Peter James Ryan, (born 18 May 1944) is a former British police officer who was the

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

New South Wales Police The New South Wales Police Force (NSW Police Force; previously the New South Wales Police Service and New South Wales Police) is the primary law enforcement agency of the state of New South Wales, Australia. Divided into Police Area Commands (P ...

in Australia from 1996 to 2002. His appointment was controversial and he resigned two years early.

Early life and education

Ryan was born on 18 May 1944 in

Lancaster, Lancashire Lancaster (, ) is a city and the county town of Lancashire, England, standing on the River Lune. Its population of 52,234 compares with one of 138,375 in the wider City of Lancaster local government district. The House of Lancaster was a bran ...

, to Laurence and Maureen Ryan.

Police career in England

Ryan joined

Lancashire Constabulary Lancashire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the ceremonial county of Lancashire in North West England. The force's headquarters are at Hutton, near the city of Preston. , the force has 3,088 police officers ...

on 16 January 1961 as a police cadet. He completed the training course at

Bruche Police National Training Centre Bruche Police Training Centre, Warrington, Cheshire was a training complex for probationary police officers in the United Kingdom. The site in a suburb of Warrington was operated by CENTREX, the 'Central Police Training and Development Authority' ...

in 1963, and on 19 May was given his first posting as a probationer in

Little Hulton Little Hulton is an area in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, south of Bolton, northwest of Salford, and northwest of Manchester. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, Little Hulton is bordered by Far ...

on the outskirts of Greater Manchester. In 1968, Ryan was one of the first intake of police officers into the new

University of Lancaster , mottoeng = Truth lies open to all , established = , endowment = £13.9 million , budget = £317.9 million , type = Public , city = Bailrigg, City of Lancaster , country = England , coor = , campus = Bailrigg , faculty = 1 ...

, and upon graduation with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

he was promoted to sergeant, and in 1973 was promoted to inspector stationed at headquarters in Preston. Ryan joined 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 ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and was Chief Superintendent at

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

Police Station during the

Harrods bombing The Harrods bombing refers to the car bomb that exploded outside Harrods department store in central London, England, on Saturday 17 December 1983. Members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army planted the time bomb and sent a warning 37 ...

in December 1983.Harrods Bomb Aftermath
ITN Source, 18 December 1983. Retrieved 16 June 2015 He was Chief Constable of Norfolk Constabulary from 1990 to 1993 and was then the first National Director of Police Training at the

Police Staff College, Bramshill The Police Staff College, Bramshill, Bramshill House, Bramshill, (near Hook) Hampshire, England, was until 2015 the principal police staff training establishment in England and Wales. History The need for a training college for the police w ...

prior to his appointment in 1996 to the

in Australia.

Commissioner of New South Wales Police

Ryan was recruited to the Commissioner's position following the controversial Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service (Wood Royal Commission) into police corruption that ran from 1995 to 1997. He was appointed by the

Premier of New South Wales The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature. ...

Bob Carr Robert John Carr (born 28 September 1947) is an Australian retired politician and journalist who served as the 39th Premier of New South Wales from 1995 to 2005, as the leader of the NSW Branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He later en ...

. In February 1999, Ryan was reappointed for a further 5 years. Some aspects of the new contract were kept secret but the controversy over it caused it to be released in its entirety, and a parliamentary enquiry to investigate the circumstances surrounding its signing. The contract made Ryan the highest-paid public servant in Australia. He resigned from the New South Wales Police Service in 2002, two years early, and received a payout of 455,000—12 months' salary. Paul Whelan, the police minister who recommended Ryan as commissioner after approaching him in the United Kingdom, had recently retired from the ministry and it is believed that his successor Michael Costa did not want Ryan to remain as commissioner with the Opposition citing that Costa had made contradictory remarks about whether Ryan had resigned or was sacked and questioning whether Ryan was entitled to a payout if he had resigned. Ryan has since worked on a number of security consulting projects. He is a security expert for the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

(IOC), and was the Principal Security Advisor to the ATHOC (Athens Olympic Games Organising Committee). Ryan was covered widely by the Australian media and is the subject of the 2003 biography, ''Peter Ryan: The Inside Story'', by Sydney author Sue Williams.

Honours

Ryan has been appointed an

Officer of the Order of St John The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of ...

, and 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 ...

, NSW Police Ministers Olympic Commendation, NSW Police Commissioners Olympic Citation and the Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (for service in the UK Police Forces). He has a master's degree in science and an honorary doctorate in law from

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of S ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Personal life

Ryan married his second wife Adrienne Ryan (née Butterworth), who moved to Sydney with him upon his appointment as Police Commissioner. They divorced in 2011, after a separation of about six years. While she continued to reside in Australia with their two adult daughters, Ryan moved back to the United Kingdom. One daughter undertook legal studies in the UK and the other studied in Australia for a communications degree.

References

External links

List of Commissioners of New South Wales Police
* , 136 pages, State Government of New South Wales, General Purpose Standing Committee No 3, , 31 May 2000. Retrieved 29 September 2020. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Peter 1944 births Living people Commissioners of the New South Wales Police British Chief Constables British expatriates in Australia Metropolitan Police officers English recipients of the Queen's Police Medal Macquarie University alumni People from Lancaster, Lancashire Officers of the Order of St John Alumni of Lancaster University