What does a 30–year detective-turned–island commissioner really think about policing today? In this first of three conversations, Commissioner Mark Payne QPM of the Royal Montserrat Police Service looks back on his journey from a West Midlands probationer in 1994 to leading homicide, organised crime and counter-terrorism across one of the UK’s biggest forces.
He shares why policing was the only job he ever wanted, how he “fell into” promotion by trying to do the next job better, what it feels like to sit with grieving families in homicide cases, and the personal cost of always being on call – before revealing how a three-month Caribbean interim role turned into a whole new chapter.
Takeaways
- Childhood dream: policing was the only career he ever wanted.
- Early advice to “get life experience first” led to a short banking detour.
- Detective work hooked him with problem-solving and serious crime investigations.
- He served as a detective at every rank up to head of crime in West Midlands Police.
- He oversaw more than 200 homicide investigations and major organised crime cases.
- Partnership with University of Warwick helped pioneer 3D forensic scanning in strangulation cases.
- He’s clear that “policing fundamentally is still the best job” and would still recommend it.
- The work is hugely rewarding but “sucks a lot out of you” and strains work–life balance.
- Retirement was a hard call – but it opened the door to an unexpected offer in Montserrat.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Mark Payne and His Career Journey
01:33 A Lifelong Ambition: Joining the Police
06:39 Reflections on a 30-Year Policing Career
12:26 Transitioning to Montserrat: A New Chapter
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