A MOMENT IN TIME
copyright Eric Brook 2010
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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ISBN: 978-0-9808659-1-2
A MOMENT IN TIME was mostly written on an iPhone using the My Writing Nook application My Writing Nook
Cover by Thorium Girl
DISCLAIMER: This book is a work of fiction with realistic elements. All views expressed are personal views of the author and do not reflect the policies of any company or person named or referred to within.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 – Rise & Shine, Caroline!
Chapter 2 – Welcome To Central, Caroline
Chapter 5 – Katrina's Cabin Fever
Chapter 6 – Katrina Gets A Job
Chapter 8 – Another Day, Another Drama
Chapter 9 – Judy's Afternoon Turns Bad
Chapter 10 – Caroline's First Job
Chapter 11 – Katrina To The Rescue!
Chapter 12 – Natalie To The Rescue
Chapter 13 – Goodnight, A Platoon
Chapter 14 – Leila Cruises For Chinese
*****
Chapter
1 – Rise & Shine, Caroline!
12 noon, Thursday April 1 2010
The small inner-city apartment was in darkness. The woman sleeping in the bed had no idea what was happening in the outside world. The weather had been unpredictable over the last few days in Sydney, mainly in terms of being dry or wet. It was not cold in the apartment but she felt comfortable with the blankets up to her shoulders. For some reason, she felt better about sleeping with a sheet or a blanket covering her as she slept. Despite summer officially being over, it was not uncommon for hot weather to continue well into April. There was a ceiling fan and an air conditioner in the apartment. The ceiling fan was on low, circulating air around the bedroom.
There was a large digital clock in the room on the bedside table that was pointed away from the bed. If the clock with the big red numbers on it was pointed towards the woman, it might keep her awake if she was in a light sleep. In the past, she had found that with the clock pointed towards her, she would continually look towards it and wonder how long it would be before she was due to wake up. This was very annoying. It happened more often to her if she had to be awake early in the morning.
Caroline was in a deep sleep. She had been awaiting this day for months but she was not sure how she would sleep the night before. She did not take any sleeping tablets but she was tempted. It would have been totally understandable had she not been able to sleep as she had been looking forward to this day since she was a small child. Unlike many people that she knew, she was about to achieve her life-long dream. It was a dream that many people had tried to warn her against pursuing. They said that it was dangerous and that it was no place for a woman. Comments like that made Caroline more determined to do it. This afternoon was the start of a new part of her life. She would soon find out if all of the doubters were right or not. She wanted to prove them wrong.
The small bedroom had heavy curtains to try and block out the noise of the outside world as she needed to sleep when most of her surrounding world was awake. As a shift worker, she needed to be able to sleep when other people were awake. Living in an apartment was not ideal for this but it was all she could afford in the inner city. Because she was renting, she could not sound proof the apartment as much as she wanted. Ideally, she would love to have a roller shutter on every window. This would mean, however, that the remaining windows on other apartments on the block would also need them. Caroline would be quite happy to pay for her own shutters but not the shutters of the remaining apartments. There was a lot of compromises that Caroline had to make in order to be able to live where she did and be comfortable.
Suddenly, she heard a really loud buzzing noise. Despite being in a deep sleep, it was enough to jolt her out of her slumber. Groggily opening her eyes, she looked at the calendar attached to a cupboard door. It was the 1st of April but the calendar was still showing March with all 31 days crossed out. Looking at the calendar, she knew her day had arrived. Throwing the blankets back, Caroline slowly got out of bed. Her room was tidy so she did not trip over anything as she went to the bathroom. She thought to herself "I need a shower to wake myself up."
She lived alone so she did not find it strange to find a quiet apartment when she woke up. With her job, she preferred to live alone, even though she did have a steady boyfriend. It was easier for the moment for Caroline to live in her apartment and for Dave to live in his. Luckily for them, Dave and Caroline lived close to each other. They often alternated between each other's apartment and spent a lot of time together when they were not working. She was not the type of woman who needed to see Dave every day which suited both of their lifestyles. Not bothering to take a dressing gown to the bathroom, Caroline walked the short distance in her red satin pyjamas. She looked into the mirror and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.
She stretched her arms above her head and smiled at the reflection in the mirror. "I am placing you under arrest for being awesome" she said to the reflection. "You are not obliged to say or do anything but anything you say or do may be used as evidence against you. Do you
understand?" With a comical tone and a strange look on her face, the reflection replied "Anything you say, Officer."
After having a long shower, the bathroom was full of steam. A long shower was great after waking up. It was a bonus on a cool day. She was not a morning person. She hated going to bed like a little kid and hated waking up early. Sleeping in until lunchtime was heaven in her eyes, especially if she was working until 3am. A 3am finish meant she would go to sleep by around 5am. If she was doing a few 12 hour shifts in a row, she wanted to get at least 8 hours sleep. Caroline returned to her bedroom. Living alone and comfortable with her slim but curvy body, Caroline did not need to worry about using a towel for the short distance back to the bedroom. Even if Dave was around, she would have walked naked for that short distance.
Reaching into a drawer, she selected a matching lacy bra and pantie set and then shook her head. "Caroline, you numpty" she said out loud to no one, "You are going to work". Placing the lacy underwear back in the drawer, she went to the next drawer down and selected a sports bra and comfortable undies. After all, she did not know how far she would have to run today.
