Sheppey’s out-going top cop says he will miss the uniqueness of working here but feels he’s made a difference during his time in charge.

Island Inspector Noel Stanley handed over the reins of policing to Tony Cannon at the end of last month as he’s off to a job in the serious crime directorate at force headquarters in Maidstone.

The 35-year-old, who has been in the police for 17 years, took up the position here in February 2012.

Although he was still happy here and loved working on the Island, he says the job that came up was too good an opportunity to ignore.

He said his Sheppey role was the best job he’s had.

“I owned it all and it was really clear what I was responsible for and you don’t often get that,” he added.

“The police station was mine, the people in it and all the crime and I could run it how I wanted to.

“The only requirement from my boss was to reduce crime.”

And that’s something he says he did achieve, from the financial year 2012-13 compared to 2011-12 there were about 300 fewer crimes.

During his time here, one of his highlights has been the successful work around drugs, not least because they are often linked to other crimes.

One of the reasons it was so impressive is because they were catching dealers by listening to what people were saying and acting on it.

Part of this was Operation Celt where they targeted 18 drug suppliers which he says was hugely disrupting for them.

“We were getting results you would normally expect from a dedicated drug squad just with the neighbourhood team,” he said.

Another success was the work his team did profiling Sheppey’s top 10 offenders.

They were picked because of their previous offending and became aware they were being targeted.

“They haven’t been able to rest,” he said.

However, although the figures show he has made a difference, he feels there’s work to be done to convince the public of this as there’s still a perception nothing has changed.

Aside from the Sheppey public, which he describes as ‘brilliant’, the dad-of-three will miss the weather and the beaches.

“I will miss it – it’s a unique place to work,” he said.

“But Insp Cannon is walking into a team which understands their job and really know what they are doing – they know the Island and the people.”