Geoffrey James Dear, Baron Dear, (born 20 September 1937) is a crossbench peer 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 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, 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 multiple 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 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. 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.
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, given Dear's ultimate responsibility for the continuing failures of the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad.
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.
Peerage
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 Blaythorne Group Ltd.