Jim Cunningham

I joined the Army at 16 serving 13 years in the infantry across the world on a number of operations. I instructed at the Jungle Warfare School in Brunei and Sandhurst before attending my Regimental Depot as a platoon commander; leaving having gained the rank of Colour Sergeant.

In 1990 I joined Hertfordshire Constabulary before transferring to Durham Constabulary in 1994. I had secondments with the Home Office and Special Branch following 7/7 working on a National project as the Police lead for change on e-Borders, establishing links between the Home Office, security service, immigration services HMRC, HM Visas.

The majority of my career was in CID and firearms; I was on the first cohort to be trained as a Family Liaison Officer; which is a role of supporting the families following a murder or suspicious death. I later help set up dedicated Domestic and Child Abuse teams in Durham; supporting survivors of such incidents gain justice and supporting multi agency working and introducing MARAC (Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conferences)

I was also trained in close protection, sniper and hostage rescue. During my firearms career I was also a tactical advisor, this is someone who plans and coordinates firearms operation, including mobile armed surveillance.

I gained my degree in 2012 from Sunderland University and retired from the police in 2013 and immediately joined the Hillsborough Investigation Team for 2 years investigating the death of the 96 Liverpool supports in 1989. I was a school governor for 12 years at the most successful secondary school in Darlington; I then became the Deputy Director of the Carmel Multi Academy Trust with responsibility for safeguarding across our 16 primary and secondary schools. I am currently the Chair of Governors at St Leonards Catholic school in Durham.

I established the ‘Community Peer Mentor’ project in August 2015 at the request of the then PCC Ron Hogg and we went live in April 2016. I am extremely proud of our wonderful team and what has been achieved, which had been recognised by those we have supported, stakeholders, academia reflected in national and internation awards; the coordinators and volunteers are awe-inspiring people with vast amount of experiences in different fields, this provides a centre of excellence for advice and guidance when supporting the most vulnerable people at the most difficult time in their lives; this was reflected when were awarded the Queens Award for Voluntary Service on the day Queen Elizabeth II passed away, a very emotional day.

I love rugby, and still play, but nearly finished, I have had the honour of being the Chairman of our Regimental rugby team, established in 2000 to raise funds for service personnel and their families from our Regiment, most to the distress and dismay of my wife and children and now granddaughter Zara.