Protect and Serve

Matthew Barber was raised and schooled in Oxfordshire before graduating from Brunel University. He still lives in Oxfordshire, is married to Katie and has two children, Emily and Lucy; and a labrador!Matthew is Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Thames Valley, covering Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes and Oxfordshire. Elected to the role in May 2021 with a majority of nearly 80,000. He served as Deputy PCC from 2017 to 2021, during which time he took on the chairmanship of the Local Criminal Justice Board.Matthew also served as a councillor in the Vale of White Horse for nearly nineteen years. First elected to the Council in 2003 he served as Leader from 2011 to 2018 before standing down in March 2022. He has been a director of the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership as well as founding Chairman of Vale4Business and a Board Member of Science Vale and is involved in various charitable organisations.

Brian recently retired from Police Scotland having led on operational assurance and service acceptance for Scotland on a multi-million pound (UK Government) Home Office critical communications program - The Emergency Services Network (ESN, ESMCP).An operational practitioner who turned academic (Criminal Psychologist) Brian conducted his part-time Doctoral research into risk management and threat mitigation (in aviation and terrorism)with particular interests in societal impact, international relations, psychology, security, aviation, and law enforcement.

Join stand in host Rory Geoghegan in an insightful conversation with the host of the Protect & Serve Podcast and former police sergeant, Oliver Laurence. In this gripping episode, Oliver takes us through his remarkable journey from the police cadets at Gypsy Hill police station to patrolling the expansive outback of Australia.With candid storytelling, Oliver shares the pivotal moments and challenges that defined his career in policing, offering a unique perspective on law enforcement in both urban and remote settings. From heart-pounding encounters to moments of deep significance, this episode delves into the experiences that shaped Oliver's career and left an indelible mark on his life.Tune in as Rory Geoghegan delves into the life and career of the former sergeant, exploring the triumphs, the hardships, and the enduring impact of a life dedicated to serving and protecting the community.

Dr William Graham is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology, and the current Programme Leader of the Degree Programme. Dr Graham specialises in policing and criminal justice.Dr Graham is a former Senior Police Officer, having retired from Strathclyde Police in 2010 after 30 years’ service. He held various positions including Deputy Manager of a multi-agency initiative designed to reduce gang violence across Glasgow. Dr Graham’s research interests focus on policy transfer in international criminal justice - specifically violence prevention initiatives. His PhD research was an in-depth case study of the policy transfer of the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV) to Glasgow.He is also interested in all aspects of policing research and has recently carried out work on the policing of parades and demonstrations, and citizen engagement in policing. Dr Graham was a Co-Investigator with a multi-university team examining the impact of organised crime on Scottish Communities that reported to the Government in May 2018. He is also an academic advisor to the National Violence Prevention Board.In July 2018 Northamptonshire Police employed Dr Graham as a Consultant to advise them on the establishment of a violence reduction programme for gangs, building on his previous experience in the police in Glasgow and his PhD research.Dr Graham carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of Braveheart Industries (Street and Arrow Cafe) in Glasgow on behalf of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, a social enterprise venture that trains ex-offenders in the workplace, reporting in April 2020.He has also completed a major project on behalf of Police Scotland and The Scottish Police Authority, evaluating the Mobile Working Project for the police, which evaluated the roll out of mobile devices to officers replacing the paper notebooks. The report was submitted in December 2020.Dr Graham is an Associate Member of the Scottish Centre for Criminal Justice Research, and a member of the Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR), sitting on its Education and Leadership Network.

