Episode 3 Police 24/7

This time on Police 24/7...

..training gets tough for 62 new recruits for South Wales Police...

Get back! Get back!

..response officers are called to an assault on a paramedic...

He threw about six punches.

-It wasn't a minimal effort, it was...

-OK.

..and roads policing officer Tony Rees overcomes a language barrier.

"Lanelly."

Llanelli.

-Lanelly.

-Yeah, yeah, "Lanelly" will do, yeah.

This is a week in the life of the largest police force in Wales...

..seven days of action with the cops on the street

and the criminals they try to beat.

This is Police 24/7.

From the Valleys to the coast,

South Wales Police cover thousands of miles of roads.

Swansea is one of its busiest areas.

Schoolie, where are you, mate?

-OVER RADIO:

-Eastbound 45 to 44, if you want to attend, mate.

It looks like maybe an extraction by the fire service.

En route to this emergency is traffic cop Tony Rees,

who's been patrolling this patch for nearly 30 years.

There's a report of an accident on the M4

near junction 45, at Morriston.

Somebody's trapped, they say trapped in the vehicle,

but stuck in the vehicle with some injuries,

and it appears the fire service is going to attend to cut them out,

so we may have to close part of the motorway,

if not all of the motorway down,

so we'll find out when we get there now.

INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER

I'm approaching Llandarcy now, stuck in traffic. I'm trying my best.

Two cars are involved in the crash, and the emergency services

are concerned that the driver of one could have neck injuries.

INDISTINCT CONVERSATION

Saturation still 100%, yeah?

Have you taken the details of the Audi driver yet?

No, he can't move in the car.

I'll take these off the two boys here, then?

Once he gets put in the ambulance,

I'll take the details in the ambulance, all right?

As the fire service work to free the trapped driver,

Tony has to keep the rush hour traffic moving safely.

Come on.

Look at the road! Look at the road! That's right, yep.

Come on!

Look at the road. Come on, let's go!

The build-up of traffic is around the bend and out of sight

and a lot of that is down to people

driving so slow completely unnecessarily.

Too busy nosing at what's going on here.

This is why we end up with so many collisions at the scenes.

As the injured man is successfully cut out of his vehicle,

Officer Rees is off to see the other driver involved in the incident.

It was a bit scary, you know?

The only thing I can explain - it T-boned, he went one way,

I rammed on the brakes, I straightened up,

then slid across the hard shoulder and into the barrier.

I felt myself lift up in air.

That's when I've hurt my back.

I thought I was brown bread then.

As the injured are taken off to hospital,

Officer Rees has to get the damaged vehicles off the M4

before he can continue his patrol.

OK, just to advise you,

there's crash barrier damage at fingerpost 303/5.

If you could advise the highways department of that, please.

South Wales police force has almost 3,000 officers on its books.

Recently, it's had its biggest ever intake

of recruits in the last ten years.

Parade!

Attention!

Here, at headquarters in Bridgend,

62 men and women are going through 12 tough weeks of basic training.

OK, this is midway through the course,

we're expecting some improvements

for those of you who've been given feedback previously, OK?

At today's parade, standards are high.

Only slight criticism -

bit too much make-up.

Don't forget, with that, two fingers in there,

in line with the bridge of your nose.

Good shoes.

Parade! Dismissed!

But it's not just about looking the part.

Get back! Get back!

The recruits also have to prepare for the physical challenges

they'll soon face on the streets of South Wales.

In we go, then, guys.

Finish up what you're doing, yeah?

No problem. Yeah, don't leave her there.

And up in the sky.

Officer Mark Bateman will be pushing them hard

and making sure everyone's up to the job.

HE SHOUTS INSTRUCTIONS

Get hold of the other shoulder as well, keep control.

It's officer safety training,

so we're just looking to consolidate

all the stuff they've learned throughout the week, really.

-Get down!

-INDISTINCT SHOUTING

Hand over, grab the wrist.

