The first Pandas

[mike-g]

Taken at Tally Ho, Im in there someware olice:

Some of the 130 Panda Cars of Birmingham City Police Force July 1967

 

[Alf]

Thats when we first lost our Bobby on the Beat was Castle Vale where the first Pandy was spotted olice:

 

[Frantic]

Great pic Mike....were they the A40s ?

 

[mike-g]

Yes Frantic A40s. The Inspctor got a Black one with no markings

 

[Alberta]

My Father was one of 12 (if my memory is correct) Motorcycle cops who rode BSA Gold Flashes in the early 50s.There was a photo of them, in the Mail, leaving Duke Street for the first time,it was snowing heavily.

There had been Motorcycle police before in Brum but they had ridden the much less powerful Velocette,which were little more than a moped.

During his time on the bikes Dad acted as an outrider to dignatories on many occasions.The two that I remember most were,when he had to spend a week in the Elan valley preparing for the Queens opening of the Claerwen Dam.I believe it was quite a feat to be an outrider on the narrow Welsh roads leading to the Dam.

The other occasion was the visit to Birmingham of President Kruschev and prime minister Bulganin from the USSR.It was a very delicate time between Britain and the USSR and security was very tight.
Dozens of plain clothes officers were brought in from London and billeted with local officers.

 

[Eric Gibson]

On the subject of police transport, a mate of mine was in the accident hospital with a fractured femur, 30 patients in the ward, seven of them police constables with damaged ankles.
They had been issued with scooters, Vespas or Lambrettas I think and had wrecked their ankles putting their foot down outside the wide footplate when stopping. E.

 

[Frantic]

Someone mentioned the old Velocette LE or "Noddy" bike as it was commonly known. What a great bike it was, water cooled, and very quiet. Great for creeping up on kids playing football in the street. When they were eventually de-commissioned, I think, nearly all of them were bought by the P.B.Os (permanent beat officers) who rode them. I tried to get one myself but to no avail.

 

[A.Willoughby]

Time to swing the lamp and cause a possible discussion, but in my mind the advent of the 'Panda Car' was the advent of the bobby losing contact with his public.
It was not my realm but recall it being said you needed a shoe horn to get the blokes out of them to speak to people.
Great pity, and I know there were exceptions, but the force has never won back the ground it had with people in the days prior and it became 'Them and Us' syndrome.
Still this is a question of 'self discipline' of the officers and senior officers but then that can be another box of worms.
Will.

 

[Astonian]

hi kenyon st . joking,, wil. you never said a true word , about the panda car, its made our police force sloppy , and idle , and i blame the senior officiers for the lack of attention of the officiers, i think its a kids force now , join now at sixteen , the police was ran very regimental in those days ,and the sargents was in control walking the beat checking officiers ,. where they was , the officiers knew there beat , and the villains , these days the officiers use any excuse to get back in the station, and blame it on 6 hours paper work for a doss. i recentlly went into a local police station to asked where a certain social club was and the bloke did not know , he had two villians in reception coming in to sign the bail book , and he said just a min,, i,ll asked these two thieves whom are local and they will tell you . and they did , i,m afraid the police force on the beat are just kids and scared of there own shadows, not when you and your era ,s them days you had big coppers , there was sombody not so long ago on the sight mentioning summer lane , and gerrard st about the old gangsters , hanging around, and i said you would refer them as spivs, i think i asked about an inspector bauber, i beleive he was station at kenyon st many years ago and i beleive he became the chief inspector in brum , i recall him when he was in charge of the force ; he used to drive a big zyther 4/or 6 car. and when the police sold that car my oldest brother bought it , he had it a couple of days and coming douwn from the city on the aston road north as it was know then there was a young copper on point duty in the middle of the road on aston cross as they did in those days seen the inspector baumber,s coming from town towards lichfield road he emediatietly stopped the traffic and waved him through not relizing that the force had sold the car, he had a good laugh about it , co,s at the time he never new it was the inspector,s car ,. best wishes astonian ,;;;;;

 

[Frantic]

