside in a safe area, it's a quick release, a lever here that we would | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
pull, and that can effectively release the dog. There's a lot of | :12:19. | :12:22. | |
these types of dogs that are very strong and it does take a fair | :12:22. | :12:27. | |
amount of effort to keep a dog restrained and at arm's length. | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
With the officers briefed, a convoy of police officers make their way | :12:30. | :12:35. | |
to the target's house. George is under no illusion, having worked in | :12:35. | :12:41. | |
the dog unit for six years. He knows there is a real threat of | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
injury. There have been incidents where | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
I've gone to warrants and I've been bitten by dogs within the house. | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
It's always something that I keep in the back of my mind when I go | :12:51. | :12:54. | |
into these properties. The police face all kinds of | :12:54. | :12:56. | |
unexpected threats as they execute warrants and raid properties, and | :12:56. | :13:02. | |
dogs can be one of the most serious. Last year, Grampian Police were | :13:02. | :13:08. | |
called in for 36 crimes for failing to keep dogs under control. As well | :13:08. | :13:11. | |
as dealing with any potentially dangerous dogs, George will also be | :13:11. | :13:15. | |
assisting fellow officers in the hunt for drugs. | :13:15. | :13:18. | |
Yes, I've got a specialist dog that's trained to detect drugs, so | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
once we get into the address and get everybody secured, I'll be | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
taking out the drugs dog and he'll search the address and hopefully | :13:24. | :13:34. | |
:13:34. | :13:36. | ||
he'll indicate on some drugs within the property. | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
The police park away from the suspect's house. They can't risk | :13:40. | :13:43. | |
alerting the man or his dogs to their presence, which might give | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
him a chance to dispose of any possible drugs or try and make a | :13:47. | :13:53. | |
run for it. The element of surprise is critical. | :13:53. | :13:59. | |
Police! So George is one of the first in. | :13:59. | :14:02. | |
He must quickly locate and secure the dogs to ensure everyone's | :14:02. | :14:08. | |
safety. We have gone into the property and | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
there are two dogs within one room, and I think another two dogs have | :14:12. | :14:15. | |
appeared from around the back of the property and ran in the front | :14:15. | :14:20. | |
here. All the dogs seem fine and we've got control in the house now. | :14:20. | :14:22. | |
The suspect is promptly apprehended and the police begin their search | :14:22. | :14:28. | |
of the house for drugs. Every potential hiding place is | :14:28. | :14:38. | |
:14:38. | :14:42. | ||
thoroughly checked, even the most Just a trap that we have found | :14:42. | :14:45. | |
underneath the house that gives access to the whole area underneath | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
the house. You can see it is quite indeed entrance, so we will maybe | :14:49. | :14:52. | |
consider getting a dog in under there. Because it is quite a large | :14:52. | :14:55. | |
area. It would be a very good hidey hole for drugs. | :14:55. | :14:58. | |
It is time to bring in Sam the sniffer dog, a four-year-old black | :14:58. | :15:08. | |
:15:08. | :15:08. | ||
Labrador. Come on. That's a boy. I felt it | :15:08. | :15:11. | |
was worthwhile in deploying a dog under there. It is a nice safe area | :15:11. | :15:14. | |
for him to search. He will do that quite quickly. | :15:14. | :15:24. | |
:15:24. | :15:25. | ||
Nothing doing at all down there other than a bit of mess. | :15:25. | :15:29. | |
The officers are now carrying out a search by hand on the premises, and | :15:29. | :15:32. | |
that will take about 30 minutes. the end of that, we will know | :15:33. | :15:41. | |
In Scotland, the police face a never ending war on drugs, even in | :15:41. | :15:45. | |
the most remote towns and villages. Aberdeen is no exception. Last year, | :15:45. | :15:50. | |
Scottish police forces dealt with nearly 40,000 drug offences. PC | :15:50. | :15:53. | |
George Shearer works a regular ten- hour night shift with his two dogs, | :15:53. | :15:57. | |
