William Sutherland (police officer)

Sir William George MacKenzie Sutherland QPM (12 November 1933 – 30 May 2022),[1] often known as Bill Sutherland, was a British police officer.[2]

Sutherland was born in Inverness and educated at Inverness Technical High School.[2] He did his national service in the Royal Engineers, serving in Japan during the Korean War.[1]

After military service, he joined Cheshire Constabulary in 1954.[2][1] He moved to Surrey Constabulary in 1973, where he became chief superintendent in command of the Guildford division in 1974.[1] There, he took charge of the response to the Guildford pub bombings of 5 October 1974.[1] In 1975, he moved to Hertfordshire Constabulary as assistant chief constable,[1] and in 1979 was appointed chief constable of Bedfordshire Constabulary.[1] In 1983, he returned to Scotland as chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police,[3][1] where he remained from thirteen years. He then served as HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary for Scotland from 1996 to 1998.[1]

Sutherland was awarded the Queen's Police Medal (QPM) in the 1981 New Year Honours[4] and knighted in the 1988 Birthday Honours.[5]

While in Cheshire, he married policewoman Jennie Abbott, who came from Lancashire. They had two daughters, Alison and Anne.[1]

Notes
  1. Obituary, The Scotsman, 10 June 2022
  2. ‘SUTHERLAND, Sir William (George MacKenzie)’, Who's Who 2016, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2015 ; online edn, Nov 2015 accessed 27 May 2016
  3. New chief constable. The Times (London, England), Saturday, 14 May 1983; pg. 10; Issue 61532
  4. "No. 48467". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1980. p. 29.
  5. "No. 51365". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 June 1988. p. 2.
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