The Rozzers Collection

By Diem Burden

The five books of The Rozzers series are presented here in one large volume, each detailing the various stages of a police career in Cambridge in the 1990s.

END OF THE ROAD
This is a short story of a day in the life of young British soldier Diem Burden. His life is at a crossroads: his military career rapidly coming to an end with no idea of what to do post-army. With a new family to support, the pressure is mounting on him to find a way forward – and soon.
Returning back to camp after an idyllic day out, the squaddie is thrown into a horrifying tragedy which puts him to the test, as well as those around him. Later, whilst trying to cope with the trauma of that dreadful event, a seed is quietly planted which, with a slight bit of nurturing, leads Diem along a certain path.

COPS DON'T RUN
Policing the streets of Britain in the 1990s was possibly one of the most challenging, complex, tiring, dangerous, overly-criticized and underrated jobs a young man could have chosen to do. So why do it?
Swapping his army-greens for police-blues, ex-soldier Diem Burden chooses to do just that, initially suspecting he has joined 'just another army'. All that changes, however, once he is let loose on the unsuspecting public that makes up the beautiful British university city of Cambridge. From mad axe-men to heart-breaking agony messages, the new probationer samples everything that cops routinely face, whilst infamously making police college history along the way.
Follow Constable Burden as he embarks on his new police career. Walk with him as he discovers another world, one only ever seen by those brave (or foolish) enough to put on a police uniform. Share his fears, his shock, and his heartache as he is guided through the myriad of jobs he will be expected to deal with as a solo cop, if he can just make it through those first few, memorable months as a trainee. No training can ever prepare you for life as a cop. Ever.

ONE FOR THE ROAD
Having completed his initial training, rookie cop PC 424 Burden has been authorised for solo patrol, and nervously takes to the streets of the beautiful university city of Cambridge, to learn how to police the streets alone, to arrest crooks and to try and make his mark, often with hilarious, sometimes terrifying, and occasionally heart-breaking results.

THIEF TAKER
With police college a distant memory, Constable Burden quickly becomes one of the most experienced officers on his shift. Just a handful of years separate that awkward, nervous rookie from the professional he has become, and as he revels in his new, undeclared status, the variety of incidents he has to face on a daily basis just continues to grow!
Patrol alongside Constable Burden through the medieval streets of Cambridge, as he deals with the terrifying, tragic, and often unbelievable events that a small British university town can somehow manage to conjure up out of nowhere.
Then maybe, just maybe, you'll understand why cops love being cops ...

COP OUT
Officer Burden finally passes his drawn-out promotion exams, and gets bumped up to sergeant, a job he's been chasing after for a number of years. On receiving his stripes, he is told that he has to decide if he is 'on the Chief Constable's train, or not ...' At the time, he had absolutely no idea where that particular train was heading.
Meanwhile, after a beautiful woman walks into his jacuzzi at the local gym, things begin to heat up rapidly, resulting in a completely new and unexpected path opening up before him. Yet again ...

Warning: Contains strong language and graphic descriptions of death and injury from the outset.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diem Burden
• Release date: Apr 9, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463110430

Diem Burden

Award-winning author Diem Burden (DM Burden) grew up the middle of five sons to a working class family in the north Midlands, UK. Childhood was extremely hard and money was scarce.From an early age, he showed an artistic talent in painting and drawing, so much so that one of his drawings mysteriously disappeared from his school foyer (last seen at the home of a teacher, allegedly...)Destined for art college, Diem grew so frustrated with further education that one day he got up and walked out of college, and joined the army for six years. After his military service, he became a police officer in Cambridge, UK. He left that job as a sergeant after 12 years walking the beat.By then, he was on his second marriage, and moved to Spain to teach English in 2002. He helped to set up a highly successful language school in Spain before semi-retiring in 2020 to focus on his new passion: writing.He published five short stories of his time as a cop in Cambridge, and wrote an additional (free) ebook available to people who sign up to his newsletter, which is a humorous look at his tough childhood, and perhaps implies he should never have become a cop all those years later!At the end of the year of Covid (2020), his life was rocked when he suddenly lost his eldest brother to cancer. His marriage ended at the same time and he found himself alone in Spain at 55 years of age.Over the next six months, Diem fell into a deep and dark depression, struggling to get out of bed most days. He just opted out of life, giving up on writing altogether.In mid-2021, a stranger walked into his local café and led him on a three-month journey he could never have expected: the ardent and highly opinionated atheist subsequently found Jesus, who changed his life around instantly.The story of that miracle is told in his book, Come to the Table.Now, unless God has any other plans for him, he is finishing his series of books (Get up and Walk) of his pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago in Spain, walking each stage with a different action plan with God.

Book preview

Part two of

THE ROZZERS

by

Diem Burden

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to each and every man and woman who took the brave decision to become a police officer, even if ultimately you didn’t make it through basic training.

You wanted to make a difference, and for that, I applaud you.

PROLOGUE

I left the garrison town of Tidworth for the last time, and headed off over to Cambridge to start a new life. I’d applied to join the police shortly after my army boss had told me it was the right job for me. That had been a year earlier. The selection process had been long and rigorous, and I hadn’t expected to get through it: competition was fierce. When the letter arrived offering me a position with the Cambridgeshire Constabulary, I was stunned. As my time in the army was over, and with nothing else available, I decided to take them up on their offer and become a cop.

On arrival in Cambridge, I was allocated a police house in a marvellous rural setting, in a very upmarket village just outside of the city. In comparison to my army house it was enormous. I was given a week to settle in before reporting for duty at Cambridge Police Station as probationary Police Constable 424 Burden.

My training was based on the new modular system. The induction module, conveniently labelled module one, lasted for four weeks, and took place at my intended police station. The first week of this module dealt with admin matters: allocation of uniform and equipment, getting sworn in, allocation of police warrant card, and touring the station to meet the relevant heads of department. The second week was spent away from the police station, in civilian attire, attached to outside agencies. I spent a fun day in a fire engine, another with a reporter from the local newspaper, and one more with a mental health charity.

Although dressing up as a fireman for a day was fun, it was the third week that proved the most memorable for me. I was put into my new uniform and sent out on patrol with my future colleagues, as a cop. That first week out on the streets both excited and terrified me. I was introduced to my new shift at briefing, and spent the rest of the week out and about with them, observing the day-to-day routine of a patrol officer. With no training whatsoever, the idea was to give me a taste of patrol work, in order to get a feel of what lay ahead for me as a police officer.

Allocated to a tutor-constable to look after me, my brief was to quietly observe, to stay out of trouble, not to get involved in anything, and, above all, to enjoy the experience. That was easier said than