'There's too much admin and crime is down because of problems reporting it': Longest serving policeman on the changes he's seen in 47 years on the beat

PC Mick Mountain, 66, is retiring from the Metropolitan Police Service



He believes technology has led to officers having to do more admin work



Says crime is down because people have 'too many problems' reporting it

The country's longest-serving policeman who is retiring after almost 50 years has spoken about how the job has changed since he first started as a bobby on the beat.

PC Mick Mountain, 66, described how modern officers have to do twice the amount of work because of paperwork and crime is only down because people have problems reporting it.

Although he has had 'the most fantastic career', PC Mountain expressed frustration at how advances in technology have led to officers having to spend more time ensuring information is electronically filed.

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PC Mick Mountain at Horse Guards Parade in London during Trooping the Colour in 1972 (left) and (right) at Horse Guards Parade this week



When asked if he thought more time was being spent on admin than on fighting crime, PC Mountain

said: 'Well I'm finding it is. I don't actually work in a police station obviously any longer.



'I work at the Palace of Westminster on security, so I don't get as much work as they do.

'From what I gather, yes it is the case, because I've tried to report crimes myself like any other citizen and it's a little more difficult than it used to be. "Oh yes, could you call in? Or could you send us an email?".

'I'm a policeman, I want to report it to a police officer, basically. And I think that is one of the reasons recently crime has gone down. People won't report it. Too many problems. But that's another issue.'

PC Mountain, from Morden, South London, joined the police in 1966 after his father persuaded him to apply.



He added that in the past officers would write and submit a report and do additional paperwork if needed, whereas now more time is taken up with ensuring all admin is completed electronically.

He said: 'It's changed so much. It's changed our whole job.'

The country's longest-serving police officer said officers today have to do 'more or less twice the work' due to increased admin

He added: 'But we have to do more or less twice the work, because you do your paperwork, and then you've got to scan it in to the electronic side, because everything's now saved and dealt with electronically.'

When asked if he felt any sympathy for young people coming into the job now, PC Mountain said:

'Yeah I will because it's a totally different job to when I joined in regarding the circumstances of the regulations and such.'

PC Mountain said technology has changed the job of policing

He added: 'For the young kids it's quite difficult.'

PC Mountain also said that while people are still as violent as they were in the past, the public

expects police officers to 'behave in a different manner' now.

When asked if police officers today have to be more careful and cautious when on the job, he said:



'Well most certainly, they have to, yeah. That's just the way the public expects us to behave in a different manner.

'I mean the people haven't changed. They're still as violent in some cases as they were then, but we have to approach it in a different manner, and of course we do, and our training is based towards that.'

PC Mountain looks back on his earlier years playing sport with fondness and counts it as one of the highlights of his career.

He said: 'We were always allowed to do sports. No longer the case, we don't have enough personnel to do it so we don't do it any longer.

'But I was playing football and I boxed for the police, and I played football and did cross- country running, all in the job time, because we were the Metropolitan Police force.

'We're now the service, and as soon as we became the service it did change. We don't really run football teams at police stations any longer, because they're required on the streets because their numbers came down and our requirement was further on.'

Despite the changes he has witnessed throughout his career, PC Mountain, who has arrested thousands of criminals, said: 'I've had a great time.'

He recalled one arrest which left him fearing for his life which involved a man with a hand grenade who threatened to pull the pin.

The officer ripped the grenade from the man before throwing it into open space.

Although he feared for his life, he said it is not until after that sort of scenario is over that you realise the danger you were in, and 'that's what police do', he said.

'You don't think it at the time. At the time you just deal with it. We get ourselves into trouble.

'Health and safety probably dislike us intently. You just react to a situation and do what you think is needed,' he said.

Reflecting on what he will miss most about his career, he said: 'People - the amount of people I speak to on a daily basis, the amount of comrades I've got at work.'