Solihull Special Constable chalks up milestone on the beat

Dec 5 2009 by Mark Cowan, Birmingham Mail

BOY in Blue Mike Leonard has chalked up a milestone that will take some beating – more than 10,000 hours pounding the streets of the West Midlands.

By day he is a company director for building materials firm – but in his spare time, Mr Leonard volunteers as a special constable.

And the distinguished special officer has clocked up an amazing three decades on the beat.

It is a career that has seen him face do everything from standing in the front lines during riots in Birmingham city centre in the early 1980s to fundraising with pensioners in Solihull.

Now Solihull’s senior district officer, the father-of-two oversees the duties of more than 60 Special Constables working across the borough.

Like them, the 49-year-old began life as a constable in Solihull before moving to Steelhouse Lane in Central Birmingham.

While the average first day for most starting a new job might entail locating the loos or memorising who takes milk and sugar, Mr Leonard’s was a little more eventful.

“I remember it well because it was supposed to be a peaceful carnival,” he said.

“I hadn’t envisaged making an arrest under the Mental Health Act within the first hour, and later being called to a large-scale affray.”

Fast forward 29 years, and he has just collected a Special Constabulary Long Service Medal.

“Being a Special provides an insight into life that, otherwise, you wouldn’t encounter,” he said.

“I was on the front line in Birmingham City Centre during the 1981 riots when I had everything thrown at me, literally.”

In 1992 he received a Chief Constable Commendation for bravery after being injured while tackling and arresting two robbers.

Even after three decades in the job, Mr Leonard said he was not thinking of stopping.

“I’m still enjoying the role and I am relatively young,” he said.

and still feel I’ve something to offer the force,” he said.

“And as I’ve found, there will certainly be times when you’ll be in the thick of the action on the Thin Blue Line.”