'Ello 'Ello 'Ello............Wot's goin' on 'ere then?........dissent in the ranks is it? as an ex Panda man (some say I look like one now), I think that I should enlighten you chaps a bit. The Pandas were the result of a new policing system at the time called 'Unit Beat Policing'. Like a lot of things, the idea sounded good but got abused.
Think of Brum split up like a big cake. The 'A' division was the city centre, and the B,C,D,E,& F were slices of the cake. Each of the five slices was again split in two, making two 'Sub-Divisions'. each 'Sub-Division was again split into eight areas, and one Panda patrolled one of these areas. Each area was again, split in two, and these were the 'Beats' that had always been there. Each beat had a P.B.O (Permanent Beat Officer). they mostly worked day shifts and were the older'Bobbies' who knew the people (and the villains) on their beat. The Panda driver was supposed to only use the car to go from one point in his area to another. He (or she) was then supposed to get out of the car and walk around the immediate area making his (or her) presence felt. So far-so good.....we also got personal radios at that time and that is when everything turned bad. It became easy for the controller in the office to send people to the jobs that came in, and the quickest and most efficient response was to send the Panda. Occasionally a fair controller would send a PBO to deal with an incident, but not often. So the Panda drivers became the 'Gofers' of the Police force. We also had the highest work load. So out of a compliment of 16 PBO's, a dog van, 2 traffic cars, 2 motor bikes and a land rover and all the other ranks and CID, Plain clothes dep't, and whoever else.........it was the eight bobbies in the Pandas that got sent to EVERYTHING. So there soon became a time when there was no time for 'walking the beat'. I tried it once, and was quickly told to stay in the car and stop wandering about! The main positive about the system was that another Panda was always close at hand, and in the case of an officer requesting assistance, 4 or 5 cars would be there within minutes. It wasn't a perfect system, but at least there were bobbies 'Out there', all over the city, 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.
I dont know what they replaced it with as I emigrated to NZ as soon as I left the police. I must say that I don't think that I would like to be in the job now. There's no respect any more, and no one is frightened of getting caught either. No more "Summary Justice" like there used to be. Those were the days............
RIGHT YOU TWO!!!!!!.................GET IN THE BACK OF THAT PANDA!!!!! :knuppel2:

 

[A.Willoughby]

I too cannot say what came after the Panda but I can say what came before it.
Two 'area cars'  On the 'C' Division that meant one covering an area forming an arc from Gt. Hampton Street to Lozells Road and Ladywood Road and a second covering the outer area of the arc of the division.  One had backing from Traffic,on paper, but I never saw one.
Each beat was manned by a foot patrol and on occasions due to man shortage double beats were manned by one officer.
One had four points to keep (to be seen or contacted 'blue boy' or telephone kiosk) two before one's break and two subsequent.  Heaven forbid you miss one without just cause.  These points were so situated to ensure you had covered most points of your beat(s)
I was there in the days when the sergeant, following the parade at the start of duty, would march you in one long column onto the furthest beat and one dropped off the line as you reached your area.   This marching was so obvious in Steelhouse Lane ('A' Division) when they were marched into the town.
Each station had what was called the 'Reserve man' who was responsible for the general upkeep of the station.  Again in my day that dictated that the coal fires in the Inspector's office, Charge room and the canteen were blazing on a winters night.  He was also responsible for making sure there was a good cooked meal and hot tea awaiting the beat officers when they came in for their break.  Oh another task, lower possibly on the requirements, that any prisoners did not demise in the condemned cells of Kenyon Street before the waggon came to take them to the Central Lock up in Steelehouse Lane. 
Oh yes I recall what came before the Pandas and to me it beat them into a cocked hat - sorry  Frantic.
Just a minute: - Ah yes I have stopped swinging the lamp now for awhile  ;D
Will.

 

[postie]

I thought the Pandas were the busiest because they were the ones who fetched the Fish & chips etc. >

 

[Frantic]

We won't go into that......it's covered by the official secrets act :-X

I also remember having to do "Station duties' which consisted of cooking a curry for the troops on a Saturday night. Making points with the sergent became a sort of punishment, especially if you were caught in a pub after hours, which I never was...........................caught, that is >

 

[Alberta]

My Dad started in 1947/8 as 'D 204' and retired in 1978 as 'R361'
'R' I believe was traffic as he changed his number when he started on the bikes.
After his retirement he worked in the force as a civilian,traffic controller at Queens Road, until a few years before his death in 1995.