Sparky and Sam. The following night, he gets an update on the house that | :15:57. | :16:03. | |
was raided the day before. They found a total of �3,000 in | :16:03. | :16:08. | |
cash, �2,000 of which was concealed in a sock within a dresser. And | :16:08. | :16:13. | |
there was also a personal amount of cannabis recovered. So it is a | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
positive result for that one. male was later charged with | :16:17. | :16:19. | |
possession under the Misuse Of Drugs Act. | :16:19. | :16:25. | |
Foxtrot five. It is not long into his shift when | :16:25. | :16:28. | |
a call comes through. George is going to assist officers who are | :16:28. | :16:31. | |
about to pull over a car. Stopping anyone late at night always carries | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
a high risk of trouble, and the police suspect the owner of the car | :16:35. | :16:37. | |
may be involved in criminal activities. | :16:37. | :16:41. | |
This is a call, there is a unit in behind a car where there is | :16:41. | :16:44. | |
intelligence on the car that it is involved in the supply of drugs. | :16:45. | :16:48. | |
The unit just want to stop it. I am just going to assist. There are a | :16:49. | :16:52. | |
number of people on board, and they might need a drugs dog in any case, | :16:52. | :17:00. | |
so we are just going along to see By the time George arrives, the two | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
people in the car, a man and a woman, have been detained. But | :17:04. | :17:07. | |
there is compelling evidence of drug use. Watch. There is a bag of | :17:07. | :17:12. | |
needles in there. Right, OK. There are some capped, some uncapped. | :17:12. | :17:15. | |
Used needles carry a huge risk of harm. But despite the danger, | :17:15. | :17:23. | |
George must still deploy sound to There was a bag of needles sitting | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
in the foot well. We always have a check of the area that we are going | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
to be putting a dog into, a house or a car, we always have a quick | :17:32. | :17:35. | |
look to make sure there is no dangers for the dog. If a dog was | :17:35. | :17:38. | |
to get pricked by a needle, the diseases are transferable to the | :17:38. | :17:44. | |
dog. -- are not transferable. However, the dog could receive | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
quite significant injuries are to the mouth area and the nose, etc. | :17:47. | :17:51. | |
We always like to make sure that the area is safe before we put the | :17:51. | :18:01. | |
:18:01. | :18:03. | ||
We've turned up and we've taken a drugs dog in. He's carried out a | :18:03. | :18:06. | |
search in the car. He's showing an interest in a number of things, | :18:06. | :18:09. | |
actually. You could see on the document wallet for the car, there | :18:09. | :18:19. | |
:18:19. | :18:20. | ||
has clearly been power because up with a knife. -- powder cut up. He | :18:20. | :18:25. | |
has indicated on that. He has indicated on to bags within the | :18:25. | :18:27. | |
foot while of the vehicle, which both contain paraphernalia relating | :18:28. | :18:30. | |
to drugs. And also on a tobacco pouch, looking closer in amongst | :18:31. | :18:34. | |
the tobacco, there is a small notch of what we suspect to be cannabis | :18:34. | :18:39. | |
The chap up there, he has clearly admitted ownership of the cannabis | :18:39. | :18:44. | |
resin. He's been charged on the scene here. He's not been arrested. | :18:44. | :18:48. | |
He'll just be cautioned and charged with that offence at the locus here. | :18:48. | :18:52. | |
Grampian police are not only dealing with drug-related crime. In | :18:52. | :18:54. | |
Scotland, vandalism and anti-social behaviour are big issues for local | :18:54. | :19:00. | |
communities. Last year, they had to deal with 2000 incidents of damage | :19:00. | :19:07. | |
to private property in Aberdeen It's the third call of the night. | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
George and his dogs have been called to a suspected act of | :19:10. | :19:13. | |
vandalism. George has little to go on except that the men could be | :19:13. | :19:19. | |
dangerous. Back-up has not arrived yet, so he is on his own. With his | :19:19. | :19:21. | |
experience and following a quick assessment of the situation, George | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
starts searching for the suspects in order to stop them making an | :19:24. | :19:32. | |
