SFQ Podcast

When Andy Murdoch went from professional football player to polis his club, Partick Thistle, tried to get the police to pay a £50k transfer fee! Strangely enough, Strathclyde Police insisted on a free transfer and there he rose through the ranks, spending time as a trainer at the Scottish Police College and eventually become a superintendent, retiring from the Contact, Command & Control divisi...

The SFQ podcast speaks to its first member of police staff - Angela Blair, formerly National Productions Manager with Police Scotland. What are productions? Basically, all the property that gets seized by the polis, about 500,000 items a year. How does it do that? What does it do with all those bricks and how was Angela involved in a previous Oasis concert in Scotland? If you are interested in tal...

Hear how Retired Chief Inspector Andy Brown went from a career in the highlands of Scotland to successfully negotiating a hostage release with the Taliban as part of his work with the Jesuit Brotherhood, in addition to his time spent studying negotiation in the United States as a Fullbright Scholar. You can find Andy's 'The Right Path' website here: https://www.the-right-path.com If...

Hear how Jonathan Wender went from a 20 year career as a 'philosopher cop' in Washington to leading academic on the subject of police-public communication. He describes his groundbreaking work using AI to analyse body worn camera footage to reduce the likelihood of conflict. Is this something Police Scotland should consider when it finally gets around to using BWV? Also - the shocking st...

Former Strathclyde Police/Police Scotland detective Stuart Hall describes how he discovered the identity of the murderer of Emma Caldwell in 2005 and how this derailed his career when he went against his bosses - who had a different suspect. It would take nearly 20 years for Stuart to be proved right.     If you want to know more about the murder of Emma Caldwell, you can watch Disclosure: Who Kil...

Join me for the second part of my chat with former Police Scotland superintendent and terrorism expert Dr Martin Gallagher. In this episode, we discuss what causes people to take part in terrorist acts. Here is a link to Martin's website: https://www.kilmailingconsulting.com If you want to buy Martin's book, you can follow this link: https://amzn.eu/d/4yQXagG If you are interested in tal...

Why do people become terrorists? Former Police Scotland superintendent, Martin Gallagher, has become an expert on this subject, publishing his book 'Terror for Profit' earlier this year. In this episode, Martin describes his police career and reflects not he current state of policing. Here is a link to Martin's website: https://www.kilmailingconsulting.com If you want to buy Martin&...

What happens when someone dies as a result of the police use of force? Following on from the previous episode, former Police Scotland Chief Firearms Instructor, Scott Williamson, discusses post incident management, the promotion process, offers advice to those officers considering a career in firearms and his gravestone cleaning business. Here is Scott’s Linkedin profile https://www.linkedin.com/i...

From his first operational incident at the scene of the Dunblane Primary School shooting, to his final post as Chief Firearms Officer for Police Scotland, firearms have bookmarked Scott Williamson's police career. He describes it in this episode, alongside his account of searching a rubbish tip for a murder victim's body and working at Kamp Van Zeist in the Netherlands for the trial of t...

In this episode we hear more from psychological therapist Rachel Rogers about her plans for future work in the sphere of police mental health and a brief discussion regarding Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing therapy, which has proved to be a highly effective treatment for PTSD and complex PTSD. Rachel’s website for Phoenix Trauma Solutions https://phoenixtraumasolutions.co.uk Police Treat...

Rachel Rogers has spent much of her psychological therapy facing her ‘North Star’ of policing. She was involved in the introduction of the wellbeing programme within the Police Treatment Centres and then within Police Care UK in an intensive treatment pilot for trauma affecting police officers. Rachel’s website for Phoenix Trauma Solutions https://phoenixtraumasolutions.co.uk Police Treatment Cent...

When Allan Dorrans stepped off the London train clutching his second hand suitcase, he probably had no idea what a career in the Metropolitan police would lead to. Follow his journey from police to publican, personnel manager and finally, politician. What’s it like to sit in judgement of a prime minister? What is the connection between the miners’ strikes of the 1980s and the murder of WPC Yvonne...

Warning - it's all about emotions in this episode as Dr Sarah-Jane Lennie discusses how police officers often fail to acknowledge that they have any at all. Sarah-Jane went from the British Army to Hampshire and Greater Manchester Police, becoming a Detective Inspector before she left to pursue an academic career, where she focuses on the mental health of police officers and staff. 

It’s all stabbing, scribbling and sectarianism in this episode featuring retired T/Supt Brian Cook, who retired from Police Scotland 7 years ago and has recently published his book ‘The Corsairs’, following the travails of probationer officer Alec MacKay as he patrols the mean streets of Glasgow. Does he pound the beat or does the beat pound him? You can find his book on Amazon at the following lo...

PC Ash Toner-Maxwell Scottish LGBTI Police Association The SFQ podcast returns for a thought provoking chat with Ash Toner-Maxwell regarding her experience in the east end of Glasgow, including her time as a campus cop. She then speaks about her current role as General Secretary of the Scottish LGBTI Police Association. Should cops be going to all those PRIDE marches? How can people speak to each...

When Rob Hindley was medically retired from the police after a career with the GMP and the Met, he committed himself to helping others going through the medical retirement process and having a hard time with the trauma being a police officer can involve. As a result, he wrote "The Coppers' Lot", where he drew on accounts from other officers who had experienced trauma and described h...

Retired Chief Superintendent Suzie Mertes talks about her career, including her fight to retain her stripes when she became pregnant, looking after the G8 spouses at the time of the 7/7 bombings in London, and her time at the head of the Scottish Women’s Development Forum and Association of Scottish Police Superintendents.  Also available at Apple and Spotify. 

Supt Henry Campbell retired from Strathclyde Police in 2010. During his career he was instrumental in redesigning the national negotiator course. In this episode he speaks about his time as a negotiator and his night as an inspector when a member of staff was shot in Shettleston Police Office whilst he was on duty. He also speaks about his current vocation as a funeral celebrant and shares some of...

Are you ready for retirement? Are those close to you ready for you to retire? Police Scotland is, largely due to a change in pension rules and a job that becomes harder to cope with daily, seeing a lot of officers retire earlier than they perhaps expected to. Many will be wrestling with the decision whether to stay or go. Everyone expects retirement to be easy, but if you have spent 25 years or mo...

There’s a lot in this episode with George Barnsley, retired police officer, investigative training consultant and author of the Lanarkshire Police Chronicles. We discuss his police career, Lockerbie, kidnap, the evils of typewriters, his work with the Lanarkshire Police Historical Society and his campaign for official recognition for two murdered Strathclyde Police officers, Ross Hunt and George T...

This episode features an interview with Paul Eastham, who policed the city centre of Manchester in a career that spanned 30 years. Paul provides a very honest and sometimes harrowing account of his experience attending the scene of the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017, where 22 people were murdered and hundreds injured.

Ali Garrow had a career that took him from the Highlands of Scotland to London and New York. Police Officer/IT guru/Negotiator and now creator of the Paddlewheel Initiative, providing a wellbeing service for police officers through the medium of paddle sports. Ali can be contacted via his website at https://moraykayaking.co.uk

Steve Potts takes us on a journey from joining West Midlands as a police cadet, becoming a detective investigating serious crime and murders before embarking on a career as an airline pilot, eventually becoming a Captain with Virgin. In this very honest account, Steve also describes the impact Covid has had on the airline industry and himself personally.

A trailer for my new podcast