Episode 5 Real Rescues

Today on Real Rescues:

using battlefield skills, medics fight to save the life of an injured biker.

From my experience in Afghanistan and Iraq,

serious injuries of this nature do bleed.

So I applied tourniquets to both his hand and his leg.

And the two-year-old boy who's locked himself in his parents' car

and will hand over everything but the keys!

Jack, can you get the keys for me, please?

Hello. Welcome to Real Rescues.

We're in one of the busiest police control rooms in the country.

We're used to dealing with call centres, but this one is vital.

This one could save your life.

Just before we started the programme, there was an incident here.

Yes, and the whole atmosphere in the place changed.

Everybody becomes very serious.

-Very busy.

-Very tuned in.

There was an incident where somebody was armed and attacked somebody.

-They believed they needed to send an...

-Armed Response Unit.

The call came in over here on the desk by the motorways there.

The lady took the call over there.

And then it was picked up by the area that deals with that area.

Having cleared up that incident, there's another one going on now.

That's Inspector Phil who's in charge of the control room today.

He's shouting over to the other desk because they have another serious incident.

-So we won't talk to them for the moment.

-This is an extraordinary place to be.

We'll keep out of their way for the next few minutes.

The medical techniques used to treat injured soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan

are influencing the way accident victims are helped back home.

Those skills are very much needed when a doctor fights to save a life and a limb.

It's late rush hour and PC Alex Dale is on duty.

There's a report of an accident in an area of Portsmouth

with at least one injury.

There's been mention on the radio

of a person with fractures, still in the road.

He arrives to find a motorcyclist lying on his back in the road.

It's clear straightaway that he's suffered very serious leg injuries.

Rapid Response paramedic Pete Hackett is on the scene.

An emergency doctor has been called as well.

A couple saw Darren hit the ground.

We just saw the guy fall out of the sky

then the motorbike came flying into my car and bounced off it.

Graham jumped out and ran over.

And the ladies came along.

They sat with him while I phoned the ambulance.

Fingers crossed he's OK. I know he's hurt his knee but fingers crossed he's OK.

Darren is desperately trying to see what's happened to his leg.

Dr Brando Tamayo is the emergency doctor on call.

He arrives and immediately realises the injuries to Darren's leg are very serious indeed.

But he tries to calm him.

It was fairly clear that this was likely to be very significant.

He had a large hole in his jeans

with a large amount of disruption underneath.

You could see bare flesh where his kneecap used to be.

You could see some elements of broken bone inside.

The nerves, the blood vessels, arteries, veins that supply the lower leg

go through that area.

If you disturb it, you potentially threaten the whole leg.

The paramedic, Pete Hackett, has prepared Darren for intravenous pain relief.

Pete had already put a cannula in his arm.

That allowed me to give him powerful drugs,

more potent than morphine and very quick acting.

Darren is lying quite close to his motorcycle

so it was not a very high-speed accident.

However, he's also suffered dreadful injuries to his hand.

I didn't take the glove off because you can cause injuries

by taking clothing off when you don't need to.

But by looking through the glove material which was damaged,

I could see blood and significant tissue disruption

and at least the loss of two fingers,

or partial loss of two fingers.

An ambulance has arrived to take Darren to the hospital.

With such serious wounds, it is not just the limb that is under threat but potentially Darren's life.

In my experience in Afghanistan and Iraq, serious injuries of this nature do bleed.

Not necessarily at the instant they occur, but after a period of time,

the spasm in the blood vessels that have been damaged goes away

and it starts to bleed.

So I applied tourniquets to both his hand and his leg.

Darren has now received the strongest painkiller.

But his leg must be straightened before he's loaded into the ambulance.

Aghhh!

Arteries and veins work best in the anatomical position they were designed to be in.

Which is the leg straight.

The injuries are so severe,

Dr Brando is preparing Darren on the roadside for surgery at hospital.

The aim is to get him straight into the operating theatre.

Darren is so badly injured, his leg and possibly his life are in danger.