Suddenly, he spots one man fitting the description of one of the | :19:32. | :19:36. | |
suspects. To ensure his safety, he deploys his five-year-old German | :19:36. | :19:41. | |
shepherd. Sparky is a highly trained police dog, and will | :19:41. | :19:46. | |
protect George at all costs. And with a bite of 238lbs per square | :19:46. | :19:54. | |
inch, the suspect won't be making a George and Sparky make a formidable | :19:54. | :20:00. | |
team. The two of them can do the job of several police officers. | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
George decides to take the suspect back to the scene of the crime to | :20:04. | :20:07. | |
meet the other officers. And, with Sparky so close, the suspect has no | :20:07. | :20:17. | |
:20:17. | :20:22. | ||
It looks like George and Sparky have got their man, and they march | :20:22. | :20:32. | |
:20:32. | :20:40. | ||
The man is handcuffed and searched. George finds what he suspects to be | :20:40. | :20:50. | |
:20:50. | :20:51. | ||
ecstasy tablets. What's that? Other officers arrive, and the | :20:52. | :21:01. | |
:21:02. | :21:04. | ||
suspect is taken away for further The man caught with drugs was also | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
breaching bail conditions, and should not have been in the area. | :21:08. | :21:13. | |
He was remanded in custody pending a court appearance. | :21:13. | :21:16. | |
Absolutely convinced that if the dog had not been present, the guy | :21:16. | :21:19. | |
would have run away, and I doubt if he would have been caught. He | :21:19. | :21:24. | |
certainly looked like he was going to do a runner when he first saw us. | :21:24. | :21:29. | |
So it is a good enough result. You could see as well that the dog was | :21:29. | :21:34. | |
watching the guy as we walking him back. He was just sending out a | :21:34. | :21:37. | |
message to the guy, look, don't even think about running away. | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
Because the dog is here, and he may well chase you. The dog has done | :21:41. | :21:51. | |
:21:51. | :21:53. | ||
Even with a police dog, it takes a brave officer to patrol the streets | :21:53. | :21:57. | |
alone in the middle of the night. The last thing you want is to find | :21:57. | :22:02. | |
yourself in the situation that PC Paul Davies did in 2006. Called to | :22:02. | :22:08. | |
a robbery at 3am, he suddenly found In the early hours one January | :22:08. | :22:11. | |
morning, a CCTV operator spotted two men around the back of a | :22:11. | :22:17. | |
shopping centre in Oxfordshire. picked up a couple of males walking | :22:17. | :22:20. | |
around picking up dog-ends, acting suspiciously, so we just kept a | :22:20. | :22:28. | |
camera on them, followed them all After two to three minutes, they | :22:28. | :22:36. | |
were nowhere to be seen, and an The CCTV operator immediately | :22:36. | :22:40. | |
dialled 999. First on the scene was Thames Valley police officer PC | :22:40. | :22:44. | |
Paul Davies. I found that the rear access door | :22:44. | :22:50. | |
had been forced open. I had a look inside, and couldn't see a great | :22:50. | :22:55. | |
deal of disturbance, or whether anything was actually missing. | :22:55. | :22:58. | |
Paul edged his way into the pitch- black store, armed only with a | :22:58. | :23:03. | |
torch. He heard a noise, and shone a light towards it, revealing a | :23:03. | :23:09. | |
coin-operated children's ride. And crouched in the front of this | :23:09. | :23:13. | |
ride was a male, and I can see he was using a screwdriver to try and | :23:13. | :23:22. | |
force open the cash container of I identified myself to him as a | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
police officer, at which he jumped to his feet and started rushing to | :23:25. | :23:31. | |
try and get back out of the store. But as he came rushing towards me, | :23:31. | :23:35. | |
I grabbed hold of him, and told him that he was under arrest, and we | :23:35. | :23:38. | |
had quite a struggle, during which he was using the screwdriver to try | :23:38. | :23:48. | |
In the hands of a desperate man, a screwdriver can easily turn into a | :23:48. | :23:54. | |
lethal weapon. Paul was in deep trouble. | :23:54. | :23:59. | |
I could feel it hitting the side of my body armour several times. Had | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
the blows gone on to my arms or up around my neck and head, then it | :24:03. | :24:07. | |
would have been a different issue. One well-placed to stab to the neck | :24:07. | :24:14. | |
