UK’s most senior police officer Cressida Dick is in same-sex relationship
The UK’s most senior police officer has revealed that she is in a same-sex relationship.
Cressida Dick took over as Commissioner of London’s Metropolitan Police force this week, taking over from the departing Sir Bernard Hogan Howe.
In an interview with the London’s Evening Standard newspaper, Ms Dick revealed that she is in a relationship with a female colleague.
She explained of her partner: “I’m incredibly well-supported. I am a very happy person.
“I have a lovely life, very privileged. I came from a warm, close family who for generations were involved in public service.
“I joined the police because I wanted to be involved with a much wider range of people. I wanted to be in a team and doing something important.”
The newspaper added: “Her partner, Helen, is a response team inspector at a police station in a busy south London borough, so she does not switch off when she gets home.”
In the interview she vowed to clamp down on violent hate crimes.
She said: “Violence, in all its aspects, is what these next five years are going to be about, from terrorism to hate crime, and definitely domestic violence and our ability to safeguard children.”
Ms Dick’s promotion comes at a critical time for the police force, which is currently subject to a Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigation over potential lapses that allowed serial killer Stephen Port to evade authorities, murdering four gay men between 2014 and 2015.
IPCC Commissioner Cindy Butts last month confirmed that 17 Metropolitan Police officers have been served with notices as part of the investigation.
The families of the victims previously threatened to the Met over alleged institutional homophobia which they say led to shocking lapses in the case – with the spate of deaths initially written off as accidental drug overdoses.
Ms Dick’s predecessor in the role, Sir Bernard Hogan Howe, spoke to PinkNews last year about potential terror threats to London’s LGBT community following the Orlando massacre in the US.
He said: “We’ve got no intelligence to say that someone is going to attack [Pride] or any of the businesses here in this area, but it’s a good time to stop, and work out if what’s going on in America means anything for what’s happening here.
We know we’ve got the biggest gay business group in Europe here in Soho, so we want to make sure we reassure people, and also tell the gay community what they can do to protect themselves.
“We don’t think there’s any particular threat to this community here in London, or to the Pride march… but it would be really foolish to not sit down and talk about it and make sure our security measures are in the right place.”
The Met launched an LGBT staff network last year.
PC Anton Brown, the Chair of the Network, said: “This is the culmination of two years’ work, which started with a conversation over a coffee in Berlin at the European Gay Police Association conference in 2014.
“The Met had been lacking in a LGBT staff association for a number of years and after a lot of hard work the Network was finally launched.
“The new staff association will represent LGBT matters in the Met, promoting recruitment and delivering training to LGBT liaison officers. It will also provide access to local and national events, promote reporting and provide support to members who have suffered LGBT crimes or bullying.
“The Network will also work with the LGBT community to signpost members of the public to support services.”
