Transcription
You've got to pick, put your hand up and say, "Look, I'm struggling, I need a bit of help." And when you do, you're surprised that the people that come out and help you. Do you remember that first time, or one of your first fatal events? I'll be honest, there's been so many that if I was to drive around a piece of road, I'd remember every single one.
Hello and welcome to another video with me, Ben Pearson. As you can see, we are in the city of London, the city that sometimes does sleep, the little apple, and the home of the King. We have been requested to come down by the City of London Police on behalf of the Home Office and speak to them and find out what they do to keep members of the public and visitors safe, not only at Christmas but over the festive period itself. We are going to be filming with a live police force who can respond to anything at a moment's notice, so please stick with us. It's going to be a great [Music] video.
So, just to make people aware that are watching this now, we are actually in a police car with Chief Inspector Miles Habbit. So, like, one of the things I want to ask you is, it's hard when it comes up to Christmas because you're dealing with a lot of things, and a lot of things you can be dealing with a death, um, dead bodies. And it's hard to have fun with your own family, basically, into it and try and end that little bit of work and deal with your own family. So, do you remember that first time, or when your first fatal events? Yeah, so I'll be honest, there's been so many that, yeah, if I was to drive around a piece of road, I'd remember every single one. Yeah, as I think probably you do. Yeah, it was same with me. That's why I ain't breaking, really. So, but I think I'm quite lucky that my wife, because she isn't in policing, she's able to listen more to the words that you're saying and actually understand it without putting her views on it. Like, if we talk to cops sometimes, they want to say, "Well, yeah, I've been to that." Um, but it's quite nice just to have someone to, to literally offload, uh, for one of a better expression. And they are, you know, that's really important to be able to say how you feel because as cops, and particularly men, we tend not to. Um, to go back. If I'd saveing McCree, there's nothing I do differently, apart from I didn't know when I were mentally ill, I were ill. So, what do now is I always encourage people. So, I, I do lectures. I did one for Miles. Um, it's about opening your mouth and talking. If you don't do that, if you're in a swimming pool and you're drowning, no one's going to know you're drowning until you put your hand up and shout, "I can't swim, I'm drowning!" So, people just think you're a bit of a synchronized swimmer and you're doing some stunt, stunt diving or whatever. You've got to pick, put your hand up and say, "Look, I'm struggling, I need a bit of help." And when you do, you're surprised that the people that come out and help you. Um, that's all I'd say. So, I recommend to anyone, if you want to join the force, join the force. It's a brilliant thing to do. And like I said, the pride you get wearing the uniform, the pride you get helping people, the pride you get saving lives, it's second to none. It's brilliant.
So, we're here at Blackfriars Bridge. Um, on the bridge here, we've got officers from, uh, the Conservator team, which is like a behavioral detection team. So, they are specifically trained to pick up those sort of signs and indicators that, uh, individuals have when they're perhaps going about things that they shouldn't be doing. So, being, being right, um, carrying drugs, maybe the sorts of things that they do. And they will look out for that, which will be an indicator, actually, we might need to have an engagement with that person. Right, see what's going on. And then obviously, drunk driving, drug driving. Yeah, absolutely. We've got our Road Policing team here as well. So, they sort of work together collaboratively to make sure that, uh, they're basically maximizing the people that they're stopping because they're ultimately driving vehicles. So, we have the powers under the Road Traffic Act. So, we will then look at, uh, drug testing, drink testing, and, and so should we go have a bit of an nosy then and see what you doing? Our lasses, our crew officers, you know what I mean? How are you? Where's me sugar? Come here. How are you? I'm all right. How are you? Very well. Nice to see you. I take it you didn't want to, you want to stand here. See not seen. You take. Yeah, I know, I know. This is Jordan. He's, uh, he's a. I'm going to say good friend. Oh, friend. You were going to say? Yeah, we're going to say good friend. We, we, we used to be like that. You up top, I at bottom. And now we're a bit separate now, aren't we? You're going to be deleted off Instagram now. So, we did a video. Cars and City of London pursuit vehicles. He's a, he's a fantastic bloke and he's got a heart of gold.
