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From
May 2000
British
Police Finally Get Their Skates On!
Dawn Irwin with WPC Janice Jarvis &
PC Ken Hynd & Traditionally Dressed British Bobbies
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first British police officers to go on skate patrol set off on
their rounds, only to be arrested in their progress by the great
British weather! The "Blade Runner" team of WPC Janice
Jarvis & PC Ken Hynd were forced to strip off their
regulation issue inline skates, helmets & protective padding
after a few minutes as skating in the wet can be dangerous. When
not raining the skating police patrolling London's Hyde Park
& Kensington Gardens will be able to reach an incident
within minutes, which could mean the difference between life
& death for anyone injured, waiting for emergency services
possibly snarled up in London traffic. PC Jarvis is one of three
officers being taught by the British Inline Skate Association
the art of grabbing hold of suspects while staying upright,
although officers are advised that if an arrest is imminent they
should continue on foot. PC Hynd, a roller hockey player, said
"The hardest part is learning how to fall safely."
Skate patrols have helped to combat crime in New York, Paris
& The Netherlands. |
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From June 2000
Now It is Cool To Go Topless In The Parks
by Sally Guyoncourt
Topless
sun bathing has won unofficial approval from the Royal
Parks - but the new squad of inline skating officers made
their first arrest when they caught a man in the nude.
Officially, women stripping to the waist is still banned,
but Royal Parks police have been told to turn a blind eye
if no other member of the public complains.
Royal Parks spokesman Tom Corby confirmed today that
police will not stop women who want to strip to the waist.
He said: "It's down to the discretion of the
individual officer. We might advise a lady that she could
be in danger of attracting unwelcome attention &
suggest she would be safer to cover herself up, but we
would not arrest anyone unless we received a complaint
from someone else.
"It is not really a relaxation of the rules, it is
just that we will not usually apply them unless we feel
things are getting out of hand. But in reality very few
women go to the Royal Parks to sunbathe topless."
However, the police are drawing the line at those who want
an all-over tan, as a streaker in London's Hyde Park
discovered recently.
A man in his mid-thirties was seen sunbathing nude &
police on inline skates gave chase when he ran off.
WPC Janice Jarvis pursued the naked man across Hyde Park's
Meadow, finally arresting & handcuffing him. He was
taken to Belgravia Police Station & released with a
caution for breach of the peace. |
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A Letter From Dawn Irwin (centre)
Director of Instructor Training, United Kingdom Inline
Skates Association
with two Royal Parks Police Ken Hynds & Janice Jarvis
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Hi,
for anyone who is interested, I thought I would tell you about
the launch of the first ever Inline Skating Police Force in the
United Kingdom. The Royal Parks Constabulary.
I had the
idea for a roller cop patrol way back in 1996 after two
"incidents" which made national press & which were
erroneously reported by the 'gutter' journalists. These
incidents have been referred to time & time again because
unfortunately they will remain for ever more in the cuttings.
They sparked off a knee jerk reaction which resulted in bans in
some parks & serious tar & chip gravelling throughout
the others in an effort to "stop the bladers".
Anyway,
it remained just an idea until May 1997 when I came to the US to
do my Examiner training with the IISA. I saw the first ever
Hypno transport skates & suddenly my idea began to take on
some resemblance of reality. On that same training course was
John Kuch, a law enforcement officer from Fairfax VA.
Through
1998 I witnessed the evolving of the transport skate &
finally, around February 1999 I emailed John as I wanted to put
my idea in writing, but needed some law enforcement type input.
"Funny you should ask" he said, as he had been
thinking the same thing for about the same number of years &
in fact had prepared something which he felt I might be
interested in reading. John & I basically colluded on a
proposal that would suit the Royal Parks Police Force & I
submitted it on 4th April 1999. Eleven months later I got the go
ahead to begin training the guys & now they are up &
rolling & it is just fantastic. Over the course of these
eleven months I also had valuable input from my very good friend
& IISA Examiner Katina Salafatinos who trains the Miami
police.
