View source for Peter Imbert, Baron Imbert

{{short description|Metropolitan Police Service Commissioner from 1987 to 1993}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name                = The Lord Imbert
| honorific-suffix    = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CVO|QPM|KStJ|DL}}
| image               = Peter Imbert 1987.jpg
| imagesize           =
| smallimage          =
| caption             =
| order               =
| office1             = [[Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis]]
| term_start1         = 1 January 1987
| term_end1           = 31 December 1992
| monarch1            = [[Elizabeth II]]
| primeminister1      = [[Margaret Thatcher]]<BR>[[John Major]]
| deputy1             = [[John Dellow|Sir John Dellow]]<br>[[John Smith (police officer)|Sir John Smith]]
| predecessor1        = [[Kenneth Newman|Sir Kenneth Newman]]
| successor1          = [[Paul Condon, Baron Condon|Sir Paul Condon]]
| office              = [[Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London]]
| term_start          = 21 December 1998
| term_end            = 27 April 2008
| monarch             = [[Elizabeth II]]
| predecessor         = [[Edwin Bramall|Sir Edwin Bramall]]
| successor           = [[David Brewer (broker)|Sir David Brewer]]
| birthname           = Peter Michael Imbert
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1933|4|27|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Kent]], England
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|2017|11|13|1933|4|27|df=y}}
| death_place         =
| restingplace        =
| restingplacecoordinates =
| profession          = Police officer
}}
'''Peter Michael Imbert, Baron Imbert''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|CVO|QPM|KStJ|DL}} (27 April 1933 – 13 November 2017<ref>{{cite news|title=Tributes paid to former MPS commissioner|url=http://www.policeprofessional.com/news.aspx?id=30833|access-date=13 November 2017|work=Police Professional|date=13 November 2017}}</ref>) was [[Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis|Commissioner]] of the [[Metropolitan Police Service]] from 1987 to 1993, and prior to that appointment [[Chief Constable]] of [[Thames Valley Police]] from 1979 to 1985.
He was the [[Lord Lieutenant of Greater London]] from 1998 until 2008. He was made a [[life peer]] as '''Baron Imbert''', of New Romney in the County of [[Kent]] in 1999, sitting as a [[crossbencher]].
==Early life==
Born in [[Kent]], Imbert was educated at the [[Harvey Grammar School]] in [[Folkestone]], spent his National Service in the Royal Air Force Police and worked for a short time with Kent County Council, before joining the Metropolitan Police in 1953 at [[Bow Street Police Station]].
In 1956, he married Iris Dove, with whom he had three children.
==Metropolitan Police==
In 1956, Imbert joined [[Special Branch (Metropolitan Police)|Special Branch]], learning [[shorthand]] and Russian during his 17 years with the unit. In 1973, he was made deputy head of the [[Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch|Anti-Terrorist Branch]], where he became an expert on European terrorist groups such as [[Red Army Faction|Baader-Meinhof]], and gave lectures on hostage negotiation and counter-terrorism tactics.
===Balcombe Street Siege===
On 6 December 1975, four members of the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|Provisional IRA]] barricaded themselves in a flat in Balcombe Street, [[Marylebone]] with two hostages. The men had been responsible for a wave of bombings in London, but had been intercepted by armed police while attacking a restaurant.
Imbert was the chief negotiator over the six days of the [[Balcombe Street Siege]], and when the situation ended peacefully with no lives lost and the four IRA members under arrest, Imbert was noted as a possible high-flyer in the police force.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/12/newsid_2546000/2546477.stm 1975: Balcombe Street siege ends], [[bbc.co.uk]], 12 December 1975.</ref>
=== Guildford Four case ===
Imbert's role in interrogating the [[Guildford Four and Maguire Seven|Guildford Four]], convicted for the [[Guildford pub bombings]] of 5 October 1974, came under scrutiny after the four were released from jail in 1989. [[Geoffrey Lane, Baron Lane|Lord Chief Justice Lane]] described the police investigation of the Guildford Four as a sequence of false confessions and police deceits.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bowcott |first1=Owen |title=Eyewitness - Justice blind becomes justice embarrassed |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/1989/oct/20/northernireland.northernireland |work=The Guardian|date=20 October 1989 }}</ref> Imbert claimed to have believed the suspects' "confessions" which were made during an interrogation where they were subjected to violence and threats.<ref>{{cite web |title=Obituary: Former police chief who had dealings with Guildford Four |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/obituary-former-police-chief-who-had-dealings-with-guildford-four-1.3294893 |publisher=The Irish Times}}</ref>
==County forces==
In 1976, Imbert left the Met and became Assistant Chief Constable, and later Deputy Chief Constable of [[Surrey Police|Surrey Constabulary]]. In 1979, he became Chief Constable of [[Thames Valley Police]], the youngest Chief Constable in the country at that time.
