Ray Mallon

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Ray Mallon (b. 1956 in Gateshead) is the directly-elected Mayor of Middlesbrough in England. He achieved fame as a senior officer in the Cleveland Police's CID, with his unorthodox tactics. He became known as 'RoboCop' for his strong-arm tactics, taking the name from Peter Weller film of the same name.

He was suspended from the post of Detective Superintendent in 1997 due to allegations of heroin dealing. Cleveland Police launched Operation Lancet to investigate the activities of Mallon and 30 other officers. Although no criminal charges were brought, Mallon faced disciplinary charges ranging from neglect of duty, falsehood and discreditable conduct. Some four years later, Mallon offered his resignation in a bid to free himself from the wrangle but his offer was refused by Chief Constable Barry Shaw. In February 2002, Mallon pleaded guilty to the fourteen disciplinary charges and was "required to resign" from the force. He maintained his innocence, claiming that he admitted the offences simply to allow him to stand for public office.

In 2002 he became the first directly-elected mayor of Middlesbrough, standing on as an Independent. He won with 26,362 votes out of a total of 41,994 cast, and a majority of 17,000, due to his popularity and broad appeal to the public, based on social justice and his working-class background. Longer considered to be MP material, in 2005 visiting Conservative leader Michael Howard saw Mallon in action when he told police not to think about human rights when getting a result. The Police Community Support Officers are usually attributed to Mallon, though they were created shortly before he took office. Ray Mallon is still very popular with the electorate, and writes a reguar column in the local paper, the Evening Gazette.