Bring the wrist round, elbow in. Down! Get down!

Get down! Get down on your stomach, put your hands out to the side!

It's good fun. Obviously, we're with our mates now -

when we're out there, it'll be a bit different,

but, yeah, it's great.

Down! Down! Down! Down!

I can't wait. In a couple of weeks we'll be out there

and given an opportunity to actually put this into practice,

which is good.

I'll let you know when someone hits me how I feel, shall I?

Time for the training to move up a gear.

MARK ROARS

Police officers can be targets for violence,

so learning how to deal with it is crucial.

Get back! Get back!

Get back!

As rookie Lauren takes a tumble, she learns a valuable lesson.

There's nothing quite like hitting the deck

in front of your entire team,

but, yeah, good fun. I'd like to do it again,

just to rectify the mistakes -

I was going backwards, I should have been going sideways.

I like to think I've learned from that!

If we train for the worst-case scenario,

then hopefully they'll be prepared for that, then, really.

Get back!

Down on your knees! Get down!

Not one of them shied away from it, did they?

And we can't, can we, as police officers?

We've got to be seen to step up when needed, like.

I'm going to go and get a de-fib, I'll be back.

Roads policing officers specialise in tracking down the criminals

who are on the move.

At their team office in Llansamlet,

Danielle Matthews is on the early shift

with long-serving traffic cop Tony Rees.

What happened on the course, Doris, did you pass?

-Yes.

-Well done.

-Really enjoyed it.

-Did you?

-Yeah, really good.

-Hard work.

-It is hard work.

-Yeah.

-Were you tired at the end of it?

-Yeah.

After seven years in the force,

PC Matthews has just completed the final stage

of her specialist driver training.

Last two weeks, I've been doing a pursuit and TPAC course,

or tactical pursuit and containment course.

I'm ready now, I've done all my driving grades, so it's nice.

It's not long before Officer Matthews

gets her first shout of the day -

a suspected stolen car.

So I'm looking for a silver or grey Vauxhall Vectra,

so we're just contacting the force that it's been stolen from

to make sure it is still outstanding and it hasn't been recovered.

Fingers crossed we'll come across it now.

Tony is making his way up,

Ed is at junction 43, Llandarcy,

so we should... In all fairness,

we've got it cornered pretty quickly.

The suspected car comes into view.

Stand by, stand by, stand by.

I've got eyeball on the vehicle.

PC Matthews prepares to put her recent training into action.

WS, if you are receiving, my intention will be

to stop this vehicle using a pre-emptive tactic,

obviously with the availability of tango-whisky-five-six and five-four.

Tango-whisky-five-two, it's a left, left, left,

ascending the offslip, junction 44.

Current speed 50, 50.

Units, if you're in position,

we'll look to do it further on ahead up Birchgrove Road, correct?

Officer Matthews is taking the lead

and positions the rest of the team.

Just looking for a suitable place now

for me to actually get ahead of this vehicle.

Yep. Move forward, move forward.

Box, box, box.

Arrest vehicle, stop, stop, stop.

The driver is surrounded

and quickly arrested.

-What's your name?

-Paul.

-OK

Danielle's first TPAC. She was qualified yesterday, I think,

or the day before, so thrown in at deep end and she did really well.

In the custody suite,

PC Matthews can't wait to share her news.

Go and speak to the custody sergeant now.

What are the chances, Sarge?

Passed my TPAC course yesterday.

Two hours into my shift I got my first TPAC job.

-Excellent!

-Only my luck.

-Did you enjoy it?

-Yeah.

-And did it work?

-Yes.

Excellent, there we are.

I was expecting to wait a bit more than two hours, mind, but...

-Glad it's done.

-Did the nerves kick in?

Yeah, they were contained, though.

Didn't expect it to be today, but it was and we did it,

-so...

-And it's just the TWOC, is it?

Yes, yeah.

