Matt Verdoorn

I joined Surrey Constabulary, aged 21, in January 1987. I was posted to Godalming as a patrol officer and a year after arriving there, trained and joined a Police Support Unit (Riot police).

I worked at Godalming for thirteen years, and during this time I became a Personal Safety Trainer, instructing colleagues, recruits, volunteers and civilians how to defend themselves and use PPE. I also became a First Aid Instructor and Police Support Unit Medic. After three years at Farnham co-ordinating the divisional response to public order issues, I spent twelve months on secondment to Iraq, where I jointly ran the Officer Safety Training/Firearms arm of an academy re-training Iraqi Police Officers. In 2006 I transferred to the Metropolitan Police, SO18 Aviation Security, which is the armed unit, that protects Heathrow. Alongside the firearms role I continued and advanced my Medic Training.

I spent seven years in this position before moving to a less demanding role on the Neighbourhood Team at the airport. I spent the remaining years of my service liaising with airport stakeholders and delivering safety and other presentations to airport workers. I retired after thirty years service in January 2017.