Tango Juliet Foxtrot - the police podcast (Iain Donnelly)

***WARNING - This episode contains extremely graphic descriptions and should not be listened to in the presence of children***

In this episode I speak to Ex-Inspector Jack Frost who was trained to work with forensic scientists at crime scenes involving multiple fatalities. Jack and his colleagues were deployed after the suicide bombings on the London Underground in July 2005.

People like Jack deserve our respect and thanks for the particularly distressing job that they do.

This episode features a fascinating chat with Paul Franklin, the SIO who investigated the attempted murder of Vicky Cilliers by her husband Emile Cilliers. First he tried to blow her up in a gas explosion and when that failed he tried to kill her by tampering with her parachute. 

The last week has been a true baptism of fire for the new Met Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley with the shooting of Chris Kaba in very contentious circumstances by one of his firearms officers on the 5th of September and the death of Queen Elizabeth on the 8th of September. In this additional episode of the podcast I try and take a balanced look at the issues surrounding the shooting and consider what this means for an already beleaguered Met police.

This week I chat to Maggie Oliver. Maggie worked in serious crime investigations and helped to expose the serious sexual abuse of vulnerable children that had been going on for many years in Greater Manchester and most notably in Rochdale. Maggie eventually turned whistleblower in frustration that she was not being listened to, and ultimately decided to resign from the job she loved. She has become one of the most prominent campaigners against child sexual abuse in the UK, and she was the founder of the Maggie Oliver foundation. (https://www.themaggieoliverfoundation.com)

Joe Carter (not his real name) spent over 20 years as an undercover officer, infiltrating criminal gangs. He wrote a book 'Undercover - A true story' about his experiences. 

In this episode I discuss the Bristol disorder and talk about what it's like to be in these situations and to train for them. I then compare the TV police vs the real police and how much police dramas annoy real cops. Finally I'll introduce my wife, the Smog Monkey, who describes what it's like to be married to a police officer. If you like this podcast please review it here;

https://lovethepodcast.com/tangojulietfoxtrot

Mental health issues are now reaching epidemic proportions in UK policing, and a recent academic report (Op Soteria Bluestone) showed that burnout symptoms for emotional exhaustion shown from a survey of officers are higher than amongst NHS staff during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Zane McCormack was a high-performing officer at the top of his game. Ironically he worked on a team dedicated to finding missing people who were experiencing mental health crises in difficult-to-reach terrain (coastal areas, mountains and remote landscapes) when he had a complete mental breakdown. He now works to support men in difficulties with his new venture www.theassuredman.com

This week I discuss what a nightmare it now is for police officers trying to do their job every day with idiots shoving camera phones in their faces and then uploading it all to YouTube and Tiktok. What effect is this having on public safety, and on the mental and emotional wellbeing of police officers and on their human rights? What, if anything, can be done about it?

Sir Mark Rowley, the Commissioner of the Met gave evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee this week and it provided a fascinating insight into the bewilderingly complex job that he has taken on. The preoccupations of the MPs and their obvious lack of understanding of the realities of modern policing was alarming but not at all surprising. 

This week I chatted to Matt Johnson, who left policing with severe PTSD and reinvented himself as a successful author. https://mattjohnsonauthor.com/

His first book, Wicked Game was long-listed by the Crime Writers Association for the 2016 John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award and at the end of 2016 it was listed by Amazon as the highest-rated debut novel of the year.

His latest book, Crow 27, is a fictionalised account based on a series of incidents that took place involving the deaths in obscure circumstances of four British Army trainee soldiers at the Princess Royal Barracks in Deepcut, Surrey between 1995 and 2002.

This week I chat to Phd student Mark Brown, who is studying the reasons for the crisis in policing in England and Wales since 2010, and proposing how policing could recover. We debate whether the destruction wrought by the Tories is a case of good old-fashioned stupidity and incompetence or whether it was a deliberate act of Neo-Liberal creative destruction.

