For Police Constable Amy Greener, policing is about more than enforcing the law – it’s about problem solving, showing kindness and helping people find support when they need it most.
Amy joined the Metropolitan Police Service as a neighbourhood officer in 2024 through Police Now’s graduate programme and quickly learned just how important those things can be.
On one shift last winter, after attending training delivered by homelessness charities, she came across a family with four children huddled under blankets outside a church.
Amy and her colleague spent several hours working with partner agencies to secure emergency accommodation for the family.
“We could have taken the kids into police protection, but I just thought there were other ways around it.”
After three hours, Amy was able to drop the family off at their council appointment. But just after telling her sergeant she was free to take on another job, she saw a woman crying on a nearby bench.
“She was hunched over, cradling a tiny baby that was obviously unwell.”
The woman, aged 24, had spent two freezing nights sleeping outside after her partner had thrown her out of the home they shared in Peterborough. Unable to get support locally, she had travelled to London in search of help.
Amy brought the mother and baby back to the police station and set out making calls again – this time for eight hours.
She said: “I thought it would be easier to get an eight-month-old baby help. By the third hour I thought ‘I don’t think this is a priority.’”
Although police protection was an option, that would have separated mother and baby and Amy wanted to avoid that if at all possible. Determined to find a solution, she spent hours contacting councils, charities and support services.
She said: “The baby was eight months old. And to me, it wasn’t the mother’s fault. She’d been dealt a bad hand, and no one was helping her.”
Eventually, emergency accommodation was secured for the night, and a social worker was able to begin building a case for longer-term support.
“She gave me a massive hug at the end and wasn’t letting go. It was a long shift but I felt I’d actually made a difference.”
Amy’s determination to go above and beyond to support vulnerable people was recognised at her Police Now graduation in September, where she was named runner-up for the Innovation and Influencing Change Award.
After two years in the job, Amy recognises that not every situation comes with an obvious choice.
She said: “Sometimes I still think I don’t know what to do, but as long as I feel I’m doing the right thing, I know I can’t go too far wrong.”
“I think kindness is such an easy thing to show,” she added. “Everybody has it, and I just thought it was the easiest way to approach this job, because you’re dealing with people and emotions.”
