undercover-author

Firstly, no help was ever available for undercover officers in my day.

It's only with hindsight that I can see the person I became at that time. Initially you have to work very close to the criminal line in order to be effective, but after a while those lines become very blurred indeed. I was drinking far too much, my relationships were messed up (2 failed marriages) and increasingly my friends were the criminals. It was only through my children and my personal circumstances that I managed to get out of the spiral at all. Many didn't.

Some ended up becoming part of what they had started fighting. It's a whirlpool but man what a ride at the time.

Great question.

I could write a book about it. Oh wait...

The main thing about the aftermath of the WW is that everything was in short supply. I was born in the 50's and things were just getting back to some kind of normality, but up until the mid 50's we still had a thing called rationing in the UK. This meant that food and lots of other things were in very short supply. Households were issued vouchers, or coupons, and this entitled them to essential supplies. They still had to pay but were only allowed to buy the specified amount, depending on their circumstances. ie: How many in the household, how many children and their ages etc.

For example, you might be allowed 3 eggs per week, and 1 pint of milk per day. Maybe a loaf every other day and so on. This was because the supplies of food hadn't yet got back to normal after all of our supply lines (merchant ships) were lost at sea in the war.

This still impacts my mentality today. Because the biggest sin we could commit as children was to WASTE food I still have that mentality. I hate waste. Probably because it was drummed into us as children that there were children starving. That we were lucky to have any food at all, and that we could move from the table until we had 'cleaned the plate'.

This is also my weak excuse for being a few stone over weight.

Yes. I'm not up to date on current crime trends or figures, unfortunately, but in my day certainly. What I can say is that the 'east end' doesn't exist any more as far as police boundaries and divisions are concerned. All of the old divisions and boundaries have been changed and made much much bigger since the invention of Police Scotland, so everything is blurred.

From my own experience the east end was the home of many of the poorest people who came to Glasgow with nothing. Housing was shit, job prospects very poor, education rubbish, and therefore a breeding ground for crime.

Things have changed and continue to do so. I love the east end. It's still REAL.

Aside: I heard that the west end of UK cities is always better because the prevailing winds in the country come from the west, and so all of the smoke and smog in industrial times was blown east. Interesting theory.

At the start of my book I talk about how we all see the world through our own eyes. From our very own unique perspective.

I still live in Glasgow, but now see it through the eyes of an old man, who just wants to be with his grand children in the park, go on nice holidays and fall asleep in front of the TV at night.

The adrenalin has long since stopped pumping and I have no desire to be involved in anything more strenuous than walking football or a wee cycle.

I love my city. And I know that every city in the world has it's issues. I live in a nice bit, and believe me, I know how to avoid trouble.

The worst case I ever worked on has to be the Lockerbie plane bombing. It was just horrific.

I was only one of many detectives on the investigation, but the sadness and horror will live with all of us forever. Bodies and wreckage everywhere, spread over a vast area. All of the luggage and personal belongings. And, of course, wondering what it must have been like for the passengers falling 36,000 feet to their deaths. We were told that they would have been unconscious quickly due to the altitude and the temperature, but we always felt that was told to us just to keep us sane.

All of the cases I worked on involving the deaths of children were horrible, and any case where death is involved (quite a lot in my line of work) is sad, especially for the bereaved.