Right, we are on the bridge. It is raining and I am wet to my box shorts. Uh, this is Inspector to Paul Don of the Road Policing Unit. Paul, can you just let people that are watching know what you're doing here and why it's massively important at this time of year? Well, it's one of our usual sites. We come down to run, uh, to run a site like this, um, routine stops of vehicles. We're working with the DVSA today to top heavy goods vehicles. Part of our focus at this time of year is to, uh, for drink and drugs, um, make sure the roads are safe for everyone to use. Um, and by doing, by stopping people like this, we are a visible presence as well as, uh, deterring, arresting people, deterring people, people were doing it. We've already had one arrest today for drug drive. Oh, fantastic. Can you just tell people about, uh, drink drive limit as well? And then that people think, "Well, I've had something to eat, I've had a bit of sleep, I'm all right next morning." Don't really work like that, does it? No, the, the, the limit is 35, but that's just a number in the air. The safe limit to drink is basically nothing. There's no safe limit to, to, uh, to drink and then drive. People think they can have one and then go and drive afterwards. That's just not true. It doesn't work like that. The safe limit is zero. Um, that's all I can say about that, really. And equally for drugs, they're illegal. There is a limit. It's a very low limit and it will get picked up days afterwards. Drink drive will usually, uh, drink the drinks, alcohol in your system will usually disappear after X amount of time, but it depends on how big you are, how small you are, what you've eaten, what you've drunk. So, there's no set limit, uh, for drugs. Again, there is a limit and it stays in your body a lot longer. Right, and what advice would you give to people coming to London now, Christmas, this time of year, by having fun? Anything you want to say to them? We'd welcome people into the city. Lots of licensed premises, there's lots of fun to be had in London. I'd advise everyone just to be careful. Bring an umbrella, bring, bring an, um, bring an umbrella. Don't drink too much and definitely don't drive. Loads of train stations, tube stations, use public transport. Brilliant. Thank you very much, Paul. Thank you.
So, can you tell me what it's like for you now, patrolling City of London? What's, um, what's it like being the boss? And what's it like at work in general? Great power comes great responsibility. Be, being the boss is quite busy around here, right? Uh, as you can see, traffic is really busy. So, the cops generally are really busy about this time of year. Mostly Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights are probably our busiest. But as you can see, it's really heavy through the city all the time. Do you have any issues with pickpockets, like robbery, uh, street robbery, that sort of thing? Yeah, do, does happen. Think because, well, you can see the footpaths now, they're quite wide. Yeah, uh, and I mean, we're quieter now being, uh, just after 9:00 or nearly 10:00 now, but they're normally quite busy in the morning commuter times, going home at night time. So, you'll see lots of people straight on their phones, things like that. Um, and sadly, they make themselves, uh, by virtue of what they're doing, they are a target for those sorts of criminals that will see an opportunity to steal phones and things like that. I'll be a victim. I've noticed we've barely gone anywhere. We haven't gone that far. We've gone about eight yards in about 25 minutes. So, do you not think it'd be more beneficial to have some bikes? Do you like that lead then? You like that? You like that little [Music] linking?
Right, I'm outside St. Paul's Cathedral, which is a fantastic location in London, in the City of London. And I'm here with Civil Bourmont. Pre is Civil Bourmont? Yes, sir. How are you? Hello. You're all right. And she's part of the, it's the London Cycle Squad. It is the London Cycle Squad. Yeah. City of London Police Cycle Squad. City of London Police Cycle Squad. Can you tell the people at home what you do? And obviously, why it's beneficial to City and Police as well? Absolutely. So, um, uh, more and more people are using bikes to commute into work. Um, so a big part of what we do is, um, enforcing the laws around cyclists, but also educating people about, um, using their bike safely. Such like, we also focus on, um, a lot of our crime in the city is two-wheel enabled. So, um, phone snatches are a big statistic, like a big part of our statistics. So, we, um, are, we act as a deterrent mainly, um, going to locations that we know phone snatches are going and coming from, um, and trying to stop them spoiling people's day, basically.