John came
over to London to help me with the launch & it was so
successful that we are still reeling from the fallout. We were
on approximately ten TV shows (including the US), approximately
16 newspapers (all the nationals & some local),
approximately 8 radio shows & some of the professional
police newsletters/magazines & some UK inline trade
magazines.
It was a
hectic three days, starting with the Monday which was blistering
hot, but then it decided to dump down on Tuesday & Wednesday
(press days). Good old British weather!! Still, everything was
arranged & we had no choice but to go ahead, even though we
absolutely do NOT advocate skating in wet conditions. Thankfully
the photos do not reflect the fact that conditions were not
ideal. We had a hell of a clean up job to do on our skates,
though!
The award
for outstanding Dude of the week went to my good friend &
fellow IISA instructor Andy Moran who arranged for us to have
the Rollerblade Derby skates on time, after the Hypno
distributors pulled out without telling me!!! The Derby has now
become the recognised Police Skate & I just hope Rollerblade
keep making them.
We
finally got John back to Heathrow at an ungodly hour on the
Thursday morning & I am sure he did not know whether it was
"raining or Ash Wednesday" (UK saying) as he was so
exhausted. Needless to say, when my partner dropped me back at
home all my plans for that day flew swiftly out the window as I
collapsed with exhaustion!!!!!!
From the
point of view of skating in Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens,
this is a huge step. Having the "establishment"
skating could lead to several things: namely breaking down the
barriers of prejudice that have been fostered by the gutter
journalists; maybe resurfacing some of the "banned"
pathways & maybe even lifting the bans in some of the other
parks. All we need now is a couple of really positive stories to
help foster good relations, as naturally some (but just a minor
few) journalists have tried to poke fun & find holes in the
scheme. Anyway, only time will tell & now when I am teaching
in the Park & I see some criminal activity going on, at
least I am in mobile phone contact with the skating police who
will not be too far away.
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 Florida
Skating Police Now On Miami Beach
When
beat cop Tony Lamacchio pulled on his inline skates for the
first time, he was pretty sure he would be a flop. And he was.
"Bad" is the word he uses to describe his debut on
eight wheels several weeks ago. Front Page Cafe manager Steve
Trowl said that when he first saw Lamacchio pass by
"frankly, I was worried. He was terrible. He could hardly
move and he was looking down. So he could not see if anything
was happening." What was worse, Lincoln Road Mall is no
place for being uncool. This 11 block strip of restaurants, art
galleries & Deco collectible shops is a major proving ground
for trend & style, especially on skates. Lamacchio was
assigned to Miami Beach police bicycle patrol & had not
skated since he was a kid. But he volunteered anyway &
persevered through some embarrassing public falls, convinced
that officers on skates could provide security & build
rapport with other skaters, especially the teenagers. Now
Lamacchio & five other uniform officers are rollercops,
among the first in America. "We get a lot of double takes.
And yes, we see people laughing," said Lamacchio, 34, a
former lifeguard & barefoot water skier who joined the
police department four years ago. "I don't think people
believe what they are seeing because it is unusual, but I think
it's effective. People are more friendly." One of the
nation's pioneer rollercops is Fort Lauderdale, Florida., police
Sgt. Bill Johnston, who four years ago began patrolling this
city's famed beachfront. "It's been accepted wholeheartedly
from the word go," said Johnston, 41. "With skates on,
you kind of become more public oriented, more approachable.
People want to stop you, talk, take your picture. It often seems
more public relations work than police work." In some
situations, however, being on skates is an advantage, surprising
car thieves in parking lots, for example. "I have broken up
a couple of fights, made lots of arrests, lots of traffic
work," Johnston said. During a crowded spring break he
glided up to a car full of gang members about to pounce on some
rivals & pulled them out of the car & cuffed them before
he even thought about snapping his skates off.
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