Retiring Fed member proudly reflects on 27-year police career

26 August 2024

As he makes his retirement from the Force, we caught up with North Yorkshire Police Federation member Dave Burgess as he looked back on his successful stint in policing.

In the 27 years of Dave’s time as a police officer, his ambition of making an impact on the frontline has never faltered.

This ever-present desire has survived the constant evolution of demands placed on police officers on the ground and even a switch in forces, which represented a major career change for Dave.

Having grown up in Welling, Kent, he started in the Metropolitan Police in 1997 and immediately fell in love with life as a constable in London. The fast-paced environment of policing in the nearby city suited his eagerness to learn as an officer, he explained.

“Straight away in the Met, you’re thrown into the madness – it’s just extremely busy all the time and my team could be dealing with in excess of 100 calls on any given shift," said Dave.

Dave Burgess.

“I was based on response out of Tower Bridge, Southwark and Walworth Road – some of the busiest areas of the city, which I really enjoyed."

The frenzy of London also saw Dave become Police Support Unit (PSU)-trained, equipping him with public order skills he could rely on for the rest of his career.

“I think it was good for my development to become a riot cop at a fairly early stage,” he continued. “I was involved in policing the May Day riots in 2000 and I think that experience of a very testing, hostile event stood me in good stead.”

Settle

After three years in the Met, Dave relocated to Settle with his wife, Michelle, for a slower pace of life and thus made the switch to North Yorkshire Police.

All of a sudden, he had swapped out the urban jungle of the capital for the sparser villages and towns of a predominantly rural county.

But Dave, now 50, maintains this new setting did not bring fewer challenges – only different ones.

“I was so used to being surrounded by other officers in the Met, and even more so in PSU activity, so to then work on your own most of the time took some getting used to. Back-up wasn’t around the corner anymore, it was much further away, and there were times when this would prove just as difficult (as the Metropolitan Police).”

Dave Burgess and wife Michelle at No.10 Downing Street's garden party.

Upon starting out on a rural response team in Ingleton, Dave says he soon realised he had to soften his approach when interacting with the public.

He described the 'reduced hustle and bustle' in North Yorkshire requiring him to be less 'heavy-handed' and instead handle situations with more patience and delicacy.

“Obviously, there are always standards you have to upkeep wherever you operate – you must always make time for the public, especially when they are at their most vulnerable – but I did have to start policing a bit differently,” he said.

Community

“I couldn’t just go in all guns blazing, try to get to the bottom of the situation straight away and then move on to the next, like in London, where you’ll probably never see the person you’re interacting with again.

“In the communities I’ve worked in for North Yorkshire, I’ve been that constant visible presence for the Police. So, sometimes you have to stop and assess a situation first – and consider your standing in a community, as well as enforcing the law correctly, of course. And that’s not always easy.”

Dave credits the relationships he has established with residents of Ingleton, and more recently Settle and Giggleswick, as being among his career’s proudest achievements.

The reputation he has built as a figure of trust and authority in these areas was repeatedly put to good effect, including in the first-on-scene care of victims of road traffic collisions on the A65 and in the guidance of young people away from paths of potential criminality.

Dave Burgess and wife Michelle at the front of No.10 Downing Street.

“I’d like to think my actions have directly changed and impacted people’s lives for the better – I have been in the Force for so long to do exactly that,” he added.

An appetite for serving the public at the most immediate level meant that even when Dave would again choose to develop his professional skills in successfully undertaking his sergeant exams in 2010, he opted to remain as a full-time PC, explaining he “didn’t want to be taken away from up-close response policing”.

His added rank knowledge did mean, however, that he began to step up as an acting sergeant when required.

It was in this duty he was required to show outstanding leadership when the very incident which led him to call it a day in the Force took place in August 2022.

Alongside PCs Joanne Ollerenshaw and Sam Walsh, Dave was called out to a domestic incident involving a man causing criminal damage to a flat in Crosshills while also being in possession of a knife and under the influence of illegal substances. As the man became increasingly threatening towards the officers in response to their challenges, telling them they should ‘prepare to die’, Dave drew TASER on him.

Substances

“He was actually able to pull the TASER discharge from out of his skin, possibly due to the strength of the substances he was on at the time,” Dave explained.

“So, this obviously did not placate him, and before I knew it, he had launched his 6ft 5, bodybuilder-like frame at me. He then began throwing a number of punches at my head and shoulders, and it took a joint effort to remove him from being on top of me.”

Angered by the efforts of the other officers to restrain him, the man then grabbed Joanne by the throat and began to apply pressure to her windpipe before Dave courageously tackled the man and forced himself to engage in another grapple on the floor. This thwarted the man long enough for him to eventually be detained by further police presence and given medical attention.

“It may sound like a quick chain of events, but his violence was carried out over a sustained period of time, and he was so aggressive that there were points we really weren’t sure if we would come out of it alive.”

The 50-year-old’s exchanges with the man did unfortunately come at a cost, causing damage to his left shoulder felt through chronic pain and stiffness.

Despite twice undergoing procedures to repair the condition of the joint by expanding his shoulder capsule, the injury resulted in an extended lay-off from work, which has now culminated in his retirement.

He continued: “This feels like the right time – my shoulder was not improving, and the decision was made for me to take a natural retirement.

“I can’t change what has happened, so I do not feel sad about it. I am just very grateful to North Yorkshire Police – they have been so supportive of me throughout the whole process."

And while his heroics may have spelt the end of his policing career, they also inspired a fantastic way to finish it.

Retirement

The trio of Dave, Joanne and Sam clinched North Yorkshire’s 2023 Police Bravery Award for their actions, going on to proudly represent the county at the recent National Bravery Awards in July.

“To win our regional Bravery Award was an absolute honour,” said Dave, who can add the title to the two Chief Constable’s Commendations he previously earned from the Force.

“Michelle and I then attended the National Awards last month and it was just a lovely experience, from start to finish. It was a nice reminder to me, right at the end, of how much sacrifice we make as police and how we deserve to be recognised for this.

“I can’t think of many better ways to sign off from your career, to be honest.”

On this note, the outgoing constable took the opportunity to pay tribute to the police colleagues he will leave behind.

“I will miss my fellow officers and the friends I’ve made in different teams, stations and forces. I must give a specific mention to my colleagues on response in Craven and Skipton, who are exceptional cops doing a particularly remarkable job right now due to the lack of police numbers in those areas.”

Dave, whose final official day as a police officer was Tuesday, 20 August, says he now looks forward to retirement plans, which include travelling with Michelle, both in their motorhome and on their motorbikes, and golf.

He rounded off by reflecting on his emotions as his time in the Police Force drew to a close.

“I’m just extremely proud to be a police officer. It’s never been easy, but always rewarding, and when people say you’re never really off duty, they’re absolutely right.

“Policing is a lifestyle and I’m very happy to have served the communities I have – being people’s local cop, and that person they can trust and rely on to keep them safe.

“It’s been an absolute privilege,” he ended.