Some call it one of the trickiest jobs in the country. How do you stop the small boats trying to cross the English Channel and smash the smuggling gangs?

The government has appointed Martin Hewitt to the role- he’s leading the UK’s new border security command. It’s a tough job, so can he do it?

Martin Hewitt is a former senior police officer and chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council. He is also the man who oversaw the policing of Covid lockdowns.

Mark Coles has been speaking to some of his colleagues, former colleagues and the journalists who reported on him.

Contributors
Tim Smith - Chief Constable, Kent Police
Danny Shaw - Former BBC Correspondent
Festus Akinbusoye - Former Police and Crime Commissioner for Bedfordshire
Ruth Turner - Senior Director at the Forward Institute
Dal Babu – Former Chief Superintendent in the Metropolitan Police
Vikram Dodd - Guardian Police and Crime Correspondent

Production team
Producers: Farhana Haider, Ben Morris, Ben Cooper, Michaela Graichen
Editor: Richard Vadon
Sound: Gareth Jones
Production Co-ordinators: Sabine Schereck and Maria Ogundele