DCO Overseas

Untypically, I’m up at 9am today for a job that is scheduled to take place at 2pm. I’ve made sure I have a change of clothes for three days because we can never be sure of how long a job may take. My work varies; today I’m escorting a detainee on a flight and the next shift I could be undertaking driving duties.

I arrive at the office and grab the paperwork for the day and see that today, it’s me, two colleague Escorts, a medic and a driver. As Team Leader, I brief the team on our way to the collection point; covering the detainee’s age, background and any special needs. Today it’s a Ugandan National, who I will call John, in his twenties who has been released having served a prison sentence. We need a medic with us because John also suffers from depression.

At the Immigration Removal Centre, we firstly ask the staff about John to ascertain his likely mood. He is then brought down to us and we introduce ourselves, shaking his hand. I always ask how the detainee is feeling about the removal. John tells me he understands what is about to happen and is happy to go home. We nevertheless undertake a thorough search of his person to make sure he has no means of self harm and then accompany him, with his luggage, to our van.
At Heathrow, I am dropped off to collect the travel documents and tickets. It’s all there but sometimes our job has to be aborted at this point because of paperwork errors or missing documentation. I rendezvous with the van and by now John is hungry and so I buy some sandwiches and coffee for everybody. We have a special entry gate onto the airside part of the airport and we drive directly to the aircraft stand.

I brief the flight crew and dispatcher on today’s task and receive permission to board early before any other passengers are allowed on board the scheduled flight. We take off for a six-hour flight to Nairobi. John sits between two escorts at all times but is otherwise unrestrained, my judgement being that this detainee is likely to be compliant. We maintain a constant stream of conversation with John, establishing a rapport and he remains calm although, sadly, this is not always the case.
Upon landing at Nairobi, we make a connecting flight to our end destination Entebbe, a flight lasting a further 45 minutes. At our end destination, we meet the Ugandan officials who recognise us from previous journeys and we receive a warm welcome. This is typical of Entebbe but is not always true for other countries. After some questioning from the Ugandan authorities, they accept John into their charge and our work is done after lots more handshaking.

All that remains is the small matter of returning home and eventually getting back to my bed at 10pm on the following day.