Not for the paperwork - exhibiting stuff in statements and booking items into stores are a pain in the arse and take 10 times longer than executing the warrant in the first place.
However, warrants do serve up some of the most glamorous images - it makes me think of dark morning and lots of coppers in full armour putting doors in. In reality, certainly from my perspective on a response team, if we can summon 5 officers and a door bosher we are doing better than average! The memories I have are wearing rubber gloves, one size too small, cooking in your stab vest as you daren't put any item of clothing near the carpet and finding the obligatory sex toy in the bedroom.
I think the element I like the most is putting the door and getting a sense (just a touch mind) that you are doing what you joined up to do. Hitting targets hard, taking them by surprise and most of all disrupting them in their own home which is exactly where we should be bringing the problems to.
For every good warrant, by good I mean one where there is a significant result there are probably five dull ones. Getting a warrant for an 18 year old who is claimed to be dealing vast quantities of drugs usually end up in us knocking on the door and at best seizing a stubbed out spliff end out an ashtray. Some of my colleagues have seized what can only amount to the stalk end of a cannabis bud - still detected via a street warning but with all the pressure to get detections I can see why.
Incidentally I note Ronnie has finally got round to writing his report - took almost as much time to sort it out as a typical fraud case does for a response officer! From the face of it Ronnie and his team have picked up a few points and run with them as if they were the ones to find it out. Well done for picking up on what has been being said for the past five years or so!!
As far as I can see if the police implement the following points , in the cockeyed opinionated way they always do, it will be a good start:
- Scrap the stop and account forms - God knows how many rainforests have suffered as a result.
- Bin the Home office requirement to force detection levels on forces and the limit of the disposal methods - the entire police service as a whole has alienated the public through the stupid rigidity imposed by NCRS and such like.
- Stop people creating more stupid MG forms.
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