WHEN Chris Clement-Green picked up an abandoned copy of the Oxford Mail her eyes were drawn to a recruitment advert to join Thames Valley Police.

More than 30 years later she has written a book lifting the lid on a career in the force battling sexism, dealing with racial tensions and keeping the streets of Oxford safe.

After joining the force in 1984 she spent three years in the city centre and another five working for Banbury CID.

During her probation period she dealt predominantly with the city’s homeless - a problem still rife in the city today.

She said: “It had quickly become clear that the three Ds made up a probationer’s life – drunks, drivers and domestics accounted for the majority of early arrests, when quantity not quality was the measure of success.

“We had a problem with alcoholic homeless people in Oxford - we called them dossers.

“It was a popular place for begging because of the students but also because of the high number of tourists in the summer.

“On a twelve-hour shift I arrested the same person three times.”

The 57-year-old retired from Thames Valley Police in 2000 but continued to work as a civilian investigator for various organised crime units until 2013.

Now she lives in Wales and writes crime novels but her latest book, Into the Valley, reveals her own story.

Another major issue she encountered as a 24-year-old beginning a new job was the racial tensions of the time stemming from issues between the Met Police and black youths.

She said: “There were a lot of racial tensions, in particular when it came to Blackbird Leys, which was the largest housing estate in Europe at the time.

“Thames Valley Police weren’t to blame, it was the Met Police, who I think were institutionally racist against black youths.”

In her book she says black teenagers in all cities saw police as their ‘enemy’ because of what was happening in London.

One night it spilled over into Oxford with a four-hour riot which saw shop windows smashed in and police crews coming from as far High Wycombe to deal with it - a riot Mrs Clement-Green said her ‘naivety’ may have started.

After two bouncers approached her in the early hours fearing their colleague had been stabbed in the Downtown Manhattan nightclub in George Street, she ‘nonchalantly’ strolled in to the venue.

She said: “People stopped talking and stared at me with either indignation or disbelief

“As I turned back into the club, a huge hand grabbed my throat and shoved me up against the locked door.”

Fortunately another man, who she had previously arrested but later befriended, stepped in to help her.

But it was too late and ‘all hell had broken loose’ in the nightclub, she called for back up and officers arrived in minutes as a full-scale riot and subsequent protests broke out in the streets for the next four hours.

Her ‘in at the deep end’ first few years on the force prepared her for a rise up the ranks.

Despite being asked in five consecutive interviews when she was intending to start a family she was promoted to the rank of sergeant with Banbury CID.

She said it was unusual for women to move up the ranks at this time and believed there was a reluctance to train them if they planned on having children.

But her promotion did not put a stop to casual sexism on the street, though it was something she made light of.

She said: “At times it was funny: I remember walking back from my first court appearance as sergeant and an old man noticed my chevrons.

“He pointed at them and said ‘you’re a sergeant!’, I said 'yes' feeling smug and he added 'but you’re a girl'.”

“My radio interrupted him and I was asked to get back to the station immediately as I had an incoming prisoner.

“I apologised to the man and he waved me on and said ‘Aye love, you get off, that prisoner will be wanting his dinner'.”

It was during her time in Banbury she met her second husband Mike Clement-Green, who was a divisional commander in the county’s fire service and would later become Chief Fire Officer of the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Fortunately she was also transferred from Banbury to Reading at the beginning of the 1990s - the couple were together for 17 years before their divorce but remained friends.

After retiring she moved to mid-Wales and began writing: crime novels primarily before venturing into autobiographical territory.

She said: “There are books out there from ex-police officers but I couldn’t find any written by women.

“I felt I had a story worth telling.”

The book is due to be published in September and Mrs Clement-Green is planning to hold a signing at Waterstones soon after.

Details will be announced in the Oxford Mail in due course.