Former Hanley PC’s career gaining speed after CMPG move

A former northern response PC – who featured in the BBC2 documentary Cops Like Us – has revealed how he’s thriving in his new role within the Central Motorway Policing Group.

The Central Motorway Policing Group – or CMPG – is a joint operation between Staffordshire Police and colleagues at West Midlands Police. They work closely with officers across both counties to tackle criminality on our roads.

PC Richard Frost’s departure from the Hanley based unit after five years was highlighted in episode two of the three part series.

Now four and a half months into his new role as a traffic officer – PC Frost has told us how he’s loving every minute on the roads.

“Since moving across to CMPG it’s been good to see a different side of policing. Obviously getting into the swing of a totally different department is always challenging but my new job definitely allows me to be more proactive as well as reacting to incidents. It means I’m actively going out and looking to prevent things from happening –which is a change from my time in response, which primarily was helping out once things had happened.

“One of the most exciting parts of this job has been the part I’ve played in putting a stop to major drug hauls. The motorways are an important gateway for drugs gangs and to be able to help halt that is a great feeling. For instance, we recovered millions of pounds worth of drugs from one vehicle recently – that’s something I’d never seen before!

“As you can imagine we cover a huge patch. Our main focus is on South Staffordshire and the nearby motorways – up to junction 16 of the M6. We also cover the entire A500 and all of Stoke-on-Trent. However, we do on occasion venture down the M6 into areas like Birmingham. For example, last week we were completing a job in Wolverhampton a mere half an hour after looking for vehicles in Stoke-on-Trent. It’s a massive and challenging area – but one we love protecting.

“As much as I am loving my new job, I really do miss the guys I used to work with. You build up great friendships with people in a close knit environment like that and I was proud to be a part of such a solid team.

“All in all I think the best thing about working for CMPG is the freedom you get to be yourself and to police how you want to police – to have that proactive role is a great feeling. I’m a Stoke-on-Trent lad who loves his city and I’m proud to live and work in and around the area every day. No matter what’s thrown at me I will always do everything I can to help the people who live here. I’m proud to be a police officer and to put on the uniform every day and I know my family are too.”

And with Tuesday night signalling the final episode of Cops Like Us, we asked Rich what he thought about it.

“I think it gives a really good portrayal of how the response unit works and how the current state of play is for local officers. It shows the difficulties we face but how we all continue to carry on through the high work load and do what we came to do – which is to protect the community. It’s a good indication of how policing is at the minute and the type of work we face on a day to day basis.

“I am very happy with how it’s been received from the wide public as well. Being in front of the camera isn’t something I was used to and I knew I’d probably come in for some stick but all the feedback has been really positive. I think we’ve come across as normal human beings. We’re not robots, we’re normal people, who love our job and I’ve not heard any criticism about it – which is great.”

If you’ve missed the documentary then you can watch on-demand – just type Cops Like Us into the search bar on BBC Iplayer.