During his time at Thames Valley, Imbert allowed the [[British Broadcasting Corporation|BBC]] to make ''[[Police (TV series)|Police]]'', a 1982 fly-on-the-wall documentary series about the police at work. The opposite of a public relations exercise, Thames Valley and the police in general came under sustained criticism when an episode of the programme showed three detectives interrogating and dismissing a rape victim. Shocked at the attitude and behaviour of his officers, and the public reaction, Imbert instigated improvements to the handling of rape cases to Thames Valley which were adopted throughout the country.<ref>[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/464502/index.html Police (1982)], [[screenonline]].</ref>
==Return to London==
Imbert returned to London in 1985 as Deputy Commissioner, becoming Commissioner in 1987.
Building on the reforms to the Met implemented by his predecessor, [[Kenneth Newman|Sir Kenneth Newman]], Imbert began his own set of reforms called the PLUS programme, aiming to improve the corporate image and quality of service of the Met. The programme saw the Met renamed from the "Metropolitan Police Force" to the "Metropolitan Police Service", the name it has retained to this day.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fleming |first=Robert |author2=Hugh Miller |title=Scotland Yard |year=1995 |publisher=Signet |location=London |isbn=0-451-18250-2}}</ref> In addition, a Statement of Common Purpose and Values was devised.
Imbert suffered a heart attack in 1990, and took six months off duty. Further illness in 1992 led to his retirement from the police on 31 January 1993.
==Honours==
Awarded the [[Queen's Police Medal]] (QPM) in 1980,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=48212 |date=14 June 1980 |page=29 |supp=y}}</ref> Imbert was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in 1988.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=51558 |date=13 December 1988 |page=13986}}</ref>
Imbert was created [[Deputy Lieutenant]] of [[Greater London]] in 1994, and [[Lord Lieutenant]] in 1998, an office he held until 2008.
He was created a [[life peer]] on 10 February 1999, taking the title Baron Imbert, of [[New Romney]] in the county of Kent.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=55403 |date=15 February 1999 |page=1763}}</ref>
He was appointed a [[Royal Victorian Order|Commander of the Royal Victorian Order]] (CVO) in the [[2008 New Year Honours|2008 New Year Honours List]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=58557 |date=29 December 2007 |page=3 |supp=y}}</ref>
<div class="center">
[[File:Royal Victorian Order UK ribbon.png|100px]]
[[File:Knight-Bachelor.ribbon.png|100px]]
<br>
[[File:Order of St John (UK) ribbon -vector.svg|100px]]
[[File:Queens Police Medal for Merit.png|100px]]
[[File:Police Long Service and Good Conduct ribbon.png|100px]]
</div>
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto;"
|- style="background:silver;" align="center"
|Ribbon || Description || Notes
|-
|[[File:Royal Victorian Order UK ribbon.png|40px]] || [[Royal Victorian Order]] (CVO) ||
* Commander
* 2008
|-
|[[File:Knight-Bachelor.ribbon.png|40px]] || [[Knight Bachelor]] (Kt) ||
* 1988
|-
|[[File:Order of St John (UK) ribbon -vector.svg|40px]] || [[Order of Saint John (chartered 1888)|Order of St John]] (KStJ) ||
* Knight of Justice
|-
|[[File:Queens Police Medal for Merit.png|40px]] || [[Queen's Police Medal]] (QPM) ||
* 1980
|-
|[[File:Police Long Service and Good Conduct ribbon.png|40px]] || [[Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal]] ||
|-
|}
{{Emblem table
|image = [[File:Coronet of a British Baron.svg|centre|150px]][[File:Imbert Escutcheon.png|centre|200px]]
|escutcheon = Azure between three escallop shells a portcullis flanked by two keys palewise in fess their wards outward Argent and in middle chief a dove statant wings expanded also Argent.
