Geoffrey James Dear, Baron Dear, QPM,DL (born 20 September 1937) is a crossbench peer and retired British police officer who is a former Chief Constable of West Midlands Police. He was described by the broadcaster and writer Sir Robin Day as "the best known and most respected police officer of his generation".
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.[1]
In 1980 he transferred to the Metropolitan Police as Deputy Assistant Commissioner (Training).[2] In this role he came to public attention as he instituted racial awareness training for police officers in the wake of the Brixton riots, into which he also conducted an internal investigation. On 1 December 1981 he was appointed Assistant Commissioner "D" (Personnel and Training).[3][4]
He was awarded the Queen's Police Medal (QPM) in 1982 in recognition of his involvement post-riots in Brixton in 1981, in always difficult and sometimes dangerous circumstances, and headed the Met's investigation into the shooting of Steven Waldorf in 1983. In 1984, he moved to become Assistant Commissioner "A" (Operations and Administration).[5] In 1985, he left the Metropolitan Police to become Chief Constable of West Midlands Police.[6] He was the last officer to hold the post of Assistant Commissioner "A" before it was abolished in the reorganisation later that year.
In the West Midlands, he quickly came to the fore with his handling of the aftermath of the shooting by police of a young boy and, separately, the aftermath of the 1985 Handsworth riots. He instituted wide-ranging changes in that force, both administratively and operationally. In 1989, he headed the investigation into the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster. He was widely expected to be appointed Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 1989, but the job went instead to Hugh Annesley.[7]
Dear was Chief Constable during the last years of the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad, as its malpractices and unsafe convictions came to light. It was shut down in 1989. The squad was investigated by the West Yorkshire Police, who found evidence of serious abuses but not enough to prosecute individual officers. A number of officers retired early or departed preventing internal disciplinary proceedings. Since the squad was shut down, over 60 convictions have been found to be unsafe and quashed.[8]
He served as Chief Constable of the West Midlands until 1 April 1990, when he was appointed one of HM Inspectors of Constabulary.[9] The decision was criticised by the MP Chris Mullin, given Dear's ultimate responsibility for the continuing failures of the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad.[10]
He was a member of the Glidewell review into the Crown Prosecution Service from 1997 to 1998 and advised the Auld Review of the Criminal Courts process in 2002 and the Virdi Enquiry in 2003.
He has held a number of remunerated positions as non-executive director or chairman, and is currently non-executive chairman of Blaythorne Group Ltd.
He was appointed a Deputy Speaker and a Deputy Chairman of Committees in 2015, and was a member of the European Union Select Committee, 2011–2015, the Home Affairs Sub-Committee, 2008–2012, and the Economic and Financial Affairs Sub-Committee, 2011–2015. Since 2015 he has been a member of the Privileges and Conduct Committee and the Works of Art Committee. In 2008 he successfully led opposition in the House of Lords to defeat the Government's intention to extend from 28 to 42 days the length of time that suspected terrorists could be held without charge. In 2012 he successfully amended the Public Order Act 1986 so as to protect freedom of speech in public, and similarly defeated Government attempts in 2014 to lower the threshold test for the creation of ASBOs from conduct likely to cause "harassment, alarm or distress" to "nuisance or annoyance".
Criticising the absence of prior governmental consultation concerning the bill, he was a prominent opponent in the Lords to the Government's legislation to introduce same-sex marriage, proposing a "wrecking amendment" to the bill, which was defeated.[13][14] He spoke of fear of "such opposition to homosexuals in general that the climate of tolerance and acceptance in this country that we have all championed ... could well be set back by decades" in the event the bill passed. He asked for a commission to "call on the very best minds from the fields of theology, philosophy, sociology, jurisprudence and finance", despite the risk of taking up "valuable parliamentary time" ... "when so many other pressing matters demand our attention."[15] Some of his points were addressed in summing-up.[16][17] He later claimed that he had "no problem at all with homosexual marriage or partnerships", and that he tried to block the bill because, in his opinion, the Government had not gone "through the processes they should have done for something as sensitive and important as this".[18]
He is Deputy Lieutenant of Worcestershire, was Vice-Lord Lieutenant of that county from 1998 to 2001, and is an Honorary Bencher of Gray's Inn. He is a Fellow of University College, London and an Honorary Fellow of Birmingham City University
Dear married Judith Stocker in 1958. After the death of his first wife in 1996, he married Alison Jones two years later. He has two daughters and a son by his first marriage.
