Sir David Joseph O'Dowd, (born 20 February 1942) was

Chief Inspector of Constabulary His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), formerly Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), has statutory responsibility for the inspection of the police forces of England and Wales, and since ...

from 1996 until 2001. O'Dowd was educated at

Gartree High School Gartree High School is a coeducational secondary school with academy status. Its age-range designation is 11–16. GCSEs have been taught since 2017 and its first GCSE results published in 2019. The school is situated in Oadby, a town on the so ...

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

, the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

and the

University of Aston Aston University (abbreviated as ''Aston'' for post-nominals) is a public university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK's first college of ...

. He joined the Leicester City Police in 1961 rising to the rank of Chief Inspector. In 1977 he joined the

West Midlands Police West Midlands Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. The force covers an area of with 2.93million inhabitants, which includes the cities of ...

as a

Superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Building superintendent, a manager, maintenance or repair person, custodian or janitor, especially in the United States; sometimes shortened to "super" *Prison warden or superintendent, a prison administrator *Soprin ...

. In 1984, along with John Smith and Wyn Jones, he was one of a trio of young provincial rising stars who were appointed to the rank of deputy assistant commissioner in the Metropolitan Police as part of

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

Sir Kenneth Newman's drive for modernisation, becoming head of strategic planning. He was Chief Constable of the

Northamptonshire Police Northamptonshire Police (colloquially known as Northants Police) is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Northamptonshire in the East Midlands of England, in the United Kingdom. The Northamptonshire police area i ...

from 1986 until 1993. He was

High Sheriff of Northamptonshire This is a list of the High Sheriffs of Northamptonshire. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the respon ...

in 2007.‘O’DOWD, Sir David (Joseph)’, Who's Who 2016, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2015; online edn, Nov 201
accessed 15 May 2016
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References

British Chief Constables English recipients of the Queen's Police Medal Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights Bachelor Chief Inspectors of Constabulary (England and Wales) People educated at Gartree High School Alumni of the University of Leicester 1942 births Living people Officers of the Order of St John High sheriffs of Northamptonshire {{UK-law-enforcement-bio-stub