Detective Superintendent takes orders from his constable son on beat shift before retirement

Detective Superintendent Sean Phillips, who will retire on Friday, joined his son Pc Carl Phillips for a shift on patrol.

It meant the Detective Superintendent, who currently leads child protection teams in the West Midlands Police Public Protection unit, was under his son's command for once.

Sean said: “With just days left until I retire, I wanted to spend a day with Carl.

"The team’s sergeant was away that day so Carl was second in command and calling the shots. He was a bit too good at it. I think he liked bossing me about.

“We spent the day targeting suspected drug dealers, stopping their cars and using the dogs to search for drugs.

"We patrolled together, chatted over lots of things and it was just really great to see him at work with his team who were really friendly.

“He’s grown into a better man than me and I was so proud to see him at work. There was a bit of reminiscing, as his patrol area includes my first policing area.

“We talked about jobs we had both been to. It was brill!”

The father and son, who both live in Shropshire, joined the Dudley Neighbourhood Taskforce, who move from area to area acting on the latest intelligence to catch wanted people, raid drug factories, stop knife crime and more.

Carl, who is 31 and has two sons of his own, added: “Dad did really well. We conducted a county lines operation across the borough, which included resources from the WMP Dog unit and Traffic officers.

"With dad working in child protection, he brought a different element to our work of stopping these drug dealers to exploit kids and get them to deal drugs all over the country for them.”

He was inspired to join the force as both of his parents, including his mum Diane, both served with West Midlands Police.

Carl said: “My strong connection with the WMP family was firmly rooted with both my parents serving in the force for the better part of 55 years between them.

“Joining was about wanting to be a part of the same thing they both loved and were so passionate about, effectively to be closer to them.

“As parents they’ve both taught me many things. But two of the most important lessons have been about hard work and how to hold yourself.

“Dad has got to where he is today by his own sweat, and has been an honestly nice guy while doing it. I can’t tell you the amount of times in this job I’ve had people come up to me and say ‘I know your dad’, or ‘I worked for your dad’.

"A small interesting story usually follows, and then they almost always finish it off with ‘he’s a really nice guy’ or ‘one of the most approachable gaffas I’ve ever worked for’. That’s lovely to hear.

“He’s positively impacted on so many people’s lives, whether colleagues or victims he’s helped along the way, a lot of people are going to miss him.”

His dad retires on March 25, exactly 30 years since he joined West Midlands Police, having worked on some of the most challenging cases in the force's history.

“I am quite proud of everything I’ve done over the past 30 years,” Sean said.

“I’ve had some amazing opportunities. I’ve been especially honoured to lead the child abuse investigation teams for the past three years.

"They are a fantastic team who are so passionate about what they do, despite the nature of the work they just keep going and fighting to bring justice for our most vulnerable community. They are all heroes to me.

“If I could travel back in time and meet myself on my first day, I’d say to myself ‘relax, be yourself, and enjoy every experience that you have – it really does go fast. I’d tell myself that you will have a great career and a family that will support you throughout. You’re a lucky man!’”