Richard Rhodes casts his mind back to the morning he walked into Cumbria’s police headquarters as the new man to oversee county crimefighting.
“On day one I said: So where’s the job spec?” he remembers. “I was told ‘There isn’t one’. I was starting like that: with the proverbial blank sheet of paper.”
Mr Rhodes, who had previously been a headmaster, a magistrate and chairman of a probation trust, was Cumbria’s first crime commissioner.
Elected for the Conservatives in November 2012, he ushered in what was then a major change in policing.
But there was to be no honeymoon period for Mr Rhodes. He started off with questions of legitimacy about the position after only 16.4 per cent of people turned out to vote.
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His first year in the post also featured controversy that drew national headlines.
Now, three-and-a-half years on, he leaves the role with praise ringing in his ears – and a number of concrete changes he played a major role in.
The political element was something that did not drive him – but was to prove useful.
“I don’t think I’m a particularly party political animal,” he added. “But I think the political side of the office is important and has been important in getting things done. I’m seen as a politician – and as a politician I feel quite comfortable in approaching all the Members of Parliament on support for something.”
He said the first thing to do was to find out the truth about the issues he thought were important.
“There was a six-month investigation on the level of victim services,” said Mr Rhodes. “A six-month survey for victims of sexual violence. Having got these that became the basis of the actions we then took.”
Early on in the post, Mr Rhodes spent nearly £700 of public cash on two trips in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes car.
As soon as he realised how much the trips were costing he put a stop to the practice and paid back the cash. But the fall-out from the emergence of this was to cast a shadow for some time.
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“Clearly it was a mistake,” he said. “But it was not malicious in intent. There are serious issues about the size of the county.
“For example, the car I now drive is mine. I bought it in June 2014. Now there are over 40,000 miles on the clock.
“There are issues about getting around the county and that is what that was about.”
Richard Rhodes Those early days and controversies behind him, Mr Rhodes has featured in the news for positive achievements.
In his last public meeting before standing down, he was showered with praise by Cumbria’s chief constable.
Jerry Graham said Mr Rhodes was leaving a “tangible legacy” and had helped the force and county achieve things it had not before.
He listed Mr Rhodes’ main achievements as including helping to get a top-notch CCTV system off the ground and his crucial role in Cumbria getting a centre for sex attack victims. The Bridgeway sexual assault referral centre opened before Christmas at Penrith, providing a service for which victims had previously had to go to Preston.
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“Right at the beginning I recognised that something had to be done for the victims of crime,” said Mr Rhodes.
“I was very moved by the stories I was told by victims of sexual assault.
“With some, their experience when reporting the offences against them was so horrific, they wished they hadn’t bothered to report it.
“The Bridgeway’s task is to continue to encourage the victims to come forward to provide the courts and the Crown Prosecution Service with evidence.”
In an era of austerity, the possibility of huge cash cuts cast a black cloud over the force. Mr Rhodes says he still has fears over cash being diverted to higher crime areas, at the expense of Cumbria.
He said: “We already know there are issues in Cumbria with crime being imported – drug trafficking up and down the M6, rural crime, theft of livestock. Criminals would see Cumbria as a soft touch and a good place to go.”
Mr Rhodes said that he has received a lot of letters in the last days of his time in office from people thanking him.
He said he kept things simple when writing his manifesto before election.
“I was determined to sit here in three-and-a-half years time to say that’s what I said I’d do and I’ve done it,” he added.
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