As you'll see, the medics can't relax.

Their emergency skills are needed even in the ambulance.

Just to let you know, the armed response is still ongoing.

They're dealing with the situation.

If we get any details of what's going on

and what's causing the police to be so much on their game we'll let you know.

Moving on. The Hampshire Police spotter plane

is a resource that can be called upon by any officer on the ground.

Louise has been to meet the crew and hear about a race against time

to find a missing man.

This here is the police spotter plane. Mark works for the Air Support Unit.

You've got some amazing equipment. Show me the cameras that do the work - with you in control.

On the front is the 360-degree camera system that we use.

It's equipped with three types of camera.

One is a thermal image camera

which we tend to use at night.

And we have a normal video camera which we can zoom in and out

and a fixed zoom, colour zoom.

And these pictures can be broadcast live into the control room.

We down-link them from the aircraft to the control room.

And you can take charge of an incident if you're involved in it?

With most incidents, when we get overhead, we take over command from the control room.

We're better able to deploy resources where they're needed.

Let's have a look at some of the vital work they do from this aircraft.

An elderly man had gone missing for 24 hours and they went out to find him.

The New Forest in Hampshire. Spotter plane Boxer 1-0

is looking for a vulnerable man in his late 60s who's been missing all night.

He left his care home for his daily walk and never came back.

A search was carried out but was called off at three in the morning.

They're now back out again.

PC Andy Sparshott is on board.

He knows the longer the man remains lost,

the less likely he is to be found alive.

He'd been missing 13 hours.

He's been out overnight, so your fears are

that you're going to find him too late.

You're going to find him and by the time you get to him,

the exposure of being outside has resulted in him losing his life.

Andy is controlling the plane's immensely powerful camera.

It can read a number plate from a height of 2,000 feet.

But it's a huge area to search.

The area we worked out to be 23 square miles.

To find a person in a 23-square-mile area is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

The person could be anywhere within that area.

Below them, people are going about their daily activities,

unaware that in this scenic landscape,

somebody might be in distress.

With painstaking care, the team investigates anything that moves,

every bright or strange object they see.

So far, nothing.

But then, after half an hour,

something catches the corner of Andy's eye.

I get the glimpse of something on the edge of this pond

which is a different colour.

'Boxer 1-0. We think we've located a male. Stand by for location.'

Amazingly, they've found him.

'Boxer 1-0. We can confirm we have a male. He's lying on his back

'on the edge of a small pond. He's waving, so he is moving.'

My heart skipped a beat. Straightaway,

it was euphoria.

Shouting out, "I've got him! I've found him!"

The man is conscious and breathing but he's been out all night

and is lying in water.

He could be in a fragile condition.

They want to get emergency services to him as soon as possible.

'Unit two, it's on Long Cross Plain.'

'Delta 149. We'll get a unit out to them. Thank you.'

Pilot John Harding flies lower over the man

to try and let him know he's been spotted.

'1-0. There is a track that runs off the main road there

'that vehicles can come down through.'

'Can I have an ambulance to this location also, please?'

In this terrain where the roads and tracks can seem indistinguishable,

the spotter plane comes into its own. From above,

the team can direct the forces on the ground

to an exact location,

saving valuable time.

'Continue driving up the road. You've still got a little way to go. Over.'

'Is it further up?'

'Continue through the crossroads

'150 metres up on the left hand side

'is a further gravel track with a small silver hatchback parked in it.

'You need to turn left on that track. Over.'

'Yes. Left there. Left there.'

The two policemen first to the scene are guided straight to the casualty.

'Less than 100 metres and he's on the far side of the pond

'as you will see him.'

To just see that image of him lying on the ground

and the fact we'd found him and he's still alive, he's waving his arms.

It was just absolute elation.

Paramedics are also on their way.

The police get the man out of the water and start to warm him up.

His lonely ordeal is over.

Mark, there must be an incredible sense of relief when you find somebody like that man

-who was in quite a lot of danger.

