Most senior female BME officer in history to retire

Assistant Commissioner Patricia Gallan will retire in August after three years as a member of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Management Board.

She is currently the assistant commissioner – equivalent to chief constable – in charge of specialist crime and operations.

Commissioner Cressida Dick said: “Pat has given extraordinary service to policing and can rightly be proud of what she has achieved and the contribution she has made.

“Always a passionate supporter of the Met and policing more generally, Pat has undertaken some of the most challenging and demanding roles and has always approached them with passion and determination.

“Not only has Pat given so much to the Met, as the first black woman to reach the rank of chief constable she has been a role model and provided inspiration and coaching support to a great many more junior colleagues across the Met and more widely.

“I wish Pat well for the future.” Ms Gallan – who is also a qualified barrister – joined the MPS in 1987 as a graduate entrant, working her way up the ranks to detective superintendent in 2000, when she was appointed head of the informant unit in the Criminal Intelligence Branch.

In January 2005, she joined the National Crime Squad as assistant chief constable in charge of covert policing before receiving a Queen’s Police Medal in the 2006 New Years Honours. Ms Gallan was then appointed as assistant chief constable of Merseyside Police, where she also served as temporary deputy chief constable from October 2009 to February 2010.

In 2012 she returned to the MPS as deputy assistant commissioner leading the Directorate of Professional Standards, and was in charge of Operation Alice – a high-profile investigation into allegations that Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell called police officers plebs.

Ms Gallan said: “I have enjoyed my time in the Met as well as in other forces across the UK. At first hand every day, I have seen the commitment and professionalism of police officers and police staff, and I’m proud to have been a police officer and a detective in all of the forces in which I have served; with the Met as my first and last force having a very special meaning to me.

“Having served for over thirty years, I have been very privileged to have served as an assistant commissioner and I am very proud of our police officers and staff.

“Whilst I am looking forward to new challenges, I will always be a strong supporter of policing, and the Met’s people – police officers and staff.”