Thompson joined Greater Manchester Police in 1990. During his career with GMP he served at every rank, starting as a constable in North Manchester. He worked on the Manchester Olympic bid and led work on New Deal for East Manchester. He commanded the main policing operations for the 2002 Commonwealth Games at the City of Manchester Stadium including the opening and closing ceremonies. He was also Commander for central Manchester, policing the diverse communities of Moss Side and Longsight. In 2007 he was appointed an Assistant Chief Constable of GMP and at various times led policing portfolios for Operations, Local Policing, Crime, Information Technology and Terrorism. At a national level he led the 2010 review of National Counter Terrorism structures.
In 2010 Thompson became Deputy Chief Constable for West Midlands Police and oversaw the force’s change programme. Since 2011 he has led the National Gangs portfolio and the Criminal use of Firearms portfolio, where he leads the UK’s response to gun crime. In 2015 he became the NPCC lead for Finance. In January 2016 he was appointed Chief Constable and set the strategic direction for the force within the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Plan. Later in January he published his vision for the force - preventing crime, protecting the public and helping those in need. David Thompson, said more people ask for help from the police because cuts across public services generally mean more vulnerable people were involved with the police. Thompson 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. Thompson said, "The level of calls we're receiving this summer are very challenging sometimes that service that we're providing those peak times doesn't meet what the public expect. I get that. Sometimes that service will be a poor service, sometimes actually the service is what we can and say we will offer, and sometimes that might not always be what the public want to see." Thompson also wrote, “The government has had a partial view of policing in the last few years. It was very interested in terrorism and high-end threats but less focused on local crimes, which had been left for forces and police and crime commissioners to manage amid steep budget cuts. This more local agenda has many positives in setting priorities but it has come with steep budget reductions and a widening mission. There has been a real-term reduction of police budgets of 19% since 2010, but ranging between 11- 25% across forces. Crime is rising and so is the demand on our service. The calls do not get answered as quickly as they did. Officers are not as fast at responding to emergencies and more crimes are dealt with on the phone. Fewer high-volume crimes like thefts are investigated and as a result fewer offenders brought to justice. The visibility and proactivity of neighbourhood policing is much reduced. The NAO 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 tomove on from here.”
