Description
TLC Zoom
Wednesday 7th October 18:00 BST
This City is Yours – Not Theirs
Chief Constable Rob Carden KPM
One of the hit BBC 1 crime drama series of 2025 was ‘This City is Ours’ The 8 part series centred around Liverpudlian crime boss Ronnie Phelan, (played by Sean Bean) whose desire to retire from criminal life, after one last major drug deal, triggers an intense power struggle between his long-time right-hand man, Michael Kavanagh,(played by James Nelson-Joyce and Phelan’s impetuous son Jamie (Jack McMullen). Most critics awarded it 4-5 stars and it was also nominated for several awards.
By the time this TLC event takes place, Season 2 will have been on our screens no doubt to similar acclaim. And what a picture it paints of the Liverpool City Region.
However – remember this is good tv drama BUT what is the reality? Who better to tell us than Merseyside Chief Constable Rob Carden.
I promise you – this should be an unmissable event.
Chief Constable Rob Carden KPM
Rob Carden began his career in policing in 1992 when he joined Merseyside Police after graduating with an Economics degree and joining the Graduate Management Scheme at GEC Plessey Telecommunications, where he worked for two years in procurement at the company’s Edge Lane site in Liverpool.
He was unable to resist the pull of Merseyside Police and joined the force in 1992, following in his father’s footsteps.
Rob now has more than 33 years policing experience and has an extensive range of command experience including firearms, public order, Counter Terrorism, football and conference policing.
Whilst the majority of Rob’s career has been spent in Merseyside, he has also worked for Sussex Police where he counts the 2002 Fatboy Slim concert, attended by over 250,000 people on Brighton beach, as his most memorable policing experience with the force.
After returning to Merseyside in 2006, he continued to build his reputation as a highly experienced and respected operational leader.
He was the programme lead for a Tri-Force Collaboration involving Merseyside, North Wales and Cheshire aimed at delivering a shared Niche platform as an enabler for operational collaboration. As a result of this work, he was awarded £2.24m of police innovation funding and recognised by the Home Office for delivering one of the first technically enabled operational collaborations in the country.
Rob was Gold Commander for the successful repatriation of British nationals from Wuhan Province, China, to Arrowe Park Hospital, Merseyside. As the first major operation linked to Covid in the country, the operation helped to shape the national policing response to Covid. He went on to manage Merseyside’s response to all phases of the Covid pandemic, implementing business continuity measures to sustain core operational functionality. He subsequently received a national commendation for outstanding leadership and his overall contribution to the policing response to Covid.
With a wide range of command experience Rob has held command roles in many high threat policing operations across Merseyside including, Gold Command for the G7 Foreign Ministers’ meeting, the largest security operation hosted in Merseyside and Gold Command for the Grand National (Aintree Festival), one of the most iconic sporting events in the world, on four occasions. Rob has also been a Counter Terrorism Commander and was the strategic firearms commander for the high-level policing operation that followed the terrorist incident at the Women’s Hospital in Liverpool.
Rob joined Cumbria Constabulary in 2022 on promotion to Deputy Chief Constable where he has led the most significant force restructure since the 1970s. He later became the Chief Constable of Cumbria Constabulary in August 2023. Following the excellent 2023-25 HMICFRS Inspection, Cumbria is now regarded as one of the top performing forces in the country.
He is currently the Chair of the Digital, Data and Technology Coordination Committee having previously led the NPCC Response Policing portfolio and NPCC Dangerous Dogs portfolio.
Rob has two master’s degrees, the second of which was from Cambridge University, where he won the Victor Lissack Award from the Institute of Criminology and was selected to support the University’s work with the SVP National Police Academy in Hyderabad, India.
He was awarded the King’s Police Medal (KPM) in the King’s New Year Honours in 2026.
Rob is married with three sons and lives in Liverpool.
