Planet Police (True Stories) in Christian Books Only Review Group

Sep 09, 2016 Jeanette rated it it was amazing

So pleased to have won an electronic copy of this book via Librarything.

This book was of special interest to me, as my granddaughter has just started the 'Uniformed Services' course in Worthing and is awaiting to join the Police Cadets. Lancing, Worthing and Shoreham by Sea are my local Police Stations.

This was an excellent read and shall be passing some tips onto my granddaughter. Recommended. ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Apr 21, 2017 John rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I received this copy from the author Natalie for free in return for an honest review.

This was a great book. It showed the struggles the author had with life early on and as she progressed through the police department. She was honest about the mistakes she made in her personal life and in the police department and how eventually, she gave up police work (after struggling mightily to find herself and helped along by the grueling shift work within the department) to re-find her Christian faith and ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Nov 27, 2017 S.R. Piccoli rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Raised in a Christian home in West Sussex, England, when she was seventeen Natalie Vellacott fell away from God and for the next five years she lived a worldly lifestyle until her conversion at age 23. In the middle of her “worldly period,” fulfilling a childhood dream she joined Sussex Police as an officer. Natalie gained experience in numerous departments—she worked, inter alia, with the Child Protection Team and the dreaded Professional Standards Department (what in the U.S. is referred to as Raised in a Christian home in West Sussex, England, when she was seventeen Natalie Vellacott fell away from God and for the next five years she lived a worldly lifestyle until her conversion at age 23. In the middle of her “worldly period,” fulfilling a childhood dream she joined Sussex Police as an officer. Natalie gained experience in numerous departments—she worked, inter alia, with the Child Protection Team and the dreaded Professional Standards Department (what in the U.S. is referred to as Internal Affairs)—and was employed in several different stations.

Promoted to sergeant at 27, she started to find it increasingly difficult to be a Christian in a secular work environment. Thus she began to be involved in street evangelism during her free time. One Saturday Natalie was asked if she wanted to go to the neighboring town of Brighton to join some members from her church and other churches in the area to conduct a peaceful protest at the annual Gay Pride Parade event. Since other police officers—those who were known to be gay—were allowed to march in the parade during working hours and while in uniform, Natalie accepted the invitation. “As a Christian,” she writes, “I knew that the Bible teaches us to love people regardless of their lifestyle choices and behaviour. After the life I had lived, I couldn’t judge others, especially those that weren’t making claims to be Christian. I had supervised gay officers and one of my closest female colleagues was gay. I tried to treat people as individuals and to get to know them, rather than thinking of them in terms of their sexuality. However, an organised event such as Gay Pride specifically to celebrate this lifestyle was something different.” So, long story short, Natalie thought that there was nothing wrong with taking part in the protest off-duty and in civilian clothing. But she found out very soon that her superiors had other ideas… Not for nothing, shortly afterwards she quit her police job and became a missionary in the Philippines to help teenagers get off drugs and find Christ, as she herself recounts in her first book, They’re Rugby Boys, Don’t You Know?

Planet Police, in Natalie Vellacot's own words, “is by no means an exhaustive record of events throughout my service” that is a candid autobiographical account of her nearly ten years of service with the Sussex police. Without forgetting that, as any police officer will tell you, “enough things happen throughout a police career to fill many books.” The book is well-written, interesting and entertaining. I must say that I enjoyed it very much. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 11, 2018 Joy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

An interesting look at the adventures of a young Christian woman in the British police force. The "behind the scenes" information and stories were fun - perhaps even more so since there is a difference in culture as well. Stories from silly to serious, personal and public, engage the reader. A fun read. ...more

Like · see review

Jul 02, 2018 Jenny Carr rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Interesting

Interesting seeing how her faith impacted her job.
Candid account of everyday policing.
Interested to read the other books she has written.

Like · see review