Armed and Deadly
Clifford Thurlow, Kevin Healy

Armed and Deadly is the first book to describe the rigorous training, black humour, constant danger, the toll on family life and the job’s effects on mental health.

From a brutal upbringing with a violent father, poor school results and a sequence of dreary jobs, Healy fights his way out of poverty through the practice of karate and becomes the England all styles champion.

Against his instincts and family background, he joins the police. After 12 years on the streets of Notting Hill, he passes the tough firearms course and becomes an Armed Response Officer – a Trojan, the men and women in helmets and black body armour who roam the capital 24/7 in three-man armed response vehicles ready for immediate deployment to gun crimes and terrorism.

Shot at, facing knife attacks, chasing drug dealers, crashing cars in 100 mph chases and cuffing villains alternates with coping with teenage suicides, distraught parents, people with mental health issues, rescuing hostages and taking down gangsters who imagine they rule London.

From 2000 to 2020, Healy sees more guns on the streets and, in the wake of 9/11, the rise in terrorism and its consequences – the London bus and tube bombings, the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby by jihadis.

With triplets and a severely disabled son who haunts him and needs more attention than he is able to give, Healy goes through a painful divorce that leaves him broke, without a car and living in a rundown flat with empty walls and few possessions.

Healy is driven, a rebel who doesn’t take bullshit from his seniors and believes in The Job, doing what’s right, being a good cop and grappling with the paradox that there are bad cops on the take who would still risk their lives for their comrades.

Kevin Healy expresses powerful opinions on loyalty, redemption, betrayal and family as well as police relationships. He shows how the police force works, its organisation, inner mechanics, the continuous training and ‘policethink.’ These life experiences provide him with a firm grasp on human nature and strong views on policing, social services, mental health and life in modern Britain today. He shows how changes in police procedures are not always for the better, how greater social care would prevent more young people turning to crime, and how the right word from the right person at the right time can turn a life around and provide direction.

Healy handed in his trusty Glock aged 57 and a wing of a new police building was named in his honour.