Hugh Orde
Sir Hugh Stephen Roden Orde, is a retired British police officer who was the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, representing the 44 police forces of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Between 2002 and 2009, he was the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. He holds a degree in Public Administration from the University of Kent.
Career
Orde joined London's Metropolitan Police Service in 1977. He rose quickly through the ranks, becoming a Superintendent in the Territorial Support Group. Later, as Commander responsible for the service's Community Safety and Partnership section, Orde took part in the latter phase of the enquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence and its subsequent handling by the police. He became a member of Common Purpose UK and attended the Matrix course in West London in 1994/95.While he was a Deputy assistant commissioner, Orde was assigned to the senior staff of the Stevens Report, which investigated government collusion in sectarian killings in Northern Ireland. He was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2001. Hugh Orde was appointed Chief Constable of the PSNI on 29 May 2002, taking over from Acting Chief Constable Colin Cramphorn on 1 September 2002. He was knighted for his services to policing in 2005.
In April 2009, he announced he was stepping down as Chief Constable of Northern Ireland to become president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, assuming the position in the following autumn and holding it until 2015. After his retirement from Northern Ireland he became director of the Police National Assessment Centre and in November 2013 Patron of the national police charity the Police Roll of Honour Trust, joining Sir Stephen House and Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe as joint patrons. In 2010 he was awarded the Queen's Police Medal.
In a 2010 speech at Oxford in which he discussed the threat of the dissident Irish republican campaign, Orde suggested that "To borrow a phrase from the past, we may be at an 'acceptable level of violence'—albeit at a far lower level than when the phrase was first coined", given that dissident republicans were unlikely to respond to negotiation. Democratic Unionist Party MLA Jimmy Spratt called Orde's comments "outrageous" and an insult to those killed by dissident republicans.
Honours
| Ribbon | Description | Notes |
| Knight Bachelor |
| |
| Order of the British Empire | ||
| Queen's Police Medal | ||
| Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal | ||
| Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal | ||
| Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal |