Stephen House

Sir Stephen House, QPM (born 1957) is a retired senior Scottish police officer. Following roles of increasing responsibility and seniority in a number of police forces, he became first Chief Constable of Police Scotland in October 2012 and served in that role until November 2015.

Early life

Stephen House was born in Glasgow in 1957 and grew up in Castlemilk, before moves to Bishopbriggs and Inchinnan in the metropolitan area of Glasgow. His father, William, worked for the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, finishing his career as a senior manager. His mother, Alice, worked in a laboratory until becoming a full-time parent to her children. He has a younger brother, Jonathan, who was also a senior police officer, as Police Commander for Sheffield, and a trained hostage negotiator, before becoming a senior officer in local government in Bristol and Cardiff and currently, a Director with PwC.^[1][2]

House was initially educated at the independent Kelvinside Academy in Glasgow but, when he was 11, his family moved to London, where he continued to be privately educated, in Hampstead. He has acknowledged that his Glasgow accent led to his being singled out and that this probably led to his adoption of an Estuary English voice, although he claims to feel himself Scottish and, particularly, Glaswegian.^[3] House returned to Scotland in 1976, to study History and English Literature at the University of Aberdeen.

Early police career

House cites good experiences of the police in Aberdeen during his time as a student there, while also noting that he wanted a role in a disciplined, hierarchical environment.^[3]

He joined Sussex Police in 1981, transferring in 1988 to Northamptonshire Police, where he was promoted to Sergeant. He remained a uniformed officer until 1992 and progressed to Chief Inspector before moving in 1994 to West Yorkshire Police where he worked as a Superintendent in the Performance Unit. He was promoted to Divisional Commander in Central Bradford prior to being appointed Assistant Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police in 1998.

Metropolitan Police Service

He joined the Metropolitan Police in December 2001, as a Deputy Assistant Commissioner, working in Policy Review and Standards. In early 2003, he moved to Territorial Policing, setting up the Territorial Support Group within the Central Operations Branch, where he was appointed Assistant Commissioner. In 2006, as Commander of the Specialist Crime Directorate, he had responsibility for a diverse command including homicide, child abuse, economic crime, the Flying Squad, undercover policing, gun crime, forensics and the disruption of criminal networks.^[4]

Strathclyde Police

House was appointed as Chief constable of Strathclyde Police in 2007 and joined the force formally in November that year, succeeding Sir Willie Rae, the retiring Chief Constable.

His time in Strathclyde saw a substantial increase in officer numbers and a marked decrease in crime, most notably violent crime. Under his command, the Strathclyde force launched a major effort to combat the gang culture that drives much of crime in Glasgow. This was carried out with a combination of aggressive and often outspoken policing. The Community Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV) proved successful in combating local gangs through a combination of persistent arrests and diversion tactics to steer youths away from crime.

During his time at Strathcyde Police, House also helped to establish the Scottish Government's Joint Action Group on Football, of which he is a member. He had called on the First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond to host a football summit in March 2011. The summit was held following a number of high-profile incidents at Old Firm football games, and a steady increase in incidents of crime and anti-social behaviour taking place across the Force area on days when games between the two clubs were taking place. The Joint Action Group was established soon afterwards.

Application for appointment as Metropolitan Commissioner

While in post at Strathclyde, and after being contacted by Home Office officials, Stephen House applied to become the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis.^[5] following the resignation of Sir Paul Stephenson. Bernard Hogan-Howe was eventually appointed to the post.

House acknowledged that he was disappointed at being unsuccessful in his application. He was quoted as saying "You don't put yourself forward for a job like that lightly, and unfortunately you do it in the full glare of publicity, so it was a pretty difficult situation".^[3]

Police Scotland

In February 2011, in advance of a conference on the future of policing, House commented that a national Scottish police force would be better equipped to deal with major incidents.^[4][6]

On 25 September 2012 it was announced that House was to be appointed as the Chief Constable of the new Police Scotland, which came into operation on 1 April 2013. On 1 October 2012, he was sworn in as Chief Constable.^[7]

On 27 August 2015 it was announced that he will stand down from the post in 3 months.^[8] His last day in the job was 30 November 2015.^[9] His replacement will be Phil Gormley.^[10]

Armed police

His decision to use armed police officers for normal duties has been heavily criticised by many, including Scottish politicians,^[11] Police federation members^[12][13] and other senior police officers^[14]

Police Roll of Honour Trust

In November 2013, House took up the role of Patron of the national police charity the Police Roll of Honour Trust. He joined Bernard Hogan-Howe and Hugh Orde as joint patrons.^[15]

Personal life

House has been married since 1987, with three children, two girls and a boy, and lives in Helensburgh on the Firth of Clyde, 20 miles west of Glasgow. He has few interests outside of his family and his job,^[3] although he enjoys hill walking and reading science fiction. He is a keen motorcyclist and was known to turn up unannounced at police stations on a motorcycle when he was Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police.^[16]

Honours

House was awarded the Queen's Police Medal in 2005 for distinguished service.^[4] He was knighted in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to law and order.^[17][18]

Ribbon	Description	Notes
	Knight Bachelor (Kt)	2013
	Queen's Police Medal (QPM)	2005
	Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal	2002 UK Version of this Medal
	Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal	2012 UK Version of this Medal
	Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal	2003

External links

• Brief profile of Stephen House, Police Scotland website
• BBC News Article about Stephen House's appointment as Chief Constable

References