CID In the old days...

[spud]

I was on CID in Slough in 1979 .  In those days CID officers dealt with ALL crime, that included shoplifters.  The only time a uniformed officer would deal with a shoplifter is if he or she was a probationer and their tutor requested to take it for experience.
It was always very busy, we did spend a bit (well quite a bit) of time in the local pubs and betting shops though, chatting up informants you understand...
Things have certainly changed from what I hear these days. A lot of CID officers in those days had a job in CID for life, and they were good at it, they knew what was going on in their area, they knew the people you needed to know. Informants were dealt with on a much more informal basis, if you know what I mean..

[heedlessmunkey]

There was none of this "thats not a robbery is an assault and a theft malarky then?!"

[enforce-logic forum administrator]

No, we were proper detectives, spent loads of time in the pub and the betting office.........but, before you laugh, that's where most of the criminals were too.

[Tenbears10]

I met a CSI officer recently who was retired job and he told us about the DS who was at our station, before CID was all centralised. Apparently he would go to the pub down the road which was about 100 yards away by lunch time and then someone would have to make sure he didn't drive home from the back yard at the end of the day.