Joe transferred to Devon and Cornwall Police from the Met back in 2020. He spent two years in Response and on the Public Protection Unit before he was able to apply for a role in SWROCU. The transfer process has now changed and officers can apply directly to join the Unit.
“I spent four years prior to transferring in Specialist Crime and Operations and knew that was where my enjoyment in policing sat, so when I heard about the work of the ROCU I decided that was where I wanted to be.”
Joe joined the Regional Disruption Team (RDT) as he felt it was a good fit – his knowledge and focus was very much centred around dealing with proactive crime.
Assist, adopt, disrupt
“There is no such thing as a typical day in the RDT! We notionally work Monday to Friday, office hours but within that it can vary a huge amount depending on what we’re planning to be doing.
“We sometimes work on our own investigations and that can necessitate a bit of flexibility. This could involve executing warrants, arresting people, carrying out general proactive work enquiries. We recently received some fast-time intelligence about one of our own investigations which required us to act quickly and do an evening intervention where we seized drugs and cash. Only very occasionally is our work spontaneous.
“Our Unit looks into Tier 3 OCGs and more complicated problems, so you aren’t going to be on the street every day. There’s an element of sitting at laptops doing applications, reading things, and submitting information.”
The team is often deployed to assist other ROCU capabilities such as the Operations Team and the Regional Undercover Unit.
“We might be called in to play a more overt role in a covert job because we’re plain clothes and we can be discrete.”
The RDT also provides assistance to all of the south west regional forces.
“Last week we assisted Wiltshire over two days executing warrants and on a regional drugs op. That involved an early start and an overnight stay. The following day I was in Dorset helping them with county lines. You’ve got to be pretty flexible because, as with most proactive work, the demand dictates what you will do. Having said that, I often know in advance if I’m required to be within a regional force area, or even out of area, for more than a day.”
Joe says the RDT often works with partner agencies, such as Trading Standards, HMRC, Border Force etc.
“Our team’s emphasis is on disruption rather than conviction at court and you can disrupt somebody’s life in myriad ways. You can be more creative because you don’t have to focus on the end goal of a conviction. For example, we might seize a criminal’s possessions, we could arrange for HMRC to audit bank accounts, we could get the minimum wage team to look into a car wash business. My job is about adaptive problem solving.”
Joe says he finds the work interesting because he’s dealing with serious organised criminality, and he’s encouraged to use some creative thinking in order to tackle it.
“When I first started working in the field of specialist crime what I saw was a shift in mindset and I think people looking to join the RDT should try and bring that alternative thinking to the team. What I like about our specialist crime world is that the answer is always ‘yes, we can solve that problem’. There’s an outlook that we can work out a solution to a problem and you can be the person to come up with that solution.
Attitude is everything
“I like proactive policing where you’ve got to be a little bit more loose and free form and willing to kind of go and create your own work. And as long as you’re pulling your weight, you’re treated like an equal and everyone will listen to your opinion. I can have an idea and I’m encouraged to talk about it; we’re treated like we’ve got something of value to say.”
People often ask what skillset they need to join SWROCU, but as Joe explains, it’s as much about a person’s attitude as it is about their experience.
“I think you could be from any walk of policing; it’s all about having the right attitude and the drive. It’s about wanting to work hard as part of a small team, wanting to contribute to that group goal. To be honest, we can teach someone anything – you just need to have that learning mindset. Do you want to learn new things? Do you want to come in and use your current knowledge but learn even more and how to apply it? If you do, then we want you.”
*Name has been changed