The cooperative company laid off Mark Roberts in 1993. The decision paid huge dividends to the British police.
He was 25 years old. His father, Stan, was an engineer, and his mother, Pat, was a dinner lady at St Mary’s RC Modern High School in Stratford, including while Morrissey was a student. There was no history of coppersmiths in the family, but Manchester Police fit like a glove as a career move.
It began at Swinton Police Station, a year after Salford saw civil unrest with gunfire against police and firefighters, burning council and vehicle buildings, and tensions between Double and a hostile minority. But when it joins the thin blue line, it thrives.
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Now, as chief police officer, he has been in charge of the Cheshire police for a year, during which time the 22,000 unemployed with crimes he inherited have been halved. He is also the national head of the football police, hence the Ajax flag, the Real Sociedad scarf and a framed comment posted online by Russian hooligans about him in his office.
He has already made a visit to Qatar to advise police and security chiefs ahead of the World Cup in November, and will make visits during the tournament. Within the country, he is liaising with the government for tougher legislation, as drug use fuels the rise of football violence.
Mark Roberts, Chief Cheshire Police Officer (Image: Manchester Evening News)
“We did the semi-annual review at Christmas and the riots during the games increased by 36 percent, including quite serious violence,” he said. “It simply came to our notice then. What people think the problem is solved takes a little attention. I have a subscription card for Etihad to go with my daughter, I’ve always played football, I’m not against football.
“But there are rocket launches, pyrotechnics, more younger people are involved in violence and we are seeing a real increase after the blockade. I think we have seen more violence, antisocial behavior in society as a whole.
“Football tends to increase what is happening in society. We did operations all over the country. For example, Grimsby fans travel to Notts County and have great followers, as you can see in non-league football. You have children who are 12 years old going to matches outside, fucking with older people. Some of the videos we see are really young children
“Alcohol is still a big problem, but we’ve done a number of drug-stop operations, we’ve worked with the British Transport Police, and when we do, people throw drugs out from left to right and center. Cocaine use is quite widespread in society now and it is in Alcohol and cocaine tend to emphasize negative behavior.
“We have a lot of talks with the Ministry of Interior about the inclusion of drug use in the legislation banning football. I very much hope that the government will support this. This would mean that anyone caught with Class A drugs in a match would receive a restraining order.
“If they catch you with cocaine, it’s probably a fine – if they catch you with him at a football game and you get a restraining order, it will probably be a bigger deterrent. It’s all about making it safe for most fans. “
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“I need to have a connection with the Russians – and with Qatar.”
At the age of 54, Chief Con Roberts took office on April 24 last year. But this was preceded by an already stellar career. He was in the GMP for 21 years, rising to the rank of commander of the Trafford Division, but also led a union of the GMP’s main investigative team and was head of investigations at the Northwest Counter-Terrorism Unit, winning three accolades.
In 2014, he joined the Cheshire Police as Assistant Chief of Police and his three-year term coincided with the 25-year lowest crime rate, as he led the restructuring of the district police, being rated “excellent” for commitment and problem solving.
In 2017, he moved to South Yorkshire Police as Deputy Chief of Police, where Stephen Watson, now GMP Chief of Staff, was then in charge. Between them, they moved this force from a “dark place” of scandal and failure to the most sophisticated force for three consecutive years.
Cheshire’s chief police officer, Mark Roberts, the national football police chief, spoke with Qatar’s police commanders ahead of the November World Cup.
But his life began on a municipal property in Stratford. “My father was a good engineer, working at Trafford Park all his life as a toolmaker. Mom was a lady at a dinner at St Mary’s, her claim to fame was that she was the lady at Morrissey’s dinner.
“I grew up in Statford, went to Urmston Grammar and went to the University of Kiel, where Priti Patel went. I’ve never met her, I think I was just before her. I did international relations, which was interesting, politics and history. I never thought it would be so useful in the police, but in fact it turned out to be quite useful. I worked for a while in the fight against terrorism and ended up dealing with many different countries – and then the football police. “
He is impressively diplomatic when asked if England should play in Qatar, given the human rights problems, the scorching heat and the far-fetched football background.
“This is a matter for FIFA … they decided to give it to Russia (2016) and Qatar. I went to the special committee on foreign affairs and people always want to express an opinion, but my counter was it does not happen in a bubble.
“I have to go and have contact with the Russians. You may have an opinion on this regime, but it is not for me to express in a boardroom in Westminster what I think of Russian society and then to swing there and say hello, can we work together.
“In a similar way with Qatar, the decision was made. I’ve already gone out once and I’ll probably go again before the tournament starts. We need to have an effective working relationship with them.”
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It has risen to the top, but its roots hold it to the ground. “You’re on an elected foreign affairs committee or a Cobra meeting and you think I’ve been wandering around Salford with a big hat, how did I get here?” He came to the police relatively late.
“I was married, 25 years old, I had a mortgage to pay and I was laid off, it’s not a great thing, but I had seen little life. Joining 25 was better for me than joining 18. I started at Swinton via Salford, which was a really great introduction.
“You end up rolling on the ground with people who don’t mind fighting, but at the time I was playing rugby, it was a lot of apprenticeship. But overall, the people in Salford are pretty simple, so it was good, and I had an inspector who really supported me and worked hard, locking up more people than anyone else. “
During his early days, he was sent to the Moss Side for a “test purchase” – police say he went undercover to buy drugs. He ended up in Operation Balboa, which targeted Doddington’s gang by buying heroin and cocaine.
“I don’t think I’d be suitable for proper infiltration, deep down, maybe because I’ve always been told I look too much like a cop. But yes, I didn’t shave, I looked a little shaved, and I went to Bodington.
A colleague, Tony Brett (Detective Supt), said that “you certainly smell authentic.” During the operation, he had to deal with a difficult moment when a target asked him if he was a cop. “I said no, I think they had a misconception that if they ask you if you’re a cop, you have to tell the truth. I just laid it out.”
His time as commander of the Trafford Division from 2009-14 was the highlight of his career. “It was interesting as a boy from Statford going to school in Urmston, it was probably the most proud thing I’ve ever been to come back and be in charge of my own mansion. My mother was alive and still living there at the time, “he said.
Cheshire chief police officer Mark Roberts in Moscow during the 2018 FIFA World Cup
Defeating men in black
Asked what qualities are needed to be a good coppersmith at every level, he said: “Common sense, you need to be able to talk to people and work hard. I’m telling the recruits now. I think the police are meritocracy – if you work hard, do the work, you can go on.
“During my parade in Bruce, (Warrington), which was the old district training center, Sir Jim Sharples, who was the head of Merseyside, did it. with me. He said, “Police are a great career, you can do whatever you want, one day you can be a chief of police,” and I thought, “Yes, good boss,” because my ambition was to be a detective sergeant.
Chief Con Roberts has been the national leader in the football police since 2014. This came after his time as commander of the Trafford division, where he works with Manchester United.
“When I first went to Trafford, United were really successful then. I grew up as a son in Stratford when City was terrible, so it wasn’t much fun. I was a son off the field, but he just wanted Old Trafford’s operation to be successful, and to be honest, United were really good at the job.
Cheshire Chief of Staff Mark Roberts in the operating room at the Force Headquarters (Image: Manchester Evening News)
“Ken Ramsden was a secretary at the time and an absolute gentleman. I took ownership of it. My thought was that he was in my division, I didn’t want to go in on Monday morning and football went wrong, and I was going to lift the blow.
“I did it with my team. We were really proud of that. At that time we had a large risk group and we followed them (the Men in Black) with ban orders. We had over a hundred orders to ban them. We treated him like a criminal group …
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