Both sides of the force starts with a confession:
"I have never been very good at anything I have done. It is not that I have been bad or poor, just not very good. There has been the odd occasion when things have gone well despite my efforts and I have enjoyed basking in undeserved praise despite knowing that the best my performance could have rated was fair to middling. The only thing experience has taught me is that I seem reluctant to learn from it so I have accepted that I would never be very good at anything I did. That is why I joined the police."
The 1970s was a time of rampant corruption in the City of London and Metropolitan police forces, a firm within a firm. Place into that mix a gullible, somewhat slow, and strictly brought up, at least as far as the law was concerned, new police officer, intent on doing his best and giving everyone a chance. It is a recipe for farce. Both sides of the force delivers.
Harvey Yates’ career started off as a series of mistakes and continued that way for the first six years. He ran up against corrupt officers time and again but was protected by keen, effective and dead straight colleagues.
Both sides of the force is a warts and all thematic story of the City police in the latter half of the 70s, a time when the Countryman Enquiry opened up a festering sore of the capital’s police to public scrutiny.
It is funny and tragic.
Harvey Yates has written for most of his adult life, mainly humorous articles for motoring magazines, Police Review and others. For four years he edited a 7000+ circulation magazine, winning a prize in the process. This is his first attempt at Kindle book publishing.
"I have never been very good at anything I have done. It is not that I have been bad or poor, just not very good. There has been the odd occasion when things have gone well despite my efforts and I have enjoyed basking in undeserved praise despite knowing that the best my performance could have rated was fair to middling. The only thing experience has taught me is that I seem reluctant to learn from it so I have accepted that I would never be very good at anything I did. That is why I joined the police."
The 1970s was a time of rampant corruption in the City of London and Metropolitan police forces, a firm within a firm. Place into that mix a gullible, somewhat slow, and strictly brought up, at least as far as the law was concerned, new police officer, intent on doing his best and giving everyone a chance. It is a recipe for farce. Both sides of the force delivers.
Harvey Yates’ career started off as a series of mistakes and continued that way for the first six years. He ran up against corrupt officers time and again but was protected by keen, effective and dead straight colleagues.
Both sides of the force is a warts and all thematic story of the City police in the latter half of the 70s, a time when the Countryman Enquiry opened up a festering sore of the capital’s police to public scrutiny.
It is funny and tragic.
Harvey Yates has written for most of his adult life, mainly humorous articles for motoring magazines, Police Review and others. For four years he edited a 7000+ circulation magazine, winning a prize in the process. This is his first attempt at Kindle book publishing.