|crest = An ancient ship Sable statant on the bulwarks thereof and in front of its mast a lion Or grasping in the dexter forepaw a sword erect Argent hilt pommel and quillons Or furled over the ship's yard arm a mainsail Azure and from the mast top a pennon flying also Azure.
|supporters = On either side a horse Argent maned tailed and unguled Or and holding in the mouth a truncheon Azure.<ref>{{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage |date=2003 |page=844}}</ref>}}
== Imbert Prize ==
{{Main|Imbert Prize}}
Lord Imbert was a patron of the Association of Security Consultants (ASC), which has awarded the Imbert Prize annually since 2005. The prize is awarded for the development of ideas for the advancement of risk and security management in the UK. It consists of three categories: 1) Best academic dissertation, 2) Most notable contribution in the security industry in the preceding year and 3) The ASC member that has made the most significant contribution to independent security consultancy.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.securityconsultants.org.uk/content/events.asp?ret=latestevents&ID=218 | title = The Imbert Prize | access-date = 26 June 2009 | publisher = Association of Security Consultants | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071206002651/http://www.securityconsultants.org.uk/content/events.asp?ret=latestevents&ID=218 | archive-date = 6 December 2007 | df = dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title = Brian Sims nominated for Imbert Prize | url = http://www.info4security.com/story.asp?storyCode=4118854&sectioncode=10 | publisher = Info4Security | date = 6 May 2008 | access-date = 26 June 2009 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110713030823/http://www.info4security.com/story.asp?storyCode=4118854&sectioncode=10 | archive-date = 13 July 2011 | df = dmy-all }}</ref>
Between 1983 and 2001 Baron Imbert served on the academic consultative committee at [[Cumberland Lodge]].<ref>[http://www.cumberlandlodge.ac.uk/aboutus/trustees_of_cumberland_lodge Cumberland Lodge: Trustees] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110404015647/http://www.cumberlandlodge.ac.uk/aboutus/trustees_of_cumberland_lodge |date=4 April 2011 }}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
;General
*{{cite book | last = Fido | first = Martin | author-link = Martin Fido |author2=Keith Skinner | year = 1999 | title = The Official Encyclopedia of Scotland Yard | publisher = Virgin Books | location = London | isbn = 0-7535-0515-0}}
* https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/25/magazine/when-british-justice-failed.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
==External links==
*[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199899/minutes/990223/ldminute.htm Announcement of his introduction at the House of Lords] House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 23 February 1999
*[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199293/cmhansrd/1992-10-23/Debate-1.html Announcement of his retirement in the House of Commons], House of Commons Hansard Debates, 23 October 1992
*[https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp68915/peter-michael-imbert-baron-imbert?search=sas&sText=peter+imbert Photographic portrait of Imbert in the National Portrait Gallery]
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{{s-civ|pol}}
{{s-bef|before= [[David Holdsworth (police officer)|David Holdsworth]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Chief Constable]] of [[Thames Valley Police]]|years=1979–1985}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Colin Smith (police officer)|Colin Smith]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Kenneth Newman|Sir Kenneth Newman]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis]]|years=1987–1993}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Paul Condon, Baron Condon|Sir Paul Condon]]}}
{{s-hon}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Edwin Bramall, Baron Bramall|The Lord Bramall]]}}
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{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Imbert, Peter Imbert, Baron}}
[[Category:1933 births]]
[[Category:2017 deaths]]
[[Category:Commissioners of Police of the Metropolis]]
[[Category:Crossbench life peers]]
[[Category:Deputy lieutenants of Greater London]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Lord-lieutenants of Greater London]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:Knights of Justice of the Order of St John]]
[[Category:English recipients of the Queen's Police Medal]]
[[Category:People educated at The Harvey Grammar School]]
[[Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II]]