Patricia Ferguson Gallan QPM (born 26 October 1965) is a former British police officer who served as Assistant Commissioner Specialist Crime and Operations of the

Metropolitan Police 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 ...

in London. She previously served as Deputy Assistant Commissioner (Specialist Operations – Security and Protection) from 2012 to 2015, Assistant Chief Constable (Operations Support) of

Merseyside Police Merseyside Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Merseyside in North West England. The service area is 647 square kilometres with a population of around 1.5 million. As of September 2017 the service has 3,484 police of ...

from February 2006 to 2012, and also served as temporary Deputy Chief Constable of the force from October 2009 to February 2010. She was the most senior female ethnic minority police officer in British history. She retired from the police service in August 2018.

Police career

Gallan was born in

Paisley, Renfrewshire Paisley ( ; sco, Paisley, gd, Pàislig ) is a large town situated in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Located north of the Gleniffer Braes, the town borders the city of Glasgow to the east, and straddles the banks of the White Cart Wate ...

, and adopted by a Church of Scotland Minister, the Reverend Alex Gallan, and his wife Sarah in

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotlan ...

,"Top black woman cop is terror chief", ''The Mirror'', 6 October 2007
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Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, and joined the

as a

constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

in 1987. She served in the

East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

, first as a uniformed officer and then with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). In 1997 she trained as a

hostage negotiator Crisis negotiation is a law enforcement technique used to communicate with people who are threatening violenceStrentz, Thomas (2006). ''Psychological aspects of crisis negotiation.'' CRC Press, (workplace violence, domestic violence, suicide, ...

. She is also a qualified

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

. In March 2000, as a

Detective Superintendent Superintendent (Supt) is a rank in the British police and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations. In many Commonwealth countries, the full version is superintendent of police (SP). The rank is also used in most British Overseas Territories ...

, she was appointed head of the

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informan ...

unit in the

Criminal Intelligence Branch In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

(SO11) at

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

. She then served as staff officer to Deputy Commissioner

Sir Ian Blair Ian Warwick Blair, Baron Blair of Boughton, (born 19 March 1953) is a law enforcement in the United Kingdom, British retired police officer, policeman who held the position of Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis from 2005 to 2008 and was t ...

. In January 2005, she joined the

National Crime Squad The National Crime Squad (NCS) was a British police organisation which dealt with national and transnational organised and major crimes. Formed in April 1998 after the amalgamation of six former Regional Crime Squads, it merged with parts of H ...

as Assistant Chief Constable in charge of covert policing and served there until her appointment to Merseyside in 2006. Gallan later became head of the Metropolitan Police's

Directorate of Professional Standards The Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) is a directorate of London's Metropolitan Police Service. The Directorate is responsible for investigating complaints against the professional conduct of Officers, the DPS was a realignment of the C ...

and was in charge of

Operation Alice "Plebgate" (also known as "Plodgate" and "Gategate") was a British political scandal which started in September 2012. The trigger was an altercation between Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell and police officers on duty outside Downing Street. ...

, an investigation to look into allegations relating to the "

Plebgate "Plebgate" (also known as "Plodgate" and "Gategate") was a British political scandal which started in September 2012. The trigger was an altercation between Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell and police officers on duty outside Downing Street. Le ...

" affair.

Honours

* Gallan 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 of Nations, Commonwealth countries, most of whic ...

(QPM) in the 2006 New Year Honours.

Views

Gallan maintains that high social inequality causes crime and that tackling inequality would help tackle crime. She told ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' that “children are not born bad” and wants to address inequalities that lead to people feeling, “they do not have a stake in society”. She also said, “If we don’t invest at the beginning we’ll have to invest in it in terms of criminal justice and in the prison system.” and said, “I think that is not good for society, for social cohesion, but also it is not good if people do not feel they have the stake in society. We have to look at and ask ourselves individually and collectively: why do people feel they do not have a stake in society? Because once you are involved in crime and once you go into the criminal justice system, it starts to get far more difficult for you, whether it is staying out of prison or getting a job.” Gallan also maintains

austerity Austerity is a set of political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three primary types of austerity measures: higher taxes to fund spend ...

has affected policing because police numbers have been reduced and higher demand puts the police force under strain.

Portrayal on television

Gallan was played by Sara Powell in ITV's 2017 drama ''

Little Boy Blue "Little Boy Blue" is an English-language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 11318. Lyrics A common version of the rhyme is: Little Boy Blue, Come blow your horn, The sheep's in the meadow, The cow's in the corn. Where is ...

'', which is based on the

murder of Rhys Jones On 22 August 2007, Rhys Milford Jones, an eleven-year-old English boy, was murdered in Liverpool while walking home from football practice. Sean Mercer, aged 16 at the time of the shooting, went on trial on 2 October 2008, and was found guilty of ...

Footnotes

External links

Profile on Merseyside Police website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallan, Pat Black British police officers Scottish police officers Assistant Commissioners of Police of the Metropolis British police chief officers British women police officers Women Metropolitan Police officers Women Merseyside Police officers Scottish recipients of the Queen's Police Medal Living people Hostage negotiators 1965 births People from Paisley, Renfrewshire People from Lanarkshire British barristers