Commander Robert James Broadhurst was the 2012 Olympics Gold Command for the

Metropolitan Police Service The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

. He was formerly Commander for Public Order and Pan London Operational Support of London's

Police career

Broadhurst has served with the Metropolitan Police Service for 32 years in uniform, primarily in South-East London. He was, for four years, Sutton Borough Commander and Lambeth deputy Borough Commander for a year. For four years he was the Link Commander for South East London, with responsibility overall for all eight Boroughs in that area. In July 2006 he was appointed Commander

Public Order In criminology, public-order crime is defined by Siegel (2004) as "crime which involves acts that interfere with the operations of society and the ability of people to function efficiently", i.e., it is behaviour that has been labelled criminal ...

and Pan London Operational Support. He has experience as a hostage negotiator, during the

Stansted Airport London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London. London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acros ...

Afghan Airlines hi-jack he was the Negotiator Team Leader. At the longest siege in the UK, the

Hackney Siege The Hackney siege was a criminal event that took place in Hackney, London, Hackney, in East London, England, for 15 days from 26 December 2002 to 9 January 2003. It ended with the death of the gunman, Eli Hall. Background Eli Hall, born in Jamaic ...

, which ended with the death of Eli Hall, he was the Gold Commander -operational chief officer,. He speaks at National Siege Management courses, and has contributed to the FBI Crisis Negotiator Course at the United States

FBI Academy The FBI Academy is the Federal Bureau of Investigation's law enforcement training and research center near the town of Quantico in Stafford County, Virginia. Operated by the bureau's Training Division, it was first opened for use on May 7, 197 ...

. Since 1990 he has commanded public order events, including many large-scale demonstrations. He commands ceremonial events such as the

State Opening of Parliament The State Opening of Parliament is a ceremonial event which formally marks the beginning of a session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It includes a speech from the throne known as the King's (or Queen's) Speech. The event takes place ...

, and

Trooping the Colour Trooping the Colour is a ceremony performed every year in London, United Kingdom, by regiments of the British Army. Similar events are held in other countries of the Commonwealth. Trooping the Colour has been a tradition of British infantry regi ...

. At the wedding of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall he was the Gold Commander. In 2007 he was in charge of policing for the London leg of the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

and for the 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay. He also led operational planning for the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. He was involved in policing the 2009 Gaza Protests in London.

Honours

In the 2005 Queens Birthday Honours list, Broadhurst was awarded the

Queen's Police Medal The King's Police Medal (KPM) is awarded to police in the United Kingdom for gallantry or distinguished service. It was also formerly awarded within the wider British Empire, including Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, most of whic ...

. He was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to the public order policing of the Olympics.

G20 protests

He was in overall charge (Gold) of Operation Glencoe, during the 2009 G-20 London summit protests. On 9 April he said "The eyes of the world were focused on London. While it was extremely hard work, I am happy with the way the day progressed, as the overall mood of the event was good." With his team he faces questioning by the

Metropolitan Police Authority The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) (2000–2012) was the local police authority responsible for scrutinising and supporting the work of the Metropolitan Police Service, the police force for Greater London (excluding the City of London Polic ...

about the

death of Ian Tomlinson Ian Tomlinson (7 February 1962 – 1 April 2009) was a newspaper vendor who collapsed and died in the City of London after being struck by a police officer during the 2009 G-20 summit protests. After an inquest jury returned a verdict of ...

, and also face questions about whether the stark warnings of violence he gave before the summit fuelled confrontation. He was accused of misleading MP's in a Select Committee report on the G20. He incorrectly informed them that no undercover police officers were operating after an MP raised concerns about the use of agent provocateurs. Later it was revealed that 25 undercover officers were deployed and were mixing with demonstrators. Once this was revealed, Broadhurst claimed that the deployment of undercover officers was unknown to him, and that the plainclothes officers (some of whom were filmed with extended batons) were "evidence gatherers".G20 police chief accused of misleading MPs about undercover mission
Paul Lewis ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' 24 November 2009

References

External links

Police biography, with photo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Broadhurst, Bob Living people Metropolitan Police chief officers Officers of the Order of the British Empire English recipients of the Queen's Police Medal Metropolitan Police recipients of the Queen's Police Medal 20th-century births Year of birth missing (living people)

Police career

Honours

G20 protests

See also

References

External links