After putting her underwear on, Caroline reached to her dressing table and selected a black spray can. She firstly sprayed her underarms and then her back with deodorant and opened the big cupboard door. She selected a clothes hanger that had a sky blue shirt and navy blue cargo pants on the same hanger. She put the shirt on first, briefly looking at the shoulder patch and smiling. She especially liked the way she looked in the newer cargo pants female constables could wear now compared to the traditional policewoman's pants which added kilos to even the smallest bottom. Doing up the buttons, she walked over to her dressing table and picked up a name badge that said "Constable Caroline Clarke". She pinned the badge to her shirt, even though it was likely that soon, she'd have a new badge reading "City Central" and a number.
After making sure the badge was on straight, she sat down on the bed and put her navy blue pants and socks on. Reaching down to the bottom of her cupboard, she selected her army-style boots and placed them on her feet. Her boots were heavy but she was now used to them, having worn the same shoes throughout the majority of her course. With the long shifts, it was important that the shoes fit correctly, that they were comfortable and that she was able to run in them when required. It was likely that she might spend the majority of the shift on her feet so comfort was very important. Safety, of course, was an important consideration as well. The shoes needed to be tough.
"Almost ready", Caroline thought. She placed her new wallet complete with shiny new police badge in her pants pocket. Standing up, she walked to the coat rack in a corner of the room. She reached for the smaller of the two belts first and placed it around her waist. She needed to do this to make sure that her pants stayed up. The larger belt she reached for next was not to keep her pants up but contained most of the equipment she needed. She put the larger belt (called a duty belt) around her, attaching it to the smaller belt. The various pouches were empty because the contents (also called appointments) were waiting for her at the police station.
While the two belt arrangement might have been overkill at that moment, once all of her equipment was secured to the belt, two belts were essential. The larger belt would hold things like her gun, handcuffs, batons and assorted other items. Some officers called their duty belt their “hell belt”. It had been proven that the design of the belt and the ever increasing amount of things being attached to it was not good for an officer's health. Many people had stress related injuries due to their hell belts.
If she was on a station-based shift (for instance working on the station's enquiry counter) or at court, she would not be able to wear her duty belt so the inner belt was essential. The practice had been tried and tested over many years and worked well. At the end of the shift, Caroline would be able to take her hell belt off without being worried about her pants falling around her ankles.
Satisfied that she was completely dressed, she pulled the blankets up and made the bed quickly. Looking at the clock, she saw that it was now approaching 1pm. She lived a short drive from the police station and still had 2 hours before her 12 hour shift started at 3pm. But because this was her first day as a Police Officer and her first day at her new Police Station, she wanted to give herself extra time. Walking to the bathroom again, Caroline combed her medium length hair into a functional ponytail. She did not believe in wearing make-up to work because it would be next to useless if she sweated.
She did not want to known as a woman who was always looking at herself in the mirror or was powdering her nose while the local crooks were using her partner as a punching bag. Hopefully, the other women at her station felt the same way. Once someone had that sort of reputation, it was very hard to shake it. Many careers had been ruined by reputations and rumours, even if they were untrue. Mud stuck, even if it was thrown towards the wrong person for the wrong reasons. It was something that was stressed during her training, the importance of each person having trust in the rest of their team.
The noise of a ringing telephone filled the apartment. Running to her cordless phone on the kitchen table, she lifted the handset and held it to her ear. She was only expecting one call this morning and a quick glance at the phone's display confirmed the identity of the caller. It was clearly someone she wanted to talk to and not a telemarketer.
"Hey babe! What's doing?"
Luckily for Caroline, she knew that the person on the other end of the phone was her boyfriend, Dave. "I'm just calling to wish you good luck for your first day. I didn't wake you up, did I? Are you nervous about today?", he asked.
Dave and Caroline had met a few years ago. Like so many people in the current day, they met on the internet. It was a mere coincidence at the time that he was a police officer. Now, they were both cops. Luckily, they were working at different stations. Dave worked at the North Shore command based at Chatswood. It was very handy, though. Not many people understood what it was like to be a shift worker and fewer still understood what it was like to be in law enforcement. Cop on cop action might be a Hollywood cliche but in many cases, it worked fine.
Now that Caroline had finished her training, it would be interesting to see if their relationship changed. She had deliberately chosen not to work at Dave's station. During her training, she was able to choose a list of stations for her first posting. She did not tempt fate by selecting North Shore.
"Nah, I'm fine. I'm all dressed and ready to go. Can't wait to get started. I hope my partner is cool. I just want to get on the truck and pitch in. Gotta go, babe. I'm getting ready to head off. Talk later. Enjoy your day off. I'll be fine.", Caroline spoke into the phone. After a few moments of kissing noises, Caroline hung up the phone. She hoped to see Dave sometime over the weekend. If that was not possible, a few phone calls would have to do. As much as she wanted to talk to Dave, she had to cut the conversation short. Knowing her routine, he understood this.
