Response Policing Week – PC Tom Davies

“I am PC Tom Davies, based at Dolgellau Police Station and cover the southern area of the Gwynedd South Patch. This means that I cover from Bala to Tywyn, Barmouth to Harlech, Trawsfynydd to Dolgellau and everything in between.

 I have been in North Wales Police now for 2 years, with me beginning my operational career just over a year and a half ago in Caernarfon.

Policing wasn’t something I originally intended to do having begun my career at 16 as a mechanic. However, as I progressed in that line of work, I took more interest in the Police, and I realised that joining was a great opportunity to make a difference within the community and help people. The route I took into policing meant that I began my career on response, attending 999 calls and priority 101 calls.

I believe this is a great role to have especially at the start of a policing career as it widens your knowledge of multiple different offences and jobs you may be called to attend. Every day is different. One day you may be the first on scene to an ongoing fight, or a neighbourhood dispute. Some days you may be called to a major incident, other days you may be dealing with VAWG (violence against women & girls) offences and taking steps to safeguard victims.

A highlight from my time on response is a job a colleague and I attended last year in Barmouth where we responded to reports of someone attempting to break into an address. We were able to provide a quick response and began searching for the person almost immediately. We found the person quickly who was brandishing two axes at us. Utilising a taser and working as a team, my colleague and I were able to disarm and detain the male who would later be sentenced for his actions. It was great to have protected the public from any harm and to have safely and securely detained the suspect responsible and put him before a judge to be held responsible for his actions and behaviour.

As a response officer, you’re likely to be first on scene for most incidents, engage with the public or be their first point of contact, and have a huge variety in your work with no day being the same. I believe this is a crucial role within policing and I enjoy every day of it. There are challenges within the role as with every job, but when working with a good team of officers, PCSOs and Police Staff this is easily overcome, and we work together to provide the best policing response and presence we can for the communities we serve in order to keep people safe and deal with crime effectively.

 I believe the most challenging part of the role, especially in Gwynedd South, is the logistics of covering such a vast rural area that has multiple dense towns and villages dotted around the patch which can quadruple in population during the summer months. Giving the best service to all residents of the area is the main priority, and we as a team aim to do that every shift.

 I’ve taken on multiple optional training courses to assist me in my role such as ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) training, PNC (Police National Computer) training and more. This assists me in my everyday role as I can conduct enquiries quicker without the need to wait for the assistance of a specialist and as such detect and react to crime faster in certain circumstances. I also help my colleagues with IT problems where I can to ensure the smooth and efficient running of our systems and also to provide victims of crime the best service we can.”

We’re #recruiting Police Officers to join us on response. Click here to apply - Police Constable 2024 E - Police Jobs Wales (tal.net)