Today we had a steady diet of Metropolitan Police information. This morning we started off at the Metropolitan Central Training Center which is located in a very fancy office building which also houses a newspaper and other various businesses. Ironically, the Met. police service is paying millions of pounds rent on the building space when a number of police buildings currently set vacant due to budget cuts. It would appear the mentality of English and American politicians is frightening similar.
We had two veteran officers share some of their experiences while serving on the Met as well as some of the major changes which have taken place over the 20-30 years during which they have been police officers. Listening to them explain their training, and use or assignment of equipment or "kit", clearly demonstrated a great difference between American police mentality and that of the English policeman.
In the afternoon we traveled over to the Charing Cross Police Station and Constable R. Watson was our host. We were allowed to tour some of the facility as well as handle equipment and vehicles. The tour through the custody area went smoothly and I am pleased to report that no one was shanked.
A side note about Metropolitan Police Service and their donuts; they have better sweets than American cops. They don't get to carry firearms for the most part but they get much better donuts; it would be hard for me to decide which would be more desirable.
Hope some vid will be available soon but no promises. Cheers! (The use of vid and cheers is so English).
PS. Rick and I went on an adventure this evening; we went to Green Park and after walking across the park I noticed a rather large building which seemed familiar, it turned out to be Buckingham Palace. The Queen did not invite us in so we moved on to St James Park and then on to Westminster Abbey. We covered a lot of ground and saw some beautiful sites. I look forward to going back next week to watch the changing of the Guard.
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