A day in the life of PCSO Maireadh Knight.

Hello and welcome to my blog. It's lovely to see you again and I'm sorry I've been gone for so long. It's been one of those times when life reminds you not to take it for granted.

Before I launch into the last in the series of, days in the life of, I'd like to say thank you to Shoreham Bonfire Society which organised a great bonfire night. They teamed up with the Beach Bateria to produce a wonderful night of music and whiz-bangs and I hope enough was raised to do it again.

My next guest was there in her stab vest, hi-vis and hat. I joined her on patrol for a day and gained a fascinating insight into the world of PCSOs. Below is just a fraction of the interview, so they'll be a follow up blog later this year.

PCSO Maireadh knight, 45, has been a Police Community Support Officer for over five years. She lives on the Beach with her husband, their two children and their West Highland Terrier, Oakley.

“Depending if I’m on an early, which is an 8 o’clock start, I get up with my family at about quarter to seven. Then it’s just the usual, get ready, get breakfast and take my youngest daughter to the train station. I drop her off and then I start work.

I come into the Police Station and the first job I do is to get my kit out as we’re not allowed anywhere outside the station without a stab vest, a hat and a hi-vis. We need to log onto the system to say we’re on duty and check the incident logs. It’s a police system that shares with us all the incidents that have gone on. So we need to look at anything that’s happened. It doesn't necessarily mean it’s going to be a job for me, but I need to know what incidents the police officers have attended on my patch because I may get asked by a member of the public, “What happened?” I also need to know if I’ve got vulnerable people that may have had an unpleasant experience, purse snatches or burglaries or garages breakages, or anything where they’re going to be upset.

Then we have what’s called the TQ SAT, which is a list of jobs specifically for the local Community Support Officers. I will then have a look at my emails, and I might have some jobs that my Sergeant’s given me that aren’t apparent on any other system.

You can’t have a typical day. Job won’t dictate it. You can have a typically planned day. So on a typically planned day, you go in, you look on the system, and you find out if there are any jobs on your patch. Human beings are so diverse you never know what you’re going to get asked to help with. I will then ring ahead hopefully to book an appointment with the informant and then get kitted up and walk off towards my patch to carry out foot patrol and do my job.

I walk for 2 or 3 hours in the morning then I have lunch. I can turn up at the Beach School, which I often do, and go in and have lunch with the kids. Sometimes I just visit the dinner tables and encourage them to eat their potatoes and vegetables and stuff. I’m known as PCSO Marmalade, because my name, Maireadh, is not very easy to remember, and PCSO Knight is a bit of a mouth full, so the kids just called me Marmalade.

I may go back to the Nick to eat. I may have to do some admin while I’m there. I’ll often have emails to pick up and if I’ve picked up some intelligence in the morning I’ll have to do an intelligence report to notify the relevant agencies of this information. I might do that for an hour and a half, and then I’ll be out again. I mostly walk for the whole day.

The community is a fantastic source of intelligence and in many, many cases, they are very happy to talk to us. You always bear in mind, and I always remind people, that the vast majority of people, be they younger or older, are good, are great, people. It’s only a tiny minority that are committing crime and there’s very often a reason why they’re not behaving properly. It’s something to do with their background, their home life; that’s a common thread, a problem in the home.

You used to have the Bobbies on the beat, but this ceased many years ago. It did leave a big hole in the community because there was no true connection with the Police. Police are just a resource that came to fix problems; you turn up, you deal, you take away, but you’re not fixing.

It’s not about elastoplasts anymore. We’re trying to find the root causes of the problems,"Why did it happen? Well it happened because there was alcohol present, so we need to offer support regarding alcohol, or drugs or whatever the problem is. Or maybe people just don’t know how to parent. It doesn’t come with a rulebook, and some people find it easier than others, so maybe they’ve lost control of their children and they don’t know how to get it back for whatever the reasons. We deal with a lot of neighbourhood disputes. If there’s a victim of domestic violence, we can make welfare visits. We can help.

