Laura Murphy experiences the front line in action!

8.18.54pm GMT Sun 23rd Jan 2005

PPC Laura Murphy "The thin blue line was truly stretched during the shift"

LibDem PPC Laura Murphy saw for herself last week, in a dramatic fashion, just some of the incidents that the West Kent Police force have to deal with in Tunbridge Wells. Riding with the traffic patrol in just eight hours she saw them dealing with a complex mix of issues with superb professionalism.

"I was warned that the shift might be quiet - it was anything but! The officers were dealing with the elderly, the disabled, shoplifters, checking for vehicle violations and a sexual assault, amongst others. Unfortunately the night ended with a serious incident when a women was in such terror of being attacked in her home that she threw herself out of her flat window onto the ground below."

Although Laura was there to observe, for this last incident, she offered to assist. "We got there before the ambulance and this woman was in appalling pain. The paramedics told us when they arrived that she had broken both legs and the situation was serious. It was a case of everyone helping so that she could be given aid as soon as possible. At one point I was shining a torch on her arm so that a cannula line could be put into a vein whilst holding the drip in my other hand. Then I had to help get the woman onto a special board to protect her back. I was holding her hand and reassured her whilst the professionals got on with their jobs."

"It was amazing seeing how the two services worked together so smoothly: with the minimum of fuss and maximum professionalism."

The whole unit was completely stretched to the limit that shift, other officers were also dealing with serious incidents, so that any calls apart from those dealing with life threatening incidents were put on hold by central command.

Laura said, "Observing how the police have to deal with a wide variety of issues under very difficult circumstances gave me a new respect for them. They genuinely want to offer a service to the public. The Liberal Democrat pledge to use the money for ID cards to pay for more police and scrap unnecessary paperwork must be the right way forward in helping them do just that."