We found out!!!…..it is our President´s 70th birthday today!!! Happy birthday from all at SCP an I am sure a few of our followers may also say congratulations in due course….we will see! SCooP is also seeing if his non-´Hooman´ friends want to send their doggy best wished to him too.

It is typical of our President that when he quietly asked for the day off from his normal and often 12-hour herculian daily effort ´for personal reasons´ that he did not tell us why. Chris and Elise have taken over today but they did not ask why he wanted the day off as it was ´personal´! Now we know why!

What many of our followers perhaps do not realise is that David was a very senior police officer – serving for 31 years with the Hong Kong Police retiring as one of its most senior officers as an Assistant Commissioner in 2005. He then served INTERPOL for 4 years and then with the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC). He really has vast experience of safety and security issues which has been recognised by HM The Queen who awarded him with the British Empire Medal in 2016 for ´services to crime prevention and awareness within the British and International community´. David formed ´Safe Communities Algarve´ and then he expanded it to ´Safe Communities Portugal ´to help keep all of us expats informed about policing, crime prevention, safety and security issues. SCP is now the only officially recognised non-Portuguese voluntary Official Civil Protection Association.

For those lucky to have met him, you will know that David is an inspirational character and superb leader, and just a really great person, who is incredibly motivated to help the communities that SCP serve and also to advise and lobby government on a whole range of important issues on our behalf. He works tirelessly every day (and we mean every day….) without any reward other than the thanks that our communities often give him as well as the often the thanks of ministers and senior officials from the Portuguese government.

So..David… a very happy birthday from us all and we hope that you celebrate it well!! Next time do not try and keep it a secret from us all………!