Grooming complete, she walked into the bedroom again and went to the big cupboard again. She removed all her work uniforms from the cupboard and took them out to her living room, carefully placing them onto her lounge. Going back into her bedroom, she went back into her cupboard and grabbed a blue backpack. She placed some toiletries into the bag as well as what she called her street policing cap. It was important to her to make sure that she had spare uniforms and toiletries in her locker at work. It was not as if she was an office worker and one application of perfume was enough for the entire day.
She put on her official police hat that in the current day was used more for court appearances than anything else and went to the bathroom again. Caroline checked herself in the mirror and smiled. She gave herself a once-over look to make sure that she looked presentable and professional. Satisfied that she was looking smart and that she had not forgotten anything, she returned to the bedroom, picked up her backpack and walked back to the lounge room. Her excitement was building because she knew that she had to leave for work very soon.
The lounge room was small but it was home to Caroline. Devoid to photos and paintings, the only thing on the wall was the clock that now read 1.15pm. "I've still got enough time", she thought. Walking to the refrigerator, she opened it and looked inside briefly. She knew that she should probably eat something before she went to work. Reaching inside, she grabbed a large bottle of orange juice and poured herself a glass. "Do I eat something now?" she thought. "I don't want to get any food on my uniform" she said aloud to herself. "Mental note to self" saying to no one in particular, "Have breakfast then get dressed." Knowing there was no one in the apartment but her, she knew that it was pointless talking out loud but sometimes did that anyway for her own amusement.
The orange juice refreshed her somewhat but she knew that one glass was not going to be enough for the whole day. She also knew that drinking too much juice could mean too many visits to the toilet. Washing and drying her glass, she placed the backpack on her back and her coat hangered uniforms over one extended arm. After a quick search, she grabbed her small bunch of keys from the table, she looked around the room for a final time and left the apartment. She was doubly sure to lock the door, even though she lived in a quiet neighbourhood. She now knew through her training that criminals would often target quieter neighbourhoods some distance from their own.
Now outside, Caroline could see the outside world for the first time today. It was a bright and sunny day and she had no need for a jacket. The previous night, she had loaded her various work jackets into the boot of the car. She did not want to wear her uniform to and from work every day. She knew that even though she was close to work, the weather conditions could be different. Also, some types of assignments meant that she had to wear different items of clothing. It was not a good move to try to explain to her supervisor that she could not wear her high visibility gear because it was sitting at home in her cupboard in her bedroom.
For the first day at least, she took all she needed with her to place in her locker at the police station. She knew from her training that is what most people did. After all, a change of uniform at the station could be very handy if her uniform was damaged in any way mid shift. She knew that at least for one day a week, she would need to drive to work in order to bring her used uniforms home and wash them.
Looking around from her 4th floor vantage point, she could see a few local landmarks. She loved her local community but did not want to police there. She would much rather walk down the street as citizen Caroline Clarke in her local neighbourhood. Of course, she had been warned at the Police Academy that a Police Officer is truly never off-duty and that one day, you might have to enforce the law in your own street.
Caroline was happy with her posting at the City Central command rather than her local Harbourside command because it was busier. She had put in some hard yards during the last 6 months of training and study and wanted to put that to good use. She liked the vibe of the area that she was going to be policing as she was a true city girl.
Despite the stereotype, it was not common for new police officers to be sent out to the middle of beyond. Working in the metro area was an ideal learning environment. Some of her classmates had selected commands close to their homes so they would not have to drive long distances, especially at the end of a hard shift. With only 12 hours between shifts at times, it was very important to spend as little time travelling as possible to and from the police station.
Loading her car with her uniforms and backpack, she felt strange getting into her own car in uniform. Her car was an older model Toyota sedan and not the newer models that the police used for driving around in. She loved her car but she was undecided at this point about driving to work every day. She knew that parking was not going to be easy around the City Central Police Station. She had not been there as a part of her training so she did not know about things like parking, special entrances and places to eat around the station. During her training, she had (not by choice) spent time at quieter commands in the suburbs. This was one of the reasons that she preferred a busier command such as City Central.
It was an easy drive at the times she would be driving. She had not yet studied her public transport options but knew it would be a limited option, especially considering she was due to finish at 3am. She knew that getting a taxi at that time of the morning would be difficult. While it might be ok for the occasional trip, to do it every day would be very expensive.
Caroline started her car and reversed out of her underground parking spot. She reached out of her window and pushed a button for the car park door to open. The door opened and she drove out. The time on her stereo told her it was now 1.35pm. Knowing the traffic the way she did, she would be happy if she was at work at about 2.15pm. She had driven to the city from her apartment many times so she knew the best way to get there.
Before joining the police, Caroline had worked in a range of service industry jobs in the city. She had done some waitressing and bar work, often late at night. This often meant working when many people were out having fun. This would be no different in her new job. While in the past she had reason to call the police to deal with drunks, now she was the police. Her police training would have been very handy in her previous professions, especially with her bar work. She enjoyed the work but policing was her childhood dream. Besides, a government job paid better and policing was a recession proof industry.
With the radio on a rock music station, she was singing along to the music that she loved. Occasionally she was stopped at the traffic lights and someone in another car would give her a strange look. She thought it was because of her singing but then realised that it could be because of the uniform that she was wearing. Fortunately, she had remembered to take her police hat off while driving. The old style police hat was not one that you could wear driving as it would add an inch or two to your height and was uncomfortable to wear from long periods.
