HE HAS dedicated his life to fighting crime and protecting victims.
Now, after 45 years, Mervyn Bishop, the divisional manager for Victim Support Humber, is calling it a day.
He will retire next week after a 33-year career in Humberside Police and then 12 years at the charity.
"I have always been a very strong voice for victims," said Mr Bishop, 66.
"My job has become very managerial as opposed to delivering the support but I have never lost sight of the fact we are here to deliver a service to the poor, unfortunate victims out there.
"They are the ones that have been wronged and they are the ones that need our help."
He joined Humberside Police in Hull in the 1970s, aged 21, where he climbed the ranks to inspector, before leaving in 2000.
Mr Bishop then went on to be instrumental in developing Neighbourhood Watch across the city before taking on the role at Victim Support.
Throughout his career, he was driven by a need to help innocent people devastated by crime – particularly after he found his own family at the centre of a shocking crime.
His sister-in-law was murdered in Brough in the 1970s when he was serving as a new police officer.
"We got no support," Mr Bishop said. "I reflected on it over the years and it gave me a different perspective on what it is like to be a victim."
Although his job at Victim Support was managerial, his work with Rock Challenge, formed by charity Be Your Best, for which he sits on the board of directors, was hands-on – and something he will continue throughout his retirement.
Now running for 17 years, the event has encouraged 25,000 children to get on stage and perform with confidence, rather than living a life of crime.
Mr Bishop said: "It gives these kids an opportunity to get on stage, as a team, without alcohol, drugs or cigarettes, to demonstrate they can get as high as a kite without any form of artificial stimulation. I cannot give that up.
"It is for young people and to see the successes that has come from it really chokes me up."
And while he knows he is going to miss his "brilliant" team, he also knows future victims of crime will be in safe hands once he has gone.
He said: "If I have helped people come to terms with what has happened to them, help them move on and bring them closure, then to me, it has all been worthwhile.
"The future of Victim Support is a positive one because we have committed staff who have been with us many years.
"They are the ones that will help develop it and take it forward."
Mr Bishop's quick rise through ranks of Humberside PoliceMERVYN Bishop joined the police in the 1970s after quitting his job as a charge hand at Brough Aerodrome.
He started off on the beat before moving to traffic policing and then plain clothes.
He was made a detective and then quickly promoted to sergeant.
Among his favourite memories was during the 1980s, when Humberside Police became the first force in the country to form Margaret Thatcher's Regional Crime Squad drugs wings.
This saw Mr Bishop and his colleagues take down a Columbian cartel and the drug lords jailed following an elaborate sting at Heathrow Airport.
He went on to cover Bransholme before he was promoted to inspector, covering east Hull and the coast.
He then went into crime prevention, which is where he convinced the deputy chief to give Rock Challenge a go.
Mr Bishop left the police in 2000 and joined the board of directors for the Be Your Best Foundation, the charity that produces Rock Foundation.
He then got a new job developing the Neighbourhood Watch in Hull before joining Victim Support as the chief executive and then, after a shake-up, the divisional manager.
