Same Old Same Old

I'm just home off an unusually Q night shift (still in work mode so I can't say the Q word) in which I've probably worked on less than a dozen jobs. 

On almost all of them, I knew what to expect before I'd even read the job, just from the location field which is the first I see of a new job sent to us from the call centre.

On the couple that I couldn't immediately predict from the location, I read the job and knew what we had from the name that appeared either as the informant or within the first few lines of free text.

I tend to move around areas a lot, and a couple of times I knew what was happening on other desks just from overhearing a couple of words those operators were giving out on their channels.

It's amazing how much of our work is generated by the same few individuals.

I know from friends in other "caring" professions that any ambulance controller/A&E doctor/mental health professional/social worker would tell you exactly the same thing.

The Thin Blue Middle Line

So, a new bit of paper has come out containing wisdom which will affect all our jobs and futures.  This link opens it as a .pdf.

As a rule - and I'll admit to some bias here - I'm quite a big fan of front-line and visible policing, so the title pleased me.

I was slightly less pleased to learn that I apparently work in a "middle-office" - whatever one of those is, I've never heard the term before.  I've always considered the 999 call centre and the Force Control Room indispensable parts of the front line.  I find myself reconsidering my place in my little world.