-Indeed.

It was a 24-hour operation, really,

and it was nice to find the gentleman.

And he was safe and well.

You also have a story about a little boy who is autistic and got into trouble.

A five-year-old autistic lad ran off from his parents. He had an attraction to water.

A similar area to where that gentleman was.

We found him in a pond, up to his knees, drinking the water.

At great risk to himself. If he'd tripped and fallen in, the situation could have been different.

-So by spotting him from this plane, you saved his life.

-Effectively, yes.

The thing about this plane is any officer can call you up and ask for help.

They can, yes. Mostly, the requests come through the control room.

But we do have our own channel where any officer can call us up and request our services.

-Do you get called out for all sorts of things?

-Yes.

Not just missing people. Criminal incidents as well. Tell me about that later.

-And you've promised to take me flying to see how it works.

-Yes.

We're in the air later on, following a man so desperate to escape the police

he jumps off a cliff. And I can give you an update on what's going on.

We've had an Armed Response Unit sent out before the programme.

As we started the programme, another incident kicked off. We have some information.

The call is being handled by that desk with the supervisors working with the call taker.

On this side, the inspector is considering what to do next.

He has already sent out the Armed Response Unit. That's the second time inside an hour, locally.

So a lot going on here for the guys to think about.

In the meantime, we'll move on. Louise?

I'm on this side to keep out of their way while they deal with that.

Now, forensics. Something happened earlier that Sarah can tell me about.

-You're not busy?

-Hi.

-A security guard had a problem with ten people. What was going on?

I believe he was on site, and ten men came and bundled him into a corner

and stole £3,000-worth of copper piping from the site.

OK. A serious incident. Why has forensics been called in?

We've been called in because copper piping is a nice shiny surface.

If we recover it, we might find prints on it. Also, there was a tyre print left in some mud.

We don't normally attend for tyre prints, vehicle marks,

unless there's a vehicle involved and there was a vehicle tagged in the area.

-OK.

-So if we can track that down.

-You take an imprint of the tyre?

-They've taken photos, I believe.

We put a scale rule next to it to say how big it is and everything.

If they can track the vehicle down, they can match it to the tyre print on the photo.

-So that, with the copper piping, who knows what will happen?

-Yeah.

As we saw earlier, a motorcyclist has hit a car and is seriously injured.

Both a Rapid Response paramedic and a critical care doctor are on the scene.

The victim has been given the strongest painkiller possible

but straightening his leg proves difficult.

Aghhh!

They now need to get him to hospital.

Darren's leg is so badly injured, his limb and possibly his life, are in danger.

Critical care doctor Brando Tamayo has given him the strongest pain relief.

His leg is now in the correct position, in a splint.

The next step is getting him into the ambulance.

One, two, three.

They gently roll him onto a scoop stretcher.

This is used when the patient can endure only minimum movement.

He's now ready to go to hospital, but he's not out of danger.

Dr Brando will travel with him.

Meanwhile, PC Alex gets on with the police investigation.

He talks to the driver of the car which was in collision with Darren.

What happened?

The car and the bike were going in opposite directions and collided at a turning.

The driver is very shaken after Darren bounced off his bonnet.

Alex's colleague, Sergeant Scott Davison, clears up the debris from the road.

As you can see,

there's blood down there from the motorcyclist.

I'll remove anything bloodstained or medical so kids don't get hold of it.

Meanwhile, on the way to hospital, Brando's fears about Darren's wounds are realised.

As soon as we got him into the ambulance, the spasm in the blood vessels relaxed.

His knee started to bleed. I tightened the tourniquet at that point,

stopped the bleeding and so stopped any potential for him losing his life related to blood loss.

Back at the roadside, PC Alex has finished routine tests

which are carried out on every driver involved in an accident.

He's passed everything we've done. He's not been drinking or on anything.

But he is understandably upset about what's happened.

Recovery has arrived to take Darren's motorbike away.

Alex has gathered all the evidence for his investigation.

