They ended up divulging quite a serious crime, that they had committed a murder

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: They ended up divulging quite a serious crime that they had committed a murder. Just a small piece of information that we can collect while we're out on the street could be a huge piece in a jigsaw puzzle to, you know, a prosecutor.

PSE Natalie Hardy: It's really amazing, you really are the eyes and ears on the ground.

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: Throughout my career I've always thought "could I be a police officer?" and it's not that I don't think I could be one, I just really love the role that I'm currently in and what I do now.

Just setting up this project has been a big moment for me. They've run up and they've told their mum, "mum, you'll never guess what the police are doing for us". If I can help just one person out of these kids, then I feel like I've done my job.

If there was ever any trouble that we were in, you know, they would come as quickly as they could, as soon as they hear that red button as soon as we all hear that red button, we all, we'll go to our colleagues to try and assist as best we can.

PSE Natalie Hardy: Welcome to More Than The Badge, a Kent Police podcast. My name is Natalie Hardy, and I will be your host today. Today's episode is with Police Community Support Officer Kirsty Greaves. Kirsty has worked for Kent Police for 15 years and has just been awarded the PCSO of the Year Award.

Welcome to the podcast, Kirsty.

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: Thank you.

PSE Natalie Hardy: So, what inspired you to become a police community support officer?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: Well, when I was 18, I didn't know what I wanted to do, I'd always thought about being in the police and, at 18 I thought, you know, trying to come into the police force was quite a scary prospect at that age. Didn't really have an awful lot of life experience so, I suppose when I read the job description for a PCSO and it said about being in the community, talking to people, it just fitted who I was as a person, and I thought I'd give it a go.

PSE Natalie Hardy: 18 seems so young.

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: It really was.

PSE Natalie Hardy: Was it quite an eye opener for you?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: It, yes it was. Coming in and within like a couple of weeks I was dealing with my first fatal collision, and you're forced I suppose to grow up very quickly because you're someone's everything in front of them, they're wanting you to block off a road, they're wanting you to deal with a casualty in front of you and they're wanting you to deal with the friends and family that are around you so yeah it's a very daunting prospect at that age but you just you, you know, if you're meant to do a job like this you'll just get on and do it.

PSE Natalie Hardy: It sounds incredibly challenging. Can you talk us through the role of a police community support officer?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: Yeah, so the role that a police community support officer is mainly around dealing with crimes such as antisocial behaviour, nuisance vehicles, we'd be the people that would go and deal with neighbour disputes on a regular basis and anything in between, shops having problems. I used to just walk along the streets, and somebody would open their door and say, “oh can I, can I just tell you about something?”, and I would, you know, pop in have a cup of tea and have a chat and talk through any worries and concerns. So, it can be anything from small to, sort of, major depending on what the day brings there's no two jobs the same.

I'm on Neighbourhood Task Force currently and what that entails is getting the problem, finding where that problem is using, sort of, partner agencies, and other people in the community, in order to try and help and fix a problem, so we will go out, find an issue in an area, like nuisance bikes, put forward operations, get other agencies involved, and work out a way of trying to fix that problem as best we can.

PSE Natalie Hardy: And you've been in the force a long time how would you say your career has evolved over that time?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves:  I've been in for about 15 years now. When I first joined, it was a very, very different kind of policing era, there were, you know, we'd go out in our white shirts not like we've got these nice wicking shirts now, we'd go in white shirts on patrol for 10 hours a day and whatever we came across while we were on our beat was what we would deal with, and that could have been anything from dealing with naughty school kids to you know, nuisance bikes in an area, to speaking to local residents whilst we're on foot patrol, even to having accidents occur right in front of us and then just having to deal with that there and then, it's still very, very similar, we're just getting more involved with police officers nowadays.

