Steve Woodward was a Police officer with the Hampshire Constabulary from 1975 to 2008. Steve has written four books so far about his experiences whilst in ‘the job’.
His first book ‘From T Ford to T5’ is the definitive reference book on the history of the vehicles used by Hampshire Police.
The second book ‘Kilo Sierra Five One’ charts his first 10 years in the Police and how he nearly got thrown out because he didn’t measure up. It will make you laugh and cry out loud as he deals with the locals of his adopted city of Portsmouth.
His third book ‘The Long Short Walk’ dealt with his role as a Traffic Police Family Liaison Officer and is a hard-hitting diary looking at 16 real life cases and the harrowing journey that each family has to contend with following the death of a loved one in a road incident.
His latest book ‘Stand By Ya Beds’ (Life as a 1970s Police Cadet) takes us way back to the mid-1970s when Steve joined the Police Cadets at the tender age of 16. During this time he spent the first 12 months at a residential training school where physical training and self-discipline were drummed into him by instructors, who by today’s more enlightened standards would probably see them being accused of bullying. But Steve and his 65 colleagues loved every minute of it… Except for the morning run, the constant uniform inspections, the walks across Dartmoor, punishment press-ups, bulling boots, the food, the blisters and making bed packs.
The book delves into the history of the Police Cadet scheme both nationally and within Hampshire. It then morphs into Steve’s own experiences whilst based at the training school. It is followed by a further 12 months at his local police station seeing at first-hand how each department within the service worked. Its hard to imagine in this day and age that teenagers once patrolled our streets in full police uniform, from the 1950s through to the 1980s.
