David Westwood, QPM, is a British former

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

. He was Chief Constable of

Humberside Police Humberside Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing The East Riding of Yorkshire including Hull and northern parts of Lincolnshire including Grimsby and Scunthorpe. The chief constable since 2017 is Lee Freeman. Histor ...

from March 1999 until March 2005. In 2004, he was suspended from July until September as a result of the Bichard report into the

Soham murders The Soham murders were a double child murder committed in Soham, Cambridgeshire, England on 4 August 2002. The victims were two 10-year-old girls, Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Aimee Chapman, who were lured into the home of a local resident an ...

. Westwood joined Sussex Police as a constable in 1967, and became a Sergeant in

Avon and Somerset Constabulary Avon and Somerset Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement in the county of Somerset and in four districts that used to be in the defunct county of Avon: Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and ...

in 1975. He was promoted to Inspector in 1980. He moved to

in 1992, becoming

Chief Superintendent Chief superintendent is a senior rank in police forces, especially in those organised on the British model. Rank insignia of chief superintendent File:Sa-police-chief-superintendent.png, South Australia Police File:RCMP Chief Superintendent.pn ...

, then became Assistant Chief Constable of

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...

in 1995. Westwood became Deputy Chief Constable of Humberside in 1997, becoming Chief Constable in 1999. He was chairman of the

Association of Chief Police Officers The Association of Chief Police Officers of England, Wales and Northern Ireland (ACPO) was a not-for-profit private limited company that for many years led the development of policing practices in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Established ...

Race and Community Relations Committee from 2000 until 2003, overseeing the introduction of new procedures for the Police Service on race issues following the publication of Sir William Macpherson's Inquiry into the

murder of Stephen Lawrence Stephen Lawrence (13 September 1974 – 22 April 1993) was a black British teenager from Plumstead, southeast London, who was murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Well Hall Road, Eltham on the evening of 22 Apri ...

. In 2001, Westwood 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 countries, most of which now have their own hono ...

for services to policing. As a result of failings by Humberside Police highlighted by the report into the

, the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national s ...

David Blunkett David Blunkett, Baron Blunkett, (born 6 June 1947) is a British Labour Party politician who has been a Member of the House of Lords since 2015, and previously served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough ...

, called for Westwood's suspension, but the Humberside

police authority A police authority in the United Kingdom is a public authority that is responsible for overseeing the operations of a police force. The nature and composition of police authorities has varied over time, and there are now just four dedicated "police ...

chairman Colin Inglis initially refused. In July 2004, he was suspended after the High Court ruled that the police authority acted "in default of its statutory duty" by that refusal. Westwood was reinstated in September 2004, on condition he took early retirement in March 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Westwood, David Living people British Chief Constables English recipients of the Queen's Police Medal People educated at The College of Richard Collyer Police misconduct in England Year of birth missing (living people)