Sir Andy Cooke rose through the ranks to become Merseyside’s chief constable. After years shaping national policing, his next role will see him return home
“The important thing about serious and organised crime is you have to keep them on the back foot”, said Andy Cooke, Merseyside Police’s pioneering Matrix commanding officer and former chief constable. “We hit it right and we put the fear back in the criminals.
“The way I know that was two months in I was driving in the old police headquarters and there was a massive piece of graffiti on the wall which said ‘F*** the Matrix’. That shows you’re making a difference.”
For Sir Andy, the role of policing has always been simple. Be visible and approachable to your local community, put the fear in criminals and get them off the streets.
“These people caused death, destruction and mayhem”, Sir Andy said. “They’re not nice people and putting them away for a long time gave me great satisfaction.”
Sir Andy’s four-decade career in policing saw him rise from pacing the streets around Breck Road to chief constable of his hometown force. His enviable CV includes detective roles at every rank and the top job in the force’s robbery squad, to go with his leadership of the now nationally-acclaimed Matrix unit, which targeted gun and gang crime head-on.
After taking on the chief constable job in 2016 he joined the policing watchdog five years later, firstly as its northern inspector and soon after as His Majesty’s chief inspector of constabulary, overseeing England and Wales’ forces’ efficiency and effectiveness. And now aged 62, and leaving his post next week, Sir Andy isn’t done with policing yet.
Ahead of his final days as chief inspector, Sir Andy, who was knighted in the 2025 New Year Honours list for services to policing and public service, came to the ECHO’s city centre office for a look back at his career.
In an extensive interview, Sir Andy said:
- His only ambitions in policing were to make a difference but never to rise through the ranks to a top job.
- Merseyside Police did “exceptionally” well responding to incidents including the 2022 gun murders, Southport stabbings and LFC parade crash.
- National policing did not learn its lesson about the dangers of social media and is now trying to still catch up.
- There is not a wall between policing and the media and information should be shared with confidence.
- Policing has been set back for a long time because of failings by successive governments.
- The proposed scrapping of police and crime commissioners did not come as a surprise and he supports handing the power to regional mayors.
- The “inefficient” current policing model with 43 different police forces “costs a fortune”.
- Police vetting and internal corruption needs to improve nationally or policing risks significant issues with public confidence.
Sir Andy told the ECHO he wanted to be a police officer “since I was the height of a grasshopper…it was just something I always wanted to do, like a vocation for me”. After joining the force in 1985 he spent his formative years on the beat around the streets of Anfield, Everton and Tuebrook at the height of the heroin epidemic.
“The streets were more violent then than now”, he said. “There was so much crime on the doorstep, so many burglaries, so much car crime. But the communities themselves were great. The vast majority supported you in what you were doing. People came out and spoke to you walking down the road.
“It’s not just about the leafy suburbs. When policing gets it right it’s across all our communities. But you’ve got to get it right and be visible and approachable…that’s where that confidence builds up and that’s where we’re going to increase the confidence in our communities.”
It was during his time out on the beat that Sir Andy’s philosophy surrounding the importance of neighbourhood policing was born. “You’ve got to have the support of the public”, he said. “Sadly over the last 16 years or so, with some of the cuts in policing, some parts of the country – not here, I’m glad to say – moved away from that approach and when you do that, you lose trust and confidence.
“If they don’t feel safe in their own home and on their own streets where they live then there’s a big impact…I’m not being old-fashioned but people like to see police officers walking around the neighbourhood. It gives the vast majority a feeling of safety and has the opposite effect on criminals, as it should do. It’s the bedrock of British policing.”
Sir Andy always wanted to be a detective and in 1989 moved into Tuebrook’s CID, before moving into serious and organised crime and homicide. He told the ECHO: “There’s no greater pleasure than actually taking out those people who caused so much suffering to our communities.”
After spending 11 years as a constable Sir Andy quickly rose through the ranks and by the turn of the millennium had headed up the robbery squad and was next trusted with the control of the Matrix unit, at a time when Merseyside’s organised crime picture risked growing out of control.
Following the success of the Matrix he left Merseyside and was appointed assistant chief constable in Lancashire, before returning back to his home patch in 2012 and eventually assuming the top role in 2016. “I loved the role”, he told the ECHO. “I loved every role I’ve had in Merseyside Police. It’s a great force.”
But Sir Andy said he only ever intended to be in charge of the force for five years and when the opportunity came up to influence the direction of policing on a national level at the inspectorate he could not turn the opportunity down.
He now has the unique opportunity of judging the force he used to run as a member of the community. “It’s not perfect, it never will be”, he said. “It wasn’t perfect when I was in charge. But there are some real strengths across the board. It’s one of the most highly rated forces in the country and that’s despite some of the challenges it has.
“That’s not just financial challenges but operationally. It’s a very tough area to police. The vast majority of people are great people. But it’s got that core of criminality…Crime over the last five years continues to go down. This is a safe city, a safe region. It’s well policed and I really am confident in it.”
And asked about how he felt the force handled incidents such as the gun murders of 2022, the Southport attack and Paul Doyle’s crimes at the LFC title-winning parade, Sir Andy told the ECHO: “I think the force did exceptionally well” and praised the professionalism and bravery of the officers on the ground, adding: “I look down on them with pride.”
