My Grandfather’s 1943 Radio Broadcast About a Day in the Life of a Wartime Policeman in Melbourne, Australia
My grandfather, Vincent, was a policeman his whole life. Family lore has it that he was the only person out of hundreds of applicants to land a position during the Depression. It was a stroke of luck that shaped his life.
When the Second World War came, police were not allowed to enlist. They were needed at home, and wartime Melbourne has its own special duties, such as surging crowds, soldiers coming and going through the city, blackout regulations and alien registration.
In January 1943, midway through the war, Vincent sat down in front of a microphone at 3AR (later ABC Radio) and recorded "A Day in the Life of a Policeman". Well scripted, it gives a sense of what it meant to wear the uniform in those years, and also his dry humour, gentleness with children, the quiet pride in the job.
The shoplifter’s mother
One of a few highlights of the show is when Vincent talks about being called to a store where a girl had been caught stealing clothes. An older woman appeared, posing as the girl’s horrified mother, stamping her foot in righteous indignation. At which point several pairs of stockings fell out from under her skirt, revealing her as the ringleader.
The bucket and the crowd
Another was when a banner caught fire above a city street, a passerby urged Vicent to do something. He grabbed a bucket of water, dashed upstairs, and poured it out the window: onto the flames, and onto the crowd of gaping spectators below. The crowd promptly dispersed, which meant the fire brigade could pull right up to the pavement when they arrived. A unique bit of crowd management.
A singing policeman
Vincent's pet hobby was singing. He liked the baritone songs in the style of Nelson Eddy, a singer I had never heard of until I read this piece. The Police band raised over £1,000 for the Children’s Hospital at one performance, and toured country districts raising money for local charities.
Full Transcript
A Day in the Life of a Policeman 19 January 1943, 3AR, 3.30pm Vincent, Victorian Police Force
Announcer: A Day in the Life of a Policeman.
Vincent:
I’m Vincent — a policeman in the Traffic Control Branch of the Victorian Police Force. I joined the Force eleven years ago and went through the prescribed three months of mental and physical training. After that I graduated to the extra three-month course of practical training in police duties, before I became a fully fledged member of the Force.
That training course is very thorough, and it’s very interesting, too. As well as learning unarmed defence and the use of firearms, we are required to attend lectures and afterwards exams, in such subjects as English, geography, history and law.
Narrator:
Highly organised and well-equipped, the Victorian Police Force today has a total strength of 2,375. Its various branches cover a tremendous range of activities, and include such special sections as the Criminal Investigation Branch and the Wireless Patrol Branch. In addition, the Force has its own Recruit Training School, a Police Hospital and a Depot for the Mounted Branch.
The primary duty of a policeman is to prevent and detect crime and to protect life and property. But his job includes quite a lot more than that, as we hope to show you through Vincent's own story.
Vincent:
I’m on Traffic Control duty. I report for the morning shift at the Town Hall at 7am, and then go on duty at some city intersection. It’s a pretty busy job, and keeps us on our toes all the time, whether we’re on point duty or at a crossing controlled by lights. Of course the job doesn’t end with keeping an eye on the pedestrian and motor traffic — we have to be on call to deal with any police duties that crop up at any time.
For instance, the other day I was suddenly called into a solicitor’s office to settle a disturbance. I found a scene of great disorder. A man, who was obviously mentally deranged, was threatening the solicitor because of some imagined misappropriation of funds. In his rage, he’d thrown the furniture round and had nearly wrecked the office. Instead of arresting him in the ordinary way, I sent for an ambulance to take him to a mental hospital. But when the ambulance arrived, the problem was to get the patient to enter it. He was determined not to get in — and it was then we had to bring a bit of psychology to bear. We compromised, as it were. He agreed to go calmly if I would travel on the stretcher and let him sit on the seat beside me. So that’s the way we arrived at the hospital — and by that time I can assure you we were quite good pals!
Narrator:
Wartime has tremendously increased the responsibilities of the Police Force, and at the same time has reduced its strength considerably, because of the difficulty of getting suitable men for recruits. The present Force has to cope not only with much increased traffic — both pedestrian and otherwise — but it has to also deal with alien registration and the enforcement of security regulations. To help in emergencies, 2,370 auxiliary policemen have been enrolled. They tackle police duties in addition to their own jobs, and they undergo a thorough training in police work, Air Raid Precautions, and First Aid. They have been — and still are — an invaluable addition to the Police Force and are doing a fine service to the community. No less important are the Auxiliary Women’s Police. There are 456 of them on full-time duty — efficient girls in smart blue uniforms — and they work for the Police Force in various capacities as typists, clerks, receptionists, lift attendants, switchboard operators, car drivers and messengers. Naturally, they’ve released many of the men for other and more urgent duties. In addition, there are over 150 volunteer women auxiliaries ready for duty in emergencies. It’s strange how some people seem to imagine we policemen are their natural enemies — because in cases of national or personal emergency, we’re the chaps they always seem to turn to.
