Agenda item

Apologies were received from Alderman Professor Emma Edhem, Nicholas Bensted-Smith, Deputy Keith Bottomley, Dawn Wright and Andrew Lentin.

Alderman Professor Emma Edhem, Nicholas Bensted-Smith and Deputy Keith Bottomley observed the meeting virtually.

Members Helen Fentimen and Michael Mitchell, of  the Board’s Sub-Committees, also observed the meeting virtually.

THANKS TO THE CHIEF FINANCE AND OPERATING OFFICER

It was Cecilie Booth’s final meeting and, on behalf of the Board, the Chair thank Cecilie for all her hard work in her three years in the City. Cecilie joined the City of London Police in January 2019, initially as interim Finance Director before then becoming Chief Operating and Finance Officer on a fixed-term contract.  There was much for Cecilie to be proud of in turning around the Force’s financial management and capability during her time with us. The Police Authority is now significantly more assured about budgeting, forecasting and reporting within the Force and she had worked collaboratively with the Police Authority in developing the Force’s MTFP and other strategic finance outputs.

Cecilie instituted a more commercial culture in the Force, helping to identify and drive efficiencies, including exploiting opportunities for income generation and implementing more robust recharging arrangements for the Force’s complex web of funded units.

Cecilie moves on with the Board’s thanks and best wishes for the future.

THANKS TO THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE

The Chair led the Board in its thanks to Ian Dyson who was for the last time in attendance as Commissioner of the City of London Police after an incredible 38 years in policing. Ian joined the Metropolitan Police on 10 October 1983 - aged 22 - after graduating from Leeds University with a BA in History.  Ian then followed in his fathers’ footsteps into policing.

Ian joined at a time when the police still policed in tunics, they did not wear body armour, radios were not available to all and there were no mobiles or CCTV. Ian trained at Hendon, as one of sixty trainees but just one of three on a then relatively new graduate scheme. Ian’s intake had just three from non-white backgrounds and just six women. Being on the fast track, Ian was later to be promoted to Sergeant in 1986 along with his lifelong colleague and friend Cressida Dick.

After Hendon he was posted to Wimbledon, but was almost immediately deployed to police the miners’ strike whilst still a probationer. Policing strikes and protests proved to be recurring theme in Ian’s career and it is clear he enjoys public order policing having policed the Notting Hill Carnival several times where he was based in the area for a number of years initially as an Inspector rising to Superintendent.

As a passionate and talented historian, Ian will recognise the historical significance of his career in policing being bookended by the Miners’ Strike and the Extinction Rebellion Protests; two totemic social events in the modern history of our country and indeed both linked by those for and against the fossil fuel industry.

Ian’s last two years with the Metropolitan Police were as Chief Superintendent with its Club’s and Vice unit dealing with licenced premises, clubs and vice before moving to Surrey Police in 2008 as Assistant Chief Constable.

Ian soon returned to London and joined the City of London Police as Commander in 2010 before becoming Assistant Commissioner 2012 and finally being appointed as Commissioner in 2016. In his time in the City, Ian had done much to make the City the safest business district in the world and to ensure that Force became the specialist for protective security and for fighting economic and cyber crime.

The Chair placed on record the gratitude of this Police Authority Board for the work Ian had undertaken to strengthen the City’s protective security capability and counter terrorism. In addition to the world-leading Servator programme, Ian oversaw countless counter terrorism operations including the response to the London Bridge terrorist attack in 2017 and the City’s response to the other London attacks that year and more recently the Fishmongers’ Hall attack in 2019.  Ian’s strong personal commitment shown to the victims of these attacks is not widely known, with his son being critically injured in the Westminster Bridge attack and remaining on a long and determined recovery to put that behind him and his family.

During his tenure as Commissioner, Ian had overseen a significant strengthening of the City’s National Lead Force capabilities for economic crime.  This included securing increased national and local investment for fighting fraud, expanding the resources available to the Economic Crime Directorate, including creating an Assistant Commissioner for Economic and Cyber Crime for the first time. It is testament to the success of this particular change that his successor as Commissioner is the person he appointed to this new role.

Ian also worked proactively with his colleagues in the National Police Chiefs’ Council to secure the much-coveted cyber portfolio for the City, which is already an intrinsic part of the City’s national role and hugely complementary to the Force’s specialisms for protective security and economic crime.

Reflecting on the diversity of Ian’s intake in 1983, Ian had done much to improve diversity, inclusivity and force culture whilst recognising that more can be done in this area and he leaves the City with the Force committed to recruiting more than 40% from ethnically diverse backgrounds as part of the uplift programme with the most recent intake being 56% female and 52% BAME.

This approach to diversity and inclusivity is an important part of the trust and confidence that is so important in policing and, as Ian has said, it is about questioning what you are doing, acknowledging mistakes, apologising where things have been wrong and to seek to continually improve.

On behalf of the Police Authority Board and indeed the City of London as Police Authority, I wish you and Fiona a long and happy retirement.

The Commissioner of Police made a reply and commended the new Commissioner designate to the Board.