Sir Norman George Bettison, QPM (born 3 January 1956) is a British former police officer and the former Chief Constable of Merseyside Police and West Yorkshire Police. He resignedSir Norman Bettison: Alleged Attempt to Influence Improperly the Decision-Making Process of West Yorkshire Police Authority . IPCC Final Report (March 2013) in October 2012 amidst controversy about his role in the Hillsborough disaster, in which he was involved in the implementation of a cover-up of police errors. He remained the subject of an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigation, and was charged on the 28 June 2017 with four counts of misconduct in public office. The case was dropped on 21 August 2018. Bettison's own book Hillsborough Untold (2016) contains his version of events.
Early life
Bettison was born in Rotherham, West Riding of Yorkshire, on 3 January 1956, the son of George Bettison, a steelworker, and Betty Heathcote.General Register Office, 1956 Births; 1952 Marriages He married Patricia Favell in Rotherham in 1976.General Register Office 1976 Marriages West Riding
Bettison said that he attended football matches as a spectator from time to time, following Sheffield Wednesday. He described his experience as a 14-year-old boy watching Sheffield Wednesday vs. Manchester City on 22 April 1970 from the Leppings Lane terraces at Hillsborough stadium:
The experience led him to state in 1989 that "I wonder, now, whether the Leppings Lane terraces at Hillsborough is somehow susceptible to retaining the pressure created in crowd build up".
Education
Bettison attended South Grove Comprehensive School before leaving at the age of 16 to join South Yorkshire Police as a cadet. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in philosophy and psychology from the University of Oxford, which was later upgraded to a Master of Arts (MA) – an automatic process which requires no further study or examination – and gained a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in business administration and media studies from Sheffield Hallam University.Norman Bettison", West Yorkshire Police. – the former Sheffield Polytechnic. He is also a graduate of the FBI Executive ProgrammeNew West Yorks CC Named | UK Police News . Police Oracle (13 December 2006). Retrieved on 16 April 2013.
Career
Bettison began his police career in 1975 when, at the age of 19, he joined South Yorkshire Police as a Constable. He served through its ranks, acting as a Superintendent in the Traffic Division from October 1989 to January 1991, whilst simultaneously working in the Hillsborough disaster liaison unit; as Superintendent in the Divisional Commander's office from January 1991 to April 1992; and as Chief Superintendent in the Corporate Development unit from April 1992 to May 1993. In May 1993 he was appointed Assistant Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police, where his portfolios included Management & Information Support, Personnel, and Operations Support.Yorkshire Post Newspaper article – 8 February 1993 (appointment)/1 May 1993 (start date).
Chief Constable of Merseyside Police
He left West Yorkshire in 1998 to become Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, covering the area where most of the Hillsborough victims had lived and still had relatives living. A member of Merseyside Police Authority, Councillor Steve Foulkes, said the appointment had caused outrage among the families of the victims of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, because Bettison had been involved in the investigation, which had been controversial."Pressure grows on Merseyside police chief", BBC News, 9 November 1998. Bettison offered to meet the families to defuse the controversy.Bunyan, Nigel. "Police chief will meet Hillsborough families 'anytime, anywhere'", The Daily Telegraph, 16 November 1998."Police chief rejects Hillsborough claims", BBC News, 16 November 1998. As Chief Constable of Merseyside he was a pioneer of Neighbourhood Policing: a policing style which provides dedicated teams of police officers and community support officers (CSO) who work with the community and partners at a local level Heslop, Richard. POLICE LEADERS ACROSS THE WORLD: A conversation with Sir Norman Bettison, Chief Constable West Yorkshire police, UK . richardheslop.net
Chief Executive of Centrex
He retired from the police in January 2005 to become Chief Executive of Centrex, which provided training and development to police forces in the UK and enforcement agencies throughout the world until it was abolished in March 2007.Centrex Annual Report-2005-2006.
Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police
He rejoined the police service in January 2007 as Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police.Sir Norman Bettison Named New West Yorks Chief. Securzine (February 2007). He attempted to secure a package to receive both a retirement pension from Merseyside and a salary from the new post; he threatened legal action but the claim was settled out of court.Police chief in legal battle to take pension on top of pay The Times, 21 December 2007
Shortly after taking office as Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police, Sir Norman ordered a review of shifts worked by officers claiming they did not provide the best service to the public as they included four rest days when officers were not at work. A new shift pattern consisting of two distinct patterns referred to as VSA 1 and VSA 2 (variable shift arrangement) was produced and commenced in March 2008. Response officers worked VSA 1 and neighbourhood policing teams worked VSA 2. The VSA 2 still included four rest days for officers. Officers posted to Communications Division were allowed to continue working the more popular previous shift pattern, FSDR (Force Standard Duty Rosta) as Communications Division had been able to successfully argue that VSA was not fit for purpose for their requirements. The VSA 1 proved deeply unpopular with many officers claiming that they were more tired than they had been working the previous shift pattern. A report leaked from the Police Federation to local media suggested that there had been an increase of 16,000 hours of sickness between April and August 2008, a 3.4% increase on the previous year. After pressure by the police federation a further review was taken and VSA 1 was re-designed and commenced in April 2009. Many officers remain unconvinced as to the need to deviate from the FSDR shift pattern which had allowed West Yorkshire Police to achieve 'very significant performance gains' and be regarded as one of the most improved forces."Police Force Assessments West Yorkshire 2004/2005", Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, 2004–2005."Police Force Assessments West Yorkshire 2005/2006", Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, 2005–2006.
