Paul enjoyed a 30-year career in the police service, having served in four UK police forces and latterly performing the role of Deputy Chief Constable.

His earlier career centred on serious crime investigation, having led over 70 enquiries into cases of murder, kidnap, abduction, and extortion. Amongst those were a number of high-profile criminal investigations through which he became skilled in media management.

In 2010 Paul was seconded to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary where he led a value for money inspection of criminal justice reforms in the Metropolitan Police, leading a team of senior police officers, barristers and civil servants.

Having successfully completed the College of Policing’s Strategic Command Course in 2013, Paul then became a chief police officer for North Yorkshire Police, responsible for all aspects of operational policing in the county.

He was subsequently appointed the National Police Chief Council’s (NPCC) lead for Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) in which he led the project with the UK Home Office to deliver a new £30million National ANPR Service, the world’s largest ANPR database, based on cutting edge cloud technology and software applications.

Paul returned to the College of Policing in 2016 as a Director on the Strategic Command Course, enjoying the opportunity to support the professional development of other chief officers. 

As Deputy Chief Constable for North Yorkshire Police and in the final chapter of his service, Paul led on information technology which included a multi-million pound investment into mobile police technologies and substantial engagement with the Police ICT Company.

Paul retired from policing in March 2017. Paul now works as an independent strategic advisor to technology companies and leads on a programme to ‘Accelerate Growth in Policing’.