4 hours Ago
It’s 11.30pm, pitch black, freezing cold and we’re driving into woods in Stanmer Park. At this time, I’m usually out for the count or, if I’m feeling wild, tucked up with a cup of chamomile and a good book.
But late on an afternoon this week I joined PC Emma Aylen and Jodie Sullivan on a shift responding to incidents across Brighton and Hove. It’s not every day you get the opportunity to glimpse into someone else’s working life – it’s a rare privilege, and this was a rather enlightening one too. Emma and Jodie feature on Channel 4’s latest series of Night Coppers, a series which follows officers from dusk till dawn, seeing how they handle everything from bloody nightclub bottlings to attempted suicides and sexual assaults in the city.
I arrived at the station at 3pm and was quickly ushered into a briefing in which officers are primed on missing people, arrest warrants and so on. There was such an onslaught of acronyms and jargon, that I came out no wiser than if I had sat through a lesson on ancient hieroglyphics. As we waited for a car to become available, I sat down with Emma and Jodie to get to know a bit more about them.
Emma has spent 29 years with the police – 21 with the Met and then the remainder with Sussex Police, while Jodie is coming up to 5 years with the force. Jodie joined because she had “always wanted to do a uniform job”, but also because she liked the idea of “making a change in the place you live in”. What’s the toughest part of the job? “Dealing with the more emotional parts is a challenge”, Jodie says.
“You’re seeing people on their worst day. Sometimes you might have to deliver news of the death of a loved one to family. “People look to us to be professional, and everyone is looking at you to be the one to deal with it, but we’re human too.
” No two hours are the same in the police (Image: The Argus) I wonder what the differences are between life in the Met, compared to Brighton. “Brighton is like a teeny tiny London. There are lots of people living here but far fewer officers so there are the same pressures – in fact it’s often harder than in the Met.
” But Emma has seen the landscape change, even in the eight years she has been an officer in Brighton. County lines – in which drug dealers in major cities establish networks for the supply and sale of drugs to users in towns and rural areas, using other people (typically those who are young or vulnerable) to carry, store, and sell the drugs – were “almost unheard of” when she first came to the force. Now it’s a major issue.
Similarly, she tells me, knife crime “wasn’t really prevalent” back in 2017. The same is not true today. Jodie and Emma acknowledge there is strong anti-police sentiment today and admit it’s easy to get frustrated and “bogged down by it”.
“The people we come into contact with generally aren’t keen on us,” Emma says. And then there are the other misconceptions: that the police have more time than they do – I didn’t see the officers even take a loo break for five hours – that they choose which laws to enforce – “why aren’t they out catching the murderers?” is a common call – or even that there is some glamour to the job. Rest assured, Emma says, there is no glamour to the job.
Glamour, perhaps not, but interest and diversity abound in the role. “No two days are the same”, I say to Emma. “No two hours are the same,” comes the wry reply.
So why did Emma join? “I like a rule, I like a uniform. I couldn’t work behind a desk – it would drive me bonkers. When I had a car crash, I spent 18 months behind a desk.
The most traumatic thing that ever happened was someone’s stapler being stolen.” Eventually a car is sourced, and I pile into the back – the first time, you’ll be relieved to hear, I have ever been in a police car. The first port of call is a visit to two hostels for welfare checks, but the individuals cannot be found.
So far, so quiet. Next, we’re called to a domestic incident. A woman has called the police to say her stepfather has become drunk and disorderly and tried to take her phone.
When we arrive at the house, Emma and Jodie go in to talk to the wife and daughter, but the stepfather has left the house. Then his wife sees he has just made a card payment at a nearby hotel, so next we’re off to the rather dated establishment where he has checked in. This looks like the kind of place where people conduct sordid affairs.
I linger at the end of a corridor as I hear Emma and Jodie speak to the husband. No crime has been committed, so this is about safeguarding. So much of what the police do is risk management, working with vulnerable people, responding to mental health episodes and wading into people’s private lives and homes – it’s not all cops and robbers.
“Unless it’s fire or medical, everything else is us”, Emma says. Next a report is made that a young man is on top of a building and experiencing suicidal feelings. Dolly the drone, as Emma likes to call her, is sent whizzing up over the rooftops in search of the man, but he can’t be seen.
Moments later, he emerges at the door of the building and police officers spend some time with him. The suicidal feelings have passed, and he is feeling calm. Security at the Brighton Centre had trouble on their hands (Image: The Argus) But there is no time to stop for a loo break or a coffee.
Emma is looking up Sean Paul songs and Jodie passes a bar of Galaxy between the three of us as we head over to the Brighton Centre, where the Get Busy rapper is performing. By now the sun has disappeared behind the clouds and darkness is falling as girls totter precariously in heels into the venue. The security has been having trouble with underage fans trying to get into the venue without an adult chaperone.
Some have been pretending they are with strangers in the queue and there are allegations of pickpocketing. The youths in question have recently absconded, but we head over to the back door where a group of young people are being held before ID can be obtained to prove they can chaperone an underage boy. One boy says his mum is on the way with ID, and in due course she pulls up and Jodie heads over for a chat.
All is ok, and as we get back into the car it’s time to get the siren on and blue light it to Ditchling Beacon. A woman's car has been seen at the beauty spot, and it is feared she is intending to take her own life. MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) has sent over a helicopter, the dog unit arrive on scene accompanied by dozens of police cars and a swarm of officers.
Officers scour the area in the bitter cold, but after 40 minutes Jodie returns to the car and says the woman has still not been located. Officers had a huge area to search at Ditchling Beacon (Image: Dave Mason) With such a huge area to cover and with every service at the police’s disposal deployed, they are doing everything they can, but it’s not going to be easy. Things are not looking good.
We drive to the woods in Stanmer Park, which has a distinctly eerie feel, where another search is conducted. After 40 minutes, the officers return with boots and trousers caked in mud. It’s good news.
The woman has been found, and while panicked, is not hurt. There is enormous relief all round. This is a tough gig, make no mistake.
Anti-social hours, working flat out with no breaks and emotionally and physically draining work all under the constant critique and commentary from the public and press. Not many people can say their job involves fear. Stress, yes, but fear no.
And the “twitch”, as Emma likes to call it, is something she still feels after 29 years. It’s not for the faint-hearted. A few weeks ago, Emma had to attend a scene where a body was decomposing in a tent.
Jodie was on the scene for two suicides in one month. But there is a huge sense of camaraderie amongst the officers. Jodie says they are “very tight knit” and that’s clear to see.
I loved chatting with Emma and Jodie in the car and despite the sadness of so much of what they were dealing with, there was still plenty of laughs. And of course, the one thing this is not is boring. It’s diverse, fast paced and dynamic.
So many people watch the hands of the clock inch their way around the face at work, willing them to go faster. There isn’t much clock-watching here. As we pick up a steaming pile of chips near the pier, Emma explains to the man behind the till that she has spent two hours in the cold, walking through mud on Ditchling Beacon in search of a missing person.
“I’m not charging you for those”, he says. It's heartening to see there is still appreciation amongst the public for the work these officers do and as I finally head home, weary-eyed, I'm glad for people like Emma and Jodie. The new run of Night Coppers will start at 9pm on Tuesday 6 May.
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