I have to make sure it's documented correctly.

Gather all the stuff the other officers have.

They've all got stuff - photos, or spoken to witnesses.

Make sure it's collected together.

We'll look at it tomorrow when we have an idea of what the guy's injuries are. Take it from there.

Darren and Dr Tamayo have joined us.

Firstly, how's the leg? It looked pretty horrific.

It's coming on very well, Nick.

-Can we see the scar?

-You can if you want to see it!

Quite substantial. Got much movement in the leg?

I've got about 60-degree motion in the knee at the moment.

That's not bad, is it?

-Five months.

-Yes, it's slow progress, isn't it?

-And you lost a couple of fingers?

-Yes.

-Which is a problem because you work in...

-IT.

-IT.

Are you managing to retrain, or finding it difficult?

A bit difficult because you miss certain keys on the keyboard!

-I see. Do you get like the ghost...

-Phantom fingers, yeah.

I could swear blind my fingers were there.

-So you're moving as if to type, and missing the keys.

-Yeah.

A complication I hadn't thought of. Looking back at the film, and that evening,

-do you remember much of it?

-Absolutely nothing.

What's it like to see it and see everybody looking after you?

A bit surreal. But obviously grateful for all the help that was there.

We can take a look at some of your x-rays.

Not being medical, Dr Tamayo, which bit is that?

That's the femur and the screws are holding it together.

-So he'd shattered it.

-Shattered the top part of the knee.

-That's the...shin bone?

-That's the mid shin bone.

There are two breaks. Both bones in the lower leg.

Yes, the little bone, bottom right. And the next one?

This is how you mend a shin bone. Or one of the ways.

There's a substantial bit of metalwork there,

holding the tibia together.

The smaller bone will knit together, if it's in the right position.

-It seems to have done the job. You lost part of your kneecap?

-About 40%.

-40%.

-Has that made a difference?

-Obviously with mobility. Walking and stairs.

I imagine that's a problem.

You're not considering going back on a motorbike again?

-Hmm...

-You sort of are?

-Pass!

So at first it's, "I'm never going back on a bike" and now...

No, since Day One, I wanted to get back on the bike.

-Yeah.

-OK. Dr Tamayo, talk us through... What was fascinating for me,

you have a military background. The navy.

-I was navy up to about 19 days ago.

-As recently as that?

-Yes.

-OK. And you were often ferrying the injured troops away from the front line by helicopter?

Yes, in the last few years I've done tours in Afghanistan with the helicopter-based ambulance service.

There's talk now in the medical community

about how some of the techniques from war knowledge are coming back.

One of them is tourniquets, which had gone out of fashion.

-It's come back?

-Indeed. Tourniquets have been around for a long time

but they lost favour in the '70s and '80s in civilian practice.

The workload we've had in Afghanistan and Iraq means we've revisited their use

and they've been absolutely life-saving in serious injuries

-where blood loss is significant.

-You used it with Darren.

Indeed. I put them on in case I needed to use them

and once he started to bleed, I tightened them to stop him losing blood.

-And there's a new kind of chemical...

-In the last few years,

-It's like a pad.

-One way the military have looked at things

is you stop the bleeding using a tourniquet device. This is a military tourniquet.

But there are other things. Special dressings. Granule forms

or a dressing here, you may be able to whiff a bit of sea air.

-Very sea...

-A fishy smell.

-Yeah.

-It's made from the skeleton of crustaceans.

The material itself actually prompts the blood to clot.

So it's novel. We shouldn't use it except for major injuries

-and it can be life-saving in those areas.

-In a life-threatening situation.

Fascinating work. Amazing that you give your time to do this

because it's voluntary as well.

-You must be chuffed to bits that these people are around.

-Absolute respect for them.

-Brilliant. Nice to see you looking a lot better. Thank you very much for coming in.

-Thank you.

Still to come on Real Rescues:

the man who thought it worth jumping off a cliff to escape police.

'We think it's a 30-foot drop.

