Lookback: Safeguarding the Square Mile
7 November 2023
'The way we used to dress'
Retired sergeant turned special constable Chris Pearson looks back on his 32 years’ service, including when the Federation stepped in to help during a difficult time when he was very ill with leukaemia.
Chris Pearson joined the force back in 1981. After leaving the Army, he wanted to do something that made a difference and to help people, so he joined the City of London Police, having been born within the Square Mile at St Bart’s Hospital.
Both his father and two uncles worked in the print industry in the Fleet Street area, and he always felt a strong connection with the City of London. He became a sergeant specialising in public order, helping lead his team within its Force Support Group, and experienced a number of historical riots and protests.
His early career included being a beat officer and detective constable before promotion to sergeant in 2000. He then spent three years at the British Transport Police before returning to the City in 2003.
Public order policing in the Capital across the 80s and the 90s saw some of its most challenging moments in British history, with peaceful demonstrations sometimes culminating in violence.
He assisted during the miners’ strike between 1984 and 1985, before providing aid to the Metropolitan Police Service during the poll tax riots on 31 March 1990, in what turned out to be the biggest demonstration to occur in London in the century.
Little did he know this wouldn’t turn out to be the most challenging public order operation in his career.
