Bob Quick (police officer)

Police career

Quick joined the police service in 1978 at the age of 18, first serving in Lambeth. From 1978 – 1991, he served in a range of positions in both uniform and CID in South London, dealing with armed robbery, drug trafficking, murder and other serious offences.

In 2000 he was appointed head of the Metropolitan Police CIB and Anti-Corruption Command overseeing corruption investigations and public complaints. In November 2001 he led "Operation Safer Streets" in London against robbery and armed crime which resulted in large falls in these crime categories. In December 2002, he took charge of a police operation in east London to deal with a gunman who had taken a hostage at a flat in Hackney. For this operation he was widely praised for the restraint shown, in what was at the time London's longest armed siege. He was awarded the Queen's Police Medal in the 2002 New Year's Honours for distinguished service.

He later became Chief Constable of Surrey and during his tenure (2004–2008) Surrey Police was rated as one of the best performing forces in England and Wales. In 2008 he was succeeded by Mark Rowley as Chief Constable. Quick then returned to London to become an assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service.

He is currently the CEO of BGS Ltd.

Controversy

In October 2008 Quick received a complaint from senior officials at the Government Cabinet Office regarding a series of leaks of official documents from the Home Office, which found their way into some national newspapers. Some of the documents were classified as "secret". An ensuing investigation led to the arrest of a senior civil servant who implicated two prominent opposition MPs. After consultations with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) one of these MPs, Damian Green, was arrested for aiding or abetting misconduct in public office and the police searched the MP's home and his parliamentary office, which caused a political furore. Opposition MPs claimed the police were acting under the orders of, or with knowledge of, the then Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. Evidence was later taken by Parliament, which proved these claims to be unfounded (Hansard). MPs also claimed the search of the MP's Parliamentary office was unlawful as no search warrant had been obtained. A subsequent Parliamentary inquiry concluded the police had "followed the correct procedures", there being a requirement on the police to seek consent of the Parliamentary Authorities for the search (which was given) before restoring to applying for a search warrant.

The controversy continued whilst an investigation into the leaks continued. The MPs claimed "Parliamentary Privilege" over the material seized by police, which prevented the material being examined for several weeks. During the investigation a series of press articles were published criticising the arrest of Green. Articles also appeared with detailed aspects of Quick's family life and his wife's business. In response Quick made public comments suggesting Conservative politicians and the Press were corruptly seeking to undermine the investigation. He later withdrew his comments and apologised; however, an article appeared in the Guardian newspaper in which unnamed senior Conservative politician suggested Quick was in the sights of the Conservative Party in saying "We're going to get Quick".

On 8 April 2009, when Quick arrived at a briefing at 10 Downing Street he inadvertently exposed a document marked Secret dealing with "Operation Pathway" to photographers which compromised the counter-terrorist operation which the document concerned, forcing police in the North West of England to strike sooner than planned, making twelve arrests within hours. He resigned the following day and was replaced by John Yates.

Reacting to his resignation, Sir Ken Jones, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said he had "shouldered his immense responsibilities as head of counter terrorism without shirking", with the Home Secretary and The Prime Minister thanking him for his contributions. London Mayor Boris Johnson said he had accepted Assistant Commissioner Quick's resignation with "great reluctance and sadness".

Within days of Quick's resignation, a decision was taken by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Kier Starmer QC not to prosecute Green or the senior civil servant involved, Christopher Galley. The commentary on the decision highlighted that:

For the reasons set out above, I have concluded that there is no realistic prospect of a conviction against either Mr Galley or Mr Green for the offences alleged against them. Accordingly, I have decided that charges should not be brought against either Mr Galley or Mr Green for those alleged offences. My conclusion should not be misunderstood. The unauthorised leaking of restricted and/or confidential information is not beyond the reach of the criminal law. The fact that the overall evidence of damage or potential damage in this case is not such that the offence of misconduct in public office is made out should not be taken to mean that the absence of sufficient damage actual or potential will always lead to a decision not to prosecute. Where the threshold identified in the case of AG's Reference No.3 of 2003 is met, a criminal prosecution would be justified. Each case will have to be carefully considered on its facts. My conclusion is simply that, on the particular facts of this case, there is no realistic prospect of a conviction against either Mr Galley or Mr Green. In coming to a conclusion in this case, it has not been necessary for me to resolve the question of the legality of the searches of Mr Galley's home address and Mr Green's home address, his Constituency offices and at his Parliamentary office. I do not propose to do so. However, as noted above, once the pattern of leaks was established in this case it was inevitable that a police investigation would follow. There has been a thorough investigation and, without it, I would not have been able to reach a conclusion on the particular facts of this case'

Later in 2012, Quick testified under oath at the Leveson Public Inquiry into 'the culture, practices and ethics of the press, including contacts between the press and police' that a series of misleading articles about the case appeared in the press during the investigation quoting 'senior police sources' and that he had come under pressure at the outset to drop the investigation before the evidence has been examined. He stated that he had resisted this on the basis he had duty in law to fully investigate the Cabinet Office allegations that the leaks constituted criminal offences on the basis of CPS advice.