Matt Lloyd-Rose sounds like an idealistic young man with a well-developed social conscience. A former primary school teacher, he has a deep interest in the workings of communities, the marginalised and excluded. Wanting to get closer to the frontline of social problems, he became a volunteer police officer in Brixton and Streatham.
His experiences patrolling this ethnically diverse and far from tranquil sector of south London are what he recounts in Into the Night, a compelling snapshot of modern-day policing. About halfway through the book, after countless stops and searches, arrests for minor drug offences, visits to domestic violence incidents, drunks urinating in the street, casual sexism and misogyny, slightly more guarded racism, robberies, stabbings and adrenaline-pumping pursuits, the author observes: “Unlike teaching, I found policing a difficult role in which to live my values.”