PSE Natalie Hardy: I was going to say was it quite hard to integrate at first because the roles are quite different aren't they, so how was that, you know, working together as a team?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: I think, when I first joined it was very rare that police officers and PCSOs would actually really speak to each other very much. It didn't take long for that to change, but it was when a supervisor spoke to me I found that very strange because it was a bit like "have I done something wrong, if not then, you know, what what's going on?", but as time's gone on, you know, we've evolved into sort of, one big, kind of family I guess within the police and now we go out with police officers, we're pretty much viewed as officers, when we go out it don't really notice the different colours in shirts, it's just whoever's there at the time obviously if somebody wants to speak to us they'll speak to us, so yeah it's changed hugely.

PSE Natalie Hardy: And do you think that staying in the Maidstone area has helped you in terms of getting that rapport with the local community?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: Oh absolutely. I grew up in Maidstone, I think quite a lot of people would say that that's, you know, do you want to live and work in the same place?, but actually it's helped me over the years, it's helped me identify people, it's helped me build rapport with kids it's, you know, I went to school in the local area so I can relate to other school kids as well within the area so I think it's helped hugely being local to the area.

PSE Natalie Hardy: And you're an award-winning PCSO I hear, do you want to tell us a bit about that?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: So recently, well actually at the start of the year, I set up a project, with a local charity we started up a project called FishFest, which originated due to antisocial behaviour happening down at a local lake in the Maidstone area. We basically together, with other partnerships come up with a plan in order to get a diversion program for youths so that they would, you know, be able to put their focus into something really positive, and in doing so getting them off the streets, when they say they're bored and getting them doing something that they're really passionate about. We started that back in October 2023, and that went really, really well it was very successful, and due to that it meant that we got some awards off of the back of it one of them being like a prevention for problem solving award that was the first one, and then that then went on to being put forward for Tilley Awards which is a National Home Office award which we've just been put in for, and then I just recently got PCSO of the Year which is very nice to receive, and I've got another award coming up I feel like, Taylor Swift at the Grammys to be honest it was quite overwhelming, there were a lot of people in the room, but it was, really, really lovely. I had all my colleagues with me as support which was really nice and you could tell when I won the award because they were all clapping and whooping at the same time, that it was quite loud in there, but it was, yeah it was a really lovely evening.

PSE Natalie Hardy: That's great, do you have a really nice team?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: I do I have a really, really supportive team, they're always there come rain or shine and, yeah, they're like my biggest supporters in the background.

PSE Natalie Hardy: Have you worked with them all for a long time?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: I have yeah, being in a long time means that you get to know a lot of people for a long time and, I'm really lucky that the group in our office have either been in for a very long time already themselves or, you know, they come in and they fit in really well.

PSE Natalie Hardy: But I guess you all have that very deep knowledge though of the force and the local area.

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: Yeah we do and, and also because, you know, you work together 10 hours a day most days, you know they know you inside and out, you know, through your work time, but also your personal time so it's important that you all get on really.

PSE Natalie Hardy: Can you tell us a bit about how the FishFest started, what were the concerns to start with that led you to coming up with that initiative?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: So, basically there were lots of call demands coming from the local area. Parish councils were complaining about the antisocial behaviour, a lot of issues with, sort of, the fish care around when they were fishing down there, whether they were damaging wildlife because there were birds and things being hooked up, at the same time as when they were fishing and lots of litter being left in the local area, residents were complaining also and there was a big Facebook group that were, you know, constantly complaining about the issue so in order to try and reduce the antisocial behaviour within the area, I thought I would get out and, you know, speak to the lads and find out actually what was going on down there, what was needed and how we could best move, you know, move them into a controlled area where we could, you know, develop their skills and get them doing something positive. 

PSE Natalie Hardy: And I guess this is the kind of thing that a PCSO would get to know, they would know what was happening in their community, and you can start to build those relationships. So, the fact that you identified a concern and addressed it, is applaudable.

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: Thank you. Yes, you know you, you go into these areas patrolling anyway, that particular issue was a seasonal issue it would happen every single summer, I was the local officer for that area in particular for four years and it cropped up time and time again, and it was just that this time I was able to get in with the youths, I mean it took a lot of effort, they wouldn't give me their details they didn't, you know, the usual kind of front comes up when it's, when it's the police that are coming to deal with them, and after sort of taking down those barriers, trying to find out what they were doing down at the lakes and actually finding out how passionate they were towards fishing and how good it was for their mental health, and their behaviours, it meant that I felt more passionate in trying to get involved and I didn't know anything about fishing. The most I knew was that my dad took me a couple of times, we never caught a single thing and I thought why would anyone want to do this sport but actually after getting to know them, getting to see how, you know, they did treat the fish how delicately they were, you know, when they were getting them out of the water, and all of them telling me about all of the fishing equipment, led me to believe that actually they were very focused, they just needed a controlled environment in which to do it in, which is where FishFest really came about.

