'BOSTIN BOOKS'

The picture below is of Police Constable 118 ‘a’ Thomas Wright. His imperious pose commemorates the awarding of a certificate for bravery on the Thirteenth of February 1911. He risked his life to protect others. In this case it was a runaway horse, and not an armed terrorist, but nevertheless his heroism encapsulated the core principle of policing – that of protecting others, their lives, their property, their society. The policing values demonstrated by PC Wright remain at its heart to the present day – it’s why policing is in truth ‘The Noble Cause’.

This is a ‘warts and all’ book about policing in the 1980’s and 1990’s, written by two former police officers who did ‘the job’ collectively for more than seventy years.
Police officers see the worst of society, its inequalities, and injustice, and they sometimes have to confront pure evil and the lowest degradations of the human state. They have to face the horrors of murder, accidental death, suicide, domestic and child abuse, and sickening violence, to name just a few of the incidents described in the book.
This book tracks the course of two very different career paths in Birmingham and Walsall, one in uniform, one in the CID, until they ultimately converge.

Whether it is public-order policing, keeping a lid on the streets, working undercover, battling against drugs dealers, the reality of dealing with death and post – mortems, or the investigation of serious crimes, this book provides a unique insight into the reality of policing.

This is a book for the curious, the nostalgic, the academic, the historian and the researcher, totally factual, and demonstrating the reality rather than the dramatic conflations shown on TV and film. It contains many stunning  photographs of a Birmingham no longer in existence. It currently has seven reviews with a score of 4.8 stars against a possible 5. It is available on Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MRELU3F/

‘The Noble Cause’ highlights the opportunities that self-publishing gives to budding writers these days. Co-author Steve Burrows has developed new skills in relation to publishing and has now successfully self-published a number of books in both E Book and Paperback formats on KDP Amazon UK. Anecdotally it has been said that 95% of all books, however published, do not sell more than 1,000 copies. One only has to look around any major bookstore to understand the sheer challenges of trying to make a breakthrough in a market which is saturated  by thousands upon thousands of new book titles. Traditional publishers still offer better prospects of access to established marketing routes whereas self-publishing means that anyone’s book can now be aired in public. Both publishing methods have advantages and disadvantages in terms of royalty payments but in reality writing is for those who are passionate about getting their work seen rather than making lots of money.

Tracking the Hooligans was co-written with former BTP Assistant Chief Constable Alan Pacey and was published in January 2016 by Amberley. It details more than forty years of football violence on the UKs rail networks, London Underground, and on ferries when BTP still had jurisdiction. The activities of hooligan elements attached to nearly one hundred football clubs is covered with detailed comment from nearly fifty retired BTP officers who tell it ‘how it was’ particularly in the dark years of the 70s and 80s.
In 1972 the then BTP Chief Constable Mr Gay commented “On an average Saturday some thirty trains carried police escorts of between two to eight officers. They sometimes reached their destination with their uniforms soiled with spittle, and other filth, burnt with cigarette ends, or slashed…” This is how it was, and often still is, for a very thin blue line of officers and the book is a testament to their routine bravery.

In the early 70s as a nineteen year-old BTP officer stationed at Birmingham Saturdays had a set routine for officers. Those posted to an early turn worked 6am to 6pm to deal with home fans and incoming away fans onto New Street Station and other smaller railway stations in the region. Those on nights came on duty at 6pm to work a twelve hour shift until 6am next morning to cover for the fact that there was no afternoon shift. The afternoon shift was posted to work as ‘travelling football serials’ – one sergeant and four PCs generally policing so-called ‘football trains’ carrying up to 500 supporters with nothing but a wooden truncheon in a hidden trouser pocket for protection. Whilst the vast majority of fans would be well-behaved there was always generally a significant minority who wanted to challenge the police and were relishing a day spent hunting the opposition. With limited means of communication and no immediate prospects of getting assistance whilst on trains travelling at speed, and over long distances, we learnt the art of communication, and came to know the identities of our opponents quickly – once the shroud of anonymity is removed people tend to behave more! Back home the routine was again familiar as at 5pm on a Saturday away fans would return to catch trains and home fans would circle the station like sharks waiting for their moment to attack. One tribe defending its territory whilst other tribes sought to make their presence felt. Violence was routine and in the days of Stanley knives, knuckle dusters and ‘calling cards’ people got hurt. It was our job to stop the violence and in so doing the officers routinely became the focus of attack instead. Anyone who has worked on a railway station will know that sound is naturally amplified within the enclosed spaces – whenever the sound of a charge, usually a roar followed shouts and screams went up it could be simply electrifying. Anyone who has seen the film ‘Zulu’ and witnessed the scenes where thousands of Zulu Warriors chanted ‘Zulu’ in unison will get the idea.

