Customer Reviews
Enjoyable read, but worrying with it - By: Paul, 16 Oct 2008 
VERY much enjoyed reading this book, I definitely recommend it to anyone (I have no employment connections to the Police or Law).
I've also read 'Perverting the course of Justice' by Inspector Gadget Perverting the Course of Justice: The Hilarious & Shocking Inside Story of British Policingand P.C. David Copperfield's blog (available as a book)Wasting Police Time: The Crazy World of the War on Crime.
What shines through from all three sources is that the direction of modern policing is mad!
They all provoke the question - how the hell do we get back to 'proper' policing?
All of the writers come across as likeable, respectable, human people. They don't pretend that the police are perfect, but on the whole people who want to catch the baddies & protect the public.
What a great idea that would be, wouldn't it?
We really need to let them get back to the job, rather than fillingin huge numbers of forms. Get the office bound back to the frontline. Get a judiciary with some concept of reality.
Backin the real world - I recommend all three authors' writings!
Enjoy
Ironic, sarcastic, depressing and very very funny ! - By: Mr. David Arthur, 23 Jul 2008 Whilst a MOP myself (Member Of Public) I opened the book with great interest & found it an incredibly addictive read.
I thoroughly recommend it for lots of uses : as something to make you sigh at how ridiculously beaurocratic the U.K. has become, something to help you understand the response you receive if you call 999 because somebody "looked at you funny" or most of all, as something to genuinely make you laugh out loud at totally inappropriate moments !
I found myself sighing & muttering to myself numerous times whilst reading at the sheer stupidity of how our police forces are "managed" according to "targets" these days - this country has gone mad ! At the same time, some parts of the book are just beautifully, exquisitely funny.
I absolutely recommend reading this book - it is educationalin a way that the tax paying public of the U.K. desperately need to know about & a thoroughly addictive read at the same time.
If you want to read something that will make you genuinely belly-laugh then you need to buy this book !
Absolutely spot on! - By: Lucy, 14 Jan 2008 Hilarious book & her description of my previous job of 2 yearsin civilian support staff land & all the paperwork is so spot on! I only hope more members of the public read this before they whinge about the police, they might realise it really should be government policies & procedures are to blame! Go whinge at Gordon!!!
Brilliantly satirical account of life in the 21st century police - By: Marshall Lord, 26 Dec 2007 This hysterically funny & horrifyingly plausible book takes the form of a journal covering a few monthsin the life of a WPCin a town called "Blandmore"in the county of "Blandshire."
I suspect it is not impossible that "Blandshire" might actually be Cumbria. However, the fact that I thought I recognised the county where I live at a couple of points while reading the book may just be an indication of how universal a description it provides of modern policing. Perhaps many other readers were thinking that "WPC Bloggs" must workin the constabulary covering their own police authority area.
I can't think of a better way to indicate the amusing & ironic style of this book than to quote from the foreword:
"Before you turn to page 1, the first thing you need to do is to forget everything you think you know about the police.
You know - the bits where they come out when you call 999, try to find out what's happened & arrest the guilty parties? Forget all that. While you're at it, forget about common sense, too.
Instead, try to imagine a world where the police are run by a group of paranoid, pedantic & politically-correct accountants. On acid. ...
Imagine that half the people who work for the police spend their lives phoning officers asking them to respond to emails asking why they forgot to tick a box on the fifthin a set of a dozen forms relating to an incident where ... [ a drunken four-year old] said a rude word ...
The modern British police is like all that, only much, much madder. ...
I wrote this book after realising ... that people outside the job have absolutely no idea what's going onin the police. ...
Modern policing is a bizarre, twilight zone: one part George Orwell, one part Franz Kafka & one part Trisha.
At times you may find it all a bit confusing. That's because it is. There are various references to police departments that sound unnecessary & pointless. That's because they are. ...
This book comes with a health warning; CONTAINS SATIRE, IRONY, AND TRACES OF SARCASM."
If you can read "Diary of an on-call girl" without laughing, you are Home Secretary Jacqui Smith & I claim my peerage ...
Thoroughly embarrassed me on the train... - By: L. Baldachin, 22 Nov 2007 as I sniggered loudly to myself, causing people to look at me warily from the corners of their eyes.
Whether you're into police-type stories or not, this is a very amusing book & rather a good insight into the way the police force "works". Or so I've been told. I'm not an officer, but I certainly found this enlightening.
I have a healthy respect for people who stayin the Force & battle on, despite all the madness.
