Brian Paddick
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Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Leonard Paddick (born April 24, 1958 in Balham) is a senior officer in the Metropolitan Police in London. He is the United Kingdom's most senior openly gay police officer.
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[edit] Background
Paddick was educated at Sutton Grammar School, Sutton then went on to study at Queen's College, Oxford (BA), the University of Warwick (MBA), and the University of Cambridge (Postgraduate Diploma in Criminology). When he was at Oxford, he was Captain of the University Swimming Team and Vice-Captain of his college’s Rugby team.
Paddick was a sergeant on the front line during the 1981 Brixton riot,[1] an experience which undoubtedly shaped his attitudes about confrontational police action and strengthened his belief in community policing.[2] He was later in charge of CID at Notting Hill and responsible for policing the Notting Hill Carnival. He was promoted to commander in December 2000, and fulfilled his ambition of becoming head of policing in Brixton.
A 2003 profile in The Guardian notes, "Mr Paddick is relaxed enough to laugh at himself and told a gay magazine: 'My last staff officer got promoted and went to royalty protection. In his leaving card I wrote, "Same job, different Queen".'"
Immediately after the 7 July 2005 London bombings he was in the media spotlight as the senior Met spokesman during the televised daily press briefings.
In December 2005, it was reported that Paddick was considering leaving the police force in 2006 and entering politics.[3]
He is a distant relation of British actor Hugh Paddick[4].
[edit] Cannabis enforcement controversy
In 2002, as Commander for the London Borough of Lambeth, he instructed his officers not to arrest or charge people who were found to be in possession of cannabis. They were instead to issue on-the-spot warnings and confiscate the drugs. Although Paddick is credited with the idea, the pilot programme was sanctioned by the Commissioner, Sir John Stevens.
His actions had an extremely positive effect on the crime rate of the Brixton area, and relations between the community and police improved dramatically. His popularity was also boosted by his willingness to engage in debate with the local community: he registered an account on the forums of urban75, a Brixton-based community website.
However the right-wing national press began coverage of the pilot programme, accusing Paddick of being soft on drugs. The policy became source of public controversy and debate. The situation worsened when the Mail on Sunday published a story by his former partner (James Renolleau) that Commander Paddick had used cannabis himself. They also highlighted his homosexuality as an area for concern, and claimed he was an anarchist (based on a comment he made on urban75; in fact he wrote that "the concept of anarchy has always appealed to me", but that he was "not sure everyone would behave well if there were no laws and no system." [1]).
[edit] Promotion
Paddick was transferred to an intelligence position and the allegations were investigated by the Crown Prosecution Service. His transfer led to public rallies in Lambeth in his support. The CPS decided in late 2002 that no charges would be brought. In November 2003, Paddick was promoted to Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Territorial Policing. In a December 2003 out-of-court settlement, the Mail on Sunday accepted that their story was false, apologised, and paid damages.
The situation did, however, encourage the British government to re-evaluate their policies with regard to drugs, and a change in the law to decriminalise cannabis from a class B to a class C drug was suggested. Subsequently the law was altered in February 2004. See Cannabis: Legal issues.
[edit] Jean Charles de Menezes
After the 21 July 2005 London bombings and the subsequent police shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes on 22 July 2005 at the Stockwell Tube station, Paddick met with Stockwell community leaders. Kate Hoey, MP for Stockwell had requested the meeting to help reassure local residents.
Paddick was quoted by the BBC as stating, "It was a very calm meeting. People were very understanding of the circumstances that these officers found themselves in. We expressed our sympathy to the family of the person who was tragically killed. It was a very measured meeting, but a very positive meeting." He would not promise that a similar tragedy would never happen again, but he stated it was not likely.
In March 2006 it was revealed that Paddick had consulted libel lawyers in connection with statements issued by Scotland Yard. In verbal and written statements to the IPCC on their investigations into the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes he had stated that a member of Sir Ian's private office team believed the wrong man had been targeted just six hours after the shooting. This is contrary to statements at the time.
When this allegation became public following an unauthorised disclosure Scotland Yard issued a statement claiming that the officer alleged to have believed this (Paddick) "has categorically denied this in his interview with, and statement to, the IPCC investigators". The statement continued that they "were satisfied that whatever the reasons for this suggestion being made, it is simply not true."
Paddick's interpretation of this statement was that it accused him of lying.[5]
On 28 March 2006, Paddick accepted a statement from the Metropolitan Police that it "did not intend to imply" a senior officer had misled the probe into the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said "any misunderstanding is regretted" and that Paddick had accepted its "clarification" and considered the matter closed.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ Trials and errors of controversial cop, The Guardian, 19 March 2002
- ^ The Battle for Brixton, BBC2 documentary, April 2006
- ^ Paddick to leave police with his sights set on a peerage, The Guardian, 11 December 2005
- ^ Paddick One-Name Study
- ^ "Menezes claim sparks libel talks", BBC, 17 March 2006
- ^ "Met Police 'regret' Menezes claim", BBC, 28 March 2006
