Angela Simpson, a police officer

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BBC Learning English
Talk about English
Private lives - Part 4
Angela Simpson, a police officer

This programme was first broadcast in 1997

Clip Angela Simpson
When I spoke to my mother about joining the police service she was dead set against it
because of the fact that I’m female and I’m black and because of all the negative publicity that
the police had had in her era when she actually came to the country so she was totally dead set
against me joining.


Sue: In Private lives today we meet Angela Simpson. Angela is 29 years old, and she
was born and brought up in Leeds, a large city in the north of England. Angela
is a police officer, and she has special responsibility for recruiting young people
from ethnic minorities who are interested in a career in the police service.
During the programme, we’ll hear Angela talk about where she lives, and what
she enjoys doing on a typical night in and a typical night out. She also talks
about her family, and she describes how she thinks being a police officer has
changed her over the years. First, we learn a little about Angela’s background
and her childhood in a multicultural suburb of Leeds.




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Clip Angela Simpson
My parents came to England in the 1960s, early 1960s from Jamaica, and I remember living in
the Harehills area of Leeds which I really enjoyed as a child because of the fact that I distinctly
remember that on my left there were neighbours who were Irish and from there we had people
who were Sikh, Hindu, Pakistani, African-Carribbean all in this long street. I remember at
school, it was quite a multicultural environment the fact that I had friends from different
backgrounds and different walks of life and for me I have really happy childhood memories it
wasn’t until really I started working where I felt like I was in the minority.


Sue: Angela began her working life at Customs and Excise - a British government
department which is responsible for collecting duty on imported goods for
example. She had an administrative job and she was bored. When she decided
she wanted to become a police officer, her mother tried to discourage her,
fearing her daughter would face racial prejudice and sexual discrimination.
Angela wasn’t put off - although the training was tough, and she says she found
it especially difficult, since she was from an ethnic minority background. After
training school, Angela became a foot patrol officer, and her day-to-day duties
included dealing with shoplifters, domestic incidents and road accidents. She
worked in a different part of Leeds from where she was brought up and she
explains why.

Clip Angela Simpson
I would never ever work in the area that I was brought up in which is Leeds in the Harehills
area because of the fact that I do know a lot of people that I went to school with, a lot of
people who have been in trouble as well and just from some of the comments that have been
said when I’ve been out with my friends, especially if somebody doesn’t like somebody from


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the police force then they’re going to say negative things about you. And I’ve got to think of
my family as well who still live in that area which is the most important thing to me regardless
of the job really so I would never, ever work in Leeds where I was brought up.


Sue: Angela is no longer a foot patrol officer “on the beat” - on duty, walking the
local area she was responsible for. She enjoys her new role as a recruiting
liaison officer, and she’s working very hard to attract young people from ethnic
minority backgrounds into the police service. However, Angela is clear that her
police work on the beat - some of it with people whose living conditions
shocked her because they were so poor - made her a more confident, committed
officer and a stronger person.

Clip Angela Simpson
I was on the beat for 6 ½ years and initially when I first joined the police service I was quite
quiet, very reserved, surprisingly enough, yeah just very quiet natured really and over the years
it’s helped me develop my confidence, develop the way I can communicate with people. I think
that’s quite important because there were quite a few times where initially where I thought well
is this really job for me - I don’t think I can make the grade - but I’m glad that I stuck at it and
it has sort of like made me the person that I am today.


Sue: Police work often means irregular working hours, or “shifts”, so keeping up
with friends outside the police service can be difficult. Also, not surprisingly,
police officers tend to socialise together when they’re not on duty, and
sometimes romantic relationships develop.



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Clip Angela Simpson
You will find that police officers male and female will actually get together I think that it’s
probably because they work quite closely, they’re working similar shifts - sometimes it’s very
difficult to form a relationship outside the job especially if the other person doesn’t understand
the shift system. It’s like another family really. The disadvantage is that sometimes your whole
life can revolve around the police service and I think you’ve got to be very, very careful that
you’re not sort of like isolating your other friends. I think it’s very important to have friends
outside the job, as well as inside.