Media statements
In October 2008, Bettison was touted as a possible replacement for Sir Ian Blair as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, but ruled himself out of consideration citing the politicisation of the role and the way Blair was removed. He warned of "dangerous consequences" if the independence of chief constables were lost, saying "I am not prepared to set aside my professional judgement and integrity, forged over 36 years, in order to meet short-term political expediency" and warning of "the ambition which seems to be shared by all three major political parties at the moment... to make the police service more accountable to elected representatives. What that means is bringing the police service under greater political control.""Police Chief Rules Out Met Role", BBC, 3 October 2008.
On 12 April 2010 Bettison wrote an article in The Times saying "I'm not worth £213,000"; his annual cost to the tax payer when pensions and benefits are considered. He criticized the notion, in the National Health Service and other government bureaus, that public sector organisations had to offer wages for senior managers comparable to those for private industry, or that businesspeople should be brought in to conduct strategic reviews of public agencies. Instead, he wrote, "People join, and remain in, the public sector because of a sense of vocation — to make a difference to society or to the quality of people’s lives. The best leaders are those who can secure long-term public value and a vision for their staff. Not some mercenary performance manager peddling a short-term fix." Thus he suggested freezing public sector pay, without exceptions, beginning with the highest wage earners, which he felt in combination with a 50p in the pound increase in taxes for higher earners and the removal of all tax allowances would sustain public services.
In an article for the Yorkshire Post, Bettison wrote that over-zealous health and safety officials were making the jobs of his front line officers increasingly more demanding, branding them "the health and safety Taliban". He described feeling that he was "pushing the boundaries" by commending a police officer who jumped into a canal to save a suicidal man, due to the officer's personal risk, and that in another case police and ambulance crews failed to save two shooting victims after being delayed 20 minutes, because it is "genuinely easier, in that kind of environment, to do nothing. We are not trained, equipped, practised or informed sufficiently for this or that particular scenario." He also described the conviction of Metropolitan Police for the death of Jean Charles de Menezes as "A triumph for health and safety, a lucrative new territory for lawyers, a disaster for common sense."
Role in Hillsborough disaster
Match attendance
On 15 April 1989, as an off-duty police Chief Inspector/private citizen Bettison, attended the semi-final FA Cup football match tie between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield. At 15:06 the Hillsborough disaster unfolded, which resulted in 97 Liverpool fans being fatally crushed (although three of them died at later dates), and remains the deadliest stadium-related disaster in British history and one of the world's worst ever football disasters. Bettison subsequently left his seat and joined in the South Yorkshire Police efforts to control the unfolding disaster. He claims to have attended a number of casualties, and set up a rendezvous centre for relatives at a local boys' club.
South Yorkshire Police review/liaison
After the disaster and in the period leading up to the Taylor Report, Bettison was seconded to an internal review group within South Yorkshire Police team who were tasked with liaising with regards issues associated with Hillsborough. Later described as a "black propaganda" unit, the media output included a 30 minute film narrated by Bettison that was shown to MPs during a visit by SYP to Westminster, which verbally reiterated the claims of drunk, violent and ticketless fans breaking down the dilapidated turnstiles at the Leppings Lane end. During a prior meeting to brief Michael Shersby MP and show him the film, it was also claimed that the South Yorkshire Police had deliberately left the rescue operation to the fans so that the fans "would not take out their frustration on the police".Page 8 | Home Office . Hillsborough.independent.gov.uk. Retrieved on 16 April 2013.
Bettison has consistently described his role in Hillsborough as 'peripheral', which has been disputed. He has been asked to explain how exactly his role was peripheral, what exactly his role was, who he was answerable to, and what he did for the two-year period.Shennan, Paddy. (30 October 2012) Hillsborough Files Part Two: Professor Phil Scraton on key individuals and events surrounding the disaster – Liverpool Local News – News. Liverpool Echo. Retrieved on 16 April 2013.
As a result of his role within the unit, the Hillsborough Families Support Group later led protests on Merseyside when Bettison was proposed as the Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, objections which were over ruled by the police authority.
Contribution hearings