But one of Sir Andy’s most significant reports in his role as inspector found national forces were ill-equipped to tackle the impact of misinformation and disinformation in the wake of the attack and subsequent riots, which started in Merseyside before expanding. He told the ECHO: “Policing still has a lot to learn in terms of how to deal with those issues and was too slow to respond.”
The rise of online misinformation is now a significant issue that every authority has to deal with. But the “massive issue” is not a new phenomena, Sir Andy said, with the inspectors previously warning forces around England and Wales of the issue as far back as 2011.
“They warned about the dangers of social media and how it should be addressed in policing and they didn’t learn the lesson, which is a frustration”, he said. “[Policing] is still catching up. They are far better now at both identifying the intelligence than before because the recommendations we put out are far more coordinated in their approach now.
“Police have got to get the information out quickly. It’s got to be decent information. It can’t just be police-speak. You’ve got to actually talk to the people who are listening and tell them what’s going on otherwise someone else will fill that void. And not always the right people fill the void.”
The born and bred Scouser said to do this it is imperative for policing and trusted local and national media to get information out quickly. Referencing a new policing and media charter which promises a “reset” following a prolonged period of distrust, Sir Andy said: “We’re all trying to get the right information out to the public.
“It’s not a competition, it’s not a barrier. It’s not a wall between the media and policing. It’s just got to be that professional, respectful relationship so we can share confidence when it’s the right thing to do.”
Since his time at the inspectorate Sir Andy has not held back with criticism of successful governments’ lack of support for policing. “I think the way policing has been treated has set us back a long time”, he said. For Sir Andy, the most important work in tackling crime is early preventative work.
While the axing of thousands of police officers throughout the 2010s stretched depleted forces, it’s the lack of youth hubs and workers that he puts the fundamental issues down to. “The way to stop the proliferation of crime is that early invention. The police can’t do that on their own…everyone’s got a responsibility.
“Many governments have promised that over the years, but because it’s not a quick four-year fix, it tends to fall away. Because you can’t show the results before the next election, a lot of it tends to fall away. What we need is a government who is going to say ‘right, this is a 15-year plan – it doesn’t matter who is in power, this is what we’re going to do, this is where the resources go’.
“Otherwise we will always be chasing the game as policing. We need to focus on those people who need our help most, we need to increase opportunity in a lot of our really difficult communities and we need to reduce poverty. That is the best crime prevention.”
Sir Andy also believes policing has wrongly been made too local, with individual decisions being made by each force. He supports the Home Office’s plans to reduce the number of police forces from the current 43 down to an “optimum” number. “It is so inefficient, the current model”, he said. “And you should never have a postcode lottery for how well you are policed.
“You need consistency and you need that good leadership…leadership in some places needs to be improved. The understanding of how you manage performance needs to be improved. Every police force doesn’t need its own uniform, its own IT…it costs a fortune.”
He added: “I think the main thing is it is not something for people to fear. They need to get the local policing approach right. No matter how many forces you have, you need to have strong local policing that actually does what the community needs it to do. What they care about is getting a quick and professional response from people who care.”
Sir Andy, who made clear he does not anticipate the north west to be covered by a single, mega force, adding: “You get a lot of emotion that sits around all this, particularly from police and crime commissioners, [who say] ‘it’s really important to have our own bit of the country doing this’. It’s not. Policing is more of a national situation than ever before.”
The former chief constable added that the government’s decision to abolish the commissioners by 2028 did not come as a surprise and he supports handing the role’s responsibilities to regional mayors. “My commissioner was Jane Kennedy, she was fantastic,” he said. “She understood the role of governance as opposed to trying to run a police force and Emily (Spurrell) is doing a good job. But the model itself doesn’t work.”
Ahead of his impending departure from the inspectorate, Sir Andy’s final report warned police forces that failure to act on early warnings and recommendations can result in a significant drop in public confidence, particularly around vetting and internal corruption.
Following the rape and murder of Sarah Everard by Met Police officer Wayne Couzens, a report found there were thousands of potentially “predatory” officers in force ranks. While the focus has predominantly been on the London authority, forces around the country have taken insufficient action.
“You’ve got a small number who just besmirch the whole reputation of the police and they’re a disgrace”, Sir Andy said. “We’ve seen some dreadful things done by police officers and it just drags everyone down. We’ve warned against it for a long time.
“I’m not saying we would have prevented some of the horrible things that happened, but policing would have been in a far better position to stop them happening. Policing in some parts of the country was too slow to pick up on some of the recommendations that we made.
“And that is why I’m delighted the Home Secretary is going to give my organisation, my old organisation, more powers to actually direct police forces to do those public safety recommendations that need to be done. If they don’t, there is a consequence…the inspectorate makes a difference and it has always been independent. And it matters that we have that independence to make sure that every part of the system is doing the right things.”
But Sir Andy’s next step won’t be a departure from a career in policing. From the start of April he will return back to Merseyside to become professor of policing studies at Liverpool John Moores University. “I’ve got an opportunity to help develop the next generation of police officers,” he said.
“It is a great reason for me to put something back into the region. I don’t want to play golf or sit around watching daytime TV. I’m looking forward to it and hopefully they’ll keep me safe when I’m old.” And speaking about returning to work in Liverpool, he added: “I love it. The people who live here should be very proud of it.”