This week I chat to my good friend and ex-colleague Duncan Johnston, who spent many years working as a protection officer for politicians, foreign dignitaries visiting the UK and members of the British royal family. I really enjoyed our chat and this will be followed by Part 2 next week as we had a lot to talk about.

This week I talk to Shay Doyle (not his real name). Shay worked undercover for a number of years against some of the most dangerous organised crime gangs in the UK. It's a fascinating and terrifying story.

The subject of current police training has attracted a lot of criticism, latterly...much of it from me! I thought it would be important to separate fact from fiction. Therefore, I had a chat with my old colleague Ron Winch, who is the course director for police trainees at Birmingham City University, helping to prepare police officers for what is hopefully a long and fruitful career.

In this episode, I had the great joy of chatting to one of my favourite comedians, Alfie Moore, star of BBC R4 show 'It's a Fair Cop'.

Alfie left policing after nearly 20 years to embark on a new career as a stand-up comic. As well as a highly successful theatre tour all over the UK, Alfie's show on Radio 4 is now on its seventh series.

You can book tickets to see him live here: https://alfiemoore.com/tickets/

This week I had the privilege of interviewing one of my policing heroes, Ex-Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell. Hamish spent nearly 40 years in the Met police, most of that time investigating serious crime. He came under intense media scrutiny as the Senior Investigating Officer in the Jill Dando murder enquiry in 1999, which resulted in the conviction of Barry George. George was subsequently cleared of the murder, which today remains unsolved. Hamish reviewed numerous high-profile investigations that resulted in the conviction of some very dangerous offenders, not least Delroy Grant, who was found guilty of dozens of burglaries and rapes of elderly and vulnerable victims.

This is the second episode with Duncan Johnston, ex-protection officer to UK politicians and royalty.

Life has been tough for the last while...so this will be the last podcast for a bit.

In this weeks podcast I interview my ex-colleague from the West Midlands Police, Keith Fraser. Keith tells the fascinating story of how he joined the Metropolitan Police in 1985. This was very unusual for a young black man from Birmingham in those days. He worked there for 20 years before transferring to the West Midlands Police where he retired as a Superintendent. Keith is now the Chair of the Youth Justice board for England and Wales and one of the authors of the recent report from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, commissioned by Boris Johnson to investigate race and ethnic disparities in the UK. 

This week I have a chat with Graham Wettone about all things to do with riots, public order, land-sharks (police dogs) and shit-machines (police horses). Graham also gives me his thoughts on whether he thinks The Job's Fucked or not....

Nick Adderley has been one of the very few Chief Constables nationally to put his head above the parapet and point out some of the many things that need to change in UK policing. He has a relentless focus on dismantling criminal networks and was the only Chief in the UK to equip all of his frontline officers with Taser to protect them from violent assaults. He has also challenged the Home Office and the College of Policing on the insistence that all new police officers need to either have or obtain a degree.

This was one of the most gruelling conversations that I have ever had. In this episode I spoke to one of the two Special Branch surveillance officers who were with Jean Charles De Menezes on a tube train in July 2005, when he was shot dead by Met police firearms officers, mistakenly believing that he was a suicide bomber. This officer has never been interviewed publicly before and in this episode of the podcast he describes the lead up to the shooting in great detail as it unfolded.

This horrific incident was subject to exhaustive investigations and the outcome of these investigations can be found here:

http://policeauthority.org/metropolitan/downloads/scrutinites/stockwell/ipcc-one.pdf

http://policeauthority.org/Metropolitan/downloads/scrutinites/stockwell/ipcc-two.pdf

This week I have a very entertaining and enjoyable chat with Neil Sinclair, who has led an incredibly active and interesting life; first as a professional rugby player, then moving into policing to work in a wide range of fascinating roles in national security and counter-terrorism. Neil then went on to a very successful career in the private sector, promoting the benefits of cyber-security to small and medium-sized businesses. Man of many talents. A truly international man of mystery!