or head could have seriously injured Paul, or even killed him. | :24:14. | :24:18. | |
think once he realised I was going to hold on to him, it got more and | :24:18. | :24:22. | |
more violent as he got more and more desperate to get away. As Paul | :24:22. | :24:25. | |
battled with his attacker, he got a very nasty surprise. It was then | :24:25. | :24:28. | |
that he shouted to the second defender who was within the store, | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
and at that stage, the second man came rushing back down the store | :24:32. | :24:39. | |
towards were I was. The man was wielding a chisel, and | :24:39. | :24:46. | |
The man was wielding a chisel, and The man was wielding a chisel, and | :24:46. | :24:49. | |
The man was wielding a chisel, and aimed straight for Paul. That has | :24:49. | :24:52. | |
now almost doubled the odds a little bit, and I thought, I have | :24:52. | :24:58. | |
got to be a bit careful. I was trying to use the person that I had | :24:58. | :25:01. | |
already got as a sort of human shield. So we are then still | :25:01. | :25:04. | |
crashing around in the back of the store. And eventually, we force our | :25:04. | :25:07. | |
way back out through the rear entrance, and we sort of ended up | :25:07. | :25:11. | |
in a bit of a bundle out the back. Once outside, Paul and his | :25:11. | :25:14. | |
attackers were in full view of the CCTV camera. He was very determined | :25:14. | :25:18. | |
to get them, but as soon as he had one, the other one would physically | :25:18. | :25:21. | |
put up a fight to get the other one released. But he would always | :25:21. | :25:26. | |
managed to maintain one of them, which is a lot of determination. | :25:26. | :25:29. | |
And then the second offender came running back towards me, and he | :25:30. | :25:33. | |
then started to kick me around the body and around the head, and at | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
that point, he got hold of my ear and it felt like he was trying to | :25:37. | :25:40. | |
rip my ear off. And although it was extremely painful, I was determined | :25:40. | :25:44. | |
at that point that I was going to come out on top, and that this | :25:44. | :25:47. | |
person wasn't going to get away. But the suspects were equally | :25:47. | :25:52. | |
determined they weren't going to prison. | :25:52. | :25:56. | |
This succeeded in overpowering Paul and wrenched themselves free. | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
I chased after them, and after a short distance I was able to rugby- | :25:59. | :26:02. | |
tackle the original offender back down to the ground, and the second | :26:02. | :26:05. | |
defender turned, and I thought he was coming back to again have | :26:05. | :26:09. | |
another go at attacking me. And it was at that stage, much to my | :26:09. | :26:11. | |
relief, that I saw my support coming round the corner. | :26:11. | :26:13. | |
Within seconds, the offenders were handcuffed and under arrest. | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
You wouldn't throw your life away, but there are times when you would | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
put your life at risk in order to help save others or to prevent, in | :26:20. | :26:25. | |
this case to prevent crime. It is part of being a police officer. | :26:25. | :26:27. | |
For tackling not one but two violent criminals, Paul was | :26:27. | :26:30. | |
honoured with the police bravery award. And the men, they got their | :26:30. | :26:34. | |
just deserts. They were both jailed for four years for burglary and | :26:34. | :26:44. | |
:26:44. | :26:47. | ||
Britain is now the drug capital of Europe, and every day, our cops are | :26:47. | :26:49. | |
fighting a battle against dangerous drug dealers, particularly those | :26:49. | :26:56. | |
supplying Class A drugs like We're just going to do a quick stop | :26:57. | :27:00. | |
search on you. Around 40 tons of cocaine enters Britain every year. | :27:00. | :27:08. | |
Police estimate there are over In Northamptonshire, officers from | :27:08. | :27:11. | |
Operation Guardian are coming down hard on drug crime, which is making | :27:11. | :27:14. | |
life a misery for locals, spawning all kinds of anti-social behaviour | :27:14. | :27:24. | |
:27:24. | :27:25. | ||
Today, the team is getting ready to raid someone suspected of drug | :27:26. | :27:32. | |
offences in the local area. Once we go in there, we were just make sure | :27:32. | :27:35. | |
that all persons are handcuffed, because we don't know, they may | :27:35. | :27:40. | |
