In our policing feature, we hear from some of the officers on your local teams.

This week we hear from PC Anna Parsons, who is with the Met's South East Command Unit:

Tell us about your life before you joined the police

I grew up on a dairy farm and my childhood was spent doing crop work, climbing hay bales and riding my bike around the farm. It couldn’t have been more different to the police!

What made you join the police?

I’ve always believed in doing the right thing and I don’t like to see people getting away with things they shouldn’t. I did work experience with my local police force and loved it, then a degree in criminology and criminal justice, before joining the Met 12 years ago.

Meet your local Met Police team: PC Emilie Gurney

Tell us about your career

I’ve worked in South East response teams attending emergency calls, worked on Met calls which involved talking to people all day, worked in a unit which investigates breaches of standards or conduct, and now I work in community engagement in the South East, focusing on our Stop and Search project. This project is about listening to the community, and their comments help inform and improve our work. We’re working on rebuilding trust and trying to help people understand what we’re doing and why.

News Shopper:

What’s a challenge for you?

A lot of people have an opinion on us based on hearsay and some will have a negative view. I would ask that they try talking to us because we’d be more than happy to chat. I want them to see us as human and that we live for the same things they do – we care about our families, we have lives outside work, we’re mums or daughters or sisters, just like them.

Meet your local Met Police team: PC Tara Duffy

What do you like about your job and what are some memorable moments?

It’s such an awful cliché but I like helping people and catching criminals. I remember one man who had his van stolen and in it were all his tools. To me, he’d had his whole livelihood stolen and it wasn’t right that someone taken that from him. I searched high and low and I found it and I was so happy I could return it to him.

I once had an abandoned call and, even though I couldn’t hear anything, I had a horrible feeling in my gut about it. I traced the address and sent someone round to investigate and they found a person who had suffered a stroke. They were rushed to hospital and we managed to get a relative to be with them so they weren’t alone.

As an officer you’re called to so many varied things it is really difficult to pick out just a few memorable moments!