New police area commander for Stafford

Chief Inspector Giles Parsons grew up in Stafford, attending St Anne's Primary in Baswich and Blessed William Howard High School.

After school, Giles joined Staffordshire Police as a cadet in 1994 – and said when he lodged at the former force headquarters, off Cannock Road, he could see his own bedroom window.

He said: "It was a residential course, but I could have left class and gone home for a cup of tea in five minutes.”

Giles was first posted to response duties in Codsall in 1996 and then moved onto duties at Watling House and Hilton police post on the M6.

In 2001, Giles returned to his hometown to work as a sergeant at Eastgate Street. During this time, he remembers being on duty when the attacks took place on the World Trade Center and he made the decision to raise security levels lcoally.

He had further stints in Cannock and Stafford response, before working as an inspector in Rugeley. He had a previous stint as South Staffordshire area commander, before working as a detective inspector in Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) from 2013.

Giles is keen to use his diverse experience and particularly response and intelligence gathering skills in Stafford.

He added: “I grew up in Stafford and live in the borough still, so I’m passionate about the area.

"It is a great place to live and work and I want to ensure it continues to be a safe and pleasant environment.

“I am keen to gather intelligence from our communities so we can tackle those who want to bring drugs into the borough. There’s some great work being done here and some tremendous recent court results, and I want to build on that.

“With a background in investigations I want to help develop the team’s skills and drive quality investigations that deliver convictions and cut crime.

“I want to meet people as much as possible and understand what their concerns are and decide how we can best address these issues working with our partner organisations.”