Geoffrey Dear, Baron Dear

Geoffrey James Dear, Baron Dear, QPM, DL (born 20 September 1937) is a retired British police officer. He was described by the broadcaster Sir Robin Day as "the best known and most respected police officer of his generation".

Dear was born to Cecil William Dear and Violet Mackney and educated at Fletton Grammar School in Huntingdonshire. He joined Peterborough Combined Police (which became part of Mid-Anglia Constabulary in 1965) as a Cadet and became a Constable 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, he was appointed Assistant Chief Constable (Operations) of Nottinghamshire Combined Constabulary (Nottinghamshire Police from 1974) in 1972. From 1975 to 1977, he was seconded to Bramshill Police College 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 shooting incident.

In 1980 he transferred to the Metropolitan Police 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 (QPM) in 1982 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. 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 in 1989, but the job went instead to Hugh Annesley. He served as Chief Constable of the West Midlands until 1 April 1990, when he was appointed one of HM Inspectors of Constabulary. He was knighted in the 1997 New Year Honours, 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.

Dear was created a life peer 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 Omniperception Ltd,Association of Business Crime Partnerships Ltd and Blue Star Capital plc.

He takes an active and regular part in the business of the House of Lords, speaking from the cross benches on home affairs, criminal justice, and rural affairs. In 2008 he successfully lead 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.

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.

Dear married 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.

References

• "DodOnline". http://www.dodonline.co.uk/engine.asp?lev1=4&lev2=38&menu=81&biog=y&id=54212&group=5&Page=Lord%20Dear%20:%20Political%20Biography. Retrieved 2006-10-24. 
• "thePeerage". http://www.thepeerage.com/p19232.htm#i192312. Retrieved 2006-10-24. 
• Biography, Who's Who

Police appointments
Preceded by Unknown	Assistant Chief Constable (Operations), Nottinghamshire Combined Constabulary/Nottinghamshire Police 1972–1975	Succeeded by Unknown
Preceded by Unknown	Director of Command Training, Bramshill Police College 1975–1977	Succeeded by Unknown
Preceded by Unknown	Assistant Chief Constable (Operations), Nottinghamshire Police 1977–1980	Succeeded by Edward Griffith
Preceded by Unknown	Deputy Assistant Commissioner (Training), Metropolitan Police 1980–1981	Succeeded by Unknown
Preceded by John Gerrard	Assistant Commissioner "D", Metropolitan Police 1981–1984	Succeeded by Geoffrey McLean
Preceded by Wilford Gibson	Assistant Commissioner "A", Metropolitan Police 1984–1985	Succeeded by Last incumbent
Preceded by Sir Philip Knights	Chief Constable of the West Midlands 1985–1990	Succeeded by Ronald Hadfield