A POLICE volunteer said her first raid hunting for drug dealers was more nerve-wracking than being recorded for a national TV programme broadcast to millions of people.
In fact, Amber-Louise Evans, aged 20, had to deal with both at the same time as BBC cameras filmed the cannabis warrant being served in Warrington South.
She said: “I hadn’t been out on duty at all and I felt under so much pressure, so nervous.
“It was ridiculously exciting and then there was two cameras there with me, so I thought I’ve just got to do it right.”
Amber was one of a group of special constables - volunteers with police powers - tracked from training to her first days on the beat by film crews.
The footage was shot for programme First Time on the Front Line. It is aired on BBC One on Mondays at 11.30am.
Since joining Cheshire Police in March last year, Amber has been recorded in a range of challenging situations from combat training to suffering the effects of pepper spray.
The University of Chester student, who is based at the Padgate campus on Crab Lane and studies a degree in policing, law and investigation, called the latter ‘more annoying than painful’.
She first found out she was going to be on TV in June, when cameras rolled up to watch her be tutored in restraint methods.
“We were throwing each other around and then getting pulled over to speak in front of the camera,” she said.
“I was thrown back when they said we would be filmed but I thought it would be exciting and something to look back on when I’m older and be glad that I did it.
“It’s not an opportunity that many people will get.”
Amber hopes the volunteer role will lead to a full time job with Cheshire Police, but her route in was almost ruined by illness.
She originally applied to become a special constable in 2012 but appendicitis struck the day before her interview, the resultant hospital trip and operations meaning she had to wait another year for the ‘exciting job’.
And what was it like seeing yourself on TV?
“At first I was really cringed out because I was looking at myself on camera,” added Amber.
“But then I could see how much my confidence has grown, compared to when I started.”
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