"I wanted to stand up for people who couldn't stand up for themselves"

An officer has spoken about how joining the police has allowed him to help people and support those who need it most.

PC Matt Colgrave has been a response officer for nearly two years, and day-to-day is out and about responding to calls and helping people across the High Peak.

Matt had an interest in the police, having the uniform as a kid – but it wasn’t until later on, and after a career as an accountant, that he took the leap to do something he’d always wanted to.

As part of the national Response Policing Week of Action, celebrating our first responders, we’re sharing interviews with a number of our response officers, giving you an insight into how they came into their careers and also sharing their experiences on the job.

Speaking about his first thoughts of becoming a cop, Matt said: “My Grandma was my biggest cheerleader, always telling me I should be a police officer.

“I was also bullied slightly at school. No-one stood up for me whilst I was being bullied so I thought it would be nice to stand up for other people who couldn’t stand up for themselves. I liked the idea of that.

“But, when I was 18 I went to University and studied history – I thought I wanted to be the next Indiana Jones, but unfortunately there’s not many ‘lost temples’ anymore so that career was pushed to the side.

“I decided to pursue the money after Uni and become an accountant – did that for five years. However, it just wasn’t for me really, just crunching the numbers, not having much interaction with the outside world.”

Matt knew that a role in policing was the way forward, and joined Derbyshire Constabulary in 2022 to begin his training. Since then, he hasn’t looked back and has learned a lot about himself, the role and the people of Derbyshire.

“I discovered I was a people person – I enjoy engaging with the public, I enjoy speaking to people.

“My experience on response was a bit of a shock to the system. I’d never done anything like this before I was a cop. 

“It’s the challenge of not knowing what you’re going to turn up to – you’re obviously the frontline people dealing with the jobs, you’re first to the scene, you’re the first to the incident.

“It sticks with you.  There was an RTC where four children were involved in a collision and one of them passed away. I attended and carried out CPR in an attempt to save his life.

“It’s been an experience I won’t forget because I can rely on that experience to help maybe even save a life that – I couldn’t save him – but maybe I can save someone else.

“In this job you meet people at rock bottom, we meet all sorts of people. You could be that first path, or the first bit of the path, to getting them on the right road.

“You wouldn’t get that in many other jobs.”

#ResponsePolicingWeek

To find out more about a career with Derbyshire Constabulary, visit: Home :: Derbyshire Constabulary Jobs

You can hear Matt speak about his experiences in the video below: