Whose Peace Is It Anyway? by SES Member Georgina Perkins

Now don't get me wrong - I loved being in the police, I loved policing and by and large I loved police officers; the vast majority of whom join because they want to change things for the better, and believe they can.   

As a young police officer in Newbury a regular duty was to assist the local counil temprarily "evict" the women from the peace camps around Greenham Common.  Long before I learned the theory of building rapport I worked out that finding common ground with those not necessarily predisposed to bond with the constabulary was a good safety precaution.  It also built unlikely firendships.  I remember comparing notes with a young protester who had given up her A levels and University place to study law.  She had no doubt at all that she was playing her part in creating world peace and helping to bring about Nuclear Disarmament.  I joined the police to make a difference, to keep the peace.  In fact the police role during evictions was strictly keeping the peace at Greenham Common.  How much more ambitious, more effective and more of a scurvy elephant was she? 

It was perhaps my inner Scurvy Elephant that finally led me to leave policing after fifteen years, and six years on I now help other people to step off the treadmill and free their own Scurvy Elephant!   

Georgina Perkins
www.steppingoff.co.uk
Life-Change Consultants and experts in helping you regain your work/life balance, live your life a different way or downshift.