Breakfast is cereal or toast and I get up at 6.30. Sometimes I start work at 8.00, sometimes 1.00 in the afternoon. We work to shifts that we call earlies and lates. If I'm on earlies, the children are up and about just about the time I'm off to work. My wife works at a school but not the same school the children go to.

Living ten miles from the police station means I can cycle or drive to work. In fine weather I do enjoy cycling to work.

Joining the UK police was quite challenging. I was a career soldier on a posting to Germany and attending interviews, coming back to sit some tests, back again for other interviews and so on, isn't just hopping on a bus down the road when you're across the North Sea. You have to give a year's notice to leave the army and the twelve months was nearly up so when the offer from Humberside came I was relieved finally to get it, having set my sights on policing. Originally I'm from Birmingham and my wife, from Kent. Both of us really liked this part of the country.

I started to work with Wrawby in neighbourhood policing when I transferred to Brigg from Scunthorpe toward the end of last year, though I have covered the area before as a Response Officer. My team comprises myself and three community support officers. I share radio frequencies with Response Officers who use the fast cars with sirens blaring, and it's my call if I stop what I'm doing and quickly turn to supporting the response team, though obviously if there is something happening in my area and there are no response officers available, I could be tasked to do the initial response.

My job is to stay close to neighbourhoods to learn about what most is affecting or troubling individuals and community groups, and populations living on every street. Regularly we visit schools and stay as close as we can to students and staff. We work with a number of agencies, go to council meetings, have close contact with North Lincolnshire Homes and the council's housing department. We promote local relationships and we address every issue when we learn about it. That can mean getting a 'phone call from a concerned resident in the first place. Some people may say “It's been going on for weeks” and if I ask Did you call the police, the reply can be “But I don't want to waste your time,” or “It didn't seem really important.” I will always tell them that we want their calls as it might be something important.

What was that sound someone heard that's out of place; is it somebody putting out the rubbish or is it someone pinching lead from Wrawby church. Could the noise you heard be someone up to no good. We want to hear about the out of the ordinary, we need to know about it.

Vehicles cruising the neighbourhood at night; what are they doing; why are they parked up with occupants in them; are they strangers; what are they putting in the boot? Questions that need to be asked.

If someone says to me “I called the police ten years ago and nothing happened,” or “the police weren't very good at doing such'n'such when I called a few years back,” we live in an ever-changing society and Humberside police continues to change in response to it. Always I say Please call us, things have changed at our end, too. We don't mind a hundred calls about policing issues that worry you.

My own 'phone number is published on posters and on the Internet. If someone without my number wants to talk to me, they will be put through via the call centre if they use the non-emergency number. Calls can sometimes reach one of our call centres, and all calls are logged and passed on. Every call is confidential. It's between the caller and us, no-one else, and it's important to us. We're very serious about any report we get about anti-social behaviour, noise and nuisance and, yes, a lot of calls about these nuisances involve young people. One of the reasons we take to our bikes is that we can be seen and we're accessible. Our specially designed bikes are pretty quick off-road, as well, and you'd be surprised where we can get to.

We are accountable to the community and our primary job is upholding the law. We are out and about as much as we can and that's the way we like it.

I have strong feelings about delivering to the community, so measuring my own performance is on my mind. Completing any number of statistical charts, columns and report sheets does not tell me how I feel about my own work. Each day I ask of myself “how do you feel about today, what could you have done better, why and how.”

I have tremendous respect for men and women who face up to real physical challenge, who come out the other end conquering any number of severe circumstances along the way. Take Ranulph Fiennes, for instance; Everest, and crossing both polar ice caps after heart surgery to name only three, Fiennes' physical and emotional achievements are truly outstanding. My grandfather was a Police Officer in Ireland but no one individual has influenced me in what I do for a living or in my personal life, apart from my wife, of course.

I'm 41 now. As a career soldier, I saw service in N Ireland, the Balkans, Germany and Turkey. My time in the army helped me in some respects for a career in the police, but it is totally different. Even the Royal Military Police, whom I was attached to for three years, is a totally different proposition to civil policing.

How do I relax? I spend a lot of time in the gym, and walking the Wolds with our dog is really good, as well. For holidays, we know Cornwall well and we enjoy camping in the fresh air. I am a big football follower and enjoy playing though not to a high standard, watching my son play, and I am a very big supporter of West Bromwich Albion.