Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2010/January 2011 | Page 51

Island Life - December 2010

interview

try to cut crime. Cars don’t have radios that are easy to steal
and people don’t have electricity meters full of 50p pieces.
So crime has been designed out, and police tactics have
improved to try to reduce crime from the 1990s levels.”
During his time at Portsmouth he routinely became the duty
senior officer for the eastern side of the Force. He recalls:
“That was as fantastic responsibility, and where police work
differed so much from being in a bank. I would sometimes
park overlooking the city as dawn was breaking, and think
my sergeants and constables were out there making people
as safe as they could be. I loved the responsibility of that and
working in a bank totally paled into insignificance!”
A family man with two girls and a boy, Mr. Mellors went
into the force control room at Winchester as an Inspector
responsible for the oversight of all critical incidents, with
2,000 999 calls a day, including such matters as firearms
incidents and serious assaults – a high profile and highly
stressful position.
The force migrated to the new facility at Netley, and he
remained in the control room for five years. Living nearby
he resumed cycling by riding to work on