Jim Gamble

James Gamble, QPM, is a former Chief Police Officer and was the founding Chief Executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre in the United Kingdom. Mr Gamble is currently the CEO of the INEQE Safeguarding Group, the Independent Child Safeguarding Commissioner for the City of London and Hackney, formerly the City and Hackney Safeguarding Children Board; the first to be judged outstanding by Ofsted. He is also the Independent Chair of the Safeguarding Children Partnership in Bromley where he was part of the leadership team that drove their judgement from ‘inadequate' to ‘good’, with ‘outstanding’ leadership in two years.

Career

Jim Gamble QPM
BornNovember 1959
OccupationCEO of INEQE Safeguarding Group

Before joining the Royal Ulster Constabulary as a constable, he served in the Royal Military Police.[1] Earlier in his career he was head of the Northern Ireland anti-terrorist intelligence unit in Belfast, then Deputy Director General (with the rank of deputy chief constable) of the National Crime Squad, which in April 2006, merged into the Serious Organised Crime Agency. He was also the head of the Belfast Region of the RUC Special Branch.[2]

Gamble led the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) fight against child sex abuse. He also presided over Operation Ore.[3] 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 (QPM) in the 2008 New Year Honours.[4]

Gamble was among six candidates shortlisted to succeed Sir Hugh Orde as Police Service of Northern Ireland chief constable. The post was vacated by Orde in late 2009.[5] Also in the running were Bernard Hogan-Howe, then chief constable of Merseyside; Jon Stoddart, chief constable of Durham; Paul West, chief constable of West Mercia; and Matt Baggott, chief constable of Leicestershire who was the successful candidate.[5]

During his police service, Mr Gamble was involved at the highest level in counter terrorism and organised crime investigations. He was the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) national lead for child abuse investigation, internet safety and countering child trafficking. As the Chief Executive of CEOP he built what is now recognised as a world-leading concept in child protection, developing a diverse set of safeguarding initiatives including the Behavioural Analysis Unit (BAU), the UK and Overseas Tracker teams and the ‘ThinkUKnow’ education campaign.

Mr 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.

He resigned as CEO of CEOP in October 2010 after the Home Secretary Theresa May's decision to merge CEOP with SOCA and other bodies into a new National Crime Agency. Mr Gamble wanted CEOP to remain independent.[6]

"I have resigned because I'm concerned about the direction of travel that CEOP is moving in. I am deeply concerned that it is not going to be best for children, because I believe you either begin from a position of what is best for policing or a position of what is best for children themselves. I am concerned that the advice that we have given from our mixed-economy multi-agency staff, through the response to the consultation, the responses from the Children's Commissioners, the NSPCC, the Association of Directors of Children's Services, ACPO and APA, that all of that is not being taken into account, as the NCA business case is being developed at speed and in a direction that I think is fundamentally wrong. I resigned to remove myself from the equation so that there could be no misperception that I have a vested self-interest