And he hasn't got a licence.

The driver, Paul Paget, was fined £110 for driving without a licence

and no insurance.

The offence of taking a vehicle without consent was dropped.

Each year, South Wales officers make around 35,000 arrests.

Learning this skill is an essential part of police training.

Can you attend, please, at the Waterton rugby field?

We've had a report - two persons acting suspiciously.

It's police. Get out there.

Stop! Police, stop!

Today is a tough test for the recruits.

They will be expected to detain the suspect.

Stop, sir, stay where you are.

MAN SHOUTS

Trainer Mark Bateman is watching their every move.

Right, knuckles together, entwine your fingers.

First thing, what did we say?

I heard you about three times, what were you screaming?

-"Stop, police."

-You were loving that, weren't you?

-I was.

Didn't do it last time, so made up for it.

In the waiting room, the recruits have no idea of what to expect,

but former police community support officer Martin David

is feeling confident.

I've got more of a background in the police -

I was a special constable for seven years, PCSO for three.

Although I've got experience,

it's still different every time, isn't it?

Now it's Martin's turn to make an arrest.

Keep your hands where I can see them!

Keep your hands where I can see them, sir!

Stand where you are, stay there.

-Look away from me, stay there.

-I haven't done anything!

I am going to talk to you. Are you going to talk to me?

Cool down, cos you're in my face all the time, innit?

-I'm going to cool down.

-Cool down, then.

All I'm asking is for you to cool down.

Sir, I'm talking now. Listen!

-You listen to me, you don't talk.

-Don't shout.

-I won't shout.

Don't shout at me, all right?

I'm not shouting at you, sir. Turn around.

At this point, sir, I'm arresting you

for possession of drugs under Section 5

of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, OK?

How do you think it went? How do you think you conducted it?

I personally think it went all right.

There's bits I could have improved on, definitely.

Um, I think I got control quite well, I kept my distance.

What you're doing at the moment

is going to rub people up the wrong way, OK?

Even though you're saying, "Calm down," it's not what's coming out.

-LOUDLY:

-"Calm down, sir, do it now! I'm calm - you be calm!"

-Yeah.

That's not calming someone down.

That is winding him up

and you continually shouted at him throughout.

The difficulty is getting across assertiveness with loudness.

I like to try and be assertive,

which is important within the role of a police officer,

but it's bringing it down a level. I think anyone who knows me

will say I'm naturally quite loud.

I know role plays, it's a bit harder with safety, because...

Back in the classroom,

the recruits watch their performances on the screen.

Here we go, have a watch of this, then.

-Once again, the spotlight is on Martin.

-Stay where you are!

Give me your hand! Stay where you are!

I told you to stay where you were, OK? Let go.

Move your hands away from me!

Right!

SHOUTING CONTINUES

It is just a downward spiral from here.

I'm asking you...

Mart, talk us through it, pal, talk us through it.

There is good points in there as well. Good points and bad points.

-I thought it was better than the feedback I had, if I am honest.

-OK.

-You thought it was amazing, did you?

-No. No, far from it.

I think I...

I agree, it has always been pointed out that I speak loud, I do.

I do, it's constructive feedback.

What was the other guy doing?

-ALL:

-Shouting.

-He was mimicking it, wasn't he?

As Martin was getting louder, he was shouting

and it's just turned into a massive shouting match for ten minutes.

Oh, gosh! He doesn't like feedback, this one, does he?

No-one likes making mistakes, do they?

But as long as he has a little reflect tonight,

hopefully he will be OK.

When the recruits complete their training,

many of them will be deployed as response officers,

working shifts, answering emergency calls.

Tonight in Swansea, PCs Jamal Ali and Tony Phipps are on duty.

Lucky you, driving, Tone.

Aye, good job I'm driving.

I'd have driven to the SA1 and be like, "Where's the recorder?"

-Well done.

-Thank you for that.

-Top man.

