Sir Denis O’Connor is Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary. Before joining the Inspectorate, he was Chief Constable of Surrey between 2000 and 2004.

Sir Denis began his career with the Metropolitan Police, eventually becoming Assistant Chief Constable in Surrey in 1991. He was later appointed the role of Deputy Chief of Kent, and then in 1997 took on the position of Assistant Commissioner in London where he led the Metropolitan Police Service development strategy following the Stephen Lawrence Enquiry.

In 1996, Sir Denis was awarded the Queen's Police Medal and later received a CBE in 2002 for his service to policing. He received a knighthood in 2010 in the Queen's Birthday Honours. Prior to becoming Vice President of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) in 2003, he chaired the ACPO Performance Management Business Area and led the piloting of the National Reassurance Policing Programme; the pre-cursor to Neighbourhood Policing.

Significant analysis, commentary and reviews overseen by Sir Denis include: the 2005 report ‘Closing the Gap’ which reviewed the fitness of the current police force structure; issues arising from the death of Baby P; lessons learned from Stockwell; policing of public protests in the context of G20; value for money in the police service; and anti-social behaviour. His team have provided support to the Olympics Programme and recent studies have been undertaken into police availability and the preparedness of police forces and authorities for the spending period; undercover policing; police relationships with the media and other parties; and the policing of the August 2011 disorders. Most recently, he has published a follow-up report on Anti-Social Behaviour, looking at what progress has been made by forces in dealing with it.