We’re prepared to help in case of flood or fire. We’re generally first on the scene of accidents, and almost every day we have to extend a helping hand to someone in distress. Of course, school-holiday time is the peak period for lost children calls. The mothers bring them into town to go shopping and the small children get lost in the crowd. Then it’s our job to take charge. The other day in Bourke Street I found a small girl crying bitterly for her mother. So I took charge of her and stopped into an ice cream shop on the way back to Town Hall. I bribed her into silence with the ice cream and managed to keep her pretty happy until the agitated mother turned up to claim her. Unfortunately, some parents still use that old threat of “calling a policeman” to scare their children into good behaviour. It’s a great mistake, and sometimes we have a lot of trouble consoling youngsters when they are lost. My usual method is ice cream in summer and candy in winter. I have some trouble cleaning the sticky patches off my uniform afterwards, but it’s worth it just to keep the child happy.
Narrator:
The Police Control Room, or D.24 as it’s more generally called, is the very nerve centre of the Police Force, and the efficiency of its communication system should be enough to deter the most hardened crook from a life of crime. D.24 is also the State Air Raid Precautions Control Centre, and is equipped to give direct telephone communication with all police stations throughout the state, and with all mobile transport. On the wall at D.24 are two large-scale illuminated maps, showing roads, bridges, and so on, and each car of the Wireless Patrol is numbered and represented on a map. The patrol cars are equipped with radio for two-way wireless communication with the Control Room, so the communication system is wonderfully complete and effective.
Vincent:
I believe there is a popular saying, “If in doubt, ask a policeman.” I can assure you that most people take it literally. You’d be surprised at the number of questions we’re asked in one day, and, as a matter of fact, we do generally know the answers. Last week, for instance, a young country girl arrived at Melbourne to go to a new job. But her train got in late and she didn’t have the least idea where to find accommodation for the night. So, she asked a policeman! And within half an hour he’d found her a good hotel to go to.
In the course of the day, too, we’re often called to cases of shoplifting. Just a little while ago, a shop supervisor called me into a large store, and charged a girl with stealing a number of items of clothing. When I arrived on the scene, an older woman had joined the girl, and was posing as her mother — implying she was shocked and horrified to find her daughter stealing. In her anxiety to impress us with her own innocence, the woman stamped her foot with righteous indignation. And several pairs of stockings fell out from under her skirt, thereby giving her away as the ringleader, with the girl as an accomplice.
Narrator:
Policewomen in the Metropolitan Area perform a great social service. They’re recruited from women aged between 25 and 30, and they’re very carefully picked for their interest in welfare work. Theirs is a job that calls for endless courage, tact and human sympathy, and they’re often responsible for mending broken homes, locating missing girls and children, and for helping and advising in difficult cases.
Vincent:
Life in the Police Force has its lighter side, of course. Before the war our sporting and social activities included football, cricket, tennis, debating, rifle shooting, boxing, wrestling and all athletics. In wartime, these activities have had to be cut down, but we still have our famous band and the concert party. I’m particularly interested in this latter activity, as it is because my pet hobby is singing. I like those baritone songs that Nelson Eddy sings. We put on a lot of shows for charity, and at our last Police Concert we managed to raise over £1,000 for the Children’s Hospital. We did a country tour a couple of years ago, too, and raised quite a lot of money for local charities in the country districts.
Narrator:
Police in the country have to play an especially important part in the public life of their district. They’re expected to take their place on committees, they’re called out to bushfires, floods and accidents, and they often have to succour destitute people or give first aid to injured animals.
Vincent:
In case of emergency the public seems to turn instinctively to the police. This reminds me of a strange incident in the city not so long ago. Some enterprising firm had hung a banner from an upstairs window, announcing a special sale of goods. And through somebody’s negligence, the banner caught fire. A man rushed up to me and asked me to do something about it quickly. So I went into the building, got a bucket of water and dashed off to the scene of the fire. I poured the water out of the window, but by this time we had quite a crowd of gaping and useless spectators below. Although some of the water went on the flames, the greater part of it caught the crowd, which promptly dispersed — with the result that when the Fire Brigade arrived, they were able to pull right up to the pavement and quickly get on with the business of putting out the fire.
Narrator:
The Mobile Traffic Section forms another interesting part of the Police Force. This section works on motors and cycles, and does much the same work as the Wireless Patrol. They attend primarily to traffic matters, but take all the other branches of police work in their stride. Often, for instance, they catch housebreakers red-handed and communicate promptly with D.24. Like all members of the Police Force, the men of this section have to be prepared for almost any emergency at any time — and the Force as a whole is rendering the public a great service in protecting life and property and keeping things running smoothly in these difficult times.
Take it all around, our job is an interesting one — and there’s certainly a fine spirit of comradeship among the men of the Force. Of course we have tough problems to tackle at times, and we depend on the public’s cooperation to help us protect their interests, but we find plenty of variety and adventure in the course of duty. So before I go I think I’ll just extinguish that old theory that “a policeman’s lot is not a happy one.” We find it pretty good! And now I’m back to the job, so goodbye.
Narrator:
You’ve been listening to A Day in the Life of a Policeman. The narrator was Susan Barrie, who also prepared the script.
Written by Susan Barrie