This week’s flashback takes us back to Plymouth’s Barbican in the 1990s, when police were called to drunken disorder involving around 20 people in the area. A pub landlord suffered serious head injuries after being attacked with a hammer or similar weapon and was also stabbed in the leg. Five people were arrested.
Our photograph captures the chaotic scenes as officers struggle to restrain one of those involved. What stands out today is the complete lack of protective clothing. Officers in white shirts, ties and traditional uniforms, with no body armour, high visibility jackets or the equipment routinely carried by today’s police. It’s a striking reminder of just how different frontline policing looked thirty years ago.
Photographs © Wayne Perry / Plymouth Post