It's not long into their night shift

when the first emergency call comes in.

'Can I have urgent assistance, please?

'One of our crew members has been assaulted.

'He's just activated his emergency alarm.'

A paramedic has gone to an address in the SA1 area.

It's been reported at the moment

that he's been assaulted at the address.

We're going there now just to make sure he's all right

and then find out what's happened.

Unlike us, if someone's abusive or threatening to us,

we can arrest them, can't we?

But paramedics haven't got that power, unfortunately.

So when things do go a bit belly-up, they have to contact us.

-We've managed to sit him up.

-Yeah.

As soon as we go to try and move him, he's just freaked out.

Up you get.

I'll be making a complaint against him for assaulting me.

-You are?

-Yeah.

-He threw about six punches.

-I mean, it wasn't minimal effort, it was...

-OK.

He's a strong old boy.

We identified ourselves to him, tried getting him up

and he just started swinging.

The team can now take the man off to hospital for examination.

Assaults and violence against the emergency services

is on the increase, as Officer Phipps has observed.

Neither of those two were injured tonight,

but it has happened in the past when they have been injured.

It happens as well to nursing staff in A&E as well.

They will get assaulted sometimes.

Or verbally abused and threatened.

And it's something they can do without, isn't it?

Last year, Welsh emergency workers

reported over 350 violent and abusive incidents.

Tonight, paramedic Christopher Collins is one of them.

He's allowed us to do a few of our obs without any problems,

but as soon as we started to move him

off the settee into a wheelchair,

he started to become aggressive towards us

and then started punching

and I received several punches to my left arm

and the left side of my ribs.

We get verbally abused on a daily basis,

but physically abused, we are finding more

that it has come into it

and we are having to call police backup on a lot more occasions

because of the physical abuse that we are starting to see more of.

We will be taking statements off the paramedics tonight.

When he's fit to be released from hospital,

he'll be going straight to custody,

where he'll be dealt with for assaulting the paramedics.

The suspect was later questioned about the assault

and received a police caution as it was his first offence.

Every week, South Wales Police deal with more than 150 incidents

relating to domestic violence,

and attacks are on the increase.

So training its future officers

how to handle these difficult situations is important.

When you're dealing with this incident,

make sure that as you're dealing with it, you get enough details

to investigate it properly, yeah?

Who goes next?

Domestic violence practical day today,

so today now is the big day -

let's see if they put everything

that I've told them at the start of the week into practice

and see if they can come out on top of this one.

Yeah, it shows code five.

Have you still got the RP landline on this?

In his last exercise,

Martin received feedback for being too confrontational,

so this time, it's his opportunity to get it right.

He's nervous, if I'm honest with you.

Yeah, he is a little bit nervous.

I just want to see him try and calm the situation down

and see him calm down as well.

SHOUTING AND CRASHING

SHOUTING CONTINUES

Open the door, sir. Now.

Open the door, sir, or we're going to be putting it in.

Open the door. Thank you very much.

Right, what's been going on?

She's...

-She's just gone off her head...

-Do you want to come with me, sir?

Do you want to come with me? I'd appreciate that, sir.

Come with me, is that all right?

If I take some details off you,

just so I can find out a bit more about what's been going on.

Sir... No, sir, sir, sir, do me a favour, bring it down a little.

-But I've been here now enough time.

-I'm not going to argue with you, OK?

I'm not here to argue with you, OK?

I'm here to just deal with the situation

and make sure that you're OK and she's OK, that's my priority.

-Yeah.

-You can appreciate that. She is your partner, isn't she?

And it's just for your safety and the baby.

We want to make sure everything's all right.

That's fine. I'll just chat with my colleague now.

-Sir.

-Don't tell them anything, right?

-Sir, stay there.

Stay back exactly as I told you.

Stay back exactly as I've told you.

Sit there and stay there, OK?

I've asked you nicely, I've told you to stay where you are.