'The crew on the aircraft think this guy is in serious trouble.'

And the milkman who made an unusual discovery on his morning rounds.

Now, if you've got one, you'll know it's difficult to get a two-year-old to do as they're told.

When he's locked himself in your car and he's holding the keys,

what's your next move?

It's early evening. Green Watch respond to a call from an anxious parent.

We're going to West Quay shopping centre.

We've got a child locked in a car

so we've got an emergency response just in case. They're in distress.

Can you confirm it is level seven, please? Over.

Seven flights later, they're greeted by a sheepish Lee and Lisa.

Hello.

That's all right.

He's in the front. Right.

We wanted him to press the button on the key fob, but he's chucked them down the side.

They accidentally let the door close behind them,

leaving the key fob on the seat for their son Jack to press and lock himself in.

Jack, can you get the keys for me, please?

For the past half hour, his parents have been trying to get the two-year-old to release himself.

Lee's part-time job meant he was keen to avoid calling the fire service.

-Retained in Fordingbridge?

-I am, yeah.

This will be back there before you are!

Jack has dropped the key fob somewhere in the front.

To minimise Lee's repair bill and any distress to Jack,

the crew hope that if he can press the central locking release on the console of the car,

they'll be able to get in.

Push the button!

Jack, press the button.

Push the button in the middle.

Next one. Next one!

-The other one.

-The one next to it.

-Push the next button.

He could kneel on it if we get lucky.

He's not in any distress. I'm not in a hurry to cause any damage to the car.

So we'll wait for a few minutes.

To help the rescue effort, Jack's gran and auntie have arrived.

Jack!

Jack, are you going to push the button?

-Got the keys?

-Push the button, Jack.

But so far, Jack's only succeeded in pushing the hazard lights on and off.

All the indications suggest this could go on for a long time.

Jack, push the button.

No? Not interested?

I'm trying so hard not to laugh.

That's it. Good boy!

At least Jack's not upset by the fuss.

In fact, it all seems like one big game to him!

Time passes and Jack's parents get more anxious at not being able to reach him.

The crew decide that they have no choice but to damage the car.

I'm just taking the window out so that when we break it,

it'll stay in one piece and we'll be able to lift it out without damaging the little chap in the car.

With Jack safely distracted and a few sharp taps from a special tool called a ketch,

they can break and pull out the glass in one go.

Jack, what's this?

But pulling up the lock on the back door fails to open it.

Please pop up!

I've even got the button. Would you believe it?

Next, a slightly different use for a ceiling hook

as they try once more to push that button.

That's it. Go on. Back a bit.

-Go on.

-Push down. Press down.

You're pressing it down, but it isn't doing it.

The button doesn't work.

To open this car without causing even more damage,

they must get hold of those keys.

We don't know where the keys are.

To encourage Jack to search, they use a touch of bribery.

Pull the handle.

-Jack, do you want to go and get an ice cream?

-Yeah!

-Can you try and find Daddy's keys, please?

-Yeah.

(INAUDIBLE)

Chocolate? OK. What about down by Daddy's coat? Are they down there?

Having set his terms,

Jack scurries off and brings back...

a mini basketball.

Jack, can you get the keys for me, please?

When his next attempt yields a toy car,

all hope appears lost.

But then a tantalising glint of metal on the floor catches Lee's eye.

-Jack, can you see them there? Yeah, there they are.

-Where?

-Under the seat.

Having fashioned a make-shift fishing rod,

Paul Sheppard attempts to hook out the keys.

A successful catch. Finally,

Jack can be freed from his automotive prison.

Ah, you're out!

Oh, my God. You're boiling.

What have you been doing in there?

-JACK:

-I stuck! I stuck!

-You were stuck!

Thankfully, unlike Dad's car,

Jack seems none the worse for his experience.

I think you've got to try and see the funny side of it

and just hope that it never happens again!

I'll get a spare key.

Yeah, get a spare key and always keep the keys on me and don't put them on the seat.

It's asking for trouble.

