Former Merseyside Police Chief Andy Cooke: "Policing in the spotlight"
After 5 years in charge and 36 years as a police officer, Chief Constable Andy Cooke is retiring from the top job at the Merseyside force.
It's a career he'd wanted "from the age of 6 or seven," and he leaves the force with a sense of both pride and sadness. His only wish is that during a tough time for policing people saw more of the positive work police do.
"We normally see policing in a bad light, when something goes wrong, policing is in the spotlight, everyday I see the things that go so well."
Reflecting on his career, Mr Cooke said he's so proud he's been at the helm of the top rated metropolitan force in the country and the support from the community has been an absolute highlight as they tackled tragic stories
Policing has changed a lot since a young Mr Cooke hit the beat in the Kensington area of the city. Cyber crime and social media weren't part of anyone's vocabulary back then.
How officers and forces do their jobs has become an extremely hot topic over the past year with many becoming highly critical of the institution. Public trust has dropped and protests against the new policing bill have become violent in some places.
The situation's become far too political in the current landscape according to the former Chief Constable who says people can't just trust snippets of what they see online.
Policing during the Covid pandemic has been an extremely tough challenge says Mr Cooke, and he's proud of how his force has stepped up, "they've got families they worry about, elderly relatives" he said. There is concern officers could burn out and forces face a mental health crisis in the wake of Covid.
"Police have hidden it's head from mental health issues for too long."
Stepping away from his current role, the ex chief won't be putting his feet up, instead he will be taking on a new challenge inspecting forces as part of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services including special measures force GMP.
On Monday the 12th of April his successor and first woman to head up the force, DCC Serena Kennedy will take up the top job.