Stephen House
|
Sir Stephen House QPM |
|
|---|---|
| Chief Constable of Police Scotland | |
|
In office 1 October 2012 – 30 November 2015 |
|
| Preceded by | Office created |
| Succeeded by | Phil Gormley |
| Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police | |
|
In office 2007 – 1 October 2012 |
|
| Succeeded by | Campbell Corrigan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Glasgow, Scotland |
| Alma mater | University of Aberdeen |
| Profession | Police officer |
Sir Stephen House, QPM (born 1957) is a retired senior Scottish police officer. Following roles of increasing responsibility and seniority in a number of police forces, he became first Chief Constable of Police Scotland in October 2012 and served in that role until November 2015.
Stephen House was born in Glasgow in 1957 and grew up in Castlemilk, before moves to Bishopbriggs and Inchinnan in the metropolitan area of Glasgow. His father, William, worked for the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, finishing his career as a senior manager. His mother, Alice, worked in a laboratory until becoming a full-time parent to her children. He has a younger brother, Jonathan, who was also a senior police officer, as Police Commander for Sheffield, and a trained hostage negotiator, before becoming a senior officer in local government in Bristol and Cardiff and currently, a Director with PwC.
House was initially educated at the independent Kelvinside Academy in Glasgow but, when he was 11, his family moved to London, where he continued to be privately educated, in Hampstead. He has acknowledged that his Glasgow accent led to his being singled out and that this probably led to his adoption of an Estuary English voice, although he claims to feel himself Scottish and, particularly, Glaswegian. House returned to Scotland in 1976, to study History and English Literature at the University of Aberdeen.
House cites good experiences of the police in Aberdeen during his time as a student there, while also noting that he wanted a role in a disciplined, hierarchical environment.
He joined Sussex Police in 1981, transferring in 1988 to Northamptonshire Police, where he was promoted to Sergeant. He remained a uniformed officer until 1992 and progressed to Chief Inspector before moving in 1994 to West Yorkshire Police where he worked as a Superintendent in the Performance Unit. He was promoted to Divisional Commander in Central Bradford prior to being appointed Assistant Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police in 1998.
...
Wikipedia