Wednesday, May 14, 2014

:) The First Few Days

Well I have been in London for a few days and love, love, love it! We started out our trip by stopping by and walking through Windsor Castle! So beautiful and such an opportunity to see such old architecture.  Yesterday we went to the Police Station and met up with Constable Richard Watson. The police station is the largest employer for London folks. They have to deal with over 300 languages which is quite impressive to me since I know only one. We have an introduction to what all goes on in the police station and then got to experience a live booking in the custody area. It so different here, the inmates are not handcuffed most of the time and when they are the officer must explain his reasoning. I was a volunteer for Constable Watson and I must say being handcuffed is very painful. We were allowed to see the holding cells for the people being booked and it seems that the officers  working with the inmates have a deeper respect for them compared to the officers in the U.S.A. There was an extremely intoxicated gentlemen and one of the officers sat outside his doors to make sure he was ok. I think that is so great, if you respect the inmates, they will respect you. Today we got to visit the Magistrates Court. We were able to sit in on 2 court hearings, the first was made up of 3 volunteers who are the "judges" and they are not legally qualified but there is a legal clerk helping them with the case. This case was pretty boring to me and seems like it takes awhile in the courtroom when there are 3 "judges". The next hearing was made up of one judge who is qualified but there is still a legal clerk helping out. The defendant has a very long criminal record consisting of over 18 priors but he was on trial for smuggling drugs into prison. Very interesting. Along with being in a new place, I have met my great roommates, Jamie and Cierra, they are awesome! Love  it so far and am looking forward to posting more.

3 comments:

  1. Looking good Chloe!
    So excited to hear more. Sounds like you are having a wonderful time!

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  2. I love the hat!! We miss you and look forward to following your adventures and pictures.

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  3. Looks like you are having fun! Miss you :)

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