I heard the author of this book on Radio 5 Live and thought it sounded an interesting read. As a probabtioner withing Greater Manchester Police myself, I thought I would see what a retired Firearms officer said about his career.
I enjoyed the book a lot and found it an interesting and honest account from the author. The book follows Hailwoods career from joining as a cadet, through Uniform at Ashton, into TAG, the public order section of GMP, and into the firearms unit, formerly known as VO8. Most of these units are now renamed within GMP and as an officer myself it was interesting to read about how the units used to made up and run. It certainly sounds very different to how things are within GMP now. That said, a lot of the authors comments about how common sense seems not to apply within the Police are still true to this day.
Hailwood describes the tactics and incidents well and certainly has a knack for keeping you reading on to find out what happens, although I would say he does have a tendancy to use abbreviations a bit much. This is a Police thing, we have a three letter abreviation for almost everything, but even I got a bit confused early on in the book, and I am in GMP! Some things do need a bit more clarification, such as when HAilwood describes the white, black, green and red aspect of buidlings whilst describing an incident early on. I knew what he was talking about as it the way Armed Police desrcibe the sides of buildings (Red=Right hand side, Green + Left etc.) However someone with no Police experience will be baffled by this.
The book is firmly concentrated on Hailwoods career, and depite a few moans and groans he seems to have enjoyed his career and certainly had a major impact on the way GMP firearms department developed which is interesting.
I would say that this book may not appeal to the casual reader, it is probably more for someone with an interest in Firearms or Policing in general. But the book is fast paced, with lots of amusing stories and an enjoyable read. As a PC it has made me consider the Firearms department, purely for the tactical element of the job, so has been a worthwhile and entertaining read!
