Passing out parade Metropolitan Police College Hendon 1987 

Totally agree where did it go? Mind you we had some fun ..all cars mp out

I've been wracking my brains to remember his name.. thanks for that David. I passed out Jan 88.

He was kind enough to say to me on my passing out day, 'You being in this intake made it for me. Good luck.' He was from Cwmbran in Wales.

@@mariahoulihan9483 Are you part-black genetically? I still am. Does that explain why my two fellow colour party members got their videos while I did not? Perhaps.

Without a doubt

And how many police forces have you served with?

NYPD. SFPD. Essex Police . Metropolitan Police

Well it is a moment of its time. I like to think all those on parade (probably all now retired) took that discipline with them as they progressed in their respective fields of policing. Today's officers are facing their own challenges and I don't envy them . I personally think they're being treated poorly by the profession I loved and that saddens me.

Thanks for watching. Yes things have changed. I often wonder whether this sort of event has a place now in today's police service? The Met Police is almost 200 years old. When Rowan and Mayne, the first commissioners designed the service they actually wanted to steer away from the military. Understandably as in the past civil unrest and protest had been met with Dragoons slaughtering the crowd. They wanted to convince the public the Police were there to help not hinder. It's still a work in progress. Remember police officers are from the society they police. So if your police officers are sub standard then society only has itself to blame. You're right standard need to be raised.....everywhere.

I'm assuming 1996....otherwise that's a shockingly long shift...lol

Congratulations you must've been the longest served officer in history, tell me what was your experience over the decades?

Showed how hard it was to become a copper

May not have always seemed like fun but despite the graft...friendships were made and it went so fast fond memories

They seemed to recruit a lot of ex services in the 80s and 90s. Then they changed tack.

Apparently The Staffordshire Knot March

It's simply called 'General Salute'

The general salute is called 'Cavalry Brigade'.

if your still interested after two years , its called "the Staffordshire knot "

This was the last parade of the Metropolitan Police Band, they were eventually civilianised and then disbanded in the late 90s I do believe. They had their own march called 'The Metropolitan" (original) composed by Bandmaster Barsotti probably out of print now

@@louislungbubble cheers mate

@@seabreezerider1309 That's something good to know, cheers for that.

Hang on a minute what do paras know about marching....lol. actually the big one in the flag squad was a para Jim Tunn.

I meant colour party

thats why claims that some people, during the miner's strike or more recent demos, were from the military are so funny - anyone who knows, knows that the police cant march, so its all just conspiracy theory nonsense

Seen better marching from Air Cadets.

There were two...a Gren and a life Guard....there was a Royal Signaller a Queensman a Para and a Royal Engineer...if my memory serves me correctly

It was Red Intake our joining date was 15/06/87. So this parade was 20 weeks later

@@seabreezerider1309 Yes, your spot on... senility setting in... I should have worded that better. We, (yellow) were six weeks behind you. We passed out in December. Do you remember the '87 storm when it hit Peel Centre? I was on the 16th floor of 'A' block at the time. And then there was the Kings Cross fire. Don't suppose you remember a Simon Mills on your course?

@@stuart7235 yes the big storm. I slept through it...lol. Quite surprised to see the block roof all over the road and football field in the morning. We certainly had some major incidents early in our careers that's for sure.

Keijo this was back in 1987 when UK Police Officers were still taught to march and parade. I believe the tradition continues but perhaps not on such a grand scale. Society changes and traditions can be expensive and not what everyone wants. I still believe discipline is the the key to many aspects in life. If we can not control ourselves then how do we help others

@@seabreezerider1309 Met passing out parades still involve this procedure...

@@MrDK0010 Yes the Metropolitan Police Service do still hold a passing out parade with a military style band, standard bearers and mounted branch on parade. There is a you tube video from Feb 2022 showing this. I sense that perhaps more time is spent on their studies rather than on their marching. This is of course how it should be as despite tradition, our police service is not para military. When the Met Police was formed their first commissioners Rowan and Maine wanted a police officer's uniform to be smart but not that of a soldier. This was done to ensure public confidence that they weren't being policed by the military. It was a delicate balance.

@@seabreezerider1309 im ex army and my uncle was also he had and old course photo from a drill sgts course to which some police drill sgts used to attend although this was from the early 80s i think its good if they keep this tradition