While heading towards the city, Caroline saw that there was a lot of traffic heading out of the city. She then remembered that many people in Sydney would be taking a long weekend for Easter. She was one of the unlucky ones that was rostered to work every day over Easter but she thought of the extra money she would get. Yes, even Police Officers think of their wages from time to time. Many people had seemingly got an early start to their long weekend as they headed out of Sydney in the general direction of the North Shore and the Central Coast.
She was not religious and if she had to work, she had to work. Policing did not observe public holidays where everything shuts down like happens in other industries. In fact, public holidays often added to the workload as many people took advantage of having a 3 day weekend. This also included treating tonight's Thursday shift like a Friday night because that is what many of the punters would do. They just saw tonight as an extra night to party.
Suddenly, her phone started to ring. It took her by surprise because she had already spoken to Dave and he knew she was going to work. It should not have been the police station calling because she was not due in yet to start her shift. Reaching over to the phone which was in a cradle in near the car stereo, an excited voice filled Caroline's car. For the moment, though, the excited female voice was competing with the music from the radio.
“Hang on, babe!” Caroline shouted, trying to get her voice heard over that of the singer of Guns n Roses, Axl Rose. Quite appropriately for today, he was singing one of her favourite songs, “Welcome To The Jungle”.
“Hey! How you doing?” Caroline asked the female caller. It was her best friend of the last six months, Megan Dean. Out of all of the women that Caroline met during her 6 months of training, Megan was the one who she got on best with in both a professional and a social way. It was handy that they lived in the same part of the city. The course was a weekday residential course however people did have the option to return home on weekends. Caroline wanted to return home to see Dave and Megan was a good study buddy and friend.
Megan sounded very excited. Today was also her first day on the beat however she was stationed at Manly. Reasonably close to Caroline's house in a opposite direction, Manly is a busy command, mostly in a tourist area. Once described as 7 miles away from the city but a million miles away from care, Manly was an anti-social hotspot especially late at night. Even though it was relatively close to the city, the layout of the area meant that transport was not ideal. To get to the city, there was the choice of a long bus ride or a ferry ride across Sydney Harbour. The police station was close to Megan's home which is what she wanted. She loved the beach and coastal lifestyle after many years of working in the western suburbs.
“Guess what, Clarkey?”, Megan squealed down the phone. Without waiting for Caroline to answer, Megan continued the conversation. “I got my first arrest this morning!” All of the students in the class wanted to get straight into action. Caroline knew that Megan was excited and with good reason.
“What happened? Tell me all about it!”
“We got called to a shoppie (police slang for shoplifter – someone who steals from shops) and the Senior let me do the arrest. Young mother decided to use her baby's stroller as a shopping trolley and not pay for the stuff. She turned it on, too. What about you? Are you on the scoreboard yet?”
“Nah, not yet. I'm just heading to Central now for day 1. I'm on at 3. Shouldn't be too long, though. I can't see us going too long without taking someone back. If I can't do it there, I can't do it anywhere. I guess it depends on if I'm just licking the windows or not. You know me, Megoo! I'll be fine! Catch you soon for a drink, yeah? I'm nearly at work. I'll text you when I get my first body.”
“I'll look out for you on TV! Stay safe, babe!”
“See ya later! Congrats on the collar!”
Concentrating on the road once more, Caroline always enjoyed driving her car over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Regularly, she would see the trains cross the bridge while she was stuck in traffic and thought that the train driver had better luck with the traffic than her. Sometimes she wondered what it would be like to be a train driver. Were there many female train drivers working? How did the male drivers treat the female drivers? How did the female drivers cope with the shift work? Was the shift work better or worse there than with her job?
Caroline knew that in the event of a major accident on the Bridge, the traffic would be screwed for hours. She presumed that police from Harbourside command would come from the north while The Rocks command would come from the south. She also knew that depending on the workload, the size of the accident and the location of a car from her command, City Central, might go there as well.
The Coathanger (as the Sydney Harbour Bridge was often called) was a Sydney landmark known the world over. It consisted of 2 train tracks and 8 lanes of road traffic. The direction of some lanes varied depending on the time of the day. Partly for this reason, there was no centre divider. When Caroline drove over the bridge, she tried to keep away from the centre lanes as much as possible. Surprisingly though, there were not many head on accidents.
Apart from accidents, breakdowns were a huge problem on the Harbour Bridge. There were traffic cameras and dedicated breakdown crews on hand to try to keep the traffic moving. There was an alternative route in the form of the Sydney Harbour Tunnel which ran parallel to the Harbour Bridge but the usefulness of the tunnel was limited. It was a great alternative if you were heading to the eastern suburbs or some parts of the city but if you were looking to head to the western parts of the city, it was useless. There were other ways to cross the harbour to avoid the city altogether which required someone to head to the west before selecting the required southbound route. For many people, though, the Sydney Harbour Bridge was the way to get into the city.