-Are you going to do as I ask?

-Yeah.

-Thank you.

If you don't do that again, I'll have to handcuff you, OK, sir?

-Yeah, that's fine.

-Thank you very much,

I appreciate that. Thank you.

Check mate, well done, guys. Come on, let's have a chat.

So from your point of view, Mart, massive improvement.

Honestly, it was 100 times better.

You not only showed me that you can still escalate it,

you can still shout and tell the person to cool down if you need to.

You also brought it back down every single time, didn't you?

I think, from experience, I wanted to focus on that,

-that was the key learning for me.

-It was brilliant.

You came across really well, and he actually said that.

-Awesome, well done.

-Brilliant, thank you.

-OK.

-How did you feel?

-Yeah, really well.

-Yeah.

I think, after the other day, when I obviously had a few issues

and today, I think I put everything into practice

and with a good partner as well to work with,

it was good, so, yeah, at least he's happy with us,

and I think we are, so it's all about the learning.

-It's good learning.

-Brilliant.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

The M4 motorway - the busiest road in the South Wales Police area.

Every day, thousands of lorries clock up the miles 24/7.

And as a former trucker himself, roads policing officer Tony Rees

takes a keen interest in their activities on his patch.

We do stop foreign vehicles on quite a regular basis and, obviously,

we look in the back of them, because - with the immigrant crisis

that's currently ongoing - it's a political hot potato at the moment.

And, for sure, we've had illegal immigrants jumping out of lorries

at service stations in our force area.

There's a truck alongside us now, so we're just going to pull him

into the services now at Swansea West

and we'll go through a few checks with the driver in the services.

With the lorry safe from motorway traffic,

Officer Rees needs to find out the driver's nationality.

-Hello, do you speak English?

-No.

-None? Nil? OK, your documents first.

Insurance? Insurance? Paperwork?

-Paperwork?

-Er, documents?

-Your documents and insurance. Lorry insurance.

-Ah, insurance.

In situations like this, with a foreign lorry driver, and they have

difficulty understanding what I'm asking him to do,

we ring what's called Language Line,

'whereby we would ring them up

'and ask them for a particular language, for an interpreter.'

Yes, that's right, yes.

Having discovered that the driver is from Romania,

PC Rees gets Language Line on the phone to help translate.

So ask him what is he carrying and what is his destination, please, OK?

HE SPEAKS ROMANIAN

Lanelly.

Llanelli!

-Lanelly!

-Yeah, yeah, "Lanelly" will do, yeah.

HE SPEAKS ROMANIAN

Can you ask him to open the rear doors for me to have a look, please?

You OK to stay on the line for a minute?

OK, thank you.

-OK.

-OK?

-No problem, yeah.

Um, I want you to ask him

to print out his tacograph chart for today, please.

What PC Rees does uncover is a problem with the driver's tacograph.

He's driven for too many hours without the correct break.

He has committed an offence by driving without

taking his daily rest, so he's been prohibited from moving now.

I know he's going to stay here for 11 hours, he's going

to have a break, he's only going to Llanelli down the road,

which is probably 20 minutes' drive from here,

but he's free to do that after 6 o'clock in the morning now.

After nearly 30 years on the job, officer Tony Rees has witnessed

a lot of transformations in the police force.

Lots and lots of changes, especially advancements in technology.

That has probably been the biggest thing for me, I think.

Computer things and a lot of it, I must admit, is over my head

and I don't really understand it, so I'm not a dinosaur, but not far off.

Back at the training school,

it's a new day and a new challenge for the next generation.

-Good morning.

-ALL: Good morning.

How's everyone this morning?

Putting the recruits through their paces today is officer Baz Narbad.

OK, so what are the languages

that they're saying they want people to know?

'There were two things I really wanted to do.'

Um, one was be a police officer, um...

Unfortunately, at the time, when I left school,

they had a height restriction,

so, being a bit vertically challenged, I couldn't get in.

