Ash Cameron

Ash Cameron served as a policewoman in London from the late 1970's before reluctantly retiring due to ill-health after 20 years on the job. In Confessions of an Undercover Cop, she shares the highlights, and lowlights, of her career from a stockinged, tea making rookie to an undercover officer investigating, amongst other things, fraud, theft and later child abuse.

Confessions of an Undercover Cop is related in the first person in a conversational style. The series of vignettes illustrate cases and events Cameron was involved in during her career, ranging from the amusing to alarming. Dealing with the drunk and disorderly, the homeless and prostitutes dominated Cameron's time on the street while at the other extreme Cameron brushed shoulders with celebrity. The most harrowing cases Cameron relates involve the abuse of children.

While gun crime was rare during Cameron's tenure, in fact London police were armed only with truncheons and Capsicum Spray, she did have to contend with IRA bombing attacks and citywide riots. She faced knife wielding drug addicts, and offenders who spat, bit and head butted her. Cameron confesses she was also accident prone (she was later diagnosed with dyspraxia) and earned several scars from not only from violent offenders, but also recalcitrant doors and protruding tow bars.

Ash has faced her fair share of sexism as one of the few serving female police officers during her career from both colleagues and criminals alike. It is rarely mentioned though she relates exceptional cases, such as the Sergeant who constantly remarked that women should be at home 'where they belong' and another who deliberately sabotaged her during driver training.
Cameron also briefly comments on the failures of the justice system, of cases dismissed on technicalities and offenders walking away after being found not guilty by a jury panel.

What is evident in Confessions of an Undercover Cop is that Ash Cameron was a dedicated police officer. These stories offer an interesting and entertaining insight into her time of service and I enjoyed the read.… (mehr)