pose a threat, they may not. But just in case, we will secure | :27:40. | :27:46. | |
everyone in there, handcuff them all. Lovely. Shall we give it five | :27:46. | :27:51. | |
minutes, and meet downstairs at the van? Yes. | :27:51. | :27:54. | |
The team of officers make their way to the flat. PC Alexandra Lloyd is | :27:54. | :27:56. | |
constantly aware of the hidden dangers of the job. | :27:57. | :28:00. | |
It is always in the back of your mind, and we quite often go in | :28:00. | :28:03. | |
places where there are used needles. Quite often, the people in the | :28:03. | :28:06. | |
homes will tell you, but there are occasions when they don't, so we | :28:07. | :28:16. | |
:28:17. | :28:21. | ||
The team have no trouble getting But there is another at the top of | :28:21. | :28:28. | |
the stairs. The officer with the But, surprisingly, it's an easy | :28:28. | :28:35. | |
entry. The suspect has let them in himself. Any ID in the flat at all? | :28:35. | :28:44. | |
Yes. Just tell us, and I'll get it. In my bedroom. The man is | :28:44. | :28:47. | |
handcuffed and held in one room while the team search his flat. | :28:47. | :28:51. | |
Anything that is seized, or if we are going to take anything or seize | :28:51. | :28:54. | |
anything, then you'll be told what we are taking, OK? But it is easier | :28:54. | :28:57. | |
for you to stay here so that the officers can search. All right, | :28:57. | :29:00. | |
mate? If you want to have a read of that, feel free. | :29:00. | :29:04. | |
What we are looking for is mainly Class B, cannabis or anything that | :29:04. | :29:06. | |
is linked, or any paraphernalia that can provide information about | :29:06. | :29:10. | |
lifestyle, as well. And information, intelligence, as well. | :29:10. | :29:13. | |
The suspect has to watch on helplessly as PC Alexandra Lloyd's | :29:13. | :29:19. | |
team bag up evidence. Cannabis is commonly used across | :29:19. | :29:23. | |
the area. We are executing warrants all over the place. You deal with | :29:23. | :29:26. | |
pockets of people that will be dealing cannabis, and you have got | :29:26. | :29:29. | |
the people that generally use the cannabis as well, so we deal with | :29:30. | :29:33. | |
all different sorts. Before long, the search turns up | :29:33. | :29:40. | |
more than just cannabis. Some drugs there. It is looking like... They | :29:40. | :29:42. | |
are certainly pills of some description. We have seen pills | :29:42. | :29:46. | |
around, but not normally in that quantity, if I'm honest. | :29:46. | :29:49. | |
The gentleman will be further arrested for the drug offences, and | :29:49. | :29:52. | |
they will be seized, along with everything else that we've taken so | :29:52. | :29:57. | |
far. I'm sure they'll be pleased, the powers that be. | :29:57. | :30:02. | |
It's another success for Detective Inspector Stuart Hitchin. We do as | :30:02. | :30:05. | |
much preparation as we can before we go into the warrants. We look at | :30:05. | :30:09. | |
who the people are and what we are likely to face. We always make sure | :30:09. | :30:12. | |
that we have the right people and the right resources on hand when we | :30:12. | :30:22. | |
go through the door, so we are Northamptonshire Police have their | :30:22. | :30:25. | |
work cut out tackling drug crime, but it's an even greater problem | :30:25. | :30:29. | |
for Manchester's cops, where cannabis is rife. Last year, | :30:29. | :30:32. | |
Greater Manchester Police found 877 cannabis farms, the second highest | :30:32. | :30:42. | |
:30:42. | :30:42. | ||
in the UK. Most of them are set up in people's homes. Today, PC Jamie | :30:42. | :30:45. | |
Heaton, of the Proactive Unit, is leading a raid on a suspected | :30:45. | :30:51. | |
cannabis farm in the local area. The information he's got may or may | :30:51. | :30:54. | |
not be reliable, but he needs to act to find out what the situation | :30:54. | :31:00. | |
In terms of today's job to execute a search warrant... | :31:00. | :31:03. | |
The market in cannabis is enormous, worth in excess of �1 billion in | :31:03. | :31:07. | |
the UK alone. Customers come to the address on a | :31:07. | :31:09. | |
daily basis and enter the front door. The activities increase | :31:09. | :31:13. | |
during the evening. The cannabis is grown inside the house, but no | :31:13. | :31:16. | |
further details are given. The intention is to attend the address | :31:16. | :31:18. | |
this morning, force entry into the address, detain anyone that's in | :31:18. | :31:23. | |
there and hopefully find a cannabis farm. All right? Thank you very | :31:23. | :31:29. | |
much. Although the police are used to | :31:29. | :31:34. | |
doing it every day, they can never afford to take any chances. | :31:34. | :31:37. | |
That's a lot of dangers that can happen. People who cultivate | :31:37. | :31:41. | |
cannabis can make a lot of money and stand to make a great loss when | :31:41. | :31:48. | |
police attend and uncover or discover the cannabis farm. People | :31:48. | :31:51. | |
will go to any lengths to evade police capture. We have attended | :31:51. | :31:54. | |
search warrants before where we found numerous tools or numerous | :31:54. | :31:57. | |
weapons in the address, some of which have been behind the front | :31:57. | :32:06. | |
door. That's why we're forcing entry today. | :32:06. | :32:10. | |
PC Johnson will be the first to enter the house. | :32:10. | :32:14. | |
Firstly, we're always wary of dogs. They are always an unknown entity. | :32:14. | :32:16. | |
Unless we get some specific intelligence that they are there, | :32:16. | :32:19. | |
we are always wary about there being dogs at the address. Also, | :32:19. | :32:24. | |
any barricades behind there. His job is to secure a swift entry | :32:24. | :32:27. | |
into the property and, if necessary, he'll smash down the front door | :32:27. | :32:33. | |
with a 23-kilogram enforcer. I'm more concerned about everybody | :32:33. | :32:37. | |
else who's here, your team mates. I want to make sure nobody gets hurt | :32:37. | :32:42. | |
and we'll do whatever's necessary to prevent that happening. | :32:42. | :32:44. | |
Once the police have enough evidence linking their suspect to | :32:44. | :32:48. | |
drugs, it's then up to the Proactive team to execute a search. | :32:48. | :32:52. | |
This specially trained team do this day in day out, so they understand | :32:52. | :32:57. | |
just how the drug business operates. There's a lot of money to be made | :32:57. | :33:00. | |
from cultivating cannabis. Somebody that knows what they're doing can | :33:00. | :33:05. | |
probably get about three to four crops a year. This can make them a | :33:05. | :33:15. | |
:33:15. | :33:22. | ||
hell of a lot of money. Police officers! Stay where you | :33:22. | :33:32. | |
:33:32. | :33:33. | ||
are! Sit down, sit down! Two men are handcuffed. | :33:33. | :33:35. | |
We managed to get both the occupants inside detained without | :33:35. | :33:38. | |
any fuss. No-one's got any injuries or anything, which is a big plus | :33:38. | :33:41. | |
for us. Is there anything that you need to | :33:41. | :33:44. | |
tell us before we start searching? I've got weed in my bedroom what | :33:44. | :33:46. | |
you'll find. So there's some weed upstairs? | :33:46. | :33:52. | |
Yeah, there's a bit of weed upstairs. Right, no problem. I'll | :33:52. | :33:56. | |
tell you straight, you know what I mean? I'm not going to lie to you. | :33:56. | :33:59. | |
You're not going to be stupid, are you, and start kicking off? No. All | :33:59. | :34:03. | |
right, no problem. The police start their search and they notice a | :34:03. | :34:07. | |
strong smell of cannabis. To me, that's more than a spliff, mate. | :34:07. | :34:11. | |
Yeah. I think he's sealed it, it's been sealed at some point. That's | :34:11. | :34:14. | |
definite. And it doesn't take long before | :34:14. | :34:17. | |
they find the personal stash of cannabis in the bedroom. | :34:17. | :34:23. | |
It smells stronger in there. We've come up to the bedroom that we've | :34:23. | :34:26. | |
been allocated. Straightaway, I've gone to what he describes as the | :34:26. | :34:30. | |
skinning-up box concealed in like a strong mints box. It's a small | :34:30. | :34:33. | |
amount of cannabis, but probably about �20 worth. Sandwich bags as | :34:33. | :34:36. | |
well, which most people keep them in the kitchen, but he's got them | :34:36. | :34:43. | |
in the bedroom. Sandwich bags, that suggests to me dealing. The | :34:43. | :34:47. | |
sandwich bags we were telling you about. | :34:47. | :34:50. | |
It raises more suspicions for the officers. | :34:50. | :34:55. | |
Three bags in there. 10 bags, �10 each. It's a shame there's not more, | :34:55. | :34:59. | |
but he's obviously opened the bags, so he could have had anything up to | :34:59. | :35:03. | |
20, 20 bags in there or anything, so we'll deal with him for that in | :35:03. | :35:05. | |
a minute. PCs Heaton and Cooper continue to | :35:05. | :35:08. | |
look for more drugs. PC Johnson is downstairs questioning the suspect | :35:08. | :35:12. | |
about the bags of cannabis found in the bedroom. | :35:12. | :35:19. | |
