Staffordshire CID head is given QPM

The head of Staffordshire’s CID, Detective Chief Superintendent Geoff White has been given the Queen’s Police Medal in the birthday honours.

Chief Constable David Swift said: “Detective Chief Superintendent White has been an outstanding local servant to Staffordshire Police throughout his career. Most recently his capability and expertise as an investigator has not only been appreciated locally but is recognised nationally. I congratulate him totally on this thoroughly deserved honour.”

Detective Chief Superintendent White has had a distinguished 31-year career to date, the majority as a detective. In 1979, after three-years service, he received the first of three chief constable’s commendations, for his work on a burglary initiative on the Bentilee Estate in Stoke-on-Trent.

As a detective superintendent, he received a commendation in 2000 for the murder investigation of Wendy Upton who was murdered in Lichfield in October 1998.

Three years later, as a chief superintendent, he was presented with a commendation for the murder investigation of Floyd Dodson, a Dutch national, whose body was discovered in a barrel in Pendeford in September 1999. A complex four-year investigation, spanning several countries, led to the conviction of the offender for manslaughter.

In 2004 he received a commendation from Her Majesty’s Coroner for Nottingham, Doctor Nigel Chapman. This followed a re-investigation into the death of a Chinese student – Man Wai Chan, whose family had complained to the then Police Complaints Authority in respect of the initial enquiry by Nottinghamshire Police.

Detective Chief Superintendent White successfully oversaw the domestic extremism investigation at Yoxall involving the grave desecration of Mrs Gladys Hammond.

Following a review of the CID in 2003, a force-wide major investigation unit was established as part of its restructuring, ensuring the best quality of service to the public and the professionalisation of staff.

He became a member of the Association of Chief Police Officers’ Homicide Working Group in 2000 and since 2002 has been its secretary. His involvement has been integral in overseeing the development of the group into its high profile and impactive position. He was also instrumental in ensuring the delivery of the recommendations following the Soham Review.

Recently he has authored two sets of national guidance on investigations on deaths in prisons and how to manage cell-block conversations.

Detetective Chief Superintendent White’s expertise has been sought nationally. He became one of a small team of advisors to Suffolk Police on a recent murder investigation of five women.

Last year, he was an advisor to the senior investigating officer at West Mercia Constabulary on the murder of two women at a massage parlour in Shrewsbury.

Detective Chief Superintendent White said: “This award has only been possible due to me having had the opportunity to have worked with some of the most able and dedicated people both within Staffordshire Police and in recent years, the service nationally.