College welcomes Chief Constable of Merseyside Police

Birkenhead Sixth Form College welcomed the highest ranking police officer in the region this week as the Chief Constable of Merseyside Police visited to talk to A Level Law students.

Chief Constable Andy Cooke, QPM (Queen’s Police Medal) gave his time to answer questions posed by the College’s up-and-coming legal brains, imparting his wisdom and experience having achieved a great deal in his 33-year police career.

One of just 43 Chief Constables in the Country, Merseyside Police boss, Mr Cooke, came away from Nottingham University with an honours degree in politics before joining the force. He then worked his way up through every Detective rank in the service to get to his current position, which he attained in July of 2016.

Answering students’ question, Chief Constable Cooke said: “I got where I am today through 33 years of hard work. I know it sounds a bit clichéd but it’s true. It also comes from being a good leader. The staff respect me, although they may not like me all the time! They have a lot of better ideas than me, and a huge part of my role, and the role of a leader, is to capture those ideas and make them happen.”

Having grown up in what he called an ‘insular’ childhood in Belvale, the Chief Constable explained that he was glad to go to university to get to mix with different people, but said that he always had his sights on being a policeman after watching a classic police drama on TV when he was young.

“I always wanted to be in the police after watching 'The Sweeney' as a boy, and I’ve enjoyed every day since I did. Very few careers give you the opportunity to make such a difference to people’s lives on a daily basis. I’ve had a lot of horrible cases and seen things that you should never have to witness, but seeing justice being done and helping people puts it all into context.

“Cases can be rewarding however big or small. Murders are extremely difficult but seeing the family’s relief at the murderer being caught was the thing to strive for, though equally rewarding was seeing an ex-soldier get his stolen medals back because of how much they meant to him.”

Mr Cooke, whose Queen’s Police Medal was presented to him in 2014 by Her Majesty herself, went on to describe how much of his job is acting as a politician and how he misses being ‘on the ground’ but also that the role of the police is ever-changing.

“Disorganised criminals rather than organised criminals are now the main problem, and 30-40% of modern day policing involves mental health issues. Police staff now are just as much social workers as they are police officers.”