Green Watch can now head back to their base,

leaving behind one fireman who's in no hurry to get back to his.

-I don't think I'll hear the end of this down the station!

-No!

-Say goodbye to the nee-noos.

-Bye-bye nee-noos!

-Bye-bye nee-noos!

-Bye-bye nee-noos.

Good boy!

Finally. And he was really happy, wasn't he?

We've seen many trapped youngsters on Real Rescues.

Down a hole...

Another stuck in a car.

Kateleigh, listen!

And even in a super loo!

Oh, you've done it. Well done, mate!

Alex, you've had to deal with young people in similar situations.

When you know a youngster is involved, how do you approach it?

Firstly, we try to reassure the parents

and obviously our initial concern is the safety of the child involved.

You're quite intimidating when you've got your fire-fighter's outfit on.

Do you just tone it down a bit, or what is it?

Yeah, we'll take our helmet off and try and strike a rapport with the child.

"Hi, my name's Alex. What's your name?", that sort of thing.

Tell me about one incident. You had a child who was stuck between two houses.

-How had they got there?

-They'd been playing on the roof and fell between the two houses.

They became trapped between the two walls.

So we had to gain access by taking bricks out of one wall.

-They must have been pretty scared?

-They were scared.

We chatted to them all the time, trying to keep their spirits up.

You literally had to take down a brick wall to get them out.

You mentioned parents there. Sometimes they panic, sometimes they don't.

-What do you do?

-Some parents can become quite distressed

but we try and include them in anything we do.

Because they can be really helpful. And the child can respond better or worse depending on the parents!

You saw Jack at the end, he was waving goodbye to the nee-noos.

Is that your thing? You want them to have a good impression.

Yes, because any incident like that can be really traumatic.

But if we can make it light-hearted, a bit of a joke, and fun,

-and leave them smiling, it leaves us with a smile too.

-And bribery sometimes works?

Yeah. If you can open that door, we'll give you an ice cream.

-Come and see the blue lights on the fire engine. It all works.

-Brilliant.

Now back to the work of the police Air Support Unit.

A stolen car is being tracked from the air.

It ends with its desperate driver risking his life.

It's late at night, and the stolen car is tearing through the streets of Portsmouth.

-AIR SUPPORT:

-Vehicle is doing 72 miles per hour. 40 mph limit.

Two police cars are in hot pursuit.

They have to perform a tense balancing act.

If they get too close to the stolen vehicle, the greater the risk of it crashing

and endangering the lives of the general public.

Boxer 1-0. It's through the lights which we believe are red.

Right, right, right.

But with the car fixed in the spotter plane's sights,

it allows the police drivers to keep a safe distance.

Subject vehicle is slowing.

Turn right, right, right.

The driver clearly knows the area and pulls into a network of residential streets

in a bid to shake off his pursuers.

From above, it looks like a surreal computer game.

But up in the sky, police observer Mark Arnold can help direct his fellow officers

through the maze and stay on the trail of the thieves.

Subject vehicle approaches junction with Portsdown Hill Road.

It's a right, right, right.

The chase continues into a more rural area

and a tight road that winds through the fields.

However, the driver's luck is about to run out.

Losing control, he goes straight into the path of an oncoming car.

Thankfully, the blow is only a glancing one,

but the damage is enough for the car to finally come to a halt.

The passenger has given up, though the driver has other ideas and bolts into the surrounding countryside.

The driver is out of the vehicle, to the offside.

It's now become a foot chase.

Mark, you were onboard the aircraft as this whole incident was unfolding.

We can hear your voice.

Explain a couple of things. His car, on the thermal imaging, was brighter than anybody else's.

Yes, the reason for that is the way thermal imaging works.

The hotter the item, the whiter it is.

So on his car, the tyres were hot cos he'd been screeching around,

-and you can see the engine through the bonnet.

-Was it a tricky pursuit?

It was to start with, cos it started in an inner city area.

The street names were difficult.

