This cops memoir exposes the many jobs that police were exposed to during the 80s and 90s. Some of these events were very sad, some very serious while others quite humorous.  
After graduation from the Redfern Police Academy in 1982 I was immediately thrown into General Duties and the cauldron of the wild west of Cabramatta, the cultural melting pot of Australia at that time.
 
Three years at Cabramatta were a mix of the daily humdrum of GDs with motor vehicle accidents, domestics and break and enters interspersed with the peril of vehicle pursuits, an armed siege and a massive brawl. My time there culminated with the Milperra mass murder. My time at Cabramatta saw my confidence rise from a rookie constable learning on the job to being the senior man on the truck.
 
With that fortitude I was fortunate enough to secure a transfer to the supposedly peaceful coastal area of Forster/Tuncurry where I returned to being the junior man of six officers, which included two Detectives. Here I was exposed to working alone for much of the time, town taming two towns and four villages. 
 
The mundane jobs encountered in the country were no different from many at Cabramatta. Again, many events were drenched in sorrow, excitement and mirth. It was not unusual to not only be the enforcer of infractions, but also its victim. 
 
During that first five years at Forster the entire ambit of policing, including wild brawls, riots and the constant visitor to the police station, death was encountered. Death arrived in many formats including vehicle accidents, suicide, child death and the odd murder or attempt thereof. 
That period in General Duties ended with a transfer of but a few metres into the Detectives office for the remainder of my career.
 
The description and type of police work faced while in uniform was not as complex as my depiction of the tasks encountered as a criminal investigator. That role as a Detective was one that changed from being reactive and dealing with relatively simple investigations to those of a more complex nature. 
The stories of these investigations unfold as they did at the time, some quiet simple and others lengthy and perplexing.
 
My descriptions of these events reveal the real underbelly of this small police patrol. Forster was our base, however we detectives also managed major crime in the surrounding towns of Nabiac, Gloucester, Bulahdelah and Tea Gardens where a dark side to the districts blissful existence was exposed. 
 
Dramatic events such as the attempted murder of a young mother and the subsequent suicide of the offender, the savage sexual assault upon another young mother by four hoodlums and a further sexual assault of a young woman by two men where a number of hurdles were encountered. 
This utopian life came to a crashing end with a simple arrest, which turned, into a fight for survival where the offender was shot.
 
My book gives a small and varied sample of a coppers life with tales of the many real events that unfolded during a twenty plus year career. All cherry picked to provide the reader with a broad grasp of the work that many of our police are confronted with each and every day.