Brian Leonard Paddick, Baron Paddick (born 24 April 1958), is a British life peer and retired police officer. He was the Liberal Democrat candidate for the London mayoral elections of 2008 and of 2012, and until his retirement in May 2007 was a deputy assistant commissioner in the Metropolitan Police Service.
Paddick joined the Metropolitan Police in 1976. Rising through the ranks, he was appointed the officer in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Notting Hill in 1995, then returned to New Scotland Yard, first as Superintendent of the Personnel Department in 1996 and then as Chief Superintendent in 1997. In December 2000 he was appointed Police Commander for the London Borough of Lambeth, where he worked until 2002.
In the latter capacity, Paddick attracted controversy by instructing his police officers not to arrest or charge people found with cannabis so that they could focus on crimes that were affecting the quality of life in the borough to a greater extent.
In late 2002, the Crown Prosecution Service decided that no charges would be brought against him in relation to alleged cannabis possession; in December 2003 Paddick and The Mail on Sunday settled legal proceedings brought by him, with the newspaper accepting that a story it had published was false (which had alleged he had used cannabis), apologising, and paying damages.
In April 2005 Paddick took over management of territorial policing across all 32 London boroughs. During the investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) into the wrongful shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station on 22 July 2005, Paddick stated that a member of the private office team of Sir Ian Blair, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, had believed the wrong man had been targeted just six hours after the shooting. This allegation was contradicted by New Scotland Yard. On 28 March 2006, Paddick accepted a statement from the Metropolitan Police that it "did not intend to imply" a senior officer had misled the probe into the shooting and that "any misunderstanding is regretted".
However, following the disagreement, Paddick was assigned the position of group director of information management at New Scotland Yard, which he considered a "non-job". He came to accept that his police career was over, and retired from the police force on 31 May 2007. In November 2007, it was announced that Paddick had been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London in the mayoral elections to be held on 1 May 2008. He came third, behind Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone, winning 9.8 per cent of first preference votes.
Paddick was created a life peer in 2013, taking the title Baron Paddick, of Brixton in the London Borough of Lambeth, sitting in the House of Lords for the Liberal Democrats. He became a non-affiliated member of the Lords upon his appointment as a non-executive advisor for the Metropolitan Police in 2023.
Paddick was born on 24 April 1958 in Balham in London, England, and spent his early years in Mitcham and Tooting Bec. He was educated at Bec Grammar School in Tooting Bec, and at Sutton Manor High School (now Sutton Grammar School), in Sutton. He went on to take a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at The Queen's College, Oxford and a Master of Business Administration at Warwick Business School, University of Warwick (1989–1990) on police scholarships; and also studied for a postgraduate Diploma in Policing and Applied Criminology at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. When he was at Oxford, he was Captain of the University Swimming Team and Vice-Captain of his college's rugby team.
He is the twin brother of J. H. Paddick and the grandson of a policeman and the son of Anthony Henry J. Paddick and Evelyn Perkin. He is the second cousin once removed of actor and comedian Hugh Paddick.
Paddick joined the Metropolitan Police Service in 1976, living in Highbury and Limehouse while he worked for four years as a Constable in Holloway. Rising through the ranks, he served as a response team officer, community officer, detective, and as a member of the Territorial Support Group (commonly referred to as the TSG or riot squad). Paddick was a sergeant on the front line during the 1981 Brixton riot, an experience that shaped his attitudes about confrontational police action and strengthened his belief in community policing. He was appointed Inspector in Fulham in 1983, Chief Inspector of the Personnel Department of New Scotland Yard in 1986, a staff officer in 1991, and Chief Inspector in Brixton in 1993. During this period, he also worked in Deptford, Lewisham, Thornton Heath (where his brother was the local vicar) and Notting Hill while living in Sutton, Pimlico and Westminster, and for a while outside London. In 1995, Paddick became the officer in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Notting Hill and was responsible for policing the Notting Hill Carnival.
Paddick returned to New Scotland Yard, first as Superintendent of the Personnel Department in 1996 and then as Chief Superintendent in 1997. He then served as Borough Commander for Merton for two and a half years (1997–1999), responsible for policing Wimbledon, Mitcham and Merton. After attending the Police Staff College in 2000, in December 2000 he was appointed Police Commander for the London Borough of Lambeth where he worked until 2002, fulfilling his ambition of becoming head of policing in Brixton. At Lambeth he had direct responsibility for 940 police officers and 230 support staff, and an annual budget of £37 million.
After a stint in the Specialist Crime Directorate, which deals with serious cases such as murder, kidnap and fraud, Paddick returned to borough-based policing, overseeing the northwest London boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Camden, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon, and Islington between 2002 and 2003. He was also responsible for youth and community issues including Police Community Support Officers and police volunteers across the whole of London.
In November 2003 Paddick was promoted to Deputy Assistant Commissioner, and in April 2005 he took over management of Territorial Policing across all 32 London boroughs, with responsibility for 20,000 police officers and support staff. He was accountable for reducing "volume crime" in London (all offences up to and including rape in terms of seriousness) and increasing the number of offenders brought to justice. He was the national lead for the police service on disability and mental health issues for a year and a half. He was also in the media spotlight as the senior Metropolitan Police Service spokesman for the Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales and after the 7 July 2005 London bombings.
Following a widely publicised disagreement with Sir Ian Blair, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, over the wrongful shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station on 22 July 2005, Paddick was assigned the position of group director of information management, which he considered a "non-job". Claiming that the Home Office had intervened for political reasons to ensure that Blair would not have to resign over the incident as it had occurred in the aftermath of 21 July 2005 London bombings, Paddick says he came to accept that his police career was over and that he would never achieve his goal of becoming a chief constable.
Paddick retired from the police force on 31 May 2007. He is currently a Visiting Fellow of Ashridge Business School near Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire, where he lectures on leadership, change management and diversity.
In 2001, as Commander for the London Borough of Lambeth, Paddick started to make postings on London web discussion forum Urban75. According to Paddick's autobiography, he had initially contacted Urban75 as part of an Internet campaign against the Brixton-based Movement For Justice By Any Means Necessary (MFJ), which was campaigning for justice after the police killing of local Derek Bennett. He also attacked MFJ chairman Alex Owolade who was subsequently sacked from his employment with Lambeth London Borough Council.