With the traffic lighter than she thought it would be, it was a pleasant surprise to be earlier than her prediction of 2.15pm. It was 2.06pm when she drove past her new home away from home for the first time. Turning into a side street, she saw a few spaces vacant with a sign saying "Police Vehicles Only". She knew she was a Police Officer but still did not want to park there. There was a car parked in a space with the usual police stripes that had CI35 on the doors. She knew that car was known on the radio as City 35 and wondered if that was the car she would be riding in shortly. "Hi, City 35", she said out loud to herself as she went by.
Turning a couple of corners into a street parallel to the police station, she was lucky to find a 30 minute parking spot. Hopefully that would be all she would need. Her plan was to park the car and walk to the station and introduce herself to her boss. He hopefully would tell her where to park so she could go back to the car and unload her uniforms. She parked the car and went to the parking meter. The sign said it would cost $3 for 30 minutes at the time of the day she was parking. Reaching into her pocket, she grabbed some gold coins and placed it into the machine. The machine printed out a ticket which she placed onto the dashboard of the car.
Remembering to grab her hat off the passenger's seat, she locked the car and walked down the hill to the station. The parking gods were looking after Caroline today. She recalled going to a party in nearby Surry Hills on a Saturday night and spending 60 minutes looking for a legal car parking space. If for some strange reason that she was not able to park at the station, she was prepared to park in a long term parking station for tonight before working on a Plan B for the future. All day on street parking was impossible in the city centre. During the morning and afternoon peak hours, every available lane would be needed to get everyone to where they needed to be.
Clearways, Transit Lanes and Bus Lanes were important tools that were needed to keep traffic moving as much as possible. Many people did not consider this when parking their vehicles. Depending on the location, each parking spot could have several different parking restrictions each day. Sometimes, it would be essential to spend 30 seconds looking at the sign and looking at the time to see if it was legal to park in that space.
******
Chapter 2 – Welcome to Central, Caroline!
2.30pm, Thursday 01 April 2010
Approaching the City Central Police Station, she could see the size of the building. At the time, she did not know how much of the building was used by the police and how much was leased out to other companies. She knew that this station was the most important station in the city apart from the nearby Sydney Police Centre. The front door of the station was not very inviting. It was not bright and cheery at all. Black tiles surrounded the front door with “City Central Police” in silver letters to one side.
Apart from the glass door itself, the most noticeable feature was the blue and white checker board sticker that had been placed to one side of the door from the ground to the height of the door. It was almost as if the sticker had been placed their as an afterthought. For the casual passer-by, the biggest clue to the building was the surrounding police vehicles. There was a dedicated parking area for police vehicles outside the front of the station on Day Street as well as in a side alley.
Taking one last breath, Caroline walked towards the front door which opened automatically for her. In what looked like a doctor's waiting room, she saw a few people waiting for service. Some were sitting down, some were standing still. Others paced around like an expectant father at a maternity hospital. She saw a counter with a sign above it that said "Welcome" in white writing on a dark blue background with the traditional blue and white checker board at the bottom. She walked to the counter and after taking a deep breath, she said her first word in the station.
"G'day."
At the counter was a male uniformed Police Officer. Somehow, that did surprise her somewhat even though she was in a police station and she was a uniformed Police Officer herself. She did not exactly know who she would see at the counter when she arrived. During her training, she had been in other stations and knew that they all had the same basic structure. The male police officer was also shocked to see her approach the counter. All of the local officers just walked straight into the restricted area behind the counter.
"I'm Caroline Clarke", she said. "It's my first day here today. I need to see the Shift Supervisor, please".
The middle aged Senior Constable looked at her and smiled. "I'm Senior Constable David Jones but you can call me DJ. I'll see if James is available for you. Go to the door on your left and I'll buzz you in".
Caroline looked to her left and saw a door just as DJ had described. She heard a click and took that as her cue to pull the handle. DJ was waiting for her at the door and the pair shook hands firmly.
"First day? Where were you stationed at before?"
Caroline took this to mean that he thought that she was transferring from one station to another. The few months of wearing the uniform at the Police Academy meant that the uniform was still fresh but did not have that first day look about it. "This is my first day out of the Academy." Caroline said. "I'm really looking forward to working here. I did some time at Gladesville and Sutherland during the course but I came here because I like the city. Those two areas were too quiet for me!"
DJ walked down a corridor with many doors on either side. Caroline followed him, glancing at the names on the doors. She knew she would get a station tour at some point. DJ stopped at a door marked "Shift Supervisor" and knocked on the door in the traditional policeman knock.
"Come in" said an older voice that Caroline could hear but not see. DJ walked in first and Caroline stayed behind, not knowing if she should enter or not. DJ turned around and did not see Caroline next to or behind him. Maybe she had not heard the older man over the constant din of the Police Radio that was playing on all the speakers in the station. DJ stuck his head outside and whispered "You can come in, Caroline". Nervously, she walked into the door with a half grin on her face.
"Good afternoon, sir", Caroline said to the older man behind the desk. Looking at his shoulder insignia, she knew he was a Senior Sergeant. Knowing someone's rank by simply looking at them was an important skill, especially as a new officer. Different ranks demanded different protocol when speaking with them. A junior officer needed to know who they were dealing with in the chain of command. Caroline was desperate to make a good first impression with the first person of supervisor rank that she met. "I'm Probationary Constable Caroline Clarke. It's my first day here."
The Senior Sergeant extended his hand to Caroline and they shook hands. "Hi, Caroline. I've been expecting you. Good to see you here early. I'm James Thomas, one of the Shift Supervisors here. You don't have to call me sir unless you get in trouble." How a supervisor addressed a junior officer was often an indication of their management style. Some were very formal while others were very relaxed. At the moment, James seemed to be heading towards relaxed rather than super formal.
James turned his attention to DJ. "Thanks, DJ. I'll get Caroline started here and get her to come and see you shortly to show her around." Obviously, DJ had been at Central for a long time and had James' respect and trust. Otherwise, he might have called him “David” or “Senior Constable Jones”. DJ turned and left the room to return to his counter.
Returning his attention to his new officer, he quizzed her. "So, what brings you to City Central?"
Caroline looked around the room and saw that it was fairly typical of a Shift Supervisor's office. It was devoid of personality because all of the Shift Supervisors used the same office. "I like the city" she stated with a higher pitched voice than she normally would. "I thought that I'd like to be placed in the suburbs but the course changed that for me. I want to get right into the action. I don't want to be sitting around doing nothing. I'm eager to get out onto the truck and get the job done with the crew."
"Okie dokie" James said. "But before we turn you loose on the very unsuspecting citizens of Sydney, let's get the paperwork sorted." He knew that Caroline was coming so he had what she needed in a large plastic bag. "You don't have your appointments and firearm with you, do you?".
She shook her head. He got up out of his chair and for the first time, she could see how tall James really was. He was a man-mountain. He walked over to the filing cabinet and unlocked it. He reached into a drawer and found a large yellow courier style plastic envelope marked "P/Cst Clarke" which he lifted out and placed on the table. He sat back down and reached for the large plastic bag. He handed the bag to Caroline and said "take all the stuff out and place it onto the table here". She did so and her eyes widened when she saw her new name badge and official police identification badge. James could see her eyes looking at the badge and said "Put it on if you like".
Caroline replaced her generic badge with one that read "Constable Caroline Clarke" on one line and "City Central LAC" on the next. She grabbed the ID and placed it into her police wallet which was now complete once it had the ID in it. Anyone could steal a police badge and while many people did not ask to see ID, they could if they wanted to. She knew that was usually not necessary, especially if she was in uniform. James handed her another card which was a proximity card which allowed her to access various parts of the station. He handed her various other bits and pieces including a box of business cards to give to victims and witnesses, a locker key and various forms.
She placed these on the table and saw James reach over to the yellow bag. He ripped it open and handed her some handcuffs, pepper spray, ammunition and her gun. It was the same gun that she used at the academy but the Police Force did not want their students taking their guns home any more. Now that she was at City Central, she could keep her gear at the station in her locker. A small part of each locker was specifically for their weapon and ammunition.
James looked at Caroline and said "Have you got all your bits and pieces now?" meaning her handcuffs, gun, bullets, extendible baton & gloves. She nodded. "I need you to sign this paperwork for all that stuff. Once you've done that, we can get you settled in before your briefing."
Each form looked the same to Caroline but she knew that they were for different purposes. She would soon learn how much time that an officer would spend on paperwork. One form was for her timekeeper so he would know that she had graduated and was at City Central. She signed for her appointments, her ID and proximity cards and also filled him her personal details. "Did you drive today?" James asked. Caroline nodded. "Go grab your car and park it in the Van Dock. On your way out, grab DJ to give you a hand."
She shook James' hand and said "Thank you sir....I mean James". James smiled. He was used to seeing people on their first day at work. He knew they would be a little nervous. It was his job to ease their nerves.
Caroline turned and left the office and headed back to the counter. She bumped into DJ in the corridor and asked him "Are you busy, DJ? I'm ready for the tour now. James asked me to ask you to give me a hand and show me where to park." The two cops left the station through the front door. DJ enjoyed mentoring new police to the station and he also enjoyed the sun as he had not been outside for a few hours.
Caroline led DJ to her car and luckily, she had a couple of minutes remaining on the meter. A parking fine would have been the last thing Caroline needed on her first day. Years ago, Police solely enforced the parking rules so if the cop knew Caroline's car, he might have ignored it. But today, the Sydney City Council's Rangers would be writing the ticket quicker than Caroline could introduce herself. Nor did she fancy taking the Infringement Notice to her Commander. More than likely, he would tell her just to pay the fine.
After a short walk, the two police officers climbed into Caroline's car. To the outsider, it might have looked like the old cop and the new cop were going out on patrol. DJ directed Caroline around the corner to a dead end street with a huge garage door at the end. Caroline stopped at the boom gate before the door not knowing what to do. DJ told her the combination for the keypad and she punched it in. The boom gate opened and the garage door copied. DJ pointed out where the entrance to the charge room and holding cells were adding "Don't park anywhere near there. We park our own cars on the other side. The crooks sometimes hit the cars as we bring them in."
Caroline saw the assortment of other cars and knew that this where she should park. She found a spot and parked the car. DJ told her not to worry about her spare uniforms straight away. "They'll be right here for the moment. You don't want to be late for the briefing on your first day, do you?" He laughed. She wanted to laugh back but was not sure if she should or not. She was deadly serious about turning up on time and being ready to go on time. The last thing that her supervisors wanted was an officer to be running late for work.
