Sir David Thompson is the former chief constable of
West Midlands Police
West Midlands Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England.
The force covers an area of with 2.93million inhabitants, which includes the cities of Birmingham, Coventry, ...
, England's second-largest and the United Kingdom's third-largest police force. He retired from the post on 5 December 2022, succeeded by Craig Guildford.
Police career
Greater Manchester Police
Thompson joined
Greater Manchester Police
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester in North West England.
, Greater Manchester Police employed 6,866 police officers, 3,524 memb ...
(GMP) in 1990. During his career with GMP he served at every rank, starting as a constable in North Manchester. He worked on the Manchester Olympic bid and led work on New Deal for East Manchester. He commanded the main policing operations for the
2002 Commonwealth Games at the
City of Manchester Stadium including the opening and closing ceremonies. He was also commander for central Manchester, policing the diverse communities of
Moss Side
Moss Side is an inner-city area of Manchester, England, south of the city centre, It had a population of 20,745 at the 2021 census. Moss Side is bounded by Hulme to the north, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Rusholme and Fallowfield to the east, W ...
and
Longsight
Longsight is an inner city suburb of Manchester, England, located south of the city centre. It is bounded by Ardwick and West Gorton to the north; Levenshulme to the south; and Chorlton-on-Medlock, Victoria Park and Fallowfield to the west ...
.
In 2007 he was appointed an assistant chief constable of GMP and at various times led policing portfolios for Operations, Local Policing, Crime, Information Technology and Terrorism. At a national level he led the 2010 review of National Counter Terrorism structures.
West Midlands Police
In 2010, Thompson became deputy chief constable for
West Midlands Police
West Midlands Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England.
The force covers an area of with 2.93million inhabitants, which includes the cities of Birmingham, Coventry, ...
(WMP) and oversaw the force’s change programme.
Since 2011, he has led the National Gangs portfolio and the Criminal use of Firearms portfolio, where he leads the UK’s response to gun crime. In 2015, he became the
NPCC lead for Finance.
In January 2016, he was appointed chief constable and set the strategic direction for the force within the police and crime commissioner’s plan. Later in January he published his vision for the force - preventing crime, protecting the public, and helping those in need.
Thompson said more people ask for help from the police because
cuts across public services generally mean more vulnerable people were involved with the police. He maintains West Midlands Police does not always have the resources to provide the service the public wants and expects due to budget cuts and cuts in the number of police officers, also due to increase in crime including
modern slavery
Contemporary slavery, also sometimes known as modern slavery or neo-slavery, refers to institutional slavery that continues to occur in present-day society. Estimates of the number of enslaved people today range from around 38 million to 46 mil ...
and
gang crime
A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...
. Thompson said, "The level of calls we're receiving this summer
ummer 2018are very challenging
ndsometimes that service that we're providing
tthose peak times doesn't meet what the public expect. I get that. Sometimes that service will be a poor service, sometimes actually the service is what we can and say we will offer, and sometimes that might not always be what the public want to see." Thompson also wrote,
“The government has had a partial view of policing in the last few years. It was very interested in terrorism and high-end threats but less focused on local crimes, which had been left for forces and police and crime commissioners to manage amid steep budget cuts. This more local agenda has many positives in setting priorities but it has come with steep budget reductions and a widening mission. There has been a real-term reduction of police budgets of 19% since 2010, but ranging between 11- 25% across forces. (...) Crime is rising and so is the demand on our service. The calls do not get answered as quickly as they did. Officers are not as fast at responding to emergencies and more crimes are dealt with on the phone. Fewer high-volume crimes like thefts are investigated and as a result fewer offenders brought to justice. The visibility and proactivity of neighbourhood policing is much reduced. (...) The NAO
National_Audit_Office.html" ;"title="National Audit Office (United Kingdom)">National Audit Office">National Audit Office (United Kingdom)">National Audit Office/nowiki> assesses the government did not fully understand the actual impact of these cuts on police forces. Policing is at the tipping point – and we need to move on from here.”
Thompson retired from the force on 5 December 2022, and was succeeded as chief constable by Craig Guildford.
Honours
* He has served as a Deputy Lieutenant for the County
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
of the West Midlands
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
since 31 March 2020. This gives him the right to the Post Nominal Letters
Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, ...
"DL" for Life.
* in 2022, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Staffordshire University
, mottoeng = Dare to know
, type = Public
, endowment = £70 million (2015)
, administrative_staff = 1,375
, chancellor = Francis Fitzherbert, 15th Baron Stafford
, vice_chancellor = Professor Martin Jones
, ...
.
Personal life
He graduated in law from Liverpool University
, mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning
, established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...
in 1990.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Dave
Living people
Chief Constables of West Midlands Police
Alumni of the University of Liverpool
English recipients of the Queen's Police Medal
Deputy Lieutenants of the West Midlands (county)
20th-century births
Year of birth missing (living people)
Knights Bachelor