Denny

I’m a Special Constable. [That means] I’m a volunteer police officer, so I have the exact powers of a police officer, but they get paid and I don’t. So I’m not a community support officer, [I’m] a police officer. It’s a minimum of 16 hours per month. It was a job that I always wanted to do, but my other career pays more money, and it was something that I wanted to do – to put something back into the community as well. [I’ve learned] a hell of a lot … the make-up of the community, what makes them tick, the other volunteers that are within the community and what you can do to make a difference, but also a better understanding of other people’s cultures, beliefs, sexuality, race, and everything else that comes with that. It’s very rewarding.

I’m based in the town centre so I spend a lot of time there. I [believe] that, to put something back into the community, you’ve got to be amongst [them]. If you’re just in a police car around, taking emergency calls, you’re not noticed, you’re not recognised, and you’re not that face in the community. You’re just a police officer.

We’ve got a very busy high street in Tooting, with a hell of a lot of buses, because Tooting Broadway has got an extreme amount of buses at the bus stands. We’ve also got the Hospital, St George’s, so we’ve got ambulances flying around on emergency blues. It’s obviously a very busy road. It connects south London, so [we have] a lot of traffic coming through as well. It does worry me…

A lot of things have been legislated or changed. I think the old ways of people just burning stuff has been stopped, or factories pumping out rubbish or power stations. Things have changed and people have realised that. But … even the railways now are on diesel. It used to be steam and now its diesel; they’re moving a lot more towards electrified lines which will be much better as well. I live in Wandsworth and I believe, from what the Mayor says we’ve got the two most polluted areas in London – if not Britain – which is Putney High Street and somewhere else, I can’t remember where it is. We’re a very lucky borough, we’ve got a lot of green spaces but things like Clapham Common, Wandsworth Common, Tooting Bec Common, they’re all by busy roads.

I think that the government’s talking about the bid to scrap diesel and make cars cleaner, I think more electric and other types of fuel which won’t have so many [emissions]. It’s going to happen but I think the motor industry gathers so much money, and is paying so much tax and all that, that I suppose it’s a bit like smoking – the government won’t be keen to ban it completely because there is quite a lot of revenue… Even if you’re a poor family, most people still have a mobile phone, Sky and a motor vehicle… I think everyone relies on a car and you know a few places go up and down but … without them we wouldn’t have such a thing as National Health or the Benefits System so … there’s probably some balances somewhere.

I’m asthmatic myself so I understand what it is with breathing and everything else. I think if we went for a healthier nation, it wouldn’t [spend so much] on other things and other people. And I think when people are slightly ill, people are a little more grouchy. If people do have a healthier life, it can [get rid of] particularly a lot of the angst that they carry. There’s a hell of a lot of money spent on mental health. I’m not going to go into a political speech, but things are so underfunded … even the ambulance service is just being taken up by mental health issues. I don’t think the answer but asylums and many hospitals and stuff like that, [but] there’s not a lot of space for people to go to, and it’s very much care in the community – but some of these people need more help. And there could be more money for that, there could be safe spaces for them to work through their problems and be helped for that rather than the issues we’re having at the moment…

I still can’t understand why police vehicles, ambulances and fire engines are still … using diesel. and are filling up at petrol stations and all of that. I know its government money so they can claim that back, but surely these vehicles should be running on the duty-free red diesel. Like farms do. There’s probably millions and millions of pounds being spent on fuel when emergency service vehicles should be exempt and that would be a lot more money for more cops and more paramedics and more firefighters.

I’ve always had [asthma] since [I was] a child, but it’s not as bad as it was. I was quite poorly as a child but it got a lot better as an adult. But we’d go on frequent holidays and I’d find when I’m in places like South Africa, or Ireland or Greece or places like that, my breathing is a hell of a lot better… But this time of year, when it’s getting a bit damp, we have to put the heating on which again is still burning gas and stuff like that and it does suffer a bit more in this kind of weather.

With a poorly chest you can tell [the air quality is bad]. You do become a bit tighter and I suppose people who don’t have a respiratory problem wouldn’t notice it was particularly bad that day. But when, for 40 odd years, I’ve dealt with my own medical issues you know when you’re more susceptible or when your breathing is slightly more laboured. Whereas people who don’t have that sort of problem are … thinking: I didn’t have any breakfast this morning or, oh, did I drink too much wine last night, did I do too much at the gym the day before, or maybe I’ve got a cold coming, that what they’d think. That’s the way people see it.

[Asthma] doesn’t [affect my work] because I manage it…I can’t say to the leadership team: sorry I can’t deal with traffic today…

Tooting High Street has loads of traffic 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It’s always nice when you go to other places and you’re driving and there’s no cars around. But when it hits rush hour, you can be sat in the car for seven to eight minutes and you think go how can I deal with this traffic. Sometimes it takes me an hour to get to Kings Cross, which you can do on the tube in 25 minutes…

People drive because it’s convenient. I was watching a programme on BBC2. It’s about a family that go back in time. I think it’s filmed in Tooting and Wandsworth and they start in the 1500s and go up to the 1930s at the moment. And they were talking about the car, and how these big pubs all the ones you could drive to had big car parks, they would encourage people to drink and drive, and that’s the way it was. And even in the 1980s, when I first started driving, it was acceptable to have a few beers and then drive. There was the law; it was only enforced if you crashed or if you hit something. And I think … people just want to get from A to B hassle free…

I would never ever have met so many people without doing what I do and being part involved in part of the community…. There’s not the money there from national government, so people are now realising that there’s this whole need for a volunteer army, obviously what the Salvation Army first started doing, WI and stuff like that. (…) I’m a great believer in Karma and you reap what you sew, if you want to take take take, well don’t expect help when you really need it. You need to give something to get something…

[Climate change] is a big issue but, and it shouldn’t be the whole focus, There should be some focus on it but it has to be done internationally… It’s not terror related its people with some serious mental health issues but these big, not corporation that’s the wrong work but these lobby people and these money makers will always push towards profit rather than anything else so… I was watching something the other day about the women who worked for the ammunition factories, how a lot of them went yellow. They were called canaries because some of the chemicals we were using to make some of the bombs and ammunition sent their skin yellow, but without them people we wouldn’t have the freedoms in society we have today. There’s both sides to the coin.