In this bonus episode I talk about the continuing horrors of knife crime and the multiplying deaths of (mostly) black children, and how the toxic media treatment of policing is making an already horrible situation much worse. I then turn my attention to a very misleading article in The Guardian and inject (God-forbid) a few facts into the debate around deaths in, or following police custody.

Annie Gooch is the real deal. What she hasn't done in the world of serious and organised crime just isn't worth doing. 40 years at the sharp end of UK law enforcement. An amazing woman and an amazing career.

This week I want to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Falklands war, with an interview with Ex-Royal Marine and Ex-Detective Chief Superintendent Adrian Tudway. This was a genuinely fascinating conversation with someone who has lived an incredibly full life. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, in June 1922. In 1999 Her Majesty the Queen collectively awarded the George Cross to the men, women and families of RUC officers. Between 1969 and 1998, over 300 officers were murdered by terrorists and many thousands more carry the physical and mental scars of that brutal period of British history. 

In this episode, I have a fascinating conversation with Stephen White, formerly an Assistant Chief Constable in the RUC and now the Chair of the RUC George Cross Foundation.

This week I talk to Hannah Bailey, who found herself completely burnt out from a career in policing and also facing a life-threatening cancer diagnosis. She left the police and turned her life around to become a successful therapist treating people in similar situations in the emergency services, health service and the military. This was such an uplifting conversation.

You can find Hannah at https://www.bluelightwellbeing.uk

This week I have a fascinating chat with Nicky Arrowsmith, who spent many years investigating offences of rape and serious sexual assaults.

This week I have a great chat with an ex-colleague Martin Brennan, who retired from policing as a Det Supt, having spent most of his career investigating serious and organised crime. Martin tells a fascinating story of how he was forced to rethink his entire life after a medical emergency brought on by working excessively long hours and dealing with too many stressful incidents over many years.

You can find Martin at https://www.martinbrennan.co.uk

I've been away for a while but thought I'd give you an update on the book which will be published in a three weeks time. I also share my thoughts on the fallout from the horrific Sarah Everard case.

This week was a very weird (but enjoyable) episode, because I interviewed Steve Donnelly, my brother. Steve did 15 years in the Met police doing a lot of difficult and dangerous jobs before retraining in law and becoming a successful criminal barrister.

After a break for a few months I'm back.

In this episode I have a great chat with Scott Hamer, who will tell us all about his police career and being a close protection officer for the Royal Family.

Policing has always had an uneasy relationship with journalists. In this podcast I interview Danny Shaw, who was the leading BBC Home Affairs correspondent for twenty years, Danny reported on policing and justice issues under ten different Home Secretaries and five different Prime Ministers, making him without a doubt the most experienced and knowledgeable journalist of his time in this area of public life.

This shorter episode deals with the shocking revelations of widespread misconduct in the Met since 2013 and a systematic failure to weed out bad officers.

https://www.met.police.uk/police-forces/metropolitan-police/areas/about-us/about-the-met/bcr/baroness-casey-review/

This week is all about investigating murder, the most serious of all crimes. Steve was a brilliant guest who has investigated literally hundreds of murders and I really enjoyed our chat.

You can find his book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Murder-Investigation-Team-Steven-Keogh/dp/1789466423/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2KAEBFZ7468Z6&keywords=steve+keogh+murder+investigation+team&qid=1658059570&sprefix=Steve+Keogh%2Caps%2C70&sr=8-2

This week I interview Professor Jason Roach, who has spent most of his career as a psychologist researching how the best police officers think, how they make decisions and what differentiates the very best from the just average.

This week I chat with Andy Conway, who has been planning and managing the security of high profile visitors, politicians and royalty visiting the 2022 football World Cup in Qatar. Andy had a long and interesting career in policing, running the Prime Ministerial protection team for a number of years.

This week I interview Eugenie Brooks, who was the first ever female sergeant on the world famous Metropolitan Police Special Escort Group (SEG). The SEG provide an armed escort on motorbikes and cars for high risk prison transfers, VIPs and senior members of the Royal family. They are highly trained to move the convoy at high speed through busy streets across London and no-one gets in their way. Fascinating stuff.

