James Gamble, (born November 1959) is a British former

police officer A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...

and head of Belfast region for the now disbanded

RUC Special Branch RUC Special Branch was the Special Branch of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and was heavily involved in the British state effort during the Troubles, especially against the Provisional Irish Republican Army The Provisional Irish Republica ...

. Gamble was the head of the

Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command, or CEOP Command, is a command of the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), and is tasked to work both nationally and internationally to bring online child sex offenders, including those involve ...

(CEOP) Centre in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

until 2010, and is now CEO of the INEQE Safeguarding Group.

Career

RUC Special Branch

Gamble's father was in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

. Before joining the

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the ...

as a

constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an officer within a police service. Other peo ...

, Gamble served in the

Royal Military Police The Royal Military Police (RMP) is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of army service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK and while service personnel are deployed overseas on operations ...

. Early in his career he was head of the controversial

anti-terrorist intelligence unit in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, then Deputy Director General (with the rank of deputy chief constable) of the

National Crime Squad The National Crime Squad (NCS) was a British police organisation which dealt with national and transnational Organised crime, organised and major crimes. Formed in April 1998 after the amalgamation of six former Regional Crime Squads, it merge ...

, which in April 2006, merged into the Serious Organised Crime Agency. He was also the head of the Belfast Region of the

Application to lead PSNI

In 2009,

Hugh Orde Sir Hugh Stephen Roden Orde, (born 27 August 1958) is a retired British police officer who was the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), representing the 44 police forces of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Between ...

resigned as

Police Service of Northern Ireland The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI; ; Ulster-Scots: '), is the police service responsible for law enforcement and the prevention of crime within Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) after it ...

chief constable."Police chief shortlist revealed"
BBC News, 3 July 2000. Accessed 2009-06-03. Gamble applied for the position, which he stated was his primary goal, but was eventually unsuccessful with the position being filled by Matt Baggott, the former chief constable of

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

who was the successful candidate. Gamble stated that he believed his background as an RUC Special Branch officer may have been a factor in why he was not selected for the role and that his RUC background may have been "unhelpful and perhaps unhealthy for the service".

National Criminal Intelligence Service

Gamble led the

National Criminal Intelligence Service The National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) was a United Kingdom Law enforcement in the United Kingdom, policing agency. Following the Police and Criminal Justice Act 2001, NCIS returned to direct funding by the Home Office in 2002 and was a ...

(NCIS) fight against

child sex abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...

. He also presided over

Operation Ore Operation Ore was a British police operation that commenced in 1999 following information received from US law enforcement, which was intended to prosecute thousands of users of a website reportedly featuring child pornography. It was the Unite ...

. He led the work to set up the National Crime Squad's specialist response cell – the Paedophile and Online Investigation Team (POLIT). He 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 ...

(QPM) in the

2008 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2008 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 29 December 2007, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2008. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and ...

. Gamble was a co-author on the UK's first Domestic Homicide Review (Pemberton) and in 2010 was appointed by the then Home Secretary to lead the initial scoping review of the investigation into the

disappearance of Madeleine McCann Madeleine Beth McCann (born 12 May 2003) is a British missing person, who at the age of 3 disappeared from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Lagos, Portugal, Lagos, Portugal, on the evening of 3 May 2007. ''The Daily Telegraph'' ...

. Gamble resigned as CEO of CEOP in October 2010. He then created the 'Ineqe Safeguarding Group'. Gamble has been called to give evidence at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) on two occasions. The first related to child abuse on the internet and the second to faith-based institutions.

Labour Party membership

In 2015, Gamble joined the

Labour Party in Northern Ireland The Labour Party in Northern Ireland (LPNI) is the UK Labour Party's regional constituency organisation that operates in Northern Ireland. The Labour Party is not a registered political party in Northern Ireland and does not currently contes ...

. Gamble stated that he wanted Labour candidates to be allowed to stand in Northern Ireland, but that he would have no plans to run himself. Later that year Gamble voted for

Yvette Cooper Yvette Cooper (born 20 March 1969) is a British politician who has served as Home Secretary since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, Cooper has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member of parliament (MP) for Po ...

during the Labour Party leadership election.

References