Cressida Dick

Cressida Rose Dick CBE QPM is a British police officer who in 2017 was appointed Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) in London.

The MPS is the largest police force in the UK, with certain national responsibilities; the Commissioner, its head, is often thought of as being the highest-ranking police officer in the UK. She is the first woman to take charge of the service, being selected for the role in February 2017 and taking office on 10 April 2017.

Previously she was a senior officer in the MPS. Dick served as acting Deputy Commissioner in the interim between Deputy Commissioner Tim Godwin's retirement and his permanent successor, Craig Mackey, taking office at the end of January 2012.

Before 2005, Dick attracted little media attention, but became well known as having been the officer in command of the operation which led to the fatal shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. She was cleared of personal blame in a 2007 criminal trial. In June 2009, she was promoted to the rank of assistant commissioner, the first woman to hold this rank substantively.

On 22 February 2017, the Home Office and the MPS jointly announced that she would be appointed as the next Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis by Queen Elizabeth II, on the formal recommendation of Home Secretary Amber Rudd.

Dick came out as lesbian in April 2017, making her the highest-ranked lesbian officer in British police history.