Working in the
Police Force

Tarique Ghaffur

Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur of the Metropolitan Police Service

Tarique Ghaffur started his police career with Greater Manchester Police in 1974. In his first four years, he worked as both a uniform and CID officer. He also carried out undercover work for the National Crime Squad and earned a Citation of Merit for his work.

In 1978 Mr Ghaffur was promoted to Sergeant and, once again, undertook both uniform and CID work. In 1981, he headed a robbery squad that oversaw a dramatic reduction in robberies in the notorious post-riot Moss Side area. During this time, he also trained Saudi Arabian officers in security and VIP protection.

Promotion to Inspector was achieved in 1982 when after a short time at the Force Training Centre he moved to the inner city area of Longsight, where he was in charge of uniform and community involvement teams. In 1988, promotion to Chief Inspector saw him put in charge of Operations in Salford Division. He achieved the rank of Superintendent in 1989 and transferred to Leicestershire Constabulary. Whilst in Leicester, Mr Ghaffur took part in a three-month FBI exchange. Part of the studying he was required to do to attain his Certificate in Criminal Justice Education (University of Virginia) included organised crime, serious crime and drugs.

During his time in Leicester, part of his role included a major review of the Jamaican Constabulary, when he examined murders, human rights abuses by police officers and firearms crime. He also conducted a review into Leicestershire Constabulary, which resulted in a major re-organisation of the whole constabulary and the re-structuring of murder investigations, criminal investigation and scientific support.

In 1996 Mr Ghaffur was promoted to Assistant Chief Constable (Lancashire). On promotion to Deputy Chief Constable in February 1999, he spent six months at the Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO).

During his time in Lancashire, he headed a review into child protection. He led a major corruption enquiry into a public organisation and also oversaw a significant reduction in crime. He instituted a reform programme to change the way in which the police service handled a number of operations, including firearms incidents.

Mr Ghaffur then moved to the Metropolitan Police Service in September 1999 as a Deputy Assistant Commissioner. Following a restructure of South Area he became the DAC in charge of Operations, and then became Borough Commander of the City of Westminster in 2000.

During his time as DAC, he led a sensitive national level enquiry in another force area. He also headed complaints, press relations and murder reviews. Whilst in Westminster, he linked with Crime and Disorder Partners, to achieve a significant decrease in volume crime. Working with community partners, he also oversaw a number of high profile operations, including the policing of the Notting Hill Carnival and the New Year’s Eve celebrations, in addition to a number of ceremonial events.

In 2001, Mr Ghaffur was promoted to Assistant Commissioner, and headed the Directorate of Performance, Review and Standards. His operational work in this directorate covered partnership, youth and criminal justice issues. Externally, he sits on a number of strategic partnership forums such as the Advisory Board of the Prince’s Trust, the Brathay Forum, CIPFA (Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy) Advisory Panel and ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) committees.

In November 2002, Mr Ghaffur assumed responsibility for the Specialist Crime Directorate. This was a new Directorate, which took over much of the work of what had previously been the sole responsibility of Assistant Commissioner Specialist Operations. He undertook a total reform of the way in which the business of serious and organised crime was managed, by developing a programme-based approach. As a result of this approach, he has overseen massive improvements in performance during 2003/4, with a murder detection rate of 97%, large increases in drug and cash seizures as well as significant reductions in gun-enabled crime, including commercial armed robbery.

He has been responsible for the institution of successful programmes such as Operation Maxim (organised immigration crime), Operation Payback (proceeds of crime), and Operation Grafton (organised crime around Heathrow), as well as augmenting and building upon the successes of Trident (black community gun crime).

During his time as Assistant Commissioner, Mr Ghaffur has overseen a number of large public enquiries. These include the Damilola Taylor and Victoria Climbie enquiries.

Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur was appointed, head of Central Operations in 2006.

Mr Ghaffur has a BA (Hons) in Public Administration and an MA in Criminology. He received the Queen’s Police Medal (QPM) in 2001 for his services to policing. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of East London in November 2003. Most recently, in June 2004, Mr Ghaffur was awarded a CBE for services to policing in the 2004 Queen’s birthday honours list.

In recognition of his position as a positive role model to all communities, as the most senior Asian police officer in the UK, and his work as a mentor to a large number of people both within and outside the police service, Mr Ghaffur has also received a number of high achievement awards from different communities in London.

The awards are as follows: GG2 Hammer Award 1999; GG2 Highest Ranking Ethnic Minority Officer 2000; the Asian Achievers Award 2001; Male Professional of the Year Award 2001; two Community Awards from Canada 2002; House of Lords High Achievement Award 2003; the Fellowship Award of the Asian Guild 2003; and the Public Sector Excellence Award 2003.
He has written a number of articles on Criminal Justice, Youth Crime, Diversity and Information Technology, as well as influential papers on how we tackle serious and organised crime.

Back to top