-Once it got out onto the hilltop, it was easy.

-Much easier.

Boxer 1-0 is with the driver. He continues down the hill

towards the chalk pits.

The spotter plane's thermal imaging camera easily picks up the body heat of the man

as he makes his way through the dark undergrowth.

Boxer 1-0. The driver is at the top of the chalk pits.

He's running perilously close to a cliff with a 100-foot drop into a quarry.

Mark helps protect the officers on the ground

by warning them to go slow.

The fugitive is now heading straight for the cliff edge.

Boxer 1-0. The subject man is now gingerly trying to go over the edge of the chalk pits.

The man seems to know the location

and has found a section that isn't too steep.

Trying to locate the man. I think he's gone over the edge of the chalk pits.

He's gradually making his way down on his backside down to the bottom of the chalk pits,

towards Lime Grove.

The plane's crew tell the men on the ground to hold back.

I suggest no-one tries from the Portsdown Hill end. It's too dangerous.

Instead, they arrange to send a unit to intercept him at the bottom.

We've got four officers. Can you guide us in, please?

-We'll try and locate you.

-We're next to one of the pylons.

But suddenly, the man slips.

He's fallen a long distance straight down

and looks to be in a bad way.

If we look again at those pictures of him falling off the cliff,

what were you thinking?

We think it's about a 30-foot drop,

so the crew were thinking, "This guy's in serious trouble."

But amazingly, he got himself up and carried on.

-As we'll see, it wasn't over yet.

-One of the longest pursuits I've been on.

The man is conscious and has staggered to his feet.

Male is now walking out into the open. Appears quite dazed.

I suggest you pick the pace up, guys.

He's a little way ahead and coming out into the open now.

But he gets a burst of energy as he sees three officers haring towards him.

Our male is now running in the general direction of Leominster.

He heads for a labyrinth of houses and gardens.

It may be dark, but there's no escaping the camera's-eye-view from the spotter plane.

Male is now left, left, left behind a vehicle, trying to climb a fence.

As he clambers over, they grab his leg, but he briefly evades capture.

Leaping another fence, he stumbles and the police have finally got their man.

With guidance from the spotter plane, his reckless run has finally been brought to an end

with nobody getting seriously hurt.

A most extraordinary chase.

We've seen it in action,

later in the programme, Louise flies with the police Air Support team

to see the kit they use. Louise.

I was going to talk to Lisa, a controller.

She's been on board that plane for training purposes.

But I can't talk to her as she's taking calls to do with the armed response they have.

We'll talk later. Let's talk about something else.

On Real Rescues, we've heard many 999 calls but this one is something different.

Milkmen are known for witnessing unusual sights in the early morning,

but this one had everybody baffled.

Extraordinary. Now the police have to make their own emergency call.

Well, Craig, there you were, delivering milk, early in the morning

thinking, I understand, "Nothing ever happens to me."

-And you suddenly see something fluffy...

-Yeah.

I turned left and immediately thought, "That's a big rabbit."

It obviously wasn't. On closer inspection, it's a kangaroo,

as far as I was aware.

So I saw that, pulled over, put my hazards on

and rubbed my eyes a few times, thinking, "Is this for real or what?"

When you called the police, did you think you were going to be a hoax call?

I think so. It took me a good ten minutes to think, "Who do I phone?

"And who's going to believe me when I tell them anyway?"

I rang the police, thinking, "How do I tell them without saying the word kangaroo?

"As soon as kangaroo comes out, it'll be laughed at."

Then you spent some time trying to look after this kangaroo.

Yes. They said, "Can you keep hold of it, or keep it in sight."

-Again, it sounds like a joke.

-Right.

I've never been near a kangaroo before, so I don't know how they react to humans.

I didn't want to get too close in case it kicked me or, I don't know!

You didn't go too close. Did you chase it on foot, or..?

Yes, it went away from my milk van. So I chased it down the road.

I thought, "If this gets out of my sight, and the police turn up,

"and say, 'Where's this kangaroo?' I'll be like, well...

