An emergency call handler who started her police career almost half a century ago has spoken of the many positive changes she has seen during that time.
Carolann Henderson has clocked up an impressive 30 years of cumulative service since first joining Nottinghamshire Police in 1975 as a ‘police woman’ – forbidden from wearing trousers, carrying a truncheon or even a set of handcuffs.
Carolann was medically discharged as an officer in 1992 while pregnant with her third daughter – now a police officer herself – but returned as a civilian in 2000.
She has since worked as a neighbourhood watch coordinator, and in her current role offering a reassuring voice to those seeking help from the force.
During her near 50-year relationship with the force, Carolann has gone from scribbling notes on paper and checking vehicle number plate details in dusty files, to working in one of the most sophisticated control room facilities in the country.
She has also witnessed at first-hand a profound change in attitudes to female officers – both inside and outside of the force.
She said: “I remember on one occasion trying to arrest a suspect in Nottingham’s Market Square.
“It felt at the time like he was about nine-feet tall. I took out my pocket book to take the details down and he ran off with me being dragged up the road behind him.
“I saw this figure come towards me and it happened to be an off-duty CID officer. He grabbed the man and said ‘cuff him’, so I had to explain that female officers did not carry cuffs.
“Thankfully, we were able to detain him.”
On another occasion Carolann was told off by her supervisor for bravely intervening in a Mansfield pub brawl.
Carolann said: “I considered it my job to intervene so went inside and the pub just stopped. Everyone in there just looked at me for what seemed like ages.
“I later got told off by my supervisor for getting involved. It wasn’t seen as a police woman’s job.”
After 17 years’ service as an officer, Carolann slipped on ice while pregnant and was medically discharged.
Throughout her career, however, she and other female officers fought for positive changes, like the right to carry handcuffs, as well as wear trousers instead of skirts.
She completed a degree in health and safety before returning to the police in 2000 as a civilian, working as Rushcliffe Community Watch co-ordinator and as a Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator.
After stints as a traffic officer with the Highways Agency for nearly 10 years, then three years with the NHS, Carolann returned again in November 2017 as a call handler.
“Despite the changes some things have remained the same. In the control room I sit with a close friend Christine Chamberlain. Our paths first crossed in the 1970s when we were both officers, then again when she became a store detective.
“This sort of lasting friendship is what the police is about and despite all the changes that remains the case.”
Carolann has three daughters, identical twins Rowena and Kirsty, and Poppy, who is a police constable in Broxtowe.
