He commanded the main policing operations for the 2002 Commonwealth Games at the City of Manchester Stadium including the opening and closing ceremonies.

[1] In 2010, Thompson became deputy chief constable for West Midlands Police (WMP) and oversaw the force’s change programme.

In January 2016, he was appointed chief constable and set the strategic direction for the force within the police and crime commissioner’s plan.

He maintains West Midlands Police does not always have the resources to provide the service the public wants and expects due to budget cuts and cuts in the number of police officers, also due to increase in crime including modern slavery and gang crime.

(...) The NAO [National Audit Office] assesses the government did not fully understand the actual impact of these cuts on police forces.

Policing is at the tipping point – and we need to move on from here.”[4] Thompson retired from the force on 5 December 2022, and was succeeded as chief constable by Craig Guildford.