The long and winding Parade 4

Who exactly is Police Inspector Frank Parade?

Well apart from being the lead character in a series of novels, starting later this summer with A Policeman's Lot from Solstice Publishing.

The police force in which Parade found himself serving was a very different beast to the modern force we know today - policing methods were primitive - No DNA or profiling for these guys in blue.

Candidates for the police force had to be between 18 and 27 years of age, and if married were allowed to have no more than two children when joining. The minimum height was 5ft 9ins and the officers had only one day off a fortnight. No Sunday or public holiday entitlement was given and constables and sergeants were allowed one weeks holiday per year.

A Policeman's Lot opens in 1904 and the regional forces were during this period facing a difficult transition between the methods of old and the dawn of scientific crime-fighting as exemplified by Scotland Yard's lead.

The standard uniform issued was:
1 Staff
1 Belt
1 Cape and Strap
1 Pair Leggings
2 Great Coats
2 Dress Coats
5 Pairs of trousers
2 Hats
2 Leather Neck Stocks
3 Button brushes
1 Whistle
1 Lantern
1 pair of handcuffs

Frank Parade's beat is Pontypridd -

Pontypridd during the early 1900’s could in many ways be likened to a frontier town. Because of its proximity to the industrial heart of the Rhondda and Cynon coalfields it became something of a stopping off point between Cardiff and the valleys. The population had not really settled at the start of the twentieth century and the police force, still then very much in its infancy as a professional organisation, was hard pushed to the stem the rise of lawlessness.

A Policeman's Lot brings into this mix Buffalo Bill's world famous Wild West circus as well as the re-appearance of a serial killer once known as Jack the Ripper. And by the end of the story the greatest mystery in the history of crime will be solved by a Welsh policeman and an American legend.

When constabulary's duty's to be done, the policeman's lot is not a happy one.

PIRATES OF PENZANCE 1879