In this week's episode, I have a fascinating conversation with Bob Gallagher MBE. Bob has had an incredible career, firstly in the Royal Navy, very nearly losing his life in the Falklands War of 1982. He went on to become one of the most experienced crime scene investigators in the UK. Bob began his career working on the Harold Shipman serial killer investigation and ended it as the lead crime scene investigator for the Manchester Arena attack that killed 22 people. ***WARNING: This episode contains extremely graphic and potentially upsetting material***

This week I chat with a genuine one-off character that is Bob Bird, who reinvented himself as a Computer Forensics lecturer at Coventry University after a long career in policing.

This week I interview Stuart Davidson, the author of the No.1 best-seller about law and order 'Wasting Police Time'

The following description of the book was taken from Amazon;

"Ever wondered why you can't find a policeman when you want one? PC David Copperfield has the answer: they're all inside the station, writing reports, photocopying, stapling and filing (when they're not getting caught up in the squabbles of Kaycee, Dwayne, her ex's ex, his sister's boyfriend's mum and that slag who sent them all a nasty message on Facebook). Wasting Police Time is PC Copperfield's insider’s diary of life as a modern British bobby. It's the first book to spill the beans about the way senior police officers waste our money while they fiddle the crime figures and scramble to meet bogus Home Office targets. Copperfield is drily sarcastic and biting about his bosses, the criminals he deals with and the judges and politicians who have allowed our streets to collapse into chaos while they live in fortified houses and are driven around by armed police. The book is so close to the mark that police minister Tony McNulty denounced it in the House of Commons as ‘more of a fiction than Dickens’ (and then had to admit he was wrong about this on the BBC’s Panorama). 'Graphic, entertaining and sobering' - The Observer 'A huge hit... will make you laugh out loud' - The Daily Mail 'Very revealing' - The Daily Telegraph 'One of the three political books of the moment' - Nick Cohen, The Observer 'Hilarious... should be compulsory reading for our political masters' - The Mail on Sunday 'Passionate, important, interesting and genuinely revealing... riveting' - The Sunday Times 'A sensation' - The Sun"

This week I discuss the latest Met police car crash i.e the idiots in Charing Cross exchanging insulting social media messages. I then give my thoughts on the police handling of Partygate and the recent publication of crime outcomes for England and Wales dropping to a new low of 6% of all crime resulting in a positive outcome. Listener warning ** Don't listen to this is you want to feel good about UK policing** 

This week I have a really interesting chat with the very lovely Hannah Bailey from Blue Light Wellbeing. (https://www.bluelightwellbeing.uk). We talked about the most common reasons why police officers come to see Hannah for support with their mental health, and Hannah provided loads of great advice for anyone experiencing difficulties as well as managers who need to be aware of how they can support their staff.

This week I interview Adrian Bleese, who spent 12 years as an air observer on police helicopters, supporting officers on the ground involved in vehicle pursuits, searching for wanted and missing people and conducting aerial surveillance. Adrian is also the author of the book 'Above the Law - adventures in a police helicopter'

This week I had the pleasure and privilege of chatting to Jackie Malton, the real police officer upon whom Linda La Plante based her phenomenally successfully fictional detective Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect.

Jackie is an incredible character, full of fun and fascinating stories from a very successful police career. Her new book was published yesterday and can be found here;

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Real-Prime-Suspect-screen-detective/dp/1913068978

This week I explore the good, the bad and the ugly of the new direct-entry detective scheme by chatting with Tom Murray, who spent the best part of 40 years investigating crime, before becoming a mentor to the new cohorts of direct-entry detectives.

This scheme was created following a national shortage of detectives that was yet another unwelcome and destructive legacy of the Theresa May years as Home Secretary and Prime Minister.