Caroline looked at the clock in the car and saw that it was 2.50pm. She was glad she came in early. She grabbed her backpack and one set of uniforms and followed DJ to a separate door away from the Charge Room door near her parking spot. "Don't go through the Charge Room door unless you have a prisoner" DJ said. "The Custody Sergeants don't like that. And this way is shorter."
She swiped her card next to the reader and heard the tell-tale click. She pulled the door and her and DJ entered. DJ motioned to the left and they walked. "I want to give you the full tour, Caroline, but we have to be at the briefing in a sec." They walked past the Briefing Room door, which DJ pointed out. A bit further down, there was a door marked Break Room. Behind this door was where the cops wound down. It was very noisy behind that door.
Many war stories and the solutions to every problem known to man were usually hot discussion topics in this room. While they could not usually spend the whole shift in the room, it was important that there was a space for them to be able to relax with each other out of public view. The supervisors somewhat encouraged this.
DJ and Caroline continued down the corridor, the Police Radio constantly blaring in the background. None of the voices were familiar to Caroline. Over time, she would get to know the various voices at both ends of the radio. At the end of the corridor, there were two doors. One was marked Male Locker Room and the other was marked Female Locker Room. DJ motioned to the Female Locker Room and said "Your locker is in there. I don't think I need to show you where it is in there, do I? Dump your stuff then come to the briefing room. I'll see you there in a minute or two."
Caroline swiped her card again and the door was unlocked. She reached into her pocket where she had placed her locker key. She saw the locker key was marked 42. She found locker 42 and placed her belongings in the locker. She looked forward to being able to personalise it a bit later. There was another door in the room where Caroline could hear female voices. "Time to get social later" she thought, "I have to get to the briefing room."
She closed her locker and placed the locker key on her keyring with her house and car keys before thinking twice about that. She did not want to take her keys on patrol with her. She attached her locker key to her handcuff keys instead, locking the house and car keys in the locker.
Turning around, she left the locker room and headed back to the briefing room. It was 2.59pm. She had made it. Now she was going to meet her crew and find out what she was going to do for the day. She fully expected to be put onto the counter with DJ until his shift ended in 3 hours but preferred to be on patrol. At the very least, she wanted to know where everything in the station was. Naturally, it would take more than a short moment in time to fully get her bearings around the station and around the city.
Caroline held her police issue baseball cap nervously in her left hand. She took a deep breath and pushed the briefing room door with her right hand. Thankfully, she thought, the room was empty. This did surprise her a little because at the Academy, she was always told that 3pm was 3pm, not 3.01pm or 3.05pm. Being on time was something that Caroline had always taken seriously.
She noticed that the chairs were lined up in rows but there were no tables. The chairs were facing a wall which featured a large map of City Central's command area. She could see on the map that The Rocks command was to the north. Surry Hills and Kings Cross were to the east and Redfern was to the south. To the west was Glebe but she was not expecting to cross Darling Harbour too often to be in Glebe's area. Out of her neighbours, Glebe was the quietest command, especially compared to the others.
Soon enough, several Police Officers entered the room at the last possible second. Most of them were younger officers as City Central was often seen as a transit lounge between the Academy and the suburbs. More experienced officers such as DJ loved policing the city and mentoring younger police. One such example of an experienced female officer stood in front of her now.
"Hi, Caroline" said Sergeant Sabrina Simpson. "I'm Sabrina, I'll be your Shift Supervisor this afternoon. Are you settled in? Do you have everything you need?" Sabrina looked up and down at Caroline and said "You look ready."
Sabrina was one of the few female Shift Supervisors in the Inner Metropolitan Region. She had been a Police Officer for 20 years and had seen major changes in the police force over that time. Times had changed for Sabrina and unlike many (but not all) of her male colleagues of a similar age, she was able to embrace change. To her, it did not matter that she was a shorter woman and that she was not as strong as her fellow male officers.
She learnt early on that it was not how quick you were to punch on with an offender but how you spoke to people. She was empathetic towards people and was able to talk her way out of problems while other people were talking themselves into trouble. She could have chosen to take on the easier day shift but she enjoyed being where the action is. At City Central there was always action but it was often a lot busier in the afternoon and nights.
"I just need to check and load my gun", Caroline said. "Otherwise, I'm good. I still don't know exactly where everything in the station is yet but I'll be fine. It's a lot bigger than it looks from the outside!"
The room suddenly got a lot louder as it started to fill up as the afternoon shift gathered for their daily briefing. Sometimes it was a simple briefing but considering it was Caroline's first day, today's briefing would not be short. Sabrina ignored the noisy bunch as she was still talking with Caroline.
"I'll tell you shortly what car you are on. Once the brief is finished, get your stuff together. Bring your high vis vest. Welcome to City Central, Caroline. If you need anything, let me or one of the other supervisors know. You'll be fine."
“Thanks, Sergeant. It's nice to meet you.” Caroline said, somewhat formally. It was good manners to be polite to the more senior officers using their title until they said otherwise.
