Sir Hugh Stephen Roden Orde, (born 27 August 1958) is a retired British police officer who was the president 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 ...

, representing the 44 police forces of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Between 2002 and 2009, he was the Chief Constable of the

Police Service of Northern Ireland The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI; ga, Seirbhís Póilíneachta Thuaisceart Éireann; Ulster-Scots: ') is the police force that serves Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) after it was reform ...

(PSNI).

Career

Orde joined London's Metropolitan Police Service in 1977. He rose quickly through the ranks, becoming a Superintendent in the

Territorial Support Group The Territorial Support Group (TSG) is a Met Operations unit of London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) which specialises in public order policing, amongst other specialist areas. In 2012 it consisted of 793 officers and 29 support staff. Th ...

. Later, as Commander responsible for the service's Community Safety and Partnership section, Orde took part in the latter phase of the enquiry into the murder of

Stephen Lawrence Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

and its subsequent handling by the police. He became a member (known as a 'graduate') of

Common Purpose UK Common Purpose is a British-founded charity that runs leadership-development programmes around the world. Common Purpose UK is a subsidiary of Common Purpose. Founded in 1989 by Julia Middleton, its aim is to develop leaders who cross bounda ...

and attended the Matrix course in West London 1994/95. While he was a Deputy assistant commissioner, Orde was assigned to the senior staff of the Stevens Report, which investigated government collusion in sectarian killings in Northern Ireland. He was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire ( OBE) in 2001. Hugh Orde was appointed Chief Constable of the PSNI (which replaced the Royal Ulster Constabulary) on 29 May 2002, taking over from Acting Chief Constable

Colin Cramphorn Colin Ralph Cramphorn Order of the British Empire, CBE, Queen's Police Medal, QPM, Deputy Lieutenant, DL, Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, FRSA (1 April 1956 – 30 November 2006) was the Chief Constable o ...

. He was knighted for his services to policing in 2005. In April 2009, he announced he was stepping down as Chief Constable of Northern Ireland to become president of the

(ACPO), assuming the position in the following autumn. In 2010 he 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 ...

. In a 2010 speech at Oxford in which he discussed the threat of the dissident Irish republican campaign, Orde suggested that "To borrow a phrase from the past, we may be at an '

acceptable level of violence British Home Secretary Reginald Maudling's reference to an "acceptable level" of violence in the Northern Ireland conflict was a political gaffe that helped shape public discussion about the conflict. Maudling said in a December 1971 press c ...

'—albeit at a far lower level than when the phrase was first coined", given that dissident republicans were unlikely to respond to negotiation. Democratic Unionist Party MLA

Jimmy Spratt James Andrew Spratt (19 August 1951 – 4 March 2021) was a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician and police officer from Northern Ireland. He was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Belfast from 2007 to 2015. Earl ...

called Orde's comments "outrageous" and an insult to those killed by dissident republicans. Orde holds a degree in Public Administration ( BA) from the

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

. After his retirement from Northern Ireland he became director of the Police National Assessment Centre.

Police Roll of Honour Trust

In November 2013 Hugh Orde took up the role of Patron of the national police charity the

Police Roll of Honour Trust The Police Roll of Honour Trust is a charitable organisation registered in England & Wales and Scotland, it was founded in 2000 and records all those British police officers who have died on and in the line of duty. It has been granted a Royal Cha ...

, joining Stephen House and

Bernard Hogan-Howe Bernard Hogan-Howe, Baron Hogan-Howe, (born 25 October 1957) is an English former police officer and was the head of London's Metropolitan Police as Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis from 2011 until 2017. Born in Sheffield, Hogan-Howe ...

as joint patrons.

Honours

Order of the British Empire (Civil) Ribbon

UK Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal ribbon

Police Long Service and Good Conduct ribbon

* He was awarded an Honorary

Doctorate of Civil Law Doctor of Civil Law (DCL; la, Legis Civilis Doctor or Juris Civilis Doctor) is a degree offered by some universities, such as the University of Oxford, instead of the more common Doctor of Laws (LLD) degrees. At Oxford, the degree is a higher ...

(DCL) from the

in July 2005.

References

External links

Debrett's People of Today
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orde, Hugh 1958 births Living people Alumni of the University of Kent British Chief Constables Knights Bachelor Metropolitan Police chief officers Officers of the Order of the British Empire Chief Constables of the Police Service of Northern Ireland Association of Chief Police Officers People educated at Godalming Grammar School English recipients of the Queen's Police Medal