Derbyshire police officer says TV fame aids public perception

Sgt Scott Riley says Traffic Cops gives an opportunity for friends and family to see what he does at work

Two police officers have spoken of their experience after being featured on Channel 5 TV show Traffic Cops.

Sgt Scott Riley, of Derbyshire Police's roads policing unit, said being recognised "takes any conflict out and brings people straight on board with what we're saying to them".

Sgt Riley and PC Alex Head also detailed how the programme shows family and friends the stresses of the job.

PC Head said: "It's not an easy job but there are definitely highlights to it."

After appearing on TV, Sgt Riley said the support they received from the public had been positive, with people often being surprised with how they were treated during a shift.

"It's easy for people to think that policing is seen quite negatively, but Traffic Cops brings quite the opposite," he said.

"It does make me laugh when we get recognised by people we're dealing with.

"People can see that you're reasonable with people on the TV show, and we hope they think we are reasonable people. Of course, people will be dealt with because of what they have done, but there's a nice way of doing it."

'Stop crime from happening'

PC Head has been policing for seven years and says he has enjoyed his two years on the roads unit.

"I think road policing is the last active area of proactive policing," he said.

"A lot of policing nowadays is reactive, waiting for those 999 calls. Officers are so bogged down with the amount of paperwork to do and don't have time to go out patrolling, which is the sad state of British policing.

"We are the last unit who can really go out to look for people and patrol areas to stop crime from happening or to prevent it."

In response, a Derbyshire Police spokesperson said: "Our roads policing unit is a very proactive team within the force and the work they do to keep our county safe is fantastic.

"While the force does of course do a significant amount of reactive policing - and filling out of paperwork does happen - that does not stop us carrying out proactive work across the force every day of the year."