‘Tracking The Hooligans’ has twenty reviews with an overall score of 4.1 stars out of 5. It is available in bookshops and on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1445651807/

‘Birmingham’s Front Line’ deals with my experiences as a detective in the West Midlands Police between 1976 and 1989. Much of that period covers my time spent working at police stations in and around Birmingham City Centre, in particular at Steelhouse Lane. The book is written in a chronological ‘diary-like’ manner and is entirely factual. Policing is in no way glorified but what shines through some of the more mundane elements of daily life is that officers routinely have to work in extremely challenging environments whilst at all times maintaining the highest standards in terms of ethics and integrity. The book also contains a number of fascinating recollections from other retired officers who tell it just how it was, sometimes serious but often tinged with humour. During these years I went from being a young fresh-faced attached CID officer, with long -side-burns,  who had to learn quickly, to becoming an established CID supervisor. I learnt the art of getting a ‘cough’ from the guilty, how to survive in the twilight and high-risk world of working with informants, and how to live with risk, adrenalin, sadness, violence, hope and no hope in equal measures. I invariably spent more time at work in the company of colleagues and criminals during those years than I did at home – family came second. Police bars, pubs, clubs, cigarette smoke, mortuary’s, post-mortems, hospitals, courts, interview rooms, HM Prisons, paperwork, cells, front doors closed and front doors removed from their hinges became common features of my life! Crime was relentless and the ‘war’ on it was also relentless. This was also a great period of social history and the police had to ‘up their game’ to meet the challenges of a changing society. When I reflect back on these years I feel a huge sense of pride for what was achieved – it was a great time to be a police officer – the job was full of democrats, autocrats, ‘blag artists’, adventurers, the not-so adventurous, steady pairs of hands, and those who stepped into danger fearlessly and did not falter when it came to confronting evil and violent behaviour. We were a family with all our faults but kept each other safe. ‘Birmingham’s Front Line’ deals with a number of serious crime investigations – not all of which were textbook in terms of outcomes. It was published by Amberley Publishers and is available in bookshops or on Amazon. It has six reviews with a score of 4.4 stars from a maximum of 5. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1445657872/ #Birmingham #WMP #Police #History

‘Black Over Bill’s Mother’s – A Storm Is Coming’ – what on earth does that title mean? In fact its a perfect introduction to a book which has Birmingham at its very heart. The version of the saying which co-author Steve Burrows and I choose to use is that ‘Bill’s Mother’ was in fact William Shakespeare’s mother with the obvious connection to Stratford Upon Avon. In years gone by Brummies’ used to look across in the direction of Stratford and if rain clouds were gathering they would utter the phrase. This is the first historical crime fiction book written  by Steve and myself. It is a book to which we are both emotionally attached and in which we have 100% belief in the depth of the story lines. We were both born in Birmingham, and worked in the police in Birmingham – our roots are imbedded in the UKs second city and we are proud of our heritage. Most books are about 80,000 words but this is a big book spanning a period of time between 1943 and 2004 and over 140,000 words. When we were planning the characters we settled on three main figures – the Docker twins and Patrick Quinn. In his teenage years Steve was an enthusiastic biker and it was only natural that he would take on Patrick Quinn – a hardened biker who was also an IRA assassin and a born survivor who ultimately had no choice but to tread a path of violence. For my part I wanted to develop the character of Rob Docker – a white twin who went on to become the epitome of corruption within the police service. Not to be confused with ‘noble cause corruption’ there is nothing about Rob Dockers character that could offer redemption and there are absolutely no depths to which he will not go in pursuit of his personal agenda. He is a character that readers can dislike with a passion but if he were real he would in fact care less. That left us to deal with Joe Docker the black twin. In this case Steve and I decided to share the development of his character. The reality is that in many ways he never stood a chance as a he faced sexual exploitation and racism at every turn. A man who was a victim as well as a deadly killer and gangster figure, and yet retained so much dignity and decency within his soul which still at times fought its way to the surface.There are more murders in ‘Black Over Bill’s Mothers’ than fingers on two hands and this is not a book for those searching for a relaxing read. It is not meant to be violently gratuitous in terms of the style of writing but it is deliberately tough and uncompromising. Steve and I both believe that the journey these characters embark upon would make a brilliant TV series or feature-length film – another generation of the Peaky Blinders concept – and we remain hopeful that one day someone will give it a rightful home in pictures. By 2020 ‘Black Over  Bill’s Mothers’ will form part of a four-book series – who is still standing by the end of the last book will be for readers to discover!

‘Black Over Bill’s Mothers’ is available on Amazon in either paperback or as an E Book and currently has fifty-seven great reviews, many from female readers, with a massive score of 4.9 stars out of a maximum of 5.  https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01HQN8Q2W/

I was never a dog handler, having been a career detective for most of my police career. Having co-authored ‘Police Dog Heroes’ with Bill Rogerson I can’t help feeling that somehow I missed out on something unique. I have been involved in co-writing a number of books and they are all slightly different in terms of how the relationship works. It sounds complicated but really its just about having a plan, and trust in your colleague is the main thing. I hadn’t written with Bill before but he is an officer who spent his entire service with the British Transport Police and possesses a huge amount of pride in the Force so I knew that he would do a great job. Also as a key member of the British Transport History Group he has a huge number of contacts. For  my part I started my police career at the age of 16 years as a Cadet with BTP before  moving on to other Forces and returning to them for my last six years. I have great pride in all of my police postings but will always be thankful to the BTP for acting as a ‘gateway’ to the police service after I was rejected by Birmingham City Police as being too thin! That is no longer a problem these days!