People sometimes say to me, “You’ve changed my life.” And you think “Ok, that’s a bit dramatic,” but actually it’s only dramatic from my viewpoint because we’re doing this all the time. It’s very dramatic from theirs; talk to a victim of domestic violence who stops feeling like a victim because of our interaction with them.

There’s too much negativity about our job because we don’t have the same level of powers as the Police Officers. Some people might say that what we do is a bit fluffy, but you’re not dealing with fluffy issues. So if someone’s not quite sure what a Community Officer does and I get the little comments of “Plastic Police, and wannabe Police Officer,” I’m quite happy to stop and educate. When I have had a chat with them they say, “Oh. I didn’t realise you did all that.” Well I do and I don’t wannabe a police officer, I wannabe a Community Support Officer. I like this job. It’s about community involvement. I get to get involved and that’s what I want to do.

On a typical day I’ve done say, an 8-5 or a 9-6, so I take myself off to bed, normally at about 10, read for half an hour or longer and then I’m out like a light. When I’m doing lates, I normally start at 2 and finish at midnight, well; I just come home and go to bed. If I’ve had a very lively night you’re just a little bit too switched on so you have to sit down and watch telly for an hour or so just to wind down a bit and then I go to bed.”

Thank you PCSO Knight for your time and generosity. I'll see you all next week and in the meantime keep safe and warm. Ta-ra.

This blog is dedicated to Geri Lambert, an inspirational friend and writer, who died on 17th November 2010.

A day in the life of John Bradshaw, Chairman of Shoreham Beach Residents Association.

Hello and welcome to my blog. It's great to see you again and I hope you've had a good week.

I'm playing catch up after half-term so will take you straight into the next in the series of "days in the life of". This week its John Bradshaw and I'll you leave in his capable hands.

John Bradshaw, 74, lives on Shoreham Beach with his wife, Judy and Punch, their Jack-Russell cross. He has two grown up stepsons and has been Chairman of Shoreham Beach Residents Association for over 10 years.

“I always get up between 6-6.30 am. Always eat breakfast, and then the day starts. I listen to Radio 4 because I find that it gives me a lot of information. I always read newspapers. I walk the dog, usually on the beach in the morning and in the afternoon I walk Punch along the riverbank, Widewater or on the Downs. The weather is usually kind to us, but not always, but it doesn’t matter. Punch doesn’t like the rain. I’m not sure that I like it either.

In the summer I usually swim in the Harbour. I love it when the tide is in high at 6.00 o’clock in the morning and I can go and swim, usually on my own.

I’m retired, and it’s the best job I’ve ever had in my life. You can alter things; you can do things you like, not necessarily when you want to, but when it’s convenient, let’s put it that way.

I’m the Chairman of Shoreham Beach Residents Association. I’ve probably been Chairman too long, but it’s very interesting because it gives you knowledge of what is going on in the area, you can help people out, you can look at very interesting things. At the moment we are very heavily involved in the new footbridge which many, many people have got massive ideas on, a lot of which are not going to happen. It all comes really down to a question of costs. We have been consulted and we’re now waiting to find out from the engineers exactly what is going to happen. One thing that people haven’t quite realised yet is that the car park is going to close during the period of construction because it’s going to be used by the workmen. That is going to cause a lot of hassle and a lot of problems for people, but it’s going to have to be lived with I’m afraid.

I also do charity work. I was employed in the newspaper and magazine distribution industry and we have a charity called Old Ben or NewstrAid, it’s got two names. It was set up by Charles Dickens, so it’s been going for a long time. I’m the Almoner for West Sussex which means that I visit beneficiaries in the area. I’m also the Treasurer for the Sussex Committee which does fund-raising and things like that and on the National Welfare Committee. I find this very interesting and it gives me the opportunity to give something back to a trade that I worked in for forty-two years and gave me a good living.

I’m usually in bed by 11.30 and I go to sleep almost immediately.”

Next week is the last week in the series of "days in the life of" and I'll finish with our own Police Community Support Officer, Maireadh Knight.

Until then have a splendid week and see you soon.

Ta-ra