-"G'day!"

-Right.

So he was eventually caught. He/she was eventually caught.

-Eventually I was able to corner it.

-With the float? With the milk float?

-Yes.

When the police got there, fortunately it bounced in front of the car

and I just said to them, "Do you believe me now?"

They were in hysterics at that time.

Where did it go back to? It had a happy home.

Yes, it was from a care home not far from the site where I found it.

It was on the road outside, at first.

-Not a care home for kangaroos?

-No, a care home for old people.

They've got peacocks and goats and all kinds of strange animals.

-Brilliant. I expect lots of people were worried about their milk that day!

-Yes, they were. I was late!

Thank you.

One of the more unusual stories on Real Rescues!

Well, we've seen how police Air Support can play a vital role in searches

and it's all down to the sophisticated technology on board, as Louise found out.

I'm now on board Boxer 1-0. Mark is going to show me how it works.

You sit here normally. These are your controls.

Run me through it. You've got this system here.

This works very similar to GPS. It goes right down to house numbers.

We can pick a particular house out.

This is the video screen you've seen, with the camera on the nose.

And these are the controls. Are you going to show me how this works

-and you've found a bus for me.

-There's a bus on camera now.

-We're following.

-OK.

So in a pursuit scenario,

we would be figuring out what road it's on.

-And we'd relay that to the officers on the ground.

-How would you do that?

You see it here and you have a map here.

-There's our plane on the screen there.

-Yeah.

-The bus is at a bus stop behind a tree.

-Yeah.

There's the camera point. So I can work out the name of the road.

We can zoom in nicely and get some good detail

for the officers on the ground.

-You can say how many people are on the bus, or a car, how many passengers.

-That's right.

I'll give you an example of what it's like at night.

-This is a thermal image we've got.

-Yes, thermal image works on heat.

The tyres on the bus are white cos they're hot.

The engine is obviously at the back.

That's emitting a lot more heat, so that's why it's glowing white.

-Strangely, it's almost easier to follow it, actually.

-It can be.

You do look for something distinguishable on the vehicle.

That is classic, it's a heat signature that we can use.

What's really obvious to me is that you are absolutely key to any ongoing operation

because at night, a pilot can't see where he's going, nor can people on the ground.

-You give what's called the commentary.

-We do the commentary.

Naming the road and any hazards and we give the traffic conditions,

flying a particular route that they're going to

so the officers on the ground can use such resolutions as stingers.

-They put that across the road.

-Nails across the road to puncture the tyres.

So you're the eyes of the whole operation at that stage.

Tell me a bit about this aircraft.

I don't know how many times we've gone round now, but we've only been looking at it a couple of minutes.

We've been round about nine orbits.

I feel it's making me feel a bit nauseous, to be honest with you!

-Do you guys get used to it?

-You do get used to it. We still have our moments.

But after a few months of flying on here, you get the hang of it,

-It's normally fine.

-Just for everybody at home,

just in case it gets bad, look behind the seat!

-It's all OK.

-Always an available bag!

-Thank you very much. Great work.

-No problem.

While we've been making our programme today, we've been watching the police do what they do best.

Inspector Phil Jones is in charge.

Very unusual for you to have two armed response events inside an hour.

Yes. We've had to deploy armed units

to two incidents in the same hour in two parts of the county.

-The first one?

-The first one was a male armed with a butcher's knife,

threatening somebody he worked with.

He then left on a pedal cycle into the area.

Armed units went to the area, located him and arrested him.

Which was a good result.

The second one was an altercation between two males.

Both said to be armed, one with a machete and one with a knife.

Again, they went their separate ways into the area.

Armed units were deployed to carry out an area search.

We're still there now looking for them as we speak.

We're relying on basic information from an informant at the moment.

Thank you very much. I'll let you get back to it.

Amazing to see them all absolutely on their game.

Total change of atmosphere as well.

-We'll have more Real Rescues soon.

-Goodbye.

-Bye!

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