Shining example of service

OUR police force has to do more and more these days as it performs the role of a uniformed social service rather than just a crime fighting and prevention organisation.

As the provision of mental health services has changed and as the amount of cheap psychoactive drugs has grown, the men and women in blue are often left to pick up the pieces and hold them until the NHS can step in.

This means that sometimes they are stretched to breaking point and things can go wrong and the force is criticised.

And sometimes, of course, the criticism will be justified.

But despite this, the basic fact remains that our police officers are dedicated to their role of keeping us safe and are prepared to put themselves in harm’s way to do it.

Every day they step out of the door of their police station not knowing if they will suffer serious injury or worse in the execution of their duty.

So they deserve our thanks both for looking after us and for doing a hard job that we would not be prepared to do.

A shining example of this selfless service to the public is Special Constable Alan Marwood.

SC Marwood has been a special since he was 18 and he is 66 and is still going strong.

He retired from his non-police job in 2014 but has continued as a special.

In his 48 years he has, he reckons, saved six lives, dodged bullets and even dived into a burning car.

Now Alan’s next aim is to clock up 50 years with Nottinghamshire police. Let us hope he manages to hit his target without anybody else shooting or waving a knife at him.

Of course, Alan has done all this for no pay and in his spare time while holding down a full-time job.

His paid employment was also in the service of the public as he was a paramedic.

Alan’s commitment and publicspiritedness is commendable and worthy of note but it is not wholly unusual. His fellow officers share the same attributes.

As he says. he is a small cog in a big wheel and the best policing is cops on the street. We agree.