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(London) The highest ranking out gay police officer in the world is reportedly ready to leave his job as Deputy Assistant Police Commissioner of London’s Metropolitan Police.
Brian Paddick has confirmed he will leave the force in which he has served for more than 30 years at the end of the month. He said he wants to begin writing a book on his career and to do public speaking.
Paddick had become disenchanted with the way the force was being run following a disagreement with the way Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair had handled the shooting of an innocent man police had mistaken for a terror suspect at in 2005.
Paddick told a commission investigating the shooting that Blair’s own private officer believed, just hours after the shooting the wrong man had been killed. Still, Blair had maintained the man was a terrorist.
Following the July 2005 terrorist attack on the London transit system Paddick led the investigation to find those responsible and was a near constant presence at news conferences to update the public.
The grandson of a policeman, Paddick grew up in South London. He joined the Metropolitan Police, called the Met, in 1976. Progressing through the ranks, he gained operational experience in Brixton in 1981 when the area was hit by race riots and was promoted to detective and then served in managerial roles in a variety of areas.
Paddick holds degrees in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University and a Masters in Business Administration from Warwick. At Oxford, he was Captain of the University Swimming Team and Vice-Captain of his college’s Rugby team.
At the end of 2000, Paddick was promoted to the rank of Commander and moved back to Brixton. His “softly, softly” approach to marijuana possession was met with stiff opposition by many on the force, and helped fuel his detractors who had argued against promoting a gay officer in the first place.
In November of the same year Paddick was rebuked by the Metropolitan Police Commissioner for saying arresting people for using Ecstasy was “low” on his priority list.
He then was accused of posting a message on a web board that he found the “concept of anarchism appealing”.
The controversy surrounding him climaxed in March 2002 when his former lover James Renolleau went public with drug allegations, which the officer denied. Nevertheless, Paddick was suspended following an investigation. But, in October 2002 it was announced that no criminal charges would follow.
That summer he led a march of other gay police officers through central London as part of the Gay Pride festival.
Following the investigation over drugs Paddick was seconded to Scotland Yard where he helped implement the National Intelligence Model – a blueprint for dealing with emergencies such as the subway terrorist attack. The Model also helped develop the intricate surveillance camera system that blankets London.
It was those cameras that helped make arrests in the attack.
In 2003 Paddick returned to the Met becoming Deputy Assistant Commissioner – the number two man in the Met.
Source: 365gay.com