“Let's keep the formal stuff to around the public. Call me Sabrina.” Caroline smiled. Having a female supervisor on shift was not something that Caroline had experienced during her training. It was a pleasant surprise. It would take her some time to get to know all of the officers at the station across all the shifts. In time, she might be able to stay on the same shifts all the time however it was usual practice to alternate between shifts. Caroline hoped that she could stay on afternoon shifts but knew that this might not be possible, especially initially.
Moving to address the whole group gathered before her, Sabrina said "Good afternoon, team. First things first, we have a new probie (police shorthand for a Probationary Constable). Please make Caroline feel welcome. It's her first day out of Goulburn."
A murmur filled the room as most people said hi to Caroline all at once. Some of the male officers seemed to be very happy to see her. Caroline looked around the room, not exactly sure where to focus her attention. She scanned the room quickly before returning her attention to Sabrina at the front of the room.
"As you all know, it is the day before the Easter weekend", Sabrina continued. "Every man and his dog is going to be out there drinking tonight and they don't care about tomorrow. So expect tonight to be like a Friday or Saturday night. You all know the usual trouble spots."
Caroline must have had a strange expression on her face because Sabrina amended her previous statement after looking in Caroline's direction.
“OK then, everyone except for Caroline knows all the usual trouble spots. And I'm sure that by the end of the long weekend, she'll know them as well.”
Caroline looked at the map behind Sabrina. There was a blue star for each of the local commands and out stations. While City Central was a big station, smaller satellite stations under the station's control were located at Town Hall and Central. The various railway station were marked with a gold circle. Various red triangles were seemingly randomly placed on the map. "Maybe someone will explain the map to me later", Caroline thought.
"As most of you know, the media have been all over late night alcohol related violence here in the inner city, especially the Terrorgraph."
This was as close to humour in a briefing that Sabrina got, giving the biggest newspaper in the city a nickname. Sabrina did not wait for someone to laugh at her joke. She was not known for her humour in briefings but already had said two things that could have been considered funny.
"The public will expect to see us out there tonight. Remember officer safety. Look out for each other.” A couple of officers behind Caroline coughed. “Because if we don't look after each other, don't expect Joe Public to!”
Caroline looked around the room at her new work mates while Sabrina was talking. She was wondering who she could or could not trust on the street. They were probably doing exactly the same thing about her. She was merely the latest newest officer to work through the doors. Her mind drifted over to visualising classmate Megan's first arrest. Caroline hoped that it would go smoothly as she had heard many stories from various officers about their first arrest.
“F-Y-I", Sabrina spelt out, "the Commuter Crime Unit or whatever they call themselves this week are doing a high vis operation with a drug dog at Central Railway. If you get called there by Radio, please wear your high vis vest if you can.”
If anyone was counting, that was the third non serious thing that Sabrina had said in the few minutes that she had been talking. There was an element of truth to her statement, though. Older specialist areas such as the Water Police were now known as the Marine Area Command and new specialists such as the Public Order & Riot Squad were coming into the police vernacular on a regular basis. The Commuter Crime Unit used to be known as the Transit Police.
The Commuter Crime Unit were police dedicated to working on the crime on the city's various transport systems. Mainly concentrating on the city's railway stations and trains, they could also travel on buses and ferries. They were trained to the same standards as all of the officers that were sitting in Sabrina's foreground and could be called to assist her officers at any time. Some people decided to move out of General Duties policing as quick as they could into specialist areas while others were quite happy to stay. Caroline had not thought about a specialist area yet which was a wish decision at the early stage of her career.
Sabrina continued her briefing. “In addition, Highway are doing RBT outside the Town Hall later tonight. We might need 35 and 36 to give them a hand with the tests. I'll know more when the operation briefing happens a little later at 8pm. I'll let you know if you are needed later, 35 & 36.”
Usually, Highway Patrol officers from around the region would conduct an operation on long weekends such as the Easter weekend which was about to start. Random Breath Testing (RBT) was something that had to be done if there was time to do it. Emergency calls had to come first however RBT statistics were important to higher ranking people than Sabrina. It then became Sabrina's problem which meant that it became City 35 & City 36's problem.
“Unless radio or I tell you otherwise, all medium and high range charges from that operation will go to Surry Hills, Trucks. I think we'll be busy enough here. They'll handle the low range people themselves because they should have the big booze bus with them. We'll only have to take the ones who need to dry out for a while."
She looked at a sheet of paper in her hand. "Alright guys, here's your assignments. It's pretty much the same as yesterday's." Caroline's ears pricked up. She had not had a chance to meet anyone else yet because she had been talking to Sabrina, DJ & James. "For Caroline's benefit, wave when I call you, please. I don't need to remind everyone what it was like for them on their first day here, do I?" In a roll call style fashion, Sabrina read the assignments. She knew that they were there and they did not have to answer their name.
Each vehicle usually had 2 people listed. One was the driver of the vehicle and the other was the passenger and radio operator. Normally if both officers had the same driving classification, they would decide between them who drove the vehicle. As long as they followed the rules, Sabrina personally did not mind who drove. But on other shifts with other supervisors, the first person name for a vehicle was the person who drove and was responsible for the car. The driver drove the car and the other officer would be responsible for using the radio, doing pursuit commentaries, doing person and vehicle checks. It was usually the passenger who was the first person out of the vehicle in case of a traffic stop or a foot pursuit.