CHIEF Inspector Alan Cook is not your typical policeman.
The history graduate this year published a book about truncheons, has juggled almost his entire career with senior roles at St John Ambulance and doesn't even know what his salary is.
Yet the 47-year-old aspires to all the ideals of a public servant, and this spring was made District Commander for Chelmsford and Maldon.
"Policing was something in the back of my mind, even as a teenager," said Mr Cook, who as a chief inspector would earn just over £50,000 per annum.
"It's about that public service role which is just in-built in some people. I like that concept."
In a three-year period where Essex Police has been tasked with finding £27.4 million in savings, he faces an almighty challenge to maintain those ideals.
For starters, the married father-of-one is picking up the pieces after a "wobbly" eight-month interim period in which Chelmsford and Maldon ran without a District Commander.
As of September he will then take charge of some 200 officers, up from about 100, following a reshuffle in the operation of local response teams.
And by next year he must start making savings across his patches, and admits his 12 neighbourhood officers on the beat could be cut back.
"They're not being touched at the moment," he said.
"But yes, there is always a threat of cuts to officer numbers. You have to remember with our current situation in policing over 80 per cent of our money is spent on people.
"If you have to save say, and this is purely hypothetical, £10 million, £8 million is being spent on people.
"The 20 per cent we spent elsewhere has already been trimmed down, so yes of course there is a threat."
Epping-born Mr Cook started life with Essex Police as a 20-year-old officer on the beat in Clacton.
After rising up the ranks through stints in Harlow, Stansted Airport, Grays and South Ockendon, he started his first inspector's role in 2000.
In 2006, he was highly commended for identifying essential DNA evidence which led to a 29-year jail term for 24-year-old Scott Thompson, who raped and murdered 89-year-old Catherine Grosstephan in her Theydon Bois home.
"That is one of the moments I will look back on and never ever forget," he said.
In his last posting Mr Cook worked as a staff officer for the chief constable, serving under and preparing the daily diaries for both Jim Barker-McCardle and the incumbent Stephen Kavanagh.
Yet it appears Mr Cook could cap his entire career as Chelmsford and Maldon's District Commander after pledging to stay in the role for at least two years.
"This is very special for me and I will make it special," he said.
Mr Cook says one of his priorities will be policing the night-time economy in Chelmsford, an operation which he says cost at least £723,000 last year.
"I have the only city in the county with a city centre and night-time economy but then I have huge and vast rural areas," he said.
"My priority for the city centre is to make it a good and safe place for people to come and visit, whether they are working here, or coming for recreational purposes.
"I want Chelmsford to have a vibrant and successful night-time economy but I want the people using that to be safe in what they do.
"At the moment it's good but my ambition is to be the best."
The activity at night surrounding the city centre's clubs and bars is known to spawn a variety of crimes, including sexual offences which have doubled on last year.
"We've seen a huge rise in those offences but they are predominantly related to historic cases as a result of our more focused attention around domestic abuse," said Mr Cook.
"Cases where the offender is not known to the victim, that is actually very, very rare."
While reported house burglaries have decreased in number across the district from 170 to 147 year on year, the number of shed, vehicles and other units targeted has increased from 191 to 297.
"In most cases we know who these people are and we keep going out there and arresting them and putting them back before the courts. We don't give them an easy time," he said.
"We have offender management where we try to get these people engaged and to work with us but there is always a hard core of individuals who don't engage.
"Sometimes their lifestyle is so chaotic it's difficult to bring them out of it."
As the lead officer for the districts, spanning over four stations including Southminster and South Woodham Ferrers, Mr Cook said he will do his utmost to work away from his desk.
"Being a visible leader is very important.
"It's one of the key lessons I learnt from working with Mr Kavanagh, it's so important not to be bound to this office," he said.
"There will be some cases where I intrusively take an interest.
"If I feel someone hasn't received the service they should I will make it my job to listen to them, make sure my staff work with them and we will pay attention to them to make sure they get the further level of service they perhaps should do."
