Cryer, Bob
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| Bob Cryer | |
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| Biographical information | |
| Full Name: |
Robert Cryer |
| Nickname(s): |
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| IC: |
1 |
| Gender: |
Male |
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Occupational information | |
| Occupation(s): | |
| Affiliation: | |
| Rank: | |
| Call Sign: |
92 |
| Current Status: |
Retired |
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Other information | |
| Portrayed by: | |
| First Appearance: |
1984x001 - Funny Ol' Business - Cops & Robbers |
| Last Appearance: |
2001x030 - Hitting Home |
| Guest Appearances: |
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● Image Gallery ● | |
Contents |
Bob Cryer joined the Metropolitan Police in 1970 (he celebrates his 20 year service in 1990 episode Start With The Whistle) after some kind of army service. The army didn't agree with Cryer, and he still harboured a great deal of angst about his time there whenever his path crossed with army soldiers during his police life.
One thing which may also have come out of this was an aversion to firearms. While he was a fully licensed firearms officer, Cryer felt very uneasy handling them, something which only became worse when he shot somebody in a hostage situation who it turned out was unarmed. Cryer was cleared of any responsibility, but continued to kick himself for it. This aversion to weapons would turn out to be ironic, given his exit from the police service was after being accidentally shot by his protégé, PC Dale Smith.
He held a close friendship with many of his early collegues. Sergeant Cryer, Sergeant Penny and Sergeant Peters were a very close knit team both professionally and privately. He also had a kinship with Detective Inspector Roy Galloway, with the two men often clashing over the methods of the maverick CID officer, but both shared a mutual respect which meant that Galloway would not confide to anyone other than Cryer over a beer at the pub after work.
Cryer had a less illustrious history with Detective Sergeant Frank Burnside, something which would cause a certain amount of conflict when the DS took the top job after Galloway's departure. He felt Burnside was a bent copper, convinced that he had slimed his way past Operation Countryman (an initiative in the late 1970s designed to root out corrupt officers). Cryer had to eat a certain amount of humble pie when he discovered that Burnside had actually been a crucial operative of Operation Countryman, whose play-acting in the field of duty had led to him adopting something of an undeserved reputation.
Cryer hit a bump a few years after his transfer to Sun Hill when his son, Patrick, was involved in a traffic accident.... Patrick was the driver of a car that was found sunk in the canal, its occupants dead. Cryer's relationship with his son was frosty from that point on. Some say he never truly recovered from it, and he found it difficult to deal with similar dispirited youths in the execution of his duties.
As time wore on, Cryer's colleagues fell by the wayside. Penny was forcibly retired after a shooting incident (another irony, given Cryer's depature) and Peters was promoted to a largely desk bound role before quietly leaving the force. Burnside moved on the pastures new. Cryer became something of an anachronism, becoming less tolerant of what he seen as the stupid mistakes of younger and less experienced officers. He found it difficult to move with the times - he once commented, when Sergeant Ackland jokingly asked why Cryer would never use the computer, that "I'm perfectly happy with the quill and paper, thank you very much". He never really lost what it meant to be on the sharp end of policing, but as the nature of The Job changed Cryer remained steadfast in his ways.
Following the departure of Chief Superintendent Charles Brownlow, Cryer was somewhat dismayed to be working with fresh faced young Superintendent Tom Chandler. The new broom at Sun Hill started as he meant to go on, sweeping away anything that he felt was outmoded. While Chandler's focus initially was DCI Jack Meadows, when attempts to move him on proved fruitless he began to turn on Cryer instead. It wasn't difficult to pigeonhole Cryer. Soon enough, Chandler had effectively neutered Cryer from any kind of important responsibility within the station. His intentions were clear: he wanted Cryer out, even going so far as to comment openly to other officers that he already had somebody lined up ready to take Cryer's place the moment Cryer decided to take a back seat. This younger officer was Craig Gilmore.
(more soon...)
[edit] Service Record
- Main article: Service Record
- 2001 - Firearms Incident: The Shooting of Bob Cryer
[edit] Family and Relationships
Niece: Robbie Cryer