Sue: When Angela was a fairly new police officer she met another probationer
working the same shifts as her. She says that because they were “both in the
same boat” they became good friends, and then they started going out together.
It was to be a significant relationship in her life.


Clip Angela Simpson
I used to live with a police officer about a year and a half ago now. Initially we were really
good friends because of the fact that we worked on the same shift. From then on obviously
romance blossomed and we became quite close and we finally lived together for quite a while.
All in all we were together for five years. However, we then decided it was time to go in
different directions which is fine really.


Sue: Since then, Angela has had more time to spend with her female friends, and
recently, she even sold her furniture to pay for a holiday with a girlfriend. They
went to Tenerife in the Canary Islands - which is a popular destination for


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British holiday-makers. Angela says it’s a little like Blackpool. Blackpool is a
hugely popular sea-side resort on the North West coast of England, with hi-tech
roller-coaster rides and discos.


Clip Angela Simpson
The last time I went on holiday was last April. I sold all my furniture and my house and went
to Tenerife with my girlfriend. It’s a holiday that I’ve never been away with a female friend
before and it was something that I always wanted to do but never had the opportunity, so I did
it. Tenerife is quite a lively, touristy place a bit like sunny Blackpool in England. Although I
enjoyed it it’s something that I would never do again it’s somewhere I would never, ever go
again but it was something I had to do then, so I did. I would like to go to Jamaica, the last
time I went was when I was seven, and although quite a lot of my family have moved away
from Jamaica and now live in England, Canada and America there’s still some family left there
and plus I’d like to see where my roots are really - where my parents are from.



Sue: A trip to Jamaica is one of Angela’s long-term ambitions. This year, she can’t
afford a holiday. So, she plans to visit friends in other parts of Britain, driving
her jeep-like car, which her friends have nick-named “monster truck”. On the
cassette player, as Angela drives, she’ll play a cover version of song called “I
will survive”. Because she’s still adjusting to life as a single young woman
again, the lyrics have special meaning for her.





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Clip Angela Simpson
At the moment I’m continuously playing the old Gloria Gaynor hit ‘I will survive’. It’s a new
version by a soul singer called Chantay Savage, which I play over and over again. For me I just
love that song because it says everything. The fact that this woman has obviously gone through
a bad time, a bad relationship but she’s saying despite that I’ve come up on top, I will survive
and I don’t really need you any more.


Sue: Angela’s recently moved house. And, according to her friends, she’s made an
unusual choice for an energetic, outgoing, young person.


Clip Angela Simpson
I live just outside of Wakefield which is called the Hall Green area and I live in a two
bedroomed bungalow with a front and rear garden, two bedrooms, a dining room, living room
kitchen and bathroom. I’ve only lived there for a week but I really like it, it’s quiet, which is
what I like. Some of my friends have commented and actually said that it’s funny I live in a
bungalow because a bungalow is associated with somebody that’s elderly and it’s not really the
image that they expect me to live in something like that but I like it, it’s really nice.


Sue: On a typical evening in, Angela can be found watching television in the living
room. She admits that she doesn’t cook for herself very often - she’s more likely
to go to her mother’s or a friend’s house for an evening meal. And on a typical
night out, Angela enjoys eating at one of her many local restaurants.




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Clip Angela Simpson
A night in for me would be possibly sitting in front of the television eating a box of chocolates
that’s my favourite really. I’m not a person that cooks very often and if anything I do tend to
go to my mother’s or my friend’s house who lives near by and I do like eating out at different
restaurants Chinese, Indian and Italian are my favourites.


Sue: To end the programme, Angela talks about her family. They’re very close and
spend a lot of time together. Angela admires her sister, who’s 5 years older than
her and a midwife at a local hospital. But both sisters, share the same role
model.


Clip Angela Simpson
I think for me my mother is my role model because she’s a very humble person and the fact
that if anything she brought myself and my sister up single handedly ‘cos my father wasn’t
around and to do something like that is something I’m very, very proud of and I remember that
she’s always said that you can do anything you want don’t let anybody say to you can’t do that
and she’s always strived for me and my sister to do well and I just really hope that she’s, well
in fact I do know she’s proud of me now although she had her reservations about me actually
joining the police she’s very, very proud now.