Lord Dear
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Geoffrey James Dear, Baron Dear, (born 20 September 1937) is a
crossbench peer A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...
and retired British police officer who is a former Chief Constable of West Midlands Police. He was described by the broadcaster and writer
Sir Robin Day Sir Robin Day (24 October 1923 – 6 August 2000) was an English political journalist and television and radio broadcaster. Day's obituary in ''The Guardian'' by Dick Taverne stated that he was "the most outstanding television journalist of ...
as "the best known and most respected police officer of his generation".


Police career

He was born to Cecil William Dear and Violet Mackney, and educated at Fletton Grammar School in
Old Fletton Old or OLD may refer to: Places * Old, Baranya, Hungary * Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, M ...
, Huntingdonshire. He joined Peterborough Combined Police (which became part of
Mid-Anglia Constabulary The Mid-Anglia Constabulary was the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement in part of the East of England, from 1965 to 1974. It was created from the amalgamation of five forces. It was renamed Cambridgeshire Constabulary in 1 ...
in 1965) as a
Cadet A cadet is an officer trainee or candidate. The term is frequently used to refer to those training to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. Its meaning may vary between countries which can include youths in ...
and became 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 1956. In 1965 he went to University College, London, on a Bramshill Scholarship to study law. Graduating in 1968 and then serving as divisional commander in
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
, he was appointed Assistant Chief Constable (Operations) of
Nottinghamshire Combined Constabulary Nottinghamshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the shire county of Nottinghamshire and the unitary authority of Nottingham in the East Midlands area of England. The area has a population of just over 1 million. ...
( Nottinghamshire Police from 1974) in 1972. From 1975 to 1977, he was seconded to
Bramshill Police College 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 was ...
as Director of Command Training. In September 1979, he was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct for his arrest of an armed and "mentally deranged" man who had barricaded himself in a house with his infant son after a multiple shooting incident. In 1980 he transferred to 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 ...
as Deputy Assistant Commissioner (Training). In this role he came to public attention as he instituted racial awareness training for police officers in the wake of the Brixton riots, into which he also conducted an internal investigation. On 1 December 1981 he was appointed Assistant Commissioner "D" (Personnel and Training). 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 of Nations, Commonwealth countries, most of whic ...
(QPM) in 1982 in recognition of his involvement post-riots in Brixton in 1981, in always difficult and sometimes dangerous circumstances, and headed the Met's investigation into the shooting of Steven Waldorf in 1983. In 1984, he moved to become Assistant Commissioner "A" (Operations and Administration). In 1985, he left the Metropolitan Police to become Chief Constable of West Midlands Police. He was the last officer to hold the post of Assistant Commissioner "A" before it was abolished in the reorganisation later that year. In the West Midlands, he quickly came to the fore with his handling of the aftermath of the shooting by police of a young boy and, separately, the aftermath of the
1985 Handsworth riots The second Handsworth riots took place in the Handsworth district of Birmingham, West Midlands, from 9 to 11 September 1985. The riots were reportedly sparked by the arrest of a man near the Acapulco Cafe, Lozells and a police raid on the ''Vil ...
. He instituted wide-ranging changes in that force, both administratively and operationally. In 1989, he headed the investigation into the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster. He was widely expected to be appointed Chief Constable of the
Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...
in 1989, but the job went instead to Hugh Annesley. Dear was Chief Constable during the last years of the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad, as its malpractices and unsafe convictions came to light. It was shut down in 1989. The squad was investigated by the West Yorkshire Police, who found evidence of serious abuses but not enough to prosecute individual officers. A number of officers retired early or departed preventing internal disciplinary proceedings. Since the squad was shut down, over 60 convictions have been found to be unsafe and quashed. He served as Chief Constable of the West Midlands until 1 April 1990, when he was appointed one of HM Inspectors of Constabulary. The decision was criticised by the MP
Chris Mullin Christopher Paul Mullin (born July 30, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player, executive and coach. He is a two-time Olympic Gold medalist and a two-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee (in 2010 as a memb ...
, given Dear's ultimate responsibility for the continuing failures of the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad. He was
knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
in the
1997 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1997 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries ...
, shortly before his retirement. He was a member of the Glidewell review into the Crown Prosecution Service from 1997 to 1998 and advised the Auld Review of the Criminal Courts process in 2002 and the Virdi Enquiry in 2003.


Peerage

Dear was created a
life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
as Baron Dear, of Willersey in the County of Gloucestershire, on 2 May 2006. He has held a number of remunerated positions as non-executive director or chairman, and is currently non-executive chairman of Blaythorne Group Ltd. He was appointed a Deputy Speaker and a Deputy Chairman of Committees in 2015, and was a member of the European Union Select Committee, 2011–2015, the Home Affairs Sub-Committee, 2008–2012, and the Economic and Financial Affairs Sub-Committee, 2011–2015. Since 2015 he has been a member of the Privileges and Conduct Committee and the Works of Art Committee. In 2008 he successfully led opposition in the House of Lords to defeat the Government's intention to extend from 28 to 42 days the length of time that suspected terrorists could be held without charge. In 2012 he successfully amended the Public Order Act 1986 so as to protect freedom of speech in public, and similarly defeated Government attempts in 2014 to lower the threshold test for the creatation of ASBOs from conduct likely to cause "harassment, alarm or distress" to "nuisance or annoyance". Criticising the absence of prior governmental consultation concerning the bill, he was a prominent opponent in the Lords to the Government's legislation to introduce same-sex marriage, proposing a "
wrecking amendment In legislative debate, a wrecking amendment (also called a poison pill amendment or killer amendment) is an amendment made by a legislator who disagrees with the principles of a bill and who seeks to make it useless (by moving amendments to either ...
" to the bill, which was defeated. He spoke of fear of "such opposition to homosexuals in general that the climate of tolerance and acceptance in this country that we have all championed ... could well be set back by decades". He asked for a commission to "call on the very best minds from the fields of theology, philosophy, sociology, jurisprudence and finance", despite the risk of taking up "valuable parliamentary time" ... "when so many other pressing matters demand our attention." Some of his points were addressed in summing-up. He is Deputy Lieutenant of Worcestershire, was Vice-Lord Lieutenant of that county from 1998 to 2001, and is an Honorary Bencher of Gray's Inn. He is a Fellow of University College, London and an Honorary Fellow of Birmingham City University


Personal life

Dear married Judith Stocker in 1958. After the death of his first wife in 1996, he married Alison Jones two years later. He has two daughters and a son by his first marriage.


Arms


Footnotes


References

* *Biography, ''
Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...
'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Dear, Geoffrey 1937 births Assistant Commissioners of Police of the Metropolis Living people People's peers Crossbench life peers Knights Bachelor Metropolitan Police recipients of the Queen's Police Medal Deputy Lieutenants of Worcestershire Deputy Lieutenants of the West Midlands (county) Alumni of University College London People from Huntingdonshire Chief Constables of West Midlands Police Recipients of the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct Life peers created by Elizabeth II