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I was born in Pakistan in June 1962 and joined my father in England in 1970. (Father
had been settled in Nottingham since 1962.) I was educated in Nottingham and my
first ambition was to be a pilot in the RAF. I’ve always loved aircraft and anything
to do with them.
I left Nottingham in 1978 for personal reasons and settled in Middlesbrough in the
north east of England where I worked in shops and factories for several years. It
was whilst working in a shop that I came into contact with police officers and we
would get talking about the police service. Slowly the seeds were sown for a career
in the police service as I learned more and more of what the job actually entails.
In 1981 I was working in the shop alone when I was the victim of a very violent
robbery by three men and had my arm broken with a baseball bat. Obviously this resulted
in a great deal of involvement with various departments of the police and the criminal
justice system during which my decision was made. I wanted to be a police officer
and keep my feet on the ground!
Due to various commitments, I was not able to realise this ambition until June 1984
when I joined Cleveland Police. This was a time when there were very few Asian police
officers throughout England. I became one of only three Asian police officers in
Cleveland police, which, at that time, totalled around 1500.
The police training school was right next door to the RAF training school at Dishforth!
What a nightmare! With training jets taking off and landing every ten minutes there
were times that I wished I could just sign up next door and fulfil my boyhood dream!
After completing my 14 weeks initial training (that’s a story in itself!), I was
posted to work in Middlesbrough where I completed my probationary period in uniform.
I went on to postings in the shoplifting squad at Middlesbrough, which was then
part of C.I.D., then moved on to uniform patrol in other Districts within Cleveland.
I got married in 1987 and have been blessed with two daughters, in 1989 and 1991.
I passed the promotion exam for the rank of Sergeant in 1990 and soon after that
I was selected for a computer instructors course and a police firearms course, both
of which I completed successfully. I was the first non-white officer to be selected
for these duties in Cleveland. I was also successful in my application to transfer
to the Road Traffic Patrol department, again becoming the first non-white officer
to do so in Cleveland.
In 1991 I transferred to the Road Traffic Patrol Dept and the rest, (which is documented
elsewhere on this site), as they say, is history!!!
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