Robin, who served with Durham Constabulary for 30 years, was on the point of retiring in 2008 when the chance arose to work in the Middle East.
He was invited to act as a specialist advisor with the Abu Dhabi force in the United Arab Emirates, working alongside several other Durham officers already based in the oil-rich Gulf state.
On his return to the UK last year, Robin decided to chart his experiences in a book called “Dust and Dreams – a window on the United Arab Emirates”, which he describes as part diary, part travelogue and part history.
The book touches on the difficulties of bringing a Western performance management ethos into a different culture, but concentrates on the wider picture of life in a rapidly changing Arab country.
Drawing on his law and ancient history degree, the author illustrates how the headlong rush to make the Emirates a hub for culture, sport and tourism sometimes sits uneasily with its traditions and relatively recent poverty.
“I had planned to travel in my retirement but this gave me the chance to work and travel at the same time,” said Robin. “The book is more about what I saw and experienced on my travels round the Emirates than the job I went there to do.
While we were there you had the start of the Arab uprising and yet, in that troubled part of the world you have a country now celebrating 40 years still united, which people said would never work, and yet it has.”
“Dust and Dreams” is available from The People’s Bookshop (0191 384 4399) in Saddlers Yard, Durham for £9.99. It can also be ordered through Amazon and at authorsonline.co.uk
All author’s royalties are going to “Plan”, a global children’s charity tackling poverty and suffering in some of the world’s poorest communities.
