Detective Chief Inspector Ian Pollard joined Sussex Police in 1988 with his first posting being at Crawley BCU. In 1991, he transferred to Gatwick Airport where he worked on the Firearms Unit until 1993. From Gatwick, he was posted to Brighton Division where he worked on uniform patrol, then in 1995 he joined Brighton CID.

He stayed in CID until 1997 when he joined the Force Crime and Drug Unit of Sussex Police which focused on Organised Crime Groups and was involved in covert operations into drug trafficking and major property crime.

In 2000, he was promoted to Sergeant and was posted to Hove Division in charge of a Proactive Unit and in 2001 then joined the CID as a Detective Sergeant. In 2002 Brighton Division and Hove Division were amalgamated and became one Basic Command Unit. In 2003 he was promoted to Detective Inspector on Brighton and Hove Division and had responsibility for the city centre. In 2006 he was promoted to Detective Chief Inspector for Brighton and Hove where he currently works.

Brighton and Hove has a resident population of just over 247,000 people with over 9 million visitors a year to the city. It has a large LGBT community of some 35,000 and hosts one of the largest Gay Pride events in the country each year. There are over 1200 licensed premises across Brighton and Hove and the city has one of the largest night time economies along the south coast.

As Head of Crime for Brighton and Hove he has responsibility for CID, Child Protection, Public Protection, Anti Victimisation Unit and the Divisional Intelligence Unit. Since 2006 he has also had overall responsibility for Operation Reduction which is a joint police and partner agency initiative targeting the supply and demand of Class A drugs in the city. This operation has been recognised nationally and continues to operate successfully today and has developed with its links into Street Level Up.