So pretty much last day in the office. And it was a morning of emails, shredding, and clearing the desk. It felt really strange to be packing up what has been my home for the last 6 weeks. And as I write this I really do feel sad to be leaving. So different to times when I worked away and couldn’t wait to get back home.
Lunch at church with UMC Women. Spoke to a lady (whom I’d not met) before who is a real Anglophile. She visits Britain most years and has been to many places around the country but she told me how much she loves London. On her most recent visit she had tea at Claridges, managed to blag her way into front row seats for choral evensong at Westminster Abbey and again front row seats at St Paul's for a Sunday service where the Bishop of London preached. “He was the nice man who preached at poor Margaret Thatcher’s funeral.” Mmm! On both counts!
Afterwards Anne and I went down the road to the lovely Davidson to visit the UMC there. What a set up that is. Met quite a few of the clergy and other staff including the librarian who comes from Sussex originally. On wandering past the Music Director’s office I spied a harpsichord!
The church (although modern) was very beautiful and large. Some wonderful stained glass windows. Including a large round window that was paid for by a member of the congregation – who apparently later asked for her money back!
A serious font, complete with running water. And I told the person who took us about the font problems I’ve had at home and how I’d gone to the local dump to get the glass door from a washing machine so that could double as a bowl until our resident carpenter made a new stand to house a Pyrex bowl!
In the evening I went for a “ridealong” with Mooresville PD. I’d been told by one Captain I could turn up when I wanted and they’d sort it out. But initially the Captain on duty this evening said “We’ve already got a ride along tonight so sorry you can’t come.” I showed the email I’d been sent and dropped the Chief of Police’s name and “Oh. I’ll see what I can do”. Voila!
Spent an interesting evening with an officer who’d served with the Marines in Afghanistan and who was complimentary of the Royal Marines. “We think we’re crazy. They’re something else.” Apparently the Royal Marines were always scrounging equipment from the Americans and in return offered Royal Marine issue combat shorts which were highly regarded by the Americans for some reason.
A fairly routine night. One or two traffic stops and a general drive around. I told him of my reputation with Wiltshire Police – that it’s always “Q” when I’m around. (Q = Quiet – but it’s unlucky to say “Quiet”)
As an ex-Marine he got what chaplaincy was about and had valued it when in the service. In fact he regretted that due to cutbacks the chaplaincy service is being cut back in the military. (Mooresville PD does not have a chaplain as such.)
The conversation we had was very similar to those I have at home with officers – shift patterns, cars, etc. etc. (He was keen to find out what cars the UK police use.) We spent the night in a brand new Dodge charger. A step up from the Ford Focuses and Vauxhall Astras used by Wiltshire Police for Response but nowhere near as nice as a 5 series BMW used by RPU.
We had a long talk about drink driving. As I understand it here the drink drive limit is about double ours. The officer told me how during training they consume enough alcohol to put them over the limit so they appreciate the effects! When he did this he consumed a six pack beer in an hour and was just under the limit. He says it is a crazy situation.
He asked about drinking in the UK. I explained that in some ways the culture had changed and people were more responsible than years ago when driving. But drinking is a big part of the culture and we went on to talk about Street Pastors which he thought sounded a good idea.
(Though as Mooresville doesn’t have a specific area with bars and restaurants I’m not sure how it would work here. In a town or city with a specific night time quarter the story might be different.)
One difference is that officers are encouraged to take “their” car home to be a visible police presence in their area. And yes that means each officer has his or her own car. Can’t see that working at home - who would want the Mercedes Vito Van or worse still the large Mercedes van with riot shields, as their car!
A really interesting evening – though it made me realise that basic policing is very similar here and back home.
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