Introduction
My return to professional work with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) in London was an enormous event for me. I had inevitable concern over whether I was still up to the job; nevertheless, I was delighted to be back doing something I’d enjoyed being an expert at.
I kept a detailed diary for each day of my first week, from which I’ve come to realise that it wasn’t the work per se, I enjoyed. I now recognise it was the interaction with people and dealing with challenging situations which stimulated me. The time period of the diaries is Monday 24th July 2017 through Thursday 27th July 2017 – two years after my injury on Friday 31st July 2015.
Return to Work Email Dialogue
Following are two snippets of emails which illustrate my re-engagement with ‘The Met’. Looking back on this period with several years of hindsight, I’m still perplexed by how I flipped from feeling unable to return to work (email 1), to committing to do so (email 2), in the space of just one month.
email 1: 24th May, 2017
My reply to an enquiry from The Met, where I was asked if I’d consider returning.
email 2: 26th June, 2017
My reply to The Met, after having decided to return to work.
Return to Work Diaries
| DAY(S) | DIARY COMMENTS |
|---|---|
| Monday 24th July, 2017 | I gave my first impressions of returning to work again, particularly in the context of my overall recovery. Click the link to the left for my detailed diary entries after travelling down from Stoke-on-Trent to London. |
| Tuesday and Wednesday | My diary entries recollected a day which started by dealing with an awkward person / situation. Regardless, I was able to get on and make useful contributions, so the days ended positively. |
| Thursday | I witnessed problems develop during an important technical procedure, yet held council (kept my mouth shut) until better entrenched. I returned home absolutely delighted. |
| Addendum | I tried to articulate how impossibly fortunate I feel to make the kind of recovery that I have. The diary entries display some of my general thoughts about returning to work, and life in general. The content is rather random. |
Anecdote
[February 2024] I’d worked intermittently for the Met between 2011 and 2017. I was the right person, at the right time, with the right skills. However, I spent almost my entire time engaged in disputes with inferior Met Police staff and third-party advisors, whose ignorance was mystifying to me. I desperately wanted to deliver a quality solution for the Met, but acknowledge that what I was brow beaten into designing and implementing was of a very poor standard. If I had to sum up the experience of working for the Met it’d be ‘dysfunctional’.