We are proud to have the UK’s most senior police officer as our Honorary President.
Cressida assumed office as the Commissioner of The Metropolitan Police Service on 10 April 2017 – a date that will go down in history as this was the first time a female had been appointed to the top job in the UKs largest police service. Her first official engagement was an emotionally challenging one attending the funeral of PC Keith Palmer, tragically killed in the 2017 Westminster attack.
Starting her career with the Metropolitan Police in 1983 as a Police Constable, Cressida has risen through the ranks to get to the most senior position in policing. Ten years after joining the Met, she joined the accelerated promotion course at Bramshill Police College, achieving promotion to Superintendent at Thames Valley Police in 1995. Prior to leaving Thames Valley Police she served as a Commander in Oxford for three years.
Cressida’s experience in policing is complemented with her academic qualifications in policing, which she has worked towards whilst serving as a full-time senior police officer. In 2001, she was awarded a Master of Philosophy in criminology from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, graduating with the highest grade in her class.
Returning to the Met in 2001 as a Commander, Cressida continued to seek opportunities for progression and achieved the rank of Acting Deputy Commissioner before retiring from the police service in 2015 to join the Foreign Office, in an unspecified director-general posting.
After spending a couple of years away from the Police Service, the position of Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police became vacant after Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe announced his retirement in 2016. Cressida was a lead candidate in the recruitment process for the position and it was formally announced on 22 February 2017 by the Home Office and MPS that she would be appointed as the next Commissioner of the Metropolis, on recommendation of the then Home Secretary Amber Rudd. She has been in office as Commissioner since 20 April 2017 and we are very grateful for the excellent work she has done since being in post!
We are very proud to have the Commissioner as our Honorary President as she is a strong public figure of the Metropolitan Police Service. We believe she is a great role model for all young officers male and female alike, who have the drive and ambition to progress through the ranks.