I'm going to throw this at you. How many pursuits you [Music] had? Stop a bike? Very quite a lot. Um, we do, we do manage to get them eventually, right? Um, but we do have a lot of people failing to stop for us. And are these people on foot, skateboards, scooters, electric scooters, push bikes? Uh, so a lot of, um, so say the phone snatch, two-wheel enabled crime, that they will be on restricted pedal cycles, right? Meaning that they have, um, throttles which go above the prescribed 3.7 mph. Throttle system. You out, we know it all. And, um, we, um, uh, so it means that they can go up. Some of these bikes that you see can go up to 70 kilometers per hour, really. Um, they're not insured, they're not moted, they're not up to regulations. And it's our job to stop them because obviously, if they crash into someone, they could really hurt someone. Um, uh, so we'll seize those bikes. We also get a lot of, um, e-scooters in the city, right? Um, uh, people commuting on them. They're illegal as well, sadly. Not the higher ones that you. So, scooters are legal in London, but they've got to be government scooters, is that right? They, they've got to be, um, the, the higher scooters, the light scooters, you see those are absolutely legal and you can get them on the Uber app and use them on Uber, absolutely fine. Your own personal hire one, you need to have a custom-built insurance policy for it, right? Um, but it's very unusual to get one of those because the regulations around a scooter are so strict. You need proper bike, uh, brakes, you need proper lights, just like you do with a car. This, it's a mechanically propelled vehicle, right?
Tell me about your, your vehicle of choice then. So, um, this is a, a truly fantastic piece of machinery. It's a Cube bike. It's a hybrid bike, but all the benefits of being a road bike and a mountain bike. Dang. Um, a lot of our streets, as I say, are very narrow. This is the old Londinium, yeah. So, we still, I mean, if you look behind you, we still got our cobble streets. So, this bike is perfect for that. Um, we've got the thicker, bigger tires which allow us to mount central re, res, mount curbs. This bike is really tough. It's a tough piece of kit and we love it. Um, our lights are fantastic. They go from, um, being your sort of standard light here, do a couple of clicks and then suddenly we're able to, you've got blue flashing lights in your. Can we just see that? So, is that in case light then? The back here flashes as well? Yeah, so we do. So, um, a few of us, all of us on cycle squad are trained, uh, to respond calls. That means we can go through red lights. Um, we, uh, use these lights to make people aware that we are responding to an emergency. But we also will have our whistles. Blow them, make people, they can hear, hear this very clearly and people get out of our way. Um, when I were on the Vipex unit, they like outriders, you get issued a whistle. And this is what people don't realize. Whistles are massively beneficial towards people's ears. When you beat home, people might not pay attention, but when you blow a whistle, everyone starts. Everyone listens. But now you have my attention. I think it's, I think it's that, uh, PE education we've got in school. Big bench with those bits on end that no one wants to sit on. And you don't, obviously, weather's horrendous this morning. You're just not bothered about. You're happy to be out and about, no matter what weather. We like. We're all, um, bike obsessed on the cycle squad. We like being out on the bikes. We like being out in the fresh air, regardless of that. I mean, this is a summer's day for you. We're from Yorkshire, so this is, like you said, it rains in summer up there, so this is normal there.
So, I can ask you if you've seen any of my videos? I normally do a criminal test where I sit in the back of a car and I outline the fact of what it's going to be like for a criminal. And I know you can't get criminal, but can I do a criminal test on your bike? He's all right. You're most welcome. I'll kick the, kick the stand up for you and you can, uh, judge it for yourself. Thank you. So, as I say, on my normal videos, I normally do a criminal test where we sit, someone in the back of the car and find out if it's going to be acceptable and how comfy it is for a criminal. You can't actually get a second person on the bike because it is actually illegal. But for me, I'm going to do a test on there. It's a cute bike, is it? Yeah, cute bike. Yeah, yeah. So, oh, I'm all right about that saddle. So, yeah, as if I were a criminal, I had to sit on the back of this bike, it's, uh, it's roomy. All I can say is it's roomy. Good headroom, good legroom, fresh air, fresh air. Uh, yeah, a bit, a little bit moist in there, but the seat's very comfy. So, I'm going to give it a seven out of ten for a criminal test. So, thank you very much for talking to us. It means a lot. Uh, like I said, you do a fantastic job. You're there making sure people are not only the residents but the tourists are safe. And if it weren't for people like you, obviously, it could be really, really bad out there. So, first of all, thank you for what you do and working over Christmas as well. So, thank you. Brilliant. And lovely to meet you as well. To meet you as well. Thank you. Thank you.
Well, that's it. We are done. Uh, thank you so much to the Home Office and the City of London for inviting us down here. It's been a fantastic day. If you want us to work together again, put us in the comments down below and we'll crack on and get some done. Uh, that's it from me. I hope you've had a fantastic Christmas and you're going to have a great New Year. And it's time for me to go get a pie. So, stay safe everyone, and I'll see you next time. Bye-bye. I got my ass and to wet and knees. Oh.