ACC Jay aka @ShortArmOfTheLaw is a young man on a mission. A police enthusiast from a very young age Jay has been supporting and championing policing up and down the country. His stories, activities, and bright personality light up thousands of policing faces up and down the country. Jay is currently on a new fundraising mission. Every year Jay pushes himself to do what he can to support Care of Police Survivors aka COPS, he does this because far too many of our amazing officers die on duty.This time he will be doing the bleep test every week this year.Police officers go out every shift to serve their communities and protect us, but unfortunately not all come back home to their families.Jay supports the fantastic work COPS do to support the families of those who didn’t come back home to them. Forever heroes 💙💙COPS provides peer support opportunities and access to counselling services to help surviving family members (‘survivors’) rebuild their shattered lives."Your loss is a part of who you are but COPS helps you realise that it doesn’t define you. We are all one big family."Since its foundation in 2003, COPS has helped hundreds of police families devastated by the loss of a loved one who died on duty.Please if you can, look up Jays Go Fund Me and support a young man making a big difference.

This week on Protect and Serve, join host Oliver Laurence, a former police officer, as he sits down with Sicarius McGrath for a gripping conversation. Sicarius shares his journey from a life entrenched in organised crime, dealing with firearms, drugs, and stolen cars, to a passionate advocate for change. Discover how Sicarius is turning his life around and now dedicates himself to supporting young people and advocating for solutions to tackle serious and violent crime in our nation. Tune in for a story of redemption and resilience you won't want to miss.

The #BleepKind vision is to promote a culture which prioritises health and wellbeing through kindness, understanding and support, to ensure members are ready to meet and exceed identified levels of operational fitness.#BleepKind was setup in February 2021, by two inspirational police officers, Jen & Carly to offer a peer support network for those required to complete the Bleep Test for their job role. This was following Jen & Carly’s own personal experiences and struggles when it came to the test. Both are full time police officers and Mums who wanted to create a safe place where people could come together and share their worries and concerns around the bleep test. Whether that be due to anxiety, injury, post-pregnancy conditions or any other reason, Jenn and Carly want people to know that they would not be judged but supported.This is an inspirational episode. Which takes on the challenges of health and wellbeing.

Mark joined the Metropolitan Police in 1987. He retired in November 2013 and became the PFOA CEO.The PFOA or Police Firearms Officers Association was created to support all those involved in UK Armed Policing ,and their families. The PFOA support the national uplift in Armed Policing. The Trustees and staff are a mixture of serving and retired firearms officers, with many years of experience and extensive knowledge. They offer a unique package of support for members and their families.

Graham Goulden, BA, is much sought after international speaker, leadership and violence prevention trainer. For thirty years he was a Scottish police officer specialising in criminal investigation, drug investigation, training, and crime prevention.For the last eight years of his career, he was a Chief Inspector and a key member of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit. It was during this time that Graham was able to put right what had become an occurring issue for him during his policing career. Often, when interviewing people who had witnessed abuse and violence, Graham was met with the words, “I knew something was going to happen”.Graham is a passionate advocate of the bystander approach to help develop personal and organisational leadership to help create safe and supportive learning environments, workplaces, and performance teams.Empowering individuals within these settings to act, presents a great opportunity for any organisation, school, university, or sports team to maintain focus on values and goals. As they say the team that collectively is heading in the same direction will be the successful team.Graham has delivered leadership and bystander prevention trainings in many different settings including high schools, bars and clubs, colleges, and universities, in communities, in workplaces, in prisons, with military and police and with professional and amateur sports in the UK, Sweden and in the United States.Graham’s experience is much sought after, and he has previously supported delivery of trainings both in the public and private sector helping create safe and supportive workplace environments.In addition to conducting bystander trainings, Graham has expert knowledge and experience in embedding violence prevention programmes within education and in local government. He has been able to build sustainable models for the longer term.In recent years Graham has had the opportunity to support the US organisation MVP Strategies to deliver leadership and bystander trainings to Major League Baseball teams during their spring trainings in Arizona.Graham has recently become a lead trainer with the US Active Bystander in Law Enforcement (ABLE) Programme training US police officers to help reduce misconduct, prevent mistakes, and support mental health. He also supports the US based organisation Heroes Intervene working in US correctional facilities.Graham holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice Studies and a Certificate in Training from Napier University, Edinburgh.