This article was published in the West Sussex Gazette on July 5th 2001.

Archie Greenshields, born in 1921, joined the police force in 1946 after being persuaded to do so by a fellow prisoner of war. He remembers some of his first days in the force in his home town: -

Early on in my service, and only a few weeks after I started, I was sent to the scene of an office break-in in Dukes Road, not too far from the station. After commencing enquiries and hardly knowing where to start, having encountered my first major crime, I was relieved to receive help from a more senior police constable, a George Earnshaw. I also received help from Detective Sergeant Bill Wykes, who had moved from Chichester to Littlehampton. Bill promised to 'clear the crime up' and would personally see that I gained the credit for doing so.

It is with sadness, I have to write that some long time afterwards, the same Sergeant was arrested for shop breaking in Horsham, and the offence which I have just described, was admitted by him and taken into consideration with many other similar crimes as well. I was to learn that he had been under suspicion for sometime and as a result of his arrest, was subsequently sentenced to two years imprisonment.

I was to arrest a man following indecent exposure to a woman, a short distance from the Police station, who ran off towards East Ham Road. There apparently had not been a power of arrest for this minor non-indictable misdemeanour, but I considered that, being in immediate pursuit, made it lawful.

There was a time too when there were quite a number of complaints coming in of young women being exposed to indecency in the Mewsbrook area. It was suggested that perhaps we might find a volunteer to hang around in this park in an attempt to catch the individual.

Barbara agreed to act as a decoy and we spent a Sunday afternoon watching out for one particular individual, whose description fitted in with most of the complaints. Eventually the man passed through Newsbrook, but nothing occurred. He was subsequently interviewed and no charges were ever brought, but the complaints from that area ceased.

There was an occasion when a doctor complained that during an emergency call out in the middle of the night, he had caught someone trying to get in his car. He had left the man walking out of the town towards Ford. The doctor turned his car round and drove me back and I picked the man up and brought him back to the station.

As luck would have it, a complaint of a burglary had been made without me being aware of it and the CID soon discovered that my man had been responsible. I got very little kudos and soon learned the lesson that the CID acted to their own rules in gaining glory. The uniformed section knew who had really cleared up this crime.

There were other chances of reports reaching the Superintendent's eyes; a drowning fatality, an assault on me by a drunken man, and yet another shop break-in that was cleared up.

Following a very hot August Bank Holiday in 1948, the body of a young woman was discovered in a lonely spot in Arundel Park. Following an examination by a pathologist it was found that she had been strangled and, on attending the Police station for duty that day, I discovered that there was a tremendous hive of activity. Not long afterwards I was sent with others to assist enquiries that pointed to the fact that her last known place, before the discovery of her body, was believed to have been at a hotel in Worthing.

Each of us from the Littlehampton and Arundel Division were to work with a member of the Worthing Borough team. Armed with a recent photo of the girl, Joan Woodhouse, we were told to visit every hotel in Worthing in an attempt to discover where she had been staying prior to her death. I worked with a D.C. Stoddard, who subsequently reached the rank of Chief Inspector, and we had the task of visiting each hotel on Marine Parade from the Pier westward.

It was never discovered where she had stayed and what is more, her murderer never came to trial. The man who discovered the body was a prime suspect and Miss Woodhouse's family took the very unusual step in those days, to apply for private summons to bring this suspect to trial once again. The original charges against him had not been accepted at the Magistrates' Court. Out of interest, I met this man quite by accident again in the early 1980's.

All in all, I was well on the way to ensuring that if I continued in this manner, my probationary period of two years would be confirmed. I even joined the first aid team and took part successfully in the Force Competition. Life was treating me well.

Even so, there were occasions when I began to question some of the rules and regulations, most of which the present day members of a police force would never countenance, I am sure. When I joined, it was expected that if a member of the force decided to visit a public house when off duty to have a drink, he would have to visit one in another division. This rule was relaxed soon after I joined, but another regulation still existed in regard to prospective marriages.

