Upsetting the Constabulary Top Brass!

Dangerous criminal on the loose nearby means that the police descend on the Wandlebury car park as an operations base. Bill manages to put his foot in it.

Image: needpix.com

Transcript from podcast of Chapter 10 contd. "Route and Branch" by Bill Clark, former Warden at Wandlebury, read by Chris Thomas and available here: 

https://archive.org/download/upsetting-the-top-brass/Ch10b-Upsetting-the-top-brass.mp3

In July 1984, I very publicly upset the Chief Superintendent of police, and probably the Chief Constable too. A sunny Saturday usually promised a busy day. But with a large contingent of Girl Guides booked in – expecting input from me at various times – and my assistant having a weekend off, hectic was probably going to be nearer the description. I hurried home to get in a tea break before the coaches arrived, and noticed the car park was full of police cars. A sergeant I recognised stepped over to say there was, ‘an incident,’ and they were only using our car park to rendezvous and would soon be leaving. Later, after spending the morning with the Guides, I was heading home for lunch only to see yet more police cars, just queuing to leave. I asked the nearest driver, ‘Are you still on this morning’s incident?’ ‘No idea, I have only just come on duty,’ he replied, and followed the others out.

After lunch I traversed the estate on my mountain bike, making sure all was well with the numerous groups of girls – now amusing themselves – and in particular, that there were no ‘undesirables’ around. Then soon after 4.00 pm, I noticed police cars and a large motor van in the car park. After climbing the steps at the rear, I was introduced to the, ‘Chief Superintendent in charge of operations.’ I was horrified to hear, that two men – probably armed – had been loose in the area for most of the day! But as the Golf Course had been surrounded, it was only now deemed necessary to clear our park. I immediately cycled to the top of the hill, and could see constables at intervals, from just below my house, to the Hinton Way crossroads; but along the estate boundary from my house to the Roman Road, not a single one. I returned to the Chief somewhat miffed! ‘There is not a single man across country on our boundary.’ ‘I am well aware of that Mr Clark, I would need at least a hundred men to seal off that woodland area and I haven’t got them available.’ ‘I could have stationed only three men along there, and they could tell you if as much as a hare came out of the Golf Course.’ He stepped from his desk, and called to a nearby Sergeant, ‘Quickly. Get three officers to go with Mr Clark, he will show them where to stand.’ And by about 4.45 pm, not only had Wandlebury been cleared of visitors, but no one could cross between the two areas without being seen.

After a late tea I strolled out, expecting the police operation to have long been abandoned, only to see the nearest constable still standing where I had placed him. I expressed the opinion that surely the two men had long gone, and he agreed, but that his instructions now were to watch for the miscreants trying to get back to the golf course. Officers were about to sweep the cornfields from the A11, back through Wandlebury to the golf course! I dashed down to the van, and informed the only constable there, that unless the sweep started much closer to Wandlebury, it would be too dark to see under the trees. He thanked me for my concern, but assured me that the Chief would have taken this into account – he expected the men would be moving quite fast. Needless to say, the hunt ended in complete disarray as they entered Wandlebury in the gathering darkness.

Late Monday afternoon, only minutes after my reading the Cambridge Evening News front page headline: ‘60 POLICE IN ARMED MANHUNT’, a reporter phoned to ask, ‘Did the police hunt on Saturday affect you at all Mr Clark?’ This resulted in the Tuesday edition’s headline, ‘SIGHTSEERS ‘AT RISK’ IN MANHUNT,’ and in lower case: ‘Police failed to clear park – warden.’ The rest of the story was about my grumbles, and police denials that anyone was at risk. Soon after reading that, Wendy dashed to find me, ‘You had better come home,’ she panted, ‘The Chief Constable has been on the phone.’ 

I agreed to visit the police station the following morning, and arrived to find some half dozen ‘top brass’ gathered round a table with a large map of the area laid out on it. After being asked if I preferred tea or coffee, the Chief Superintendent introduced me to the others, including the Assistant Chief Constable, who apologised on behalf of the Chief Constable, as he was going to be late. Everyone was surprisingly friendly – I was expecting a drubbing for sticking my nose in. Once the Chief arrived, he asked for my view of the operation. One outcome of the morning was that I provided them with an up-to-date, large scale map of Wandlebury – they had used a ten year old, countywide one. We parted on the best of terms – though I was extra careful with my driving for some time afterwards.

Next chapter: Dr Varley's Bequest here https://routeandbranch.blogspot.com/2020/06/dr-varleys-bequest-helps-wandlebury.html