In this episode, Iain talks about Line of Duty, the vindication of the Met police response to the Clapham 'vigil' and the excellent new BBC2 documentary series about tackling serious and organised crime in Manchester. He becomes a bit emotional talking about certain politicians, before needing a little lie down in a quiet room. Finally he talks about his decision to join the police and the shortest military career in the history of the British Army. If you like this podcast please review it here;

https://lovethepodcast.com/tangojulietfoxtrot

In this episode, I try and help people understand what will be going on behind the scenes as UK policing deals with the worst outbreak of violent disorder since the 2011 riots in England.

This week I chat with my long-standing friend and ex-colleague Tom Squibb. We reminice about our time hunting terrorists in London and Tom describes his very unexpected change of career to become a rural primary school teacher. 

There has been a lot going on as ever in policing, so I decided to give you my thoughts. Lucky you. You're welcome.

I talked about the Iceberg of Ignorance (Sidney Yoshida)....here's a link to more information.

https://andonix.com/uncovering-the-iceberg-of-ignorance/

This week I learn loads by chatting with the fascinating Carol Rogers who has spent 25 years attending some pretty horrific crime scenes as a forensic biologist.

Jaiye was the first openly gay black officer in the Met. What could possibly go wrong? Jaiye describes his career in this episode.

This week I give my thoughts on recent developments in UK policing. Lots of signs that a new breed of police leader is prepared to make tough decisions, stick up for their staff and show some backbone!

This week I have a fascinating chat with Lee Wharmby, who retired from the West Midlands Police 3 months ago. Lee is hugely experienced and knowledgeable about many areas of policing, but he is particularly knowledgable about the processes followed by the police following any incident that results in the deaths of large numbers of people. Essential listening for anyone who is interested in this most distressing discipline.

This week I have a fascinating chat with Ex-DS Nick Bailey, who became critically ill after becoming contaminated with the chemical weapon Novichok, in Salisbury in 2018. He talks frankly about his police career, the incident, and his difficult decision to leave the police service in 2020 as a result of experiencing severe mental health issues. I also talk about the very inaccurate and flawed representation of policing in Brixton in a new BBC podcast, and I tell you about a rather odd and embarrassing medical procedure that I (and many others) went through in order to become a police officer.

Hold onto your hats, because this week I chat to the formidable Mike Neville. Mike and I served together in Clapham, South London in the early 90s. He was a superb thief-taker; fearless and uncompromising. Thanks to his single-minded determination, the concept of super-recognisers was born and Mike is undoubtedly the world No.1 expert on the law-enforcement use of those rare individuals who never forget a face.

If you want to know if you're one of those people, who can test yourself here; https://www.superrecognisers.com

This week I chat with David Howell, who spent over 30 years in policing, much of it in police aviation. After a bruising encounter with terrible leadership, David is now pursuing his passion of understanding what makes a great leader and a great team in policing and other complex organisations.

You can find David here: https://ableandrush.com

Both new and experienced officers are leaving the police service in droves as a result of poor pay, low morale, weak leadership and political interference. 

Joe Crocker is now helping serving officers to understand what their options look like and how to present themselves and their skills to maximise their opportunities outside of law enforcement.

This is the final TJF podcast until the book comes out later this year. After that, I will then see where things are, and gauge whether there's the appetite for more podcasts in the future.

Thanks for listening and try and be nice to the police...they're only human!

This week, Adrian, one of the two surveillance officers who followed Jean Charles onto the Tube train at Stockwell where he was shot, describes the immediate aftermath of the incident and the impact on him and his colleagues in the days, weeks, months and years after this horrific incident.

This week I dive into the horrible world of drug dealers and organised crime in my chat with expert witness and ex-detective Ian Broughton.

Illegal drugs are the single biggest driver of crime, human misery and violence in our inner cities and increasingly across once-peaceful parts of the UK.

Ian spent a large part of his police career investigating drug-related crime and became one of the most knowledgeable people in the UK on these issues. I learned a lot in our chat, and I'm sure you will too.

