Simon Robert Bailey is a senior British

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

. Since 2013, he has been the Chief Constable of the

Norfolk Constabulary Norfolk Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing Norfolk in East Anglia, England. The force serves a population of 908,000 in a mostly rural area of , including 90 miles of coastline and 16 rivers, including the B ...

. Bailey is also the

National Police Chiefs' Council The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) is a national coordination body for law enforcement in the United Kingdom and the representative body for British police chief officers. Established on 1 April 2015, it replaced the former Association o ...

lead on child protection. He previously worked as a detective, and was involved in the investigation of the murder of

Rosemary Nelson Rosemary Nelson (''née'' Magee; 4 September 1958 – 15 March 1999) was an Irish solicitor who was killed with a bomb planted in her car by an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in 1999. A bomb exploded under Nelson's car at her home in Lurgan ...

. he is leading

Operation Hydrant Operation Hydrant is a British police investigation into allegations of "non-recent" child sexual abuse. It co-ordinates a number of other investigations by police forces throughout the United Kingdom. It is headed by Simon Bailey, the Chief Const ...

, an umbrella investigation into multiple allegations of historic sexual abuse throughout the United Kingdom. Bailey 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

2016 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

. He was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the

2022 Birthday Honours The 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 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 par ...

for services to policing and child protection.

Views

Bailey is concerned about the impact of

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 ...

on Norfolk Constabulary, Bailey stated, “It would mean a reduction of 110 officers; it would take my numbers to a historic low of 1,400. Community policing will be under threat. We will end up attending and investigating less, detecting less crime, and providing a service I don’t believe any chief constable would be happy with.”Police chiefs warn of fewer officers after Treasury shrinks budgets further
''

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 ...

Honours

Order of the British Empire (Civil) Ribbon

Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal ribbon

Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal

Police Long Service and Good Conduct ribbon

References

British Chief Constables Living people Date of birth missing (living people) English recipients of the Queen's Police Medal Year of birth missing (living people) Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Deputy Lieutenants of Norfolk {{UK-law-enforcement-bio-stub