Together we are Hertfordshire Constabulary - full transcript

Stella: When I came to work here the first thing I noticed was I felt like I fitted in.

Al: I am someone who believes in fairness and treating people with respect

Jan: You need to have  patience with people as well to be able to help them. You need to be empathetic with people

David: Forget I’ve got a uniform on forget I’m a police office, I’m a human being the same as you. What’s wrong? How can I help you?

David: My current role in Herts. Police is in the tactical team. We do lots of drugs warrants, search warrants. It’s very varied and quite exciting. It defiantly helps me do my job better if I’ve got my own life in the background.

Jan: I’m a communications operator for Herts. Constabulary. The main thing we’re doing is answering calls from the public. We have to deal with them all effectively and come to a solution. If you’re somebody that’s a sociable person you meet different people in different walks of life so it gives you a better understanding of how people are.

Stella: I coordinate Herts. Black Police Association. I’ve been working for Hertfordshire for two years and I was looking for something that offered a challenging working environment. Being a special constable as well you have to be fit.

Al: I’m a chief superintendent in the Hertfordshire Constabulary and I’m responsible for policing an area that covers about half of the county. I spend my free time spending quality time with my family, doing activities that take me away form the pressures of work.

David: Teamwork helps, you can’t do the job by yourself, you want to be able to trust everyone else.

I play football when I can and it’s with a group of friends I used to go to school with. It’s great fun to catch up with everyone. My team’s full of characters you can talk, have a bit of banter when you’re playing, wind them up and I’m just there in the middle trying to touch the ball let alone score.

I think playing football defiantly helps me with regards to fitness. The unit I’m on you have to do the fitness test where you have to do a 500 metre shield run in full riot gear. So you have to be fit to be on that unit.

I try and do as much exercise as I can and I find football is a lot more fun than jogging. If you score or see one of your mates trip up it’s always a lot more fun than running down the street.

Jan: You do definitely understand more the role of police in society and what people want the police to do.

I do like to sing, I enjoy singing and with my group of friends we fight for the mike. And karaoke’s always fun, and you tend to do it with a group of mates as well.

I go for the diva stuff, I’ve got to really haven’t I? I do things like Tina Turner, a bit of basement jaxx, that kind of stuff that’s loud and shouty really!

Well I thin there is a link between karaoke singing and being a comms operator. I think the main thing is the confidence you portray. Because to sing at karaoke you’ve got to have confidence to get up there, particular without your friends next to you. You have to be confident when people call you because they’re after stability when they ring up. They want somebody that’s going to be able to help them and not someone that’s going to be sounding nervous and if you can sing karaoke you can be a comms operator.

Stella: I feel like I’ve become a whole person almost.

I tend to go very early in the morning so it kind of sets me up for the day. I might do thirty minutes cardio then thirty minutes on the weights machines then I might do ten minutes in the pool and a couple of minutes in the sauna.

You don’t really think of anything you’ve just got your head phones on there’s normally a big screen with music videos playing and you kind of just close off from everything around you.

I think it’s a good way of stretching the whole body in a relaxing way. You’ve been on the treadmill, the cross trainer and it’s nice to just… phew… let it all and you can do a gentle relaxing swim for about ten minutes. It’s a nice way to end a session.

It energises me for the day if I go training first. You’ve done the fitness things and you’re raring to go.

Al: I’m able to give something back to the county I live in and that’s something that’s grown and developed within me since I’ve joined the service.

I’ve been cycling for many years, my current bike is a mountain bike with a vivid yellow colour. I don’t take it out as much as I should do but I like to cycling around my local area in the parks and on the roads and just chill out on the bike. It’s quite refreshing and when I used to do it a lot it used to keep me very fit.

One of the things I love about Hertfordshire is that it’s a very safe county to live. There’s lots of places that have cycle routes. Most of our large towns you can be out in the countryside within a five or ten minute drive so getting out in that fresh air and being able to chill out and relax is something that’s actually quite easy to do.

I think it’s really important to be able to step outside your work role and really de-stress from the pressures and get away completely form that.

David: I’m sort of having the time of my life, I’ve been on the unit for three months and I feel like I’ve been on it for a week. What makes me feel proud  about my job, I know it sounds cheesy, but there’s a few things where I think I’ve made a difference.

Stella: what gives me the most satisfaction? Waking up and going to work and really looking forward to every day. If you go on training courses you look for opportunities you work your way up. You can get a lot back.

Jan: It makes you proud working for Hertfordshire constabulary in the daily job. Simply the fact that you’re serving the public and if you feel at the end of the day you’ve helped a few people, that’s got to be the right thing to do.

Al: I must say I’m proud to wear the uniform and it brings a certain level of responsibility.

Jan: As you get dressed in the morning and you put your uniform on you do actually step into the role of working for the police. It actually makes you become more part of the police community which is what we want.

Stella: It’s a mind set I think and it gets you ready for your duty because you’ve got to be prepared for anything.

David: it was surreal wearing the uniform for the first time and going out, walking down the high street but I felt a bit of pride as well.

Al: It certainly has a sense of family within in Hertfordshire and certainly that camaraderie and spirit of working together as a team, we call it ‘Team Hertfordshire’, is there.