Helen Ball (born April 1961) is a retired senior British police officer. During part of her final year in policing she served as Acting Deputy Commissioner of 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 ...

. At a national level she has been senior coordinator for counter terrorism policing (2013–2016) and strategic leadership advisor to the

College of Policing The College of Policing is a professional body for the police in England and Wales. It was established in 2012 to take over a number of training and development roles that were the responsibility of the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) ...

(seconded 2016).

Career

Ball first became a police officer in 1987 as part of the Metropolitan Police, rising to the rank of Operational Command Unit Commander in 2007 and remaining with them until 2010. She then transferred to become

Thames Valley Police Thames Valley Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Thames Valley, covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. It the largest non-metropolitan police force in England and Wales, covering a ...

Assistant Chief Constable, leading on Crime and Criminal Justice, and remained there for two years before returning to the Met as Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Territorial Policing. She is the current trustee of the government-funded charity

Police Now Police Now is a British charity supporting the recruitment of police officers across England & Wales. The social enterprise works with 31 of 43 police forces. History Police Now was initially set up as a graduate scheme by former Detective Chief ...

. In December 2021, after a coroner's hearing into the 2014–15 murders by

Stephen Port Stephen Port (born 22 February 1975) is a British convicted serial rapist and serial killer. He is responsible for the murder of four men and for committing multiple rapes. Port received a life sentence with a whole life order on 25 November 201 ...

, Ball admitted that "a number of recent events" had damaged trust in the Metropolitan Police. Later that month 2021 Ball chaired a misconduct panel which dismissed Jamie Rayner, a police constable already jailed for assaulting and strangling his partner during a 'controlling and coercive' relationship. After the activist Kate Wilson won £229,471 civil damages from the Metropolitan Police in January 2022 for being deceived into a sexual relationship with an

undercover police officer A covert operation is a military operation intended to conceal the identity of (or allow plausible deniability by) the party that instigated the operation. Covert operations should not be confused with clandestine operations, which are performed ...

, Ball acknowledged the "gravity of the judgment" and that the police had breached Wilson's human rights. Following the resignation of the incumbent

Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis is the head of London's Metropolitan Police Service. Sir Mark Rowley was appointed to the post on 8 July 2022 after Dame Cressida Dick announced her resignation in February. The rank of Commissione ...

in April 2022, Stephen House has acted as Commissioner and while Ball has acted as Deputy Commissioner while the Home Office and

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the 1998 Greater London Authority referendum, Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first Directly elected may ...

recruit a permanent replacement. In August 2022 she announced her intention to retire in October that year.

Honours

UK Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal ribbon

UK Queen EII Platinum Jubilee Medal ribbon

Police Long Service and Good Conduct ribbon

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ball, Helen 1961 births Living people Assistant Commissioners of Police of the Metropolis English recipients of the Queen's Police Medal Metropolitan Police recipients of the Queen's Police Medal Counterterrorism in the United Kingdom Women Metropolitan Police officers 20th-century births