Deputy Chief Constable Derek Benson

Derek Benson joined the Metropolitan Police Service in 1985 after graduating from Oxford Polytechnic with an honours degree in Politics and Economics.

He began his career at Southall in West London including a period as a Home Beat officer in Greenford. On promotion to Sergeant in 1989 he transferred to Hammersmith and Shepherds Bush where he worked in a number of roles both in uniform and attached to the CID.

In 1992 he was promoted to Inspector and moved to Harrow where he remained for four years working as a team Inspector running a very successful sector policing team.

In 1996 he was promoted to the rank of Chief Inspector and transferred to the Complaints Department for North West London with responsibility for investigating allegations of misconduct in Camden, Holborn and Hampstead.

After a year in this role he was selected to command the Territorial Support Group for North West London. This involved becoming trained to Level 1 and saw deployments to such as Notting Hill Carnival, Wembley and numerous public order situations in various parts of London.

On promotion to Superintendent in 1999 he was posted as Head of Operations in the Directorate of Training and Development at Hendon before transferring to Haringey Borough in 2000. He spent over two years in Haringey in both support and operational roles, and was involved in the policing of many Premiership football matches at Tottenham as well as a variety of firearms and public order situations.

The unique political sensitivities of the area provided valuable practical experience that stood him in good stead for his next posting as the Borough Commander for Hackney where he remained from 2002 until 2004.

He attended the 2004 Strategic Command Course before returning to the MPS as a Detective Chief Superintendent in charge of the Security, Protection and Counter Terrorism Bureau within the Specialist Operations Command.

In 2005 he was selected as Staff Officer to the Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, a post he held until joining Essex Police in December 2006 as Assistant Chief Constable.

During his time with Essex Police as an Assistant Chief Constable Mr Benson has previously held the Operational Support portfolio and what was the Protective Services portfolio, where he was responsible for Major Crime, Operations and Counter Terrorism.

Most recently he has held responsibility for a force-wide programme of work considering how Essex Police can best meet the significant challenges of pending budget restrictions while maintaining top quality policing services.

Having been the temporary Deputy Chief Constable since May 2011, he was appointed permanently to the role on the June 10, 2011. As Deputy Chief Constable he leads many areas within the Force, including Professional Standards, Media and Corporate Development. He is also the strategic lead for the force on collaboration with Kent Police and with the Eastern Region forces (Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk). Mr Benson is also the lead in the eastern region for Counter Terrorism.
 
He is married to Lynne and has three children aged 20, 18 and 14. In his spare time he enjoys walking his dog, playing five-a-side football and helping to run a football team in which his youngest son plays.

He holds the ACPO lead for Public Order intelligence and sits on the ACPO Board of Directors