Ian can be contacted for training or his expertise at court at https://www.expertwitnessservices.co.uk/

This week I describe my shock at finding out that I had worked with a serial child rapist, Anthony Smith, who was sentenced to 24 years in prison last week.

I then have a brilliant chat with Jon Adams, who served in North London before moving his family lock stock and barrel out to Western Australia, where he is currently a sergeant in a town south of Perth. It was great chatting to him and fascinating hearing about his life down under.

This week I have a fascinating conversation with Leigh Allen, who is one of the most knowledgeable people in the UK regarding the use of technology to investigate crime. Leigh started using tech to solve crime way back in the 1990s and has remained involved in emerging technologies right up to the present day.

In this episode, I chat to Andy Fairie, who has retrained as a psychotherapist after leaving policing. He is also the host of the SFQ podcast and author of Listening Skills for Effective Policing.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1915713455/ref=cm_sw_r_apin_dp_PBTXNNHH7DSR1J3QPT59

I thought it might be useful to address some of the many recent issues impacting the best job in the world that is quickly becoming the worst job in the world. I also give you some news about the TJF audiobook.

Sorry about the Anglo-Saxon swearing, but sometimes you need to say it as it is.

This week I go completely off-piste and chat to someone who I would describe as a friend, but who led a life that I knew nothing about when we first met. 

Craig Bulgin was outwardly a hard-working, professional builder and loving family man when I met him. It was only sometime later that he hinted that his life had not always been like that. 

This was the first time that I had heard his full story and it frequently made for difficult listening.

Craig is a great example of how it is possible to turn your life around and get away from a criminal lifestyle.

This week I interview the quite remarkable Kevin Hurley who came to note as the first PCC in Surrey and who crossed swords with Theresa May as Home Secretary. Kevin has been very outspoken (even more than me!) about the damage caused to policing over the last 12 years and he now intends to throw his hat in the ring in the process to find a new Met Police Commissioner. 

In this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking to Dave Marshall, who recently retired after serving over 30 years in policing. Dave is the author of the book 'THE FALL OF POLICING: When Woke Cancelled The British Bobby' where he discusses the decline of British policing. According to Dave, over time, the British police have shifted their focus from keeping the law-abiding public safe to politically correct initiatives, resulting in a less safe society. This shift has eroded public trust in policing and created a perception of incompetence among the police force.

If you are interested in reading Dave's book, you can find it at https://www.amazon.com/FALL-POLICING-Cancelled-British-Bobby/dp/B0CTW6XZ5Z/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3IEKM2JSVIKJX&keywords=dave+marshall&qid=1707860502&sprefix=dave+marshall%2Caps%2C173&sr=8-1.

In his book, Dave charts the demise of British policing. He describes how, over time, British policing gradually abandoned its primary purpose of keeping the law-abiding public safe to focus instead on politically correct initiatives that have left the public much less safe. This has undermined public trust in policing and created a perception that the police are incompetent.

My no-holds-barred assessment of the Casey Report. 

**Spoiler alert** I think it's good.....

This week I enjoyed chatting to Andrew Snowden, the current police and crime commissioner (PCC) for Lancashire.

We had a wide-ranging chat about the work of PCCs, the controversy that surrounded their introduction under the Cameron/May government, political interference in policing, as well as hearing his thoughts on many of the current challenges faced by policing in the UK.

This week I interview Professor Tom Lewis, the Director of Nottingham Law School’s Centre for Rights and Justice. Tom’s main research areas lie in the field of human rights and constitutional law and history. He has particular interests in the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief, and in the European Convention on Human Rights and the UK’s Human Rights Act. 

We discuss the current state of UK policing, the rights and the wrongs of the BLM and Kill the Bill protests and the challenges for the police in protecting young black men in the inner cities from knife-crime without being accused of racism.

In this episode, I chat with Caroline Goode QPM. Caroline was the senior investigating officer for the investigation into the murder of Banaz Mahmod. Banaz was only 20 years old when she was killed by her father and other family members for leaving a violent, abusive, arranged marriage and starting a new relationship.

