24hrs with a Patrol Sergeant

24 hours with...Becky Davies 

Date: 11/03/2016

Why have you chosen to write about today? 

Today I start as Temporary Sergeant with my new team in a brand new policing area (Exeter). 

Good morning!

What time did you wake up? 

Officially 05:00 but it was a typical nights sleep before earlier, waking up every hour or so!

Why did you wake up at that time? 

To get into the office by 06:30.

Did you have a dream? 

Not that I remember. 

Do you think today will be 'good' or 'bad' day? (use your own definition of these words to answer the question) 

Overall good but I have lots of new people to meet and names to learn so it will be tiring. I also have woman flu and feel terrible!

What are the first three things you do after waking up? 

Put my uniform on, brush my hair, have a cup of tea.

Do you eat breakfast? If yes, what did you have? 

Yes some people say they can’t eat that early but if I don’t eat when I get up at that time, I feel nauseous. I had salmon and fried eggs, sounds extravagant but is a frequent breakfast as I cannot eat starch because I have an autoimmune disorder.

What would be your perfect breakfast? 

If I could eat starch toast with marmite!

Is there anything that you have to do today but don't particularly want to? 

No :)

List five things that you do between 9am and noon. 

Attended the daily management meeting to discuss priorities for the day, ate some dates, sent some emails about the family support scheme I run to ensure all the ladies accessing the scheme are well supported.

Did you eat lunch? If yes, what did you eat? 

Not until about 3pm as we were looking after a lady who was experiencing severe psychosis and needed to see the crisis team. I grabbed some cooked chicken, tomato and mozzarella from Waitrose.

What would be your perfect lunch? What I had but with mustard mayo! 

Missed the mustard mayo!

List five things that you have done, said, thought, or that have happened between noon and 5pm. 

Enabled access to the lady hearing voices and in crisis to the crisis team (this took 2 hours). Drank a cup of tea at the hospital (RD&E) provided by lovely nursing staff. Set up a meeting to receive feedback on my recent interview (so I can do even better at the substantive promotion!). Thought ‘I’m looking forward to getting home now as it’s been a long day, I’m shattered, and I have a stinking cold!'

Do you eat dinner/tea? If yes, at what time? 

Yes between 7-8pm

What do you eat? 

We had mozzarella stuffed meatballs. My partner cooked.

What would be your perfect dinner? 

Fillet steak!

What do you do with your evening ( 5-8pm)? 

Drive home, see my little girl and put her to bed. Usually work on stuff I need to do for Mind or study for my psychology degree. Sometimes, like this evening when I need a night off I watch a film. Tonight we are watching ‘The Lake House.'

Do you have a 'get-ready-for-bed' routine? If so, what is it? 

Drink a cup of herbal tea and sometimes some Mindfulness via headspace. Clear the mind, re-focus on the present.

What time do you go to sleep? 

It varies, usually a few minutes after i go to bed! If I am on earlier the following day it will be between 9-10pm. If I have worked a late shift it will be the early hours. Then there’s nightshifts when bed time is sometime after 7am!

Is this when you want to go to bed? Or is it influenced by what you're doing the following day? Influenced by shift work. There is no better feeling than getting into bed after a night shift.

Do you share your bed? 

Yes.

Which position do you tend to sleep in? e.g. foetus, starfish etc. 

I get a lot of spinal pain from the autoimmune disorder so tends to be front to stretch my back.

Reflect

What was your favourite part of your day? 

Meeting new people and seeing some faces I haven’t seen for a long time.

What was your least favourite? 

Having woman flu and feeling terrible!

Did anything happen today that you'd like to change or re-do? 

Yes, I was put in the spotlight and wish I had a quippier response but it was 7am!

Did you 'learn' anything today? (use your own definition of this word to answer the question). 

I learnt a few things about how Exeter policing area run things slightly differently to my previous local policing area. 

Are you looking forward to tomorrow? 

Yes

What do you have planned? 

I have a day off and am going horse riding with my best friend for her birthday.

Thank you for contributing to the series!

Goodnight!