Peter Ryan (police officer)

Ryan was born on 18 May 1944 in Lancaster, Lancashire, to Laurence and Maureen Ryan.{{cite book |title=Peter Ryan: The Inside Story |last=Williams |first=Sue |year=2002 |publisher=Viking Press|isbn=0-670-04077-0 }}

Ryan joined Lancashire Constabulary on 16 January 1961 as a police cadet. He completed the training course at Bruche Police National Training Centre in 1963, and on 19 May was given his first posting as a probationer in Little Hulton on the outskirts of Greater Manchester. In 1968, Ryan was one of the first intake of police officers into the new University of Lancaster, and upon graduation with a Bachelor of Arts he was promoted to sergeant, and in 1973 was promoted to inspector stationed at headquarters in Preston.

Ryan joined the Metropolitan Police Service in London, and was Chief Superintendent at Chelsea Police Station during the Harrods bombing in December 1983.[http://www.itnsource.com/en/shotlist/ITN/1983/12/18/AS181283005/?s=Harrods%20bomb%20aftermath Harrods Bomb Aftermath], ITN Source, 18 December 1983. Retrieved 16 June 2015 He was Chief Constable of Norfolk Constabulary from 1990 to 1993 and was then the first National Director of Police Training at the Police Staff College, Bramshill prior to his appointment in 1996 to the New South Wales Police in Australia.

Ryan was recruited to the Commissioner's position following the controversial Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service (Wood Royal Commission) into police corruption that ran from 1995 to 1997. He was appointed by the Premier of New South Wales, Bob Carr.

In February 1999, Ryan was reappointed for a further 5 years. Some aspects of the new contract were kept secret but the controversy over it caused it to be released in its entirety, and a parliamentary enquiry to investigate the circumstances surrounding its signing. The contract made Ryan the highest-paid public servant in Australia.{{Cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/s614583.htm |title=Four Corners - 22/07/2002: Police Chronology 1994-2001 |website=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=21 March 2014 |archive-date=9 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509082614/http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/s614583.htm |url-status=dead }}

He resigned from the New South Wales Police Service in 2002, two years early, and received a payout of $455,000—12 months' salary.{{cite web |author=John Lyons |url=http://sgp1.paddington.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/feature_stories/article_1030.asp?s=1 |title=Losing Peter Ryan |publisher=Sgp1.paddington.ninemsn.com.au |date=14 April 2002 |accessdate=21 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140320041329/http://sgp1.paddington.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/feature_stories/article_1030.asp?s=1 |archivedate=20 March 2014}}

Paul Whelan, the police minister who recommended Ryan as commissioner after approaching him in the United Kingdom, had recently retired from the ministry and it is believed that his successor Michael Costa did not want Ryan to remain as commissioner with the Opposition citing that Costa had made contradictory remarks about whether Ryan had resigned or was sacked and questioning whether Ryan was entitled to a payout if he had resigned.{{Cite web | url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/ryan-not-entitled-to-payout-if-he-resigned-say-libs-20020413-gdf71t.html |title = Ryan not entitled to payout if he resigned, say Libs|website=Sydney Morning Herald|date = 13 April 2002}}

Ryan has since worked on a number of security consulting projects. He is a security expert for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and was the Principal Security Advisor to the ATHOC (Athens Olympic Games Organising Committee).{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2004/s1077094.htm |title=Athens Olympics terror fears |publisher=Abc.net.au |date=30 March 2004 |work=World Today |accessdate=29 September 2020}}

Ryan was covered widely by the Australian media and is the subject of the 2003 biography, Peter Ryan: The Inside Story, by Sydney author Sue Williams.

Ryan has been appointed an Officer of the Order of St John, and awarded the Queen's Police Medal, NSW Police Ministers Olympic Commendation, NSW Police Commissioners Olympic Citation and the Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (for service in the UK Police Forces). He has a master's degree in science and an honorary doctorate in law from Macquarie University, Sydney.{{Citation needed|date=April 2016}}

Ryan married his second wife Adrienne Ryan (née Butterworth), who moved to Sydney with him upon his appointment as Police Commissioner. They divorced in 2011,{{cite news| url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/top-cops-daughter-georgie-ryan-now-the-woman-behind-the-bar/story-e6frewz0-1226146204955| title=Top cop's daughter Georgie Ryan now the woman behind the bar| date=26 September 2011| work=Daily Telegraph| accessdate=21 March 2014| archive-date=12 November 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161112173039/http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/top-cops-daughter-georgie-ryan-now-the-woman-behind-the-bar/story-e6frewz0-1226146204955| url-status=dead}} after a separation of about six years. While she continued to reside in Australia with their two adult daughters, Ryan moved back to the United Kingdom. One daughter undertook legal studies in the UK and the other studied in Australia for a communications degree.{{cite news| url=https://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/ryan-plans-australian-return/news-story/9d849d005d7b538311fe2cb12b48f4f1 |title=Former NSW Police Commissioner Peter Ryan back in Sydney| work=Herald Sun|date=11 December 2008 | accessdate=29 September 2020}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.police.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/145137/poster_police_commissioners.pdf List of Commissioners of New South Wales Police]
• {{cite web|url= https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lcdocs/inquiries/1883/Committee%20Report%2031%20May%202000%20-%20Inquiry%20into%20Contra.pdf |title=Report on Inquiry into Contract of Employment of Commissioner of Police }} {{small|(751 kB)}}, 136 pages, State Government of New South Wales, General Purpose Standing Committee No 3, {{ISBN|0-7347-6496-0}}, 31 May 2000. Retrieved 29 September 2020. {{Open access}}

{{S-start}}

{{s-civ|pol}}

{{succession box

|title=Commissioner of New South Wales Police

|before=Tony Lauer

|after=Ken Moroney

|years=1996–2002|

}}

{{S-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Peter}}

Category:1944 births

Category:Living people

Category:Commissioners of the New South Wales Police

Category:British Chief Constables

Category:British expatriates in Australia

Category:Metropolitan Police officers

Category:English recipients of the Queen's Police Medal

Category:Macquarie University alumni

Category:People from Lancaster, Lancashire

Category:Officers of the Order of St John

Category:Alumni of Lancaster University