New Bassetlaw police chief sets out key policing priorities and looks back over colourful 26 year career

Clive Collings is the new chief inspector covering Bassetlaw, Newark and Sherwood and is happy to be returning to his Worksop roots.

After living in Worksop during his teenage years, attending Worksop Valley Comp and even trying his hand as a radio DJ at Bassetlaw Hospital it’s a full circle moment for him.

He said: “It’s nice to be back where it all started.”

And just six weeks into the job Chf Insp Collings, who is also the force’s rural crime lead, has hit the ground running and already identified the key policing priorities for the area as drugs and drug dealing, dangerous driving and serious and organised crime.

And the key to the force’s success lies with you – as Chf Insp Collings explains the importance of working with the public to really make a difference within the local communities he serves.

He said: “I can’t over emphasise the importance of a close relationship with the public because we have a finite number of officers and can’t be everywhere at once. The ability for us to rely on the public and the public to rely on us is essential. I always encourage residents to come forward.

"For instance I’m very aware that people living in Worksop will absolutely know that crime is happening in the area whether it be drug dealing, diesel thefts or whether someone is aware that the woman next door is regularly assaulted by her partner, all those things are really important to allow us to be proactive and develop a picture of what’s happening in the county.

"I am really passionate about the importance of the police in protecting people. When it comes to domestic violence there’s a worrying statistic that on average 43 incidents of domestic violence take place before the police are first contacted. Domestic violence is responsible for the majority of murders in the UK so it’s really important that we know about it as soon as possible so we can intervene with offenders and to be able to safeguard victims. It might appear to be something small if you hear neighbours arguing and potentially an assault taking place but it might ultimately prevent someone from being murdered along the tracks so it really is key that people are reporting these things.”

The key policing priorities set by Chf Insp Collings will mean linking up with neighbouring forces to help tackle a lot of the local issues that are blighting the lives of residents.

“Because we are so close to the South Yorkshire border, Lincolnshire border and almost at the Derbyshire border it’s quite a unique position to be in and creates challenges around cross border crime as we know criminals don’t adhere to county borders. I really relish the opportunity to work with bordering forces to combat cross border crime. Issues such as fuel thefts across county borders and that sort of stuff is a challenge but also a great opportunity to work with the three surrounding forces and pool our resources to be able to combat it.

"I’m also heavily invested in cracking down on rural crime, very often we have cross border burglaries, significant thefts of expensive machinery, so this is something we will be looking at.”

Although Chf Insp Collings role has varied greatly over his career that spans more than two decades, the underlying theme and drive has always remained the same – to make a difference.

"This new role gives me another way to help people and work out new and innovative ways of making general day-to-day life for people in Bassetlaw better, it’s a challenge but one I relish.”

During his time in the force key roles have included a deployment to the UK Football Policing Unit during the Russia 2018 World Cup, a stint at the Asian Tsunami UK-police casualty bureau and time served in the force's Mounted Unit – which ended with Chf Insp Collings, who had no previous riding experience, falling off a horse and breaking his hand in three places.

Accolades over the years include the Community Police Officer of The Year award for relationship building within Rotherham in the aftermath of the Jay Report into the sexual exploitation of children in the town – his proudest moment to date.

"That was the single most rewarding thing, working after the publication of the Jay Report and building community links to repair that really fractured community and rebuilding that trust between the Pakistani Muslim community and the police.

"I’m still in contact with some of the people from that community today. It was a really tough time but really rewarding and one of those times when I walked away and genuinely felt I’d made a real difference.”

There have been many tough times over the years and many things have changed – Chief Insp Collings has battled through policing cutbacks and at times the immense pressure has taken its toll.

Arriving first on the scene at a number of horrific murders during his career and dealing with many difficult calls have been tough but the most challenging experience of his career to date was a fatal RTC in 2000.

"I was the first officer there and it was about 15 to 20 minutes before anyone else from the emergency services arrived.

“It was pretty obvious the person had died but I remember doing mouth to mouth whilst an off duty nurse was doing chest compression for 15 minutes knowing it was a lost cause.

"I remember getting back into the car and my eyes welling up. it was the realisation that I’d just got there as someone had died, the realisation that there was nothing I could do to help whilst also trying to manage that public expectation and desperately trying to save someone's life.

"That’s the side of policing people don’t necessarily appreciate, we take our uniform off at the end of the day and we’re just normal members of the community who are instilled with a huge amount of extra responsibility and have to demonstrate a huge amount of extra courage.

"It’s that cliche of running towards danger whilst others are running away, but we’re not superhuman, the uniform affords us a bit of extra protection but doesn’t make up for the extra risks we sometimes have to take.”

A career in the police force was something Chf Insp Collings set his sights on from a young age after being inspired to follow in the footsteps of his family.

With a grandfather and uncle working as officers in Nottinghamshire Police force and a brother who also followed suit it has become somewhat of a family business

“As a kid I’d seen police cars, the flashing lights and the uniform and thought it always seemed quite exciting. I remember in my early teens wanting to emulate my uncle Phil Gell who was in the police force, he was quite a gregarious, outgoing guy, a rugby player, so he had a big physical presence and a big personality and I remember I wanted to be like him."

Making his two children 15-year-old Elspeth and 12-year-old Rupert proud is something that continues to be a driving force for Chf Insp Collings.

He said “I think they are proud of me. I have a strong work ethic and always wanted to be a good role model to them. I’m in a really privileged position where I get to make society a better place and hopefully instill in them some of my morals and working principles.

My son flirts with the idea of becoming a police officer and I just hope they can have jobs that are as enjoyable as mine.”

Battling public criticism is something that comes with the territory but Chf Insp Collings says he is keen to address concerns over lack of staffing by ensuring more officers are out and about on the streets in the key areas they need to be.

“The first thing to say is I understand people’s concerns, there are a finite number of resources and the reality is over the last 10 to 12 years police officer numbers have been cut significantly.

"Over the last couple of years the force has invested heavily in staffing and we are almost back to where we were in terms of numbers, not in terms of experience but I believe we are better than we have ever been at using data to place police officers where they need to be.

"Due to advances in technology there is less need for everyone to come back to station after every job; this means officers can be out and about in the community more.

"The difficulty is that over the last 25 years we’ve almost become the emergency service of last resort. With mental health service cutbacks the demand that those services can’t fulfil falls on the police. A lot of time is spent on people in mental health crises and if we’re doing that we are not able to do other things. It’s a difficult position to be in but you can’t please everybody but we do try and do our best.”

Chief Insp Collings believes investment into mental health services is key to freeing up police officers and refocusing on those key policing priorities.

He added: “Mental health needs to be put on the same platform as physical health and we can learn from other countries leading the way with this and provide a better safety net.

“It’s difficult to be all things to all people and as a service I think we’ve been guilty of trying to do that and that has left us in a situation where other public services think it’s OK we don’t have to do that because the police will pick it up but once you’re in that position it’s very difficult to step back from it.”

As well as working on key policing priorities from the comfort of his office Chf Insp Collings is also keen to ensure he gets out and about on the beat as part of his work and leads from the front when it comes to stopping criminals in their tracks.

He added: “I joined the police force because I wanted to do something really positive for society. I did it because I wanted to be doing a job I could be proud of and to make a really positive difference to victims, help rehabilitate offenders and cliche though it sounds, make the world a better place.

"I’ve had so many incredible experiences over the years, a lot really difficult to navigate but I know that I’m a completely different person than I would have been had I not joined the police. It’s been an incredible experience.”