Senior detective takes up role as Stoke North area commander

A senior detective is returning to his home patch to take up an appointment as Stoke North’s new area commander.

Chief Inspector Simon Brownsword grew up in the High Lane area and is excited about taking up his new post from Monday (21 June).
He has almost three decades of experience in policing, working as a detective, custody sergeant and beat officer, and in senior roles in safeguarding and offender management.
He has family in the area and still lives just a few miles away and confesses to a family with split Potteries football rivalries.
Simon’s local knowledge will be useful in Stoke North, a ‘great patch’ he says which is busy, friendly, diverse and with good people.
“I’m going to be out and about whenever I can and I think the experience and contacts I have will be very useful. My time working in offender management and safeguarding and working with other agencies is going to be invaluable.
“I will listen to people and work with them to understand what the issues are that concern them.”
Simon says among his priorities will be tackling violence, youth crime and anti-social behaviour.
He has a great understanding of vulnerability from his years working in safeguarding and believes this is critical to understanding crime and supporting the most vulnerable.
Simon joined Staffordshire Police in 1992, serving as a police constable in Stoke and Longton, before working as a detective constable in the Moorlands.
He has previously served as a sergeant in Burslem, before roles in custody, transformation and neighbourhood policing action teams.
In 2015 Simon worked in the south of the county as deputy neighbourhood commander for Cannock Chase, before becoming a detective inspector and then detective chief inspector in Safeguarding.
He worked in a temporary superintendent role in Partnerships, before taking up his current role as a detective chief inspector in offender management.
Simon takes over from Chief Inspector Mark Barlow.
“I look forward to continuing and developing the great relationships that Mark has enjoyed with partners and the public, and excited to work with the excellent team at Stoke North.”