My other aspiration was to be a teacher, so, of course,

when they dropped the height restriction, um,

I got into the police and, with the training,

'it's kind of combining both of my ideal jobs, really.'

OK, well, enjoy it, yeah? Let's learn from it.

And we'll see you when we call you. OK, guys.

EQUIPMENT BEEPS, BUZZ OF CONVERSATION

In today's role play,

everyone will be assessed on how they deal with a reported theft.

Former retail worker Danielle Turner is up next.

I always try to relax before them, and try not to think about it,

cos if I get panicked, I forget everything then.

-So you're panicked, then(?)

-LAUGHTER

So are you thinking about it now, or are you just...?

No, I don't think about it until I walk in there.

-Hello, I'm PC Turner. This is PC Mason. Are you OK?

-Yeah.

-Well, not really.

-What's happened?

-My bag's been taken out of my car.

And is it just the bag that's been taken or anything else?

-No, it's just the bag that's gone.

-OK, and what does the bag look like?

-It is a briefcase bag. In fact, there he is. That's him!

-OK.

-Go and get him!

-Stay here.

Excuse me? Can you stop there, please?

-Yeah, can you just stop there?

-What's the matter?

-We need you to stop...

-Why?

-..now.

-I haven't done anything.

-Right...

-What's the matter?

-I'm going to search you under Section 1 of PACE.

Put your arms in the lower of your back, knuckles touching, OK?

I'll come to this side of you now and start searching you, OK?

Can you put your hands like this, so I can hold them both?

That's great, thank you.

PC Mason has found a bag...

-Bag?

-..and we do also have a description of you,

-and we've got a witness stating it is you, OK?

-I...

So I'm going to arrest you under suspicion of theft of a

-motor vehicle.

-You're joking!

-I need to remind you you are under caution.

-Do you have any reply to the caution?

-Yeah! It's not me.

OK, and relax.

OK, Danni, Beth, OK.

-How do you feel that went?

-I think I should've arrested him straightaway.

OK, so what were your thought processes?

Um, I was just thinking, in case it wasn't him.

I was quite definite. I went, "That's him!"

-I said, "Go and get him!"

-Yeah.

-Could you get any more positive than that?

-You can't.

-No.

-You know...

As soon as I stopped him, and started searching him, I was like,

"I should've arrested him."

Big learning from this is, if you've got the grounds,

arrest straightaway.

-Well done.

-Thanks, Baz.

-OK, off you go.

-And pass on your radio. Well done.

-All right.

-How was it?

-Yeah, it went OK. I knew I made the mistake straight away.

I was like, "Why haven't I arrested him?"

but I'd already started searching him then,

so I thought I may as well just carry on and then arrest him.

-BAZ:

-They're a good bunch, yeah, definitely.

To see the change in the 12 weeks from day one, when they're nervous,

they don't quite know what they're doing, to the very last week,

when they're very confident and pretty much ready to go out.

12 weeks ago, 62 recruits began their training.

Now they are fully fledged officers joining the ranks

of South Wales Police.

Walk with me, do as I say...

PC Martin David is working in Pontypridd with a response team

and he has made his first domestic violence arrest.

Attention!

Officer Danielle Turner is on patrol

in Swansea city centre, also with a response team.

It's her ambition to secure a role in child protection

in her future with the force.

SIREN WAILS Next time on Police 24/7...

What's happening?

..in Swansea city centre,

a homeless person causes concern for the constables on the street.

We can't leave you alone, cos you're vulnerable.

Oh, I'm vulnerable?! Yeah, that's why I get smashed in the head!

CHILDREN SQUEAL The neighbourhood team are on playtime patrol in Mumbles.

You've got it on backwards, son! Put it on the other way.

And investigating officer Dale Davies

is on the case of a nasty assault.

This has happened in a nightclub in Swansea,

which, as Tom Jones will tell you, "It's not unusual".