As I consider policing over my time in the profession, including the many opportunities I have had to work closely with U.S. colleagues, my overall observation is that policing has been in a constant process of change to reflect and adapt to the new challenges it faces. That is unsurprising—if one examines policing, the requirement to adapt to keep up with the changing nature of the threat becomes self-evident. I joined the service before the Internet was invented and cybercrime was the stuff of science fiction. Terrorists did not kill themselves, except by accident, and they lacked the ability to transmit their atrocities across the world in a nanosecond.

I think it is a great strength of policing that it constantly looks to learn from colleagues across the world, and it is a great privilege to be writing my last article (as a serving officer) for the International Association of Chiefs of Police—an organization that has followed that tradition for many, many years.