Tango Juliet Foxtrot - the police podcast

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.

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 sce...

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.

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 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 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.

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...

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 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...

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.

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

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...

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...

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.

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.

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 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 mo...

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...

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 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 resi...

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. F...

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.

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 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.