Penny Lancaster: I hope to return to the police with a baton
Sir Rod Stewart’s wife joined officers for a Channel 4 show.
Penny Lancaster has said she hopes to return to the police with a baton after her stint on the front line for a TV show.
The Loose Women panellist and wife of singer Sir Rod Stewart joined officers for a Channel 4 programme.
Lancaster, 47, said she supports the use of stop and search and that all police should be trained to use Tasers.
And she told Good Morning Britain: “I would like to volunteer … The police do need more recruits…
“I’ve already made inquiries … to do 16 hours, the minimum. It’s 12 consecutive weekends of training, so we’re trying to see whether I can do that in a crash course.”
She wore a stab-proof vest during her stint for Famous And Fighting Crime “but I didn’t have handcuffs so I couldn’t physically arrest”.
“I didn’t have a baton, a mace (spray) or obviously a Taser but I’d hope that one day, if I do become a special (constable), I’d have all that gear,” she said.
And she added: “A few people have said ‘Why would you put yourself in that sort of danger?’ … They’ve got families and mothers and wives and kids to go back to, what makes me any different?”
She said she was astounded by the “verbal” and “physical” abuse police experience and that “all officers should be trained to use Tasers”.
She wants stricter penalties for those found carrying a knife and supports the use of “spit bags”, mesh fabric hoods to prevent arrested people spitting or biting.
“The police are out there in such small numbers now … They don’t have enough protection. I think all officers should be trained to use Tasers,” she told the ITV show.
