PCSO is an acronym that may refer to:

In law enforcement:

• Police Community Support Officer, a Police staff role in England and Wales
• Police Custody and Security Officer, a Police staff role in Scotland

In government:

• Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, the Philippine government's controlled corporation for fundraising

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Bernard Hogan-Howe, QPM (born 25 October 1957) is the present Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (of London). He was previously Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, an Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, and more recently one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Constabulary.

On 18 July 2011, the Home Secretary announced Hogan-Howe's temporary appointment as Acting Deputy Commissioner following the resignation of the Commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, and the appointment of the incumbent Deputy Commissioner as Acting Commissioner. Hogan-Howe applied for the position of Commissioner himself in August 2011 along with other candidates,^[1] and was successful in being selected for the post on 12 September 2011 after appearing before a panel of the Home Secretary and the Mayor of London and receiving the approval of the Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, before he was formally appointed by The Queen.^[2]

Early life and education[link]

Hogan-Howe was born in Sheffield in 1957, the son of Bernard Howe. He attended Hinde House School, a dual primary and secondary school, where he completed his A-levels. He was brought up single-handedly by his mother, whose surname of Hogan he later added by Deed poll. After leaving school, he spent four years working as a lab assistant in the National Health Service.^[3]

Whilst still with South Yorkshire Police, he was identified as a high-flier and selected to study for a MA degree in Law at Merton College,^[4][5] University of Oxford, which he began at the age of 28.^[6] He later went on to gain a Diploma in Applied Criminology from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from the University of Sheffield.^[7][8]

Police career[link]

Hogan-Howe began his police career in 1979 with South Yorkshire Police and rose to be District Commander of the Doncaster West area. In 1997, he transferred over to Merseyside Police as Assistant Chief Constable of Community Affairs, moving onto area operations in 1999. Hogan-Howe then once again transferred this time to the Metropolitan Police Service as Assistant Commissioner of Human Resources, July 2001-2004.^[9] He then took promotion and transferred to become Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, 2005-9.^[10][11]

Hogan-Howe had called for a "total war on crime"^[10] whilst Chief Constable and argued that the Health and Safety case which was successfully brought against the Metropolitan Police after the de Menezes shooting was restrictive of allowing the police to do their work.^[12] He had also called for a review of the decision to downgrade cannabis from a class B to a class C drug.^[13] He thereafter served as one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Constabulary, 2009-2011.^[14]

On 12 September 2011, it was announced that Bernard Hogan-Howe would become Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis^[2] on 26 September. He remained a deputy commissioner in charge of professional standards before he formally commenced his new role. During that period, a decision was made within the department of professional standards to use the Official Secrets Act to compel The Guardian to reveal its sources regarding the News International phone hacking scandal. The order was swiftly rescinded five days prior to Hogan-Howe's formal term of office.^[15] On 16 January 2012, Hogan-Howe gave a talk at The London School of Economics and Political Science entitled Total Policing: The Future of Policing in London. This was not well received by LSE students who asked him questions regarding racial profiling of citizens subjected to stop and search, violence produced by the police force, stigma regarding police uniforms, and the arrangement of police officers on the street, to which he was selectively responsive. At the end of the volatile confrontation, students cheered Hogan-Howe's departure with chants of "No Justice, No Peace, Fuck the Police," which was cut from the LSE official video recording of the event. ^[16]

Hogan-Howe acknowledges that police forces have social duties to perform, such as policing football matches and demonstrations, in conjunction with other services such as St John Ambulance. Fundamental for Hogan-Howe, however, is the maintenance of law and order^{[citation needed]}.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Metropolitan Police profile
• Debrett's People of Today