A former carer, primary school teacher and education researcher, Matt Lloyd-Rose spent a year as a Special Constable, a volunteer police officer in Lambeth, South London. On Friday evenings, he policed the borough where he lived and taught.

In this lyrical, thought-provoking and often humorous account, he captures what he saw on the streets at night - victims of crime and domestic abuse, thieves and drug-dealers, but also many people who are drunk or lost, desperate to find their way home. And characters like the illegal hot-dog seller who just won’t take no for an answer.

His work brought him into contact with specialised police units, community police officers and back-office staff. He quietly recorded the best and worst of ordinary policing from thrill-seeking adrenalin junkies, misogyny and sexism to those who showed kindness, care and patience.

He says, "this is neither a defence or the police, nor a polemic against them. Rather, it is an attempt to direct a steady gaze at some of the most complex challenges that confront us – and that includes the question of who is best suited to address them."

Matt’s work is varied. He encounters his first stabbing and is surprised at the calmness of the victim. Later he heads out on patrol in plain clothes to a robbery hotspot. And he reflects on the police’s "power to inconvenience", moving beggars on from one spot to another, simply shifting the problem down the road.

Read by Jack Parris.
Abridged and produced by Alexandra Quinn with Elizabeth Burke.
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4 Show less