That's me smoke... Why didn't you tell us about it? I forgot about it. | :35:19. | :35:22. | |
You don't forget about where your weed is though. Yeah, you don't | :35:22. | :35:25. | |
forget where you drugs are. I bet when you wanted a spliff, you | :35:25. | :35:28. | |
remembered where it was, didn't you? Nah. Right, well, if there's | :35:28. | :35:32. | |
any more, tell us. I swear now, mate, you don't need to, there's no | :35:32. | :35:35. | |
more weed. The loft is usually a good hiding | :35:35. | :35:38. | |
place for drugs, but these officers have years of experience and know | :35:38. | :35:43. | |
exactly where to search. The loft is empty. This time, their | :35:43. | :35:47. | |
information has been proved wrong. There's no evidence that there's a | :35:47. | :35:49. | |
cannabis farm here, but the officers do one final check around | :35:49. | :35:54. | |
the house. There's a box here of teddy bears. | :35:54. | :35:58. | |
Inside it, that's been an envelope with letters in. And in-between | :35:58. | :36:04. | |
there, there's been a rock, believed to be. It's probably going | :36:04. | :36:08. | |
to be crack cocaine. It looks like it's been there quite a while, | :36:08. | :36:12. | |
because it is quite solid. But it would have to be confirmed by tests | :36:12. | :36:13. | |
and that. Whilst downstairs, the young | :36:13. | :36:16. | |
suspect is read his rights. You are under arrest now on | :36:16. | :36:19. | |
suspicion of possession of cannabis and of suspicion of Class-A drugs. | :36:19. | :36:24. | |
And you do not have to say anything... Yeah, yeah, yeah. | :36:24. | :36:29. | |
Anything you do say may be given in evidence, all right? Yeah. The team | :36:29. | :36:32. | |
have uncovered cannabis and what they suspect to be crack cocaine, | :36:32. | :36:34. | |
with a combined street value of around �150. | :36:34. | :36:37. | |
It's not a great find, but enough evidence to take the young man to | :36:37. | :36:40. | |
the station for further questioning. Even though we didn't find the | :36:40. | :36:43. | |
actual cannabis farm that we initially came for, cannabis was | :36:43. | :36:46. | |
recovered from the address. That sends out a positive message to the | :36:47. | :36:49. | |
local community to indicate that the information that they give to | :36:49. | :36:59. | |
:36:59. | :37:04. | ||
For Britain's bravest cops, it's not just fighting violent crime | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
that puts them on the frontline. Sometimes, they're the first | :37:08. | :37:11. | |
emergency service on the scene. Ready to risk everything to save | :37:11. | :37:17. | |
lives. In 2009, officers were on routine patrol in Wales when they | :37:17. | :37:24. | |
came across thick black smoke It was about 10:50pm when PCs | :37:24. | :37:27. | |
Gareth Evans, Lee Stephens and their colleagues, PCs Matt Andrews, | :37:27. | :37:34. | |
Thomas Seagrim and Anthony Redwood got to the fire. | :37:35. | :37:38. | |
It's one of those situations where it will happen so quickly and you | :37:38. | :37:43. | |
become blinkered and focused on the job in hand. | :37:43. | :37:47. | |
As soon as we arrived, there was smoke coming out of the windows. | :37:47. | :37:50. | |
There were six flats all together and there were at least two flats | :37:50. | :37:53. | |
that were occupied, one of which being a pregnant lady and a young | :37:54. | :37:58. | |
child. The fire brigade had been called, | :37:58. | :38:01. | |
but were still minutes away. Gareth was with his partner, Anthony, | :38:01. | :38:06. | |
nicknamed Redders. Instantly, they knew that if they didn't act fast, | :38:06. | :38:13. | |
lives would be lost. I ran in. | :38:13. | :38:16. | |
Anybody here? And straightaway, it was horrific. | :38:16. | :38:19. | |
You couldn't see anything, you couldn't see your hand held up in | :38:19. | :38:22. | |
front of your eyes. You couldn't breathe. I ran up the stairs and | :38:22. | :38:26. | |
when I got to the middle floor, it was evident that it was a lot more | :38:26. | :38:31. | |
serious than I initially thought. And I knew there was another flight | :38:31. | :38:37. | |
to go up. Gareth made his way to the top | :38:37. | :38:40. | |
floor and searched the flat furthest from the stairs. | :38:40. | :38:45. | |
Anybody in? It's the Police! Nobody was in there, so he quickly | :38:45. | :38:48. | |
turned to the door of the other flat. | :38:48. | :38:51. | |
It's the Police! As I knocked the door, at that | :38:51. | :38:54. | |
point, it really did dawn on me how serious the situation was for the | :38:54. | :39:02. | |