I really enjoyed talking to Caroline. We talked about her career and exchanged light-hearted reminiscences about her time in the Met, before the conversation took a much darker turn with her recollections of the murder investigation.

**Warning: This episode contains some very distressing content**

This is a bonus episode that talks about the good, the bad and the ugly events of the last week in UK policing

I had a very enjoyable interview with Darryl Morris on Times Radio yesterday evening. I definitely think that some people in the media are starting to 'get it' and realise that constant criticism of policing will end badly for everyone. 

The very sad Nicola Bulley incident needs to act as a catalyst in the re-setting of the relationship between UK policing and the media. This episode explores why I think this urgently needs to happen.

This week I discuss Russia/Ukraine, obsessive compulsive hoarding, caring for the dying and the impending report from the Strategic Review of Policing. I also ask what you lot want from the podcast.

In this bonus episode I discuss the controversy relating to Met Superintendent Robyn Williams, convicted of possessing a child abuse video and now re-instated back into her job, after being sacked. I also look at the woefully low rate of 1.6% of rapes now leading to criminal prosecution and consider what has gone wrong. 

In this episode I dive into the worrying rise in police resignations. In England and Wales, Home Office data revealed 3433 voluntary resignations in the year ending March 2022, a rise of 72% from the previous year and a rise of 196% since the year ending March 2012.

Professor Sarah Charman from Portsmouth University has interviewed scores of ex-police officers who resigned recently from policing. Her findings are deeply worrying for the future of the organisation.

This week I interview Scott Walker, who is one of the world’s most experienced kidnap for ransom negotiators having either successfully responded to or case managed over 300 cases and other similar crises such as piracy, marauding terrorist and cyber extortion attacks.

Scott and I both worked in counter-terrorism operations in New Scotland Yard, and Scott then left policing to manage corporate kidnaps all over the world.

Scott is one of Chartwell's public speakers (https://www.chartwellspeakers.com/speaker/scott-walker/) and he now runs his own company, delivering Executive Leadership and Coaching; helping clients to develop a resilient mindset, enhance their emotional intelligence, and communicate more effectively. Scott can be contacted at www.scottwalkercoaching.com

**** Correction : In this podcast I incorrectly described Diane Abbott as Shadow Home Secretary. She is the EX-Shadow Home Secretary, having been in that role from 2016 to 2020 ****

In this episode I flesh out the points I made in a LinkedIn post yesterday that generated tens of thousands of views and scores of comments. 

Here is the post https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6961584077950836736/

Also mentioned in this episode is a video of recent serious disorder in Wolverhampton

Here is the video;

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2992046524427118&extid=WA-UNK-UNK-UNK-AN_GK0T-GK1C-GK2T&ref=sharing

This week I interview Tony Long, the ex-Metropolitan Police firearms officer, who in 2015, was cleared of murdering Azelle Rodney in the course of a police surveillance operation in 2005. Three firearms were found in the car. The internal Met Professional Standards Department and the Independent Police Complaints Commission ruled that Tony had acted correctly, however, after a high profile public inquiry, Tony was then charged with murder almost ten years after the original incident. As if that wasn't stressful enough, the tabloids branded Tony "The Mets own Serial Killer", on the basis that Rodney was the fifth person that Tony had shot, and the third person that he had shot dead during his career in the firearms department.

In this episode, I look at the implications of charging officer NX121 with murder and what this means for our safety in the UK.

This week I had some of my own assumptions and prejudices well and truly challenged when I spoke to Skye Morden, who came out as a transgender police officer some years ago.

The massive level of support that Skye has received from her police colleagues is in stark contrast to the level of hate that she has received at the hands of some sections of the media and from online trolls.

This is her story.

This week I interview Joanne Rice, who spent 17 years in the Metropolitan police in London, the last eight of which were spent in covert policing investigating terrorist conspiracies. Jo decided to leave policing when the government changed the rules on pay and pensions, and she took up a new role in the private sector...an all-too-familiar story sadly in the last few years with many officers resigning. I really enjoyed chatting to Jo and it brought back many memories from my own work in that area.