When I announced that I was going to marry Barbara in the April of 1947, I was instructed to submit her name and address and where she was employed, in order that enquiries could be made into her suitability. It was also said that a constable should have at least £100 in savings in order to get married and set up a home.

No police constable would be permitted to be connected or married to anyone in the licensing trade. I suppose my instruction to submit Barbara's particulars was in order to ascertain that she was not a barmaid. I wonder what they would have said had they known she had been born in the skittle alley of the 'Britannia Inn', a pub within a few minutes walk of the station!

Another rule, which I believed to be particularly onerous, was that if an unmarried constable that was in lodgings, on a rest day he was expected to be at that address by midnight.

Whilst at Littlehampton, a young recruit had been carrying out duty at Fontwell Races and his parents resided just near the course. After finishing his duty at the races, he enjoyed the rest of the day and spent the following day, which happened to be his rest day, at their home. Unfortunately, his sergeant called at his lodgings to deliver a message regarding a change of duty, only to be told by his landlady that he had not been home. The unfortunate constable was disciplined for this petty contravention of rules.

Being late for duty was always a worry and persistent offenders would be spared no mercy, and were likely to be fined a portion of a week's salary. Soon after the war, a young constable finding himself having to rise quite early to present himself for the early turn duty, had to acquire an alarm clock if he did not possess one.

In those days this was quite difficult task as many shops were without stocks. I was lucky, as my mother always seemed to have a magic touch in locating urgent needs seeming to spend hours in Chichester City centre watching for the delivery of scarce, luxury items. She managed to find one at a chemist of all places, who needed some sort of proof that it was to be for important use!

A friend of mine, PC 'Joe' Rolands, who had joined Littlehampton Station a few months earlier than I had, trailed a piece of string that was tied to his toe, and the end hung out of his bedroom window. He arranged for the man on night duty to give the end of the string a tug during the earlier hours to wake him!

None of these regulations caused too much concern, I know, but the more enlightened times were approaching. Even the refreshment period was extended to 45 minutes from the usual 30 soon after I arrived. But that was light years away from the present day canteens, where hot meals are provided and drink machines installed too, with no questions asked for those that use the facilities.

It was soon noted that a certain amount of favouritism could be shown and was well and truly illustrated when the office man, who had to man the archaic telephone switchboard, listened in to a call from the Deputy Chief Constable who was speaking to Supt. Peel. Apparently he was giving him prior warning that it was his intention to move me to Sidlesham Detachment.

The office man heard Supt. Peel say that Greenshields was quite happy to remain at Littlehampton and was housed in quite a nice flat and would not want to move. He heard him suggest that his son, Monty needed housing and would fit all the requirements needed at Sidlesham. A clearer case of nepotism could not be found, I think. This was not the only dirty trick that Supt. Peel played either.

Within another 18 months and whilst at Rustington, I had to deal with a fatal accident when a member of the Special Constabulary, and also a member of the Parish Council was killed.

I was on the scene within seconds and the driver, who was well known to me, died in my arms as I tried to free him from the car he had been driving in icy conditions.

A short time afterwards, his widow, whom I got to know through the necessary contacts between the Specials, told me that she wished to give me all his carpentry tools as a thank you for the manner in which I had acted at, and after the accident. Somehow Supt. Peel got to hear of her wish and persuaded her to give them to the Littlehampton Boys' Club of which he was Leader. I was greatly disappointed to say the least and even more so when I discovered from one of the boys that the tools had not appeared at their club.

Eventually and almost thirty months after being posted to Littlehampton, I was given orders to move to Rustington to work a two man beat. By this time we had our first child, Julia Ann. Rustington was so very close to Littlehampton and it would ease the parting company of Barbara's Aunt, who would still be able to visit and to see our little girl. At the beginning of September 1949 we moved to no. 4 Church Road, Rustington.

This article was published in the West Sussex Gazette on July 5th 2001.