simple fact that I couldn't breathe. The thoughts going through my head | :39:02. | :39:05. | |
at that time were, if she doesn't answer the door, there's a | :39:05. | :39:10. | |
possibility I might pass out at this point. | :39:10. | :39:13. | |
Meanwhile, down below, officer Lee Stephens was also battling his way | :39:13. | :39:17. | |
through the smoke to search the flats. | :39:17. | :39:21. | |
The smoke was already sort of gathering at ceiling height. I've | :39:21. | :39:25. | |
never experienced smoke like that before. I held my fleece up, I held | :39:25. | :39:34. | |
that up just to sort of protect my nose and throat. | :39:34. | :39:37. | |
On the top floor, PC Evans was relieved to discover that the | :39:37. | :39:45. | |
pregnant woman was still conscious. When she opened the door, there was | :39:45. | :39:50. | |
panic and distress on her face. was starting to worry me as to how | :39:50. | :39:54. | |
we got the baby and the mother out. It was sort of a out-of-the-frying- | :39:54. | :39:57. | |
pan-into-the-fire scenario, because we had to take them through that | :39:57. | :39:59. | |
staircase that we'd already been through and had already experienced | :39:59. | :40:07. | |
how bad that actually was. I'll take the baby. | :40:07. | :40:10. | |
I grabbed the young child that was there with her, I grabbed the | :40:10. | :40:13. | |
blanket to cover the baby, to stop any unnecessary smoke being | :40:13. | :40:19. | |
breathed in by him. Hold on tight, follow me! | :40:19. | :40:26. | |
I put her hand inside my belt, I took the baby downstairs. From top | :40:26. | :40:31. | |
to middle floor, the lady still had hold of my belt. But then suddenly, | :40:31. | :40:40. | |
the pregnant woman let go. At that point, I could hear Redders | :40:40. | :40:44. | |
shouting instructions at her to go downstairs. And I think she | :40:44. | :40:48. | |
panicked at that point. The mother and baby were safe, but | :40:48. | :40:51. | |
Lee and Redders were still in the stairwell, surrounded by thick, | :40:51. | :40:57. | |
toxic smoke. I was the first to try and get down | :40:57. | :41:01. | |
the communal stairs to get back out of the building. As I made my way | :41:01. | :41:06. | |
down those stairs, I couldn't see a thing. I used to the wall on my | :41:06. | :41:11. | |
right-hand side to feel my way down. It was when I reached the bottom of | :41:11. | :41:14. | |
the stairwell, I went to turn what I thought was the correct way out. | :41:14. | :41:17. | |
It wasn't, I was met by a brick wall. The disorientation I think | :41:17. | :41:20. | |
was what frightened me more than the possibility that there was a | :41:20. | :41:28. | |
fire in the flat near to me. But I didn't know where I was. That | :41:28. | :41:32. | |
probably was the most frightened I have ever been. I went back up the | :41:32. | :41:36. | |
steps to catch my breath and then made a second attempt. I managed to | :41:36. | :41:41. | |
get myself out of the building. We were both coughing, spluttering, | :41:41. | :41:45. | |
vomiting at the time. I don't know who it was, but we were walked to | :41:45. | :41:50. | |
the ambulance and given oxygen. As the officers struggled to catch | :41:50. | :41:53. | |
their breath, the fire brigade arrived. Within minutes, the | :41:53. | :41:58. | |
billowing fire was under control. We've got a duty to protect life | :41:58. | :42:02. | |
and property. It's officer's instinct. You just don't think | :42:02. | :42:06. | |
about it. The police officer's head just switches on and you just deal | :42:06. | :42:11. | |
with it. You don't think, oh, I need to be brave today. It's just | :42:11. | :42:16. | |
what we do. That night, the quick thinking and | :42:16. | :42:19. | |
swift actions of those courageous officers saved at least five | :42:19. | :42:23. | |
people's lives. They all got the recognition they deserved at this | :42:23. | :42:33. | |
:42:33. | :42:34. | ||
Next time on Britain's Bravest Cops, we hear how one courageous cop | :42:34. | :42:39. | |
risked her life to save fellow officers in South London. | :42:39. | :42:43. | |
This acid was so strong that it had melted through the Met vest, which | :42:43. | :42:48. | |
is supposed to be made of really strong stuff! | :42:48. | :42:51. | |
And we join Greater Manchester Police's elite unit in their hunt | :42:51. | :42:53. | |
for those suspected of cleaning dirty money for the city's | :42:53. | :42:58. | |
criminals, the money launderers. I think it's this one here, with | :42:58. | :43:00. |