After serving in the British Army, Richard began his policing career within the West Midlands Police, where he served for eight years in a variety of uniform and detective roles. In 2002, Richard was appointed as Head of Intelligence for the National Criminal Intelligence Service, responsible for conducting covert operations aimed at tackling serious and organised crime in support of UK police forces.

In 2004 Richard transferred to the Metropolitan Police as Superintendent in the London Borough of Lewisham, initially as Head of Uniform Operations before becoming, as Detective Superintendent, responsible for all criminal investigations within the borough.

In 2008, Richard became the OCU Commander for ‘Clubs and Vice’, a Command responsible for targeting criminal networks across London involved in human trafficking, prostitution, gun and drug related crime, casino fraud, obscene publications and the online sharing of indecent images of children. This unit was later expanded to target International Criminality, Cyber Crime, Extradition and investigating the most sensitive investigations on behalf of the organisation.

In 2012, Richard became Commander for Intelligence and Covert Policing. This involved responsibility for areas including surveillance, undercover policing, witness protection, the use of police informants and hostage negotiation. At national level, Richard was the UK lead for undercover policing and the handling of informants developing national guidance, strategy and accreditation as well as working government to refine and enhance legislation in these areas. It was also during this period that Richard led the UK response into the MH 17 plane crash within the Ukraine, assisting the international effort to recover, identify and repatriate the victims of the disaster.

In 2016 Richard took on the role of Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Professionalism, leading the Department for Professional Standards, training and murder review.

Richard additionally took the UK national lead for the International Criminality Portfolio leading critical areas for Law Enforcement, which include European Legislative Tools, Borders, Prüm and the response to tackling Foreign National Offenders. As the policing lead for Prüm, Richard led the initiative to link with European law enforcement agencies enabling the UK to maximise its influence and operational capability in this area. As national law enforcement lead for Brexit, Richard worked across government and with strategic partners preparing all forces for post Brexit operational delivery and significantly enhancing all international policing capability within the UK. Richard also created the International Crime Coordination Centre, a multi-agency capability which, for the first time brings expertise form across the UK to guide and provide advice to all forces on international crime, tactics and opportunities.

Richard retired in December 2020 and now works at C Suite level across a number of international boards.