Sir Stephen House (born 1957) is a British police officer who served as Acting Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in 2022. After beginning his career at Sussex Police in 1981, House held positions in Northamptonshire Police and West Yorkshire Police, then became Assistant Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police in 1998. In 2001, he joined the Metropolitan Police as a Deputy Assistant Commissioner, remaining there until 2007, when he was appointed Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police.
Following the establishment of Police Scotland in 2012, House was appointed the new force's first chief constable, but stood down in 2015 following a series of controversies. In 2018 House returned to the Metropolitan Police as an Assistant Commissioner, becoming Deputy Commissioner to Cressida Dick later that year. After Dick left office in April 2022, House was Acting Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police until September 2022. From September 2022 he led a review of operational productivity in policing at the National Police Chiefs' Council, a position he left in March 2023 after being referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct in relation to alleged claims about rape.
Early life
House was born in Glasgow in 1957 and attended the independent Kelvinside Academy. When he was 11, his family moved to London, where he continued to be privately educated in Hampstead. His father, William, worked for the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, while his mother, Alice, worked in a laboratory before becoming a full-time parent to her children. He has a younger brother, Jon, who was also a senior police officer and was later chief executive of Cardiff Council. House returned to Scotland in 1976, to study History and English Literature at the University of Aberdeen.
Career
Early police career
House joined Sussex Police in 1981. He cites his experiences of the police in Aberdeen during his time as a student there, as well as a desire for a role in a disciplined, hierarchical environment, and a view of the police as "a sort of secret, closed-off society", as part of his initial motivation for becoming a police officer. While at Sussex Police he was part of operations responding to the Brighton hotel bombing of 1984 and the miners' strike of 1984–85.
He later described himself as not "particularly good" and "a bit too judgmental" as an officer on the beat, and said he lacked maturity and empathy in his early career. He transferred in 1988 to Northamptonshire Police, where he was promoted to Sergeant, then progressed to Chief Inspector before moving in 1994 to West Yorkshire Police where he worked as a Superintendent. He became Assistant Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police in 1998.
Metropolitan Police Service (2001–2007) House joined the Metropolitan Police in December 2001, as a Deputy Assistant Commissioner working in Policy Reviews and Standards. In early 2003, he moved to Territorial Policing, where he was appointed Assistant Commissioner of the Central Operations Branch. In 2006, as Commander of the Specialist Crime Directorate, he had responsibility for areas including child abuse, economic crime, the Flying Squad, forensics, gun crime, homicide, undercover policing and the disruption of criminal networks.
Strathclyde Police (2007–2012) House was appointed as Chief constable of Strathclyde Police in 2007 and joined the force formally in November that year, succeeding Willie Rae, the retiring Chief Constable.
In 2011, while in post at Strathclyde, and after being contacted by Home Office officials, House applied to become the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis following the resignation of Paul Stephenson. Bernard Hogan-Howe was eventually appointed to the post.
House acknowledged that he was disappointed at being unsuccessful in his application. He was quoted as saying "You don't put yourself forward for a job like that lightly, and unfortunately you do it in the full glare of publicity, so it was a pretty difficult situation".
Police Scotland (2012–2015) House was appointed Chief Constable of Police Scotland in September 2012 and took up the position when the new force, which replaced Scotland's eight regional forces, was formally established in April 2013. He had previously called for the creation of such a national force. Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said House would be "outstanding" in the position and said he had an "impressive track record of leadership, partnership working and delivery". In an interview conducted soon after he was sworn in, he argued it was necessary for police officers "to have a strong sense of morality" and said responding to domestic abuse and organised crime would be priorities.