‘Police Dog Heroes’ is the history of the British Transport Police Dog Section from its inception in 1908 at Hull Docks to 2015. It is in fact the oldest police dog section in the UK and for more than a century now they have played a key rail in protecting the nations infrastructure and adding a key layer of protection in the field of counter-terrorism. The book contains some forty recollections from retired police dog handlers, two at least who unfortunately now are no longer with us (RIP). There are some huge characters among them and what shines through the book is the absolute bond that existed between handler a dog – a working relationship but without doubt in many ways also a love story between man and dog.

The book contains a number of historical photographs. It would be fair to say that in the course of putting the book together we struggled a bit to get sufficient photos together. Since 2015 retired officers like Mike Joyce have in fact amassed a huge amount of additional photos from other sources and shared them on social media. Some of them are priceless and its a clear example of how we must not lose our collective history. The BTP have also recently set up a charitable Trust to support BTP dogs in their retirement so there has been a lot of focus on their work.

What I think is beyond question is that during those decades there would have been countless occasions during which the mere presence of a police dog prevented injury, or worse, to countless police officers and members of the public. They are simply priceless.

The book is available in bookshops and on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1445655470/ – it currently has 14 reviews and scores 4.2 stars out of 5 on Amazon. #Dogs #BTP #Police #History

Having finally retired from the police in 2011, after forty-two years service , little was I to realise the impact that a chance sighting of an email would have on my direction of travel post police-retirement. The email was an enquiry from Robert Endeacott, a published script writer, author, and ardent Leeds United football supporter, who was conducting research in relation to undercover football policing operations in the 1980s. To this day I don’t really know why but I responded to his query and a partnership and friendship was forged which endures to this day. Robert was immediately drawn to the fact that as a Detective Sergeant in the West Midlands Police in 1987 I had conducted the day to day management of what became known as ‘Operation Red Card’ –  an undercover police operation to tackle Birmingham City FCs hooligan element – the ‘Zulu Warriors’. The operation had originally been codenamed ‘Operations Rourkes Drift’ which was a misspelling of the battle of Rorkes Drift in 1879 when around one hundred and fifty British and colonial troops successfully defended the mission statement at Rorkes Drift on the Tugela River, |Natal Province, South Africa against over four thousand native Zulu warriors. The name was eventually changed as it was thought to be too politically sensitive. Cutting a long story short Robert and I went on to collaborate on the creation of a film script based on the Operation. Robert did a great job in putting the story together in a dramatized fashion but unfortunately thus far we have not been able to find someone to take it on – we live in hope! At that stage I thought that the job was done but Robert had other ideas. Whilst on holiday in Kefalonia a year later I got a text from Robert saying that he had just read a newspaper review on another book about football violence and that in his opinion we should get on and write the story of Operation Red Card. The issue that Robert raised  was that to his knowledge there was only one book in existence that had been written from a police perspective whilst all the others were from so-called football hooligans. I discussed it briefly with my wife as we struggled with the blistering heat and sent a text back – ‘yes’. Under Roberts guidance the book developed very quickly. An early decision was made not to identify any of those targeted by name. I was keen not to vilify anyone who had gone on to put violence behind them or to glorify those who had not. When we had got a finished product Robert approached just one publisher and to our amazement Peter Walsh from MILO Publishers had faith in us and took the project on. The rest is history and ‘Hunting The Hooligans’ was published in 2015. On the first day that it appeared on Amazon two very negative reviews quickly appeared which took ages for Amazon to remove. Either the two individuals were quick readers or they just disliked the police. I am fairly sure that given the grammatical content of the reviews that it was the latter. One of the things I have come to understand in writing is there are a few nasty-minded people about who like to do ‘spoiler’ reviews and to be objectionable. My skin is now slightly thicker. The book now enjoys 66 reviews with an overall score of 4.3 stars out of a maximum of 5 stars. ‘Hunting The Hooligans’ is a very factual account of events that took place during the operation. The activities of the ‘villains’ are clearly set out as are the actions of the ‘heroes’ the small band of undercover officers who put themselves in harms way to gather evidence which resulted in many successful prosecutions. It is not a thriller for those who might be looking for an emotional rollercoaster but it does provide a unique insight into the realities of policing. As my first co-written book ‘Hunting The Hooligans’ holds a special place in this chapter of my life. I find writing to be both a cathartic and fulfilling experience and it is so important that we don’t lose our history. The only caveat I said to my wife when I originally agreed to start writing was that if I was going to write one book I would try and write six – so what next then? – ‘Hunting The Hooligans’ is available as an E Book or in paperback in major bookshops or on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0123F2OJY/ #MILO #Football #Violence