Absolutely spot on! - Rated 
Hilarious book and her description of my previous job of 2 years in civilian support staff land and all the paperwork is so spot on! I only hope more members of the public read this before they whinge about the police, they might realise it really should be government policies and procedures are to blame! Go whinge at Gordon!!!
Brilliantly satirical account of life in the 21st century police - Rated
This hysterically funny and horrifyingly plausible book takes the form of a journal covering a few months in the life of a WPC in a town called "Blandmore" in the county of "Blandshire."
I suspect it is not impossible that "Blandshire" might actually be Cumbria. However, the fact that I thought I recognised the county where I live at a couple of points while reading the book may just be an indication of how universal a description it provides of modern policing. Perhaps many other readers were thinking that "WPC Bloggs" must work in the constabulary covering their own police authority area.
I can't think of a better way to indicate the amusing and ironic style of this book than to quote from the foreword:
"Before you turn to page 1, the first thing you need to do is to forget everything you think you know about the police.
You know - the bits where they come out when you call 999, try to find out what's happened and arrest the guilty parties? Forget all that. While you're at it, forget about common sense, too.
Instead, try to imagine a world where the police are run by a group of paranoid, pedantic and politically-correct accountants. On acid. ...
Imagine that half the people who work for the police spend their lives phoning officers asking them to respond to emails asking why they forgot to tick a box on the fifth in a set of a dozen forms relating to an incident where ... [ a drunken four-year old] said a rude word ...
The modern British police is like all that, only much, much madder. ...
I wrote this book after realising ... that people outside the job have absolutely no idea what's going on in the police. ...
Modern policing is a bizarre, twilight zone: one part George Orwell, one part Franz Kafka and one part Trisha.
At times you may find it all a bit confusing. That's because it is. There are various references to police departments that sound unnecessary and pointless. That's because they are. ...
This book comes with a health warning; CONTAINS SATIRE, IRONY, AND TRACES OF SARCASM."
If you can read "Diary of an on-call girl" without laughing, you are Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and I claim my peerage ...
Thoroughly embarrassed me on the train... - Rated
as I sniggered loudly to myself, causing people to look at me warily from the corners of their eyes.
Whether you're into police-type stories or not, this is a very amusing book and rather a good insight into the way the police force "works". Or so I've been told. I'm not an officer, but I certainly found this enlightening.
I have a healthy respect for people who stay in the Force and battle on, despite all the madness.
Brilliant! Fact is stranger than fiction. - Rated
I absolutely loved this book and found myself cackling to myself as I was reading it.
PC Bloggs captures the nonsense and lunacy that pervades the British police service and somehow makes it hilarious.
Written in the style of a novel, the characters are brilliant - haven't we all met a "Shimona" at some time in our lives - and you get a sense of the cameraderie that exists between officers in the police force.
The book continually proves that fact is stranger than fiction, for example, I was amazed when I read that PC Bloggs was stopped in the street by a mother who had lost her four-year-old son and then, after Bloggs had taken a description of the boy, said she had to hurry because she was late for a hairdressing appointment!
The book is crammed full of stories just as bizarre and the reader feels Bloggs' frustration when things are going badly and her elation when she manages to get rid of a "non-crime" that has been plaguing her for months.
There is also romance with her "will she, won't she" ever get together with her colleague Will.
It is a fantastic book and I look forward to reading a sequel!
Very excellent book - Rated
This book shows how much the "Chiefs" know about modern day policing.This is a fantastic account of how to do the "job" without the time wasting form filling and trying to meet Govt. targets.The humour is 100%.Very well written and I'm sure Vol. 2 is on the horizon!
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