2209.02 TWENTY YEARS

Milestones are something you come across more and more as you get older. This month I'm hitting two major ones, one of which involves breaking (temporarily) one of my rules of disclosure.

I considered two separate posts but decided to stick to a post with two sections. Both milestones are for 20 years and both sit in different facets of my life.

Twenty Years of Blogging

Back in the early days of the internet, at least in our household, I noticed I was entitled to some free webspace with my dial up. So I created www.kirt.v21.org.uk (it no longer exists, like the ISP). On that webspace I created my first basic webpage on which I listed notable events that happened in my life. Then I heard about weblogging (or blogging), as a lifelong diarist (sadly most are lost) this was just for me so I expanded those few notes on my webpage into my first blog posts. Unfortunately screen grabs of those pages were never saved but all my posts from back then are recorded for posterity.

0209.23 ROBBED 
We were visited in the early hours by thieves who proceeded to crow-bar the back of my shed off and relieve me of my tools.

I didn't register my current domain until about 6 months later. The earliest image of the screen I have is from 2005.

Initially I named the site "KirtWeb" with the blog known as "The Captain's Log". The design was heavily influenced by Star Trek with the cartoons not coming on for some years later. It wasn't until 10 years later I changed the name to "To Baldly Go", dropped the majority of the previous influences and leaned more towards the cartoons.

Blogging for me has never been about success or fame. It's always been about me putting the contents on my brain out in writing for me to process. And of course there's the cartoons... My cartoon strip "Northman" was born here and now has a life of it's own.

Twenty Years of Police Community Support Officers

Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) celebrate 20 years of delivering neighbourhood policing. The PCSO role was created by the 2002 Police Reform Act and since that time PCSOs have more than proved their worth.

This month I want to celebrate the success of PCSOs in delivering neighbourhood policing over the last 20 years. Without PCSOs there simply is no local policing. PCSOs provide a highly visible police presence. They deter anti-social behaviour, provide reassurance, gather intelligence and work with businesses, schools and statutory partners to keep communities safe. PCSOs are a force for good. Put simply, PCSOs are key to maintaining public confidence in policing.

So why am I going on about this particular role? Because this is what I do, it's my 'day job'. It's what I've done for the last 16 years. I'm passionate about local policing, about communities and I have always strived to be the best at what I do. I love my job. I don't love the cuts, the damage to neighbourhood policing and the way the media sometimes speaks about the role.

I started in 2006 and was assigned to a challenging area in the City of Sheffield...

...where I still work to this day providing a familiar face to the community I serve. If you still don't get what I do then perhaps it's best likened to the old fashioned community bobby. I'm lucky to have worked in the same community all these years.

There are lots of issues within Neighbourhood Policing but the commitment of myself and my colleagues isn't one of them. I'm proud of my work. Some people say that staying in the same role lacks ambition, I say that wanting to be the best you can be within your role shows just as much ambition as aiming for promotions and changing careers every few months. I'm proud of what I do. I toast my colleagues in this 20th year and hope we continue for long time.