Public Servant Lifestyle

A former WPC's self-published book tells the humorous side on life on the force...

A Fair Cop by Maureen Ingram Scott

A former long serving policewoman has written a book that tells sometimes happy, sometimes sad - but mainly humorous tales - from the Glasgow streets, as seen through the eyes of a working copper.

The author - Maureen Ingram Scott - has lived all her life in the south side of Glasgow, being educated at Eastwood Secondary School. She served thirty years in the police force in a variety of departments including the Scottish Crime Squad, the Serious Crime Squad and as the sole women detective officer in the Easterhouse district of Glasgow.

"I was in the City of Glasgow/Strathclyde Police for 30 years," Maureen tells us. "Starting as a uniform policewoman and finishing as a detective constable. I never wanted promotion, as I enjoyed working the streets (as it were). I joined The Scottish Crime Squad at its inception, The Serious Crime Squad at its inception, and was the first woman authorised firearms officer. I worked for seven years in Easterhouse, a rather infamous housing estate in Glasgow."

These extracts from A Fair Cop by Maureen Ingram Scott - her first, self-published book - describes an operation to counter a large scale money lending racket. The operation involved some 25 officers in and around Glasgow.

"On four occasions on a Friday night, along with another female officer and a male officer, we sat in one of the toughest pubs in Glasgow at that time, the Molls Mire Public House in Polmadie, and watched as money was taken in and paid out. These men were violent criminals, but we felt re-assured that our presence had been accepted when one of the subjects asked Pat, my neighbour if the two dolls were "goers". Mairi and I were even followed into the toilet by a drunken woman who dismissed me ?you can huv ma son, but she's fur me?. Mairi's face was a study as she stuttered ?ahm wi a bloke hen?."

Friday Night, Closing Time

"Each Friday night at closing time, we would make our way to the Central Police Office and write up our notebooks as to who was present, who was collecting and who was paying out etc. When Pat got locked out of his hotel one night and no amount of 'phoning or banging the door would arouse the night porter, I telephoned my mum to say I was bringing a Dundee officer home for the night. We asked Tom the elderly night shift civilian telephonist to put a message in the book explaining that we would be late coming in that morning and the circumstances surrounding Pat's accommodation.

"When we arrived at the office, we were greeted with winks and cheeky comments. Being directed to the message book, Tom had boldly written ?Pat is sleeping with Maureen tonight. They will be late coming in, in the morning?. Even the boss had a twinkle in his eye when he said good morning. Twenty five officers were involved in the operation covering several pubs in and around Glasgow and twelve men were charged with illegal money lending, threatening borrowers with violence, assaulting four of the twelve named borrowers who gave evidence and one accused in addition charged with possessing 15 rounds of .22 ammunition.

"The newspaper headlines of the time were quite dramatic too. ?Their place of business was a pub, their office a toilet? and ?girl detective (me) tells of her vigil in city pub?. 317 witnesses were called to give evidence and 150 productions shown to the jury. All 12 accused were on legal aid and the trial was thought to have cost in the region of ?25,000. After a lengthy trial, 8 of the accused were found guilty of illegal money lending (by their own admission) and the other four had the charges of illegal money lending dropped. Even the charge against the one accused of possessing ammunition was withdrawn, and because the accused had been in custody for three months awaiting trial, they were all freed.

"One of the men in the presence of his lawyer later complained "I am being hounded by the police. ?Twice I have sat in the dock accused of murder and twice I have been freed. I know I am no angel and have been in a lot of trouble, but I've paid my penalties and I think that should be enough!?"

Bride or Groom?

Sometimes, Maureen's stories take an ecclesiastical turn: "I found myself in Church on one occasion. It was the east end of the city and it was a wedding. It was suspected that an escaped prisoner from a jail in England might try and attend the ceremony. I was greeted by a look-alike from the Adams family, obviously carefully chosen to stand at the Church door because of his bouncer appearance. Not a smile crossed his face as he growled ?bride or groom??. I chose groom and a pew at the back of the already small assembled group, which in actual fact was only about five rows from the front.

"One by one, a further assortment of broken noses, scars and tattoos appeared, but still not a smile, nor look of recognition even passed between anyone. There wasn't even a conversation between the groom and best man. The bride appeared and received a brief nod from her intended. The Minister announced the first hymn and we all stood like a domino effect in reverse. All the mouths began to move, but the Minister and I sang a duet. I didn't know the second hymn and the Minister manfully sang a solo for four verses. The escapee was there, and was arrested as he left the Church."

For details of how to obtain the complete book A Fair Cop, about Maureen?s experiences on the force click here.

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