Sir George Ernest Craythorne Hamilton (born 27 June 1967) is a Northern Ireland retired police officer. From 2014 to 2019, he served as the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. He was previously the Assistant Chief Constable with responsibility for rural policing.

Early life and education

Hamilton was born on 27 June 1967 in

Newtownards Newtownards is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles (16 km) east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. It is in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Newtownard ...

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, Northern Ireland. He was educated at Gransha High for Boys, an all-boys state

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

in Bangor, County Down. He studied politics and economics at the Open University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree. He also studied at the University of Ulster where he completed a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree.

Career

Hamilton began his policing career in 1985, when he joined the

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...

. In 1994, he was promoted to

inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia In Australian police forces, the rank of inspector is generally the ne ...

and seconded to a police force in England. In 2009, he joined Strathclyde Police as Assistant Chief Constable, returning to the PSNI in 2011 as Assistant Chief Constable Criminal Justice.

Chief Constable

Hamilton was selected to succeed

Matt Baggott Sir Matthew David Baggott, (born 1959) is a retired senior British police officer. He was Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland from 2009 to 2014. Career Baggott joined the Metropolitan Police in 1978. He moved to West Mi ...

as the Chief Constable of the PSNI in May 2014, and took up his post in June of the same year. He was awarded the Queen's Police Medal (QPM) in the

2015 Birthday Honours The 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as p ...

. In October 2017 Hamilton, along with Deputy Chief Constable Drew Harris and Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton, were placed under investigation by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland. The inquiry focuses on "concerns about how the Police Service of Northern Ireland conducted an investigation into allegations of bribery and fraud in 2014". In January 2019, Hamilton announced that he would retire in June 2019. He had been offered a three-year contract extension but he rejected it. On 8 June 2019, as part of the Queen's

2019 Birthday Honours The 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as ...

for the United Kingdom, Hamilton was made a Knight Bachelor "for services to Policing and to the community in Northern Ireland." Hamilton was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in the

for services to policing and the community in Northern Ireland.

Honours

UK Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal ribbon

Police Long Service and Good Conduct ribbon

Royal Ulster Constabulary Service Medal ribbon

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, George Living people Chief Constables of the Police Service of Northern Ireland Royal Ulster Constabulary officers British Chief Constables People from Bangor, County Down Northern Irish recipients of the Queen's Police Medal Alumni of the Open University Alumni of Ulster University 1967 births Knights Bachelor