This week I interview Tom Farrell QPM. As well as being a thoroughly nice guy, he's also a global expert on protecting children from sexual exploitation on the internet, and identifying peadophiles trying to cover their tracks in cyberspace. 

This week I interview Dave Flanagan, who spent many years working for the Vice Squad, Obscene Publications Squad and then the Paedophile Unit in London. It's a fascinating account of how the police investigated these issues back in the 1980s and 90s, in the time before the Internet reared its ugly head.

This week I discuss the resignation of the much-loved Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick and I consider whether this now marks a new low in the relationship between policing, politicians and journalists.

This is the only podcast that will tell you honestly what it’s really been like to be in the British police for the last thirty years. How has it changed? When and why did those changes happen? What was it like to live through this incredibly tumultuous period in the history of British policing? Whether you’re a member of the public who’s curious about policing, a policy maker, a commercial supplier who works with the police, or a student studying anything relevant to policing; this is definitely the podcast for you! Funny, sad and sometimes disturbing. Listener caution is advised. If you like this podcast please review it here;

https://lovethepodcast.com/tangojulietfoxtrot

In the last two episodes, we heard about how drastically wrong a counter-terrorism operation can go, with the death of an innocent man at Stockwell. Many lessons were learned from that case and today these high tempo operations are run very differently.

This week I chat with Warren Barlow. What Warren doesn't know about managing these highly complex operations in real-time isn't worth knowing. He has designed and run hundreds of high-risk terrorist training operations and did it himself for real many times. 

Warren now runs his own training company, using highly realistic, immersive learning technology to put staff and decision-makers through their paces in a wide range of scenarios. You can contact Warren here: https://learn.interopltd.com

Hello again! Now that the book has been published, with lots of fantastic feedback I'm going to start getting back to the TJF podcast. What fun! 

In this episode I provide an introductory 101 on child sex offenders. I talk about different types of offender, their journey to live abuse and I explain how grooming works. Finally I talk about the impact of the Internet on offending. You should probably listen to this episode before the next two episodes where I interview some of those who have investigated or managed paedophiles over many years.

Listener caution is advised.

If you have concerns about a child who may be the victim of sexual abuse, you can report it anonymously to the NSPCC here: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/our-services/nspcc-helpline/

If you are worried about your own sexual feelings towards children, you can obtain confidential advice and help here: https://www.stopitnow.org.uk

I was asked to talk to Lewis Goodall about the many current issues around policing and the shooting of Chris Kaba. This is the interview

This week I have a have a fascinating chat with my old boss Chief Supt Clive Burgess. We talk about policing past and present and we recall some very difficult times in both our lives and an embarrassing trouser-related incident. 

This week I have a very enjoyable chat with John Sutherland, where we discuss all things policing and compare notes on the experience of writing books.

This week I have a fascinating chat with Ian Johnston, who has devoted his entire life to keeping the public safe. He had a number of high profile roles in policing nationally and a front-row seat during the transition from the Blair years through the very unhappy period when Theresa May and the Tories did so much damage to policing. Ian became an independent Police and Crime Commissioner in 2012 in Gwent, his old force, from where he had retired as a Chief Superintendent two years previously. Never an easy task!

This week I grovel pathetically to the nice journalists and politicians who don't make a career out of slagging off the Old Bill, I talk about how a Nazi extremist managed to get into the Met police, and I interview the lovely Kerry Young who I used to work with in Coventry many years ago. Check out the brand new intro and outro music by my very talented and amazing friend and singer, Louise Hatton. If you like this podcast please review it here;

https://lovethepodcast.com/tangojulietfoxtrot

This week I had the privilege and pleasure of chatting to Christian Plowman, who served many years in covert policing in the Met and then went on to forge a successful career working for Interpol and a range of NGOs tackling the illegal trade in ivory and products from endangered species in Africa.

Fascinating stuff.