PSE Natalie Hardy: Has there been a moment in your career where you have realised the risks of what you do?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: Yeah absolutely. I think every day that we go out on patrol we have to realise that we don't have any equipment other than our radios, we've obviously got these body cams now, that's not always been the case, and you, very, learn, you know, very quickly have to learn that your voice is everything that you've got that's your power really, and there's been some situations where have been in, and we do obviously get all the training behind us to try and assist us with whatever situations we may get in, but you never know or can prepare yourself for what you could go into. For example I have been out, on patrol in the town centre with colleagues and it's a non-alcohol control zone, you know, we go and see someone's opened can of alcohol and I've been grabbed by both hands, and in that moment you think 'how am I going to get out of this?'. So you try talking, I've tried shouting and eventually they've let go and I'm really lucky that in that instance they did let go, but whilst talking them down and whilst listening to whatever they were going through they ended up divulging quite a serious crime that they had committed a murder. Now when, you know, somebody say something like that to you, first off, you're thinking "are they joking?".

I listened, took in all the information along with my colleagues, made a note of what was going on and as soon as I got back to the station, I found all the correct channels, started telling people what I'd heard, what had happened, what I'd dealt with. That person was already in custody, so it was able to, I was able to get the word round a lot quicker and that led to that person being dealt with for that murder. It was actually a legitimate murder that had taken place within the area and by giving over that snippet of information that I thought might have been a joke, it actually led to that person going to trial, me being a very key witness within that trial.

PSE Natalie Hardy: So, through that process did you think "oh actually I might like to be an officer or try out being a detective"?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: Throughout my career I've always thought "could I be a police officer?" and it's not that I don't think I could be one, I just really love the role that I'm currently in and what I do now, it's very varied. There's no two days that are same and actually we get involved in quite a lot of stuff that the police officers get involved in anyway, it just means that I can be out in the community, I can do what I do best which I think is like talking to people, and it's just something that I've always enjoyed more. So, it's not that I wouldn't do it, I just my role is where I, where I sit best.

PSE Natalie Hardy: and what do you love the most about it?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: I think I love the most about my job is being out in the communities, you know, getting to know people, getting to know people's backgrounds finding out, you know, what makes people tick and actually just being able to help people. I always wanted as a little kid, to help people and being in a role and in a position where I can do that, is massively beneficial to me anyway.

PSE Natalie Hardy: And do you find in your role as PCSO you're obviously based, in West Kent, do you find that you work with lots of other departments around the force supporting them in other ways?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: Yeah, we're really fortunate that at Maidstone everyone works together very well. We've got, so under our umbrella of roles, we have Child Centred Policing, obviously in the Neighbourhood Task Force which is what I'm in, Rural Task Force, over at Coldharbour, and we have, other roles like VBCT - Victim Based Crime Teams, all sorts of teams within Maidstone that we all work really, really well together so, you know, if there's some crime that's happening quite regularly and the Victim Based Crime Team have got a pot of all those crimes, and they want help with identifying people we just communicate and we get it across so that we can try and identify people and get the issues solved as quick as possibly.

PSE Natalie Hardy: Do you ever do any talks in schools?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: Yes, not so much now, Child Centred Policing do quite a lot of that, but quite a lot of our roles sort of all interconnect, so yeah I sometimes we'll go out and give inputs around sort of, safety around cars, stranger danger, we used to go out and do all those talks quite regularly because it's very important starting in the school's young, now they've got the Child Centred Policing teams they can go into all of the schools and give inputs and things like that and it's, I think it's very beneficial and I'm still working with the schools now, they're my main referral system into my, fishing program.

PSE Natalie Hardy: and do you think that being a PCSO and working with children helps them to feel that they can approach you and that the police are approachable?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves:  Oh absolutely. Every time we go into a school, I make sure that they, you know, they know they can come and approach us, give us a wave when we're out and about. I spend half my time driving about just waving at, you know, kids so that they know that we're friendly, approachable and should there be a problem that they know they can come to us regardless of what the issue is that they're dealing with.

PSE Natalie Hardy: Do you think that the role has any misconceptions, being a PCSO?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: Yeah, I do. I think that people have the misconception that, you know, we can't necessarily achieve a lot because we don't have those powers that police officers possess, but actually quite a lot of people like the fact that we don't have any powers, they like that they can come and talk to us and whatever we do take away, they know that we're going to put it within the rest, you know, the best care that they can get and we'll try and find the best person to help them in the situation that they're going through, I think that actually we can communicate really, really well as PCSOs and, we're all quite a tight-knit family so, you know, when it comes to a community we, you know, we want what's best for that community as much as they want to see people on the streets we want to do the best we can within their community.

PSE Natalie Hardy: and do you think being out in the community and having that knowledge of what's going on is helpful to officers and detectives perhaps, for cases that they are working on?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: Yeah definitely, I mean whenever, there's an issue within the office, particularly recently where there's been a lot of, sort of, off-road bikes and issues, and because I'm running these fishing, educational sessions and programs, people come up to me and be like "do you recognise these people?" and actually because I've built up a rapport, not only do I get to meet some of the young lads, but I also get to meet their friends, their family, their cousins, their brothers, and actually by doing that, it allows me to be able to help officers whether they need identifications, and not necessarily in a bad way even if we identify someone - can they come on my program, is there a way of, you know, getting them away from the crime that they're trying to commit and, let's try and, you know, put them in the best position they can be rather than putting them behind bars.

There was, one point in my career where I was out on foot patrol, just minding my own business and I've come along, sort of the pathway and on a bench was a bag and I thought, 'you know, it's just a bag I'll pick it up I'll, you know, take it back to the police station I'll book it in as, you know, lost property', as I've got back to the station in order to try and find out, you know, who owned it whether there was any way of returning it, inside I found some sort of, very interesting things inside the bag, which include like a Dictaphone and like a bit of paper that had sort of like a dating website and history on it. I won't go into details to what was on the Dictaphone, it wasn't very nice what I found, but I did a very long, information report that went on our system, booked the bag into property, eventually went and took that bag back to its owner and again put in another information report once I delivered it back with all the information that I'd found. I didn't think anything more of that bag, it had been returned to its owner all the information was secure and about three years later, I received, an email from another police force basically asking whether, I could write a statement because they would need it for a key witness in a trial where it was a sexual assault against a vulnerable adult. It all kind of made sense with all the information that I'd found and picked up, so I wrote my statement, and then a few weeks later I was called to, London Crown Court in order to give evidence and I was like a bad character witness, and it ended up the person ended up getting sent down and sent to prison so, you know, it just goes to show that just a small piece of information that we can collect while we're out on the street could be a huge piece, in a jigsaw puzzle to, you know, a prosecutor.

PSE Natalie Hardy: That's really, that's really amazing you really are the eyes and ears on the ground.

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: Absolutely.

PSE Natalie Hardy: but do you feel that you have the support available from your team if you needed it?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: Oh absolutely. Our colleagues are very good, if there was ever any trouble that we were in, you know, they would come as quickly as they could. As soon as they hear that red button, as soon as we all hear that red button, we all, we'll go to our colleagues to try and assist as best we can.

PSE Natalie Hardy: Do you think that being a PCSO helps you in your personal life as well in terms of the things that you've learned, the skills that you've acquired over the 15 years that you've been here?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: Oh absolutely, you know, by being, by communicating with people, by going out and dealing with people on a regular basis it's made me do extra qualifications outside of the job that perhaps I wouldn't have thought of.  I learned how to do, British Sign Language during Covid just to keep me kind of ticking over and so that if I came across anyone out there that needed British Sign Language I could try and communicate better, and I'm also currently undergoing my counselling and hypnotherapy course. I just thought it'd be something that would be an extra string to my bow.

Whilst I'm out in the public and I'm trying to help people I want to see the other side of why I'm helping people.

PSE Natalie Hardy: That's brilliant, and talking of home life, and balancing; do you find that quite easy to do with shifts?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: Yeah I do actually, I'm very fortunate I've got a very supportive husband at home, I've got two kids under five, and, you know, they all require my love and attention, but I wouldn't be able to do that if I didn't have that support at home. My husband's also in in the job and I think that helps hugely, it means that we can, you know, if I'm going to be late off there's an understanding there, if he's going to be late off there's an understanding there it works it very well for us.

PSE Natalie Hardy: I think having that support is definitely special if you can get that. Can understand how that works. Is there a very memorable moment that has stayed with you in your career so far?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: I think that, just setting up this project has been a big moment for me, the gratification I've got from being able to help other people and seeing the youths actually come out of their shell more, build a relationship with the police that perhaps it would never have had, and one, on one of the occasions I went to tell one of the lads that I was setting up this fishing and they've run up and they've told their mum, “mum, you'll never guess what the police are doing for us” and, you know, that's a moment that will, will stay with me for a long time, if I can help just one person out of these kids, then I feel like I've done my job. Another kind of big moment for me when I joined I always got told that, you know, you'd walk down the street someone would open up their door and you'd get invited in for a cup of tea and I thought "really? like does that actually happen?" and I was on my beat obviously 10 hours a day, every day when I first joined, and I was walking down one of my local areas and a little old lady opened up her door and she went "you alright love, do you want a cup of tea?" and I thought at that moment like I've actually like I've done what I what I set out to do, so I went in and had a cup of tea and actually, I used to visit her every single day until she passed away and she was a really, really cracking lady, and I think that moments like that where you actually like help someone continuously, and build a rapport with people, I think that that's probably some of the best moments of my career.

PSE Natalie Hardy: So now we're going to our off-the-cuff segment, something a little bit different. So, what is your go-to snack when you're on duty?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: S,o my go-to snack has got to be either a Terry's chocolate oranges, the mini ones in a packet, or a Toffee Crisp, and depending on how the day's gone maybe a box of nuggets.

PSE Natalie Hardy: And if you were a superhero what would your superpower be?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: Definitely would have to be an invisibility cloak, quite like being under the radar. I'd love to be a fly on the wall and just get to know what's going on and be a bit nosy.

PSE Natalie Hardy: You'd be a great detective. If you could choose any celebrity to join you on a shift, who would it be?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: It would have to be Ryan Reynolds.

PSE Natalie Hardy: Good choice, I'll come out on shift with you when that happens, and what's one thing you wish the public knew about the role of a PCSO?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: I guess that it's, you know, it's not just the uniform it's, you know, it's a great way of getting out into a community being able to talk to people, and not only that, you know, the Kent Police family is a big family, you know, there's lots of things that you can do within Kent Police, and just because you're a PCSO that doesn't change anything, like I play netball with the Kent Police netball team, and just because I'm a PCSO doesn't mean that I can't join in with that, there's lots of staff members, officers, senior ranks, and so yeah, you're just, you know, you're part of one big team.

PSE Natalie Hardy: And what advice would you give to someone who was considering a career in policing?

PCSO Kirsty Greaves: I'd say go for it, there's nothing, you know, if there's nothing holding you back go for it, just be prepared that it's, you know, it's not for everyone, it doesn't matter if it, you know, it doesn't quite fit you as a person, but if you want to go for that sort of stepping stone in order to find out whether it's a career for you, then a PCSO is a great start at doing that.

PSE Natalie Hardy: It's incredible that you've dedicated 15 years to serving your community and you're clearly really passionate about what you do.

Thank you for listening. If you have enjoyed this episode follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook and LinkedIn where we'll be posting previews of our upcoming episodes.

Don't forget you can watch this episode by subscribing to our YouTube channel and find out more about the variety of career opportunities available by searching Kent Police careers.

Bye for now.