He was born to Cecil William Dear and Violet Mackney and educated at Fletton Grammar School in Old Fletton, Huntingdonshire. He joined Peterborough Combined Police (which became part of Mid-Anglia Constabulary in 1965) as a Cadet and became a Constable in 1956. In 1965 he went to University College, London, on a Bramshill Scholarship to study law. Graduating in 1968 and then serving as divisional commander in Cambridge, he was appointed Assistant Chief Constable (Operations) of Nottinghamshire Combined Constabulary (Nottinghamshire Police from 1974) in 1972. From 1975 to 1977, he was seconded to Bramshill Police College as Director of Command Training. In September 1979, he was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct for his arrest of an armed and "mentally deranged" man who had barricaded himself in a house with his infant son after a multiple shooting incident.