Suffolk Constabulary Inspector Matt Paisley leads a conversation for PolicingTV with the force’s Detective Inspector Stuart Dolan of the Western Area CID team. 

“It’s a lot of interesting and really varied work, from domestic assaults and domestic incidents to serious and complex burglaries, robberies.”

The work has “changed considerably” since Stu first became a detective. “It’s changed from a set… type of crime, to a much more varied [type] based on risk… Historically, we wouldn’t deal with a common assault, but now – if it’s a domestic linked common assault – there’s an opportunity to lock someone up who has committed crimes against vulnerable people.” 

Day to day, how is that workload distributed? “We’re working at times where we’ve got limited resources, so it needs quite grown-up and pragmatic conversations… My day would routinely start at 0630, I’d review the overnight crimes. I’d review those crimes to identify those that I felt had the most risk attached to them…”

What drives his passion for remaining in CID? “It’s locking up criminals. I joined the police to put bad people in custody and behind bars, to safeguard the public.”

What advice would you give to someone thinking about joining Suffolk Police? “Take the plunge and do it, go for it!”