Rough Justice: Memoirs of a Flying Squad Detective by
Dick Kirby
pbk out March 06
(Merlin Unwin Books)
at £7.99
Dick Kirby saw it all during the sixties, seventies and eighties when he
worked with the Metropolitan Police, serving on the elite Flying Squad.
He encountered workshy coppers, alcoholic detectives and mad judges,
including one out-of-touch judiciary who `was quite capable of
reintroducing transportation.' This, then, is a blackly humorous book
about law and order, one that Kirby suggests you avoid reading if you're
politically correct. Few court officials come out of the affray well: for
example, when writing of a notorious criminal, Paul Jenkins, the
detective notes that `Jenkins took his place in the dock, surrounded by
some of London's worst scum. I should make it clear that I'm referring to
his legal team.'
Dick Kirby often had genuine grievances and cause for concern,
sometimes being sent alone to make an arrest, even when the situation
clearly required two detectives. One enormous man answered the door
and swiftly called for his son, John, who was equally huge. The
diminutive detective quaveringly asked to speak to Mark and was ready
to swoon when the man replied `John, go and get your big brother.'
Thankfully the big brother turned out to be a gentle giant...
But Kirby also encountered many hard men on the streets of Britain. One
low life ordered a meal from a chip shop then refused to pay for it. When
the assistant asked politely for the money, the man promptly tossed the
shop's cat into the deep fat fryer. Another masked robber shot dead an
eight year old girl who stepped out into the road as he was driving his
getaway car.
Sometimes it was the police themselves who got it wrong, once battering
down the door of an innocent elderly widow - ironically the mother of a
police officer - who'd been burgled the week before.
Rough Justice is a fast-paced, funny and sometimes moving look at
everything from small time crooks to international crime gangs. As an
added bonus, all royalties from the book go to police charities.
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Rough Justice: Memoirs of a Flying Squad Detective by
Dick Kirby
