Susan Penelope Akers

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

QPM (born 1957) is a retired Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the British Metropolitan Police Service. She joined the force in 1976 and was promoted by the

Metropolitan Police Authority The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) (2000–2012) was the local police authority responsible for scrutinising and supporting the work of the Metropolitan Police Service, the police force for Greater London (excluding the City of London Polic ...

from the rank of Chief Superintendent to Commander in 2004. The posts she held also included Head of Organised Crime & Criminal Networks in the

Specialist Crime Directorate The Specialist Crime Directorate (SCD) was one of the main branches of London's Metropolitan Police Service. It provided highly visible specialist policing services across the whole of London. Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley had previously le ...

. She led

Operation Weeting Operation Weeting was a British police investigation that commenced on 26 January 2011, under the Specialist Crime Directorate of the Metropolitan Police Service into allegations of phone hacking in the ''News of the World'' phone hacking affa ...

, a British police investigation into allegations of

phone hacking Phone hacking is the practice of exploring a mobile device often using computer exploits to analyze everything from the lowest memory and central processing unit levels up to the highest file system and process levels. Modern open source toolin ...

in the

News International phone hacking scandal The News International phone hacking scandal was a controversy involving the now-defunct ''News of the World'' and other British newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch. Employees of the newspaper were accused of engaging in phone hacking, police b ...

, from January 2011. In July 2011, as the result of documents submitted to Operation Weeting, she took on the leadership of a related investigation,

Operation Elveden Operation Elveden was a British police investigation into allegations of inappropriate payments to police officers and other public officials. It was opened as a result of documents provided by News International to the Operation Weeting investiga ...

. She led

Operation Tuleta Operation Tuleta is a British police investigation by the Metropolitan Police Service into allegations of Hacker (computer security), computer hacking, related to the News International phone hacking scandal. As of June 2011, it was reported to hav ...

, a 2011–12 investigation into illegal access of private computers. Akers led police inquiries into the potential involvement of intelligence services in relation to detainees held abroad. Akers retired at the end of 2012. She was awarded the

Queen's Police Medal The King's Police Medal (KPM) is awarded to police in the United Kingdom for gallantry or distinguished service. It was also formerly awarded within the wider British Empire, including Commonwealth countries, most of which now have their own hono ...

in 2007 and was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the

2013 Birthday Honours The 2013 Birthday Honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of ...

for services to policing. Akers' role as a private investigator in the case of alleged rape of a schoolgirl in 2016 has been questioned. Employed by the family of the child, it was reported in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' that Akers was "said to have had a number of meetings with serving officers about the case and tried to tell officers how to conduct the case. William Clegg QC, defending, also said she had asked to have access to court papers. The officer leading the investigation ..agreed that it was 'unique' for a former Deputy Assistant Commissioner to be involved in that way."

References

1957 births Living people 20th-century British women 21st-century British women Commanders of the Order of the British Empire category:Metropolitan Police chief officers People associated with the News International phone hacking scandal Metropolitan Police recipients of the Queen's Police Medal Women Metropolitan Police officers {{UK-law-enforcement-bio-stub