Impossible is a Dare by Cooley Ben;

Author:Cooley, Ben;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 4843602
Publisher: SPCK
Published: 2017-04-05T16:00:00+00:00

Another side to the story

Jeremy Alford, former Hope for Justice Director of Operations

Out of the blue a retired pastor friend of mine rang me up. We’d not seen each other or spoken for several months. He said he’d been to an ‘event’ and heard a young guy called Ben Cooley speak with great conviction about an organization called Hope for Justice. Because of the type of work I did, he thought I’d find it interesting to get in touch to find out more. Looking back on it, this phone call was about to change the next chapter of my life significantly, but neither of us realized it at the time.

I’d retired from the police service a year earlier. The past five years of my service were spent as a Chief Superintendent, a role I had found hugely fulfilling as a Borough Commander in the west of Hertfordshire. I’d spent the previous five years as the senior detective in the Hertfordshire Constabulary. I was working for the Mayor of London as part of a team developing a strategy for dealing with violence against women and girls. I was content. I wasn’t looking for a job. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t about to be led into one.

Out of no more than a mild curiosity and, if I am honest, a sense of duty towards Tony, my old pastor mate, I picked up the phone one day and rang Hope for Justice. The phone was answered by Rob White, the Chair of Trustees. Rob was not someone who would usually be in the office to answer the phone! The fact that he was there at that time was uncanny. I explained who I was and apologized for potentially wasting his time. What he told me next hit me like a hammer. It was clear I needed to know more. It just so happened that Hope for Justice were looking for someone with relatively senior policing experience to review the work of their investigative team.

Little did I know that first day when I boarded the train bound for Manchester what I was letting myself in for! I met Ben Cooley. I was confronted with a young man who was extraordinarily passionate about his vision to bring an end to human slavery. He was so honest. He had made mistakes along the way (haven’t we all?), and he wanted some help and advice.

To cut a long story short, I left Manchester convinced that I could take a look at the way Hope for Justice did things and could help in some small way. I carried out the review and recommended some new ways of operating. I presented it to the board of trustees and got offered a job! I hadn’t gone for one, but I am so thankful that I was handed the opportunity to make a difference in my own small way.

Ben is right. We were (are) very different people. I honestly don’t recognize the Jeremy Ben so graciously describes in this chapter. I am humbled by his description of my character and that he has learnt from me.

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