A stag courant Or attired Azure resting the dexter hind roof upon a martlet wings elevated and addorsed Azure.
Escutcheon
Quarterly embattled Argent and Azure in the second and third quarters two keys in saltire wards upwards and outwards Or.
Supporters
On either side a labrador Sable gorged with a plain collar attached thereto a chain reflexed over the back Or holding in the mouth a snowdrop Argent slipped and leaved Or.
The crossed keys are taken from the Arms of Peterborough with which the grantee has a long connection. The embattling, andhence protection, reflects a career in the police force. The labradors and snowdrops are personal preferences. The stag was used as a device by a number of bodies associated with the County of Huntingdon and has been combined with a martlet as an allusion to the grantee's wife's maiden name of Martin. The design of this Crest was in some measure inspired by the flying horse and swallow which was the most celebrated exhibit at the 1973 exhibition at the Royal Academy on "The Genius of China".
John Arthur Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington, is a former Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, having served from 2000 until 2005. From 1991 to 1996, he was Chief Constable of Northumbria Police before being appointed one of HM Inspectors of Constabulary in September 1996. He was then appointed Deputy Commissioner of the Met in 1998 until his promotion to Commissioner in 2000. He was a writer for the News of the World, for £7,000 an article, until his resignation as the hacking scandal progressed.
Lincolnshire Police is the territorial police force covering the non-metropolitan county of Lincolnshire in the East Midlands of England. Despite the name, the force's area does not include North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire, which are covered by Humberside Police instead.
Sir Kenneth Leslie Newman was a senior British police officer. He was Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) from 1976 to 1980, and Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police from 1982 to 1987. He is best known for initiating a major reform and restructure of the Metropolitan Police during his tenure as Commissioner and for seeing the RUC replace the British Army as the dominant security force in Northern Ireland during his tenure as Chief Constable.
Sir Paul Robert Stephenson is a British retired police officer who was the Metropolitan Police Commissioner from 2009 to 2011.
Sir David Blackstock McNee was a Scottish police officer who was Chief Constable of the City of Glasgow Police from 1971 to 1977, and then Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police from 1977 to 1982.
Sir William Ian Ridley Johnston CBE QPM DL was the Chief Constable of British Transport Police. He became Chief Constable on 1 May 2001 when he succeeded David Williams QPM, who had served as Chief Constable for three and a half years.
Sir Hugh Norman Annesley QPM is a retired Irish/British police officer. He served as Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary from June 1989 to November 1996.
Sir Colin Philip Joseph Woods was an English police officer in the London Metropolitan Police who was also the first Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, from 1979 to 1982.
Colin Bertie John Sutton QPM was a British police officer.
Philip Douglas Knights, Baron Knights, was an English police officer who served as Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, succeeding West Midlands Police's first Chief Constable, Sir Derrick Capper.
Peter Ewen Brodie OBE QPM was a British police officer.
Geoffrey Daniel McLean CBE QPM was a senior British police officer with the London Metropolitan Police.
Sir John Alfred Smith is a retired British police officer with the London Metropolitan Police.
William Taylor CBE QPM is a retired British police officer.
Sir Ronald Hadfield was the Chief Constable of the West Midlands Police from June 1990 until July 1996. He had previously served with Lancashire Constabulary, Greater Manchester Police and Derbyshire Constabulary and was, from 1987 to 1990, Nottinghamshire Police's chief constable. His nickname was "Biffo".
Sir Peter James Joseph Winship is a retired British police officer.
Anthony James Speed is a British retired police officer with the London Metropolitan Police. He specialised in public order policing and headed the policing of many demonstrations and other public order events during his career.
Baden Henry Skitt, known as Bill Skitt, was a British police officer.
Ian Andrew McPherson is a retired British police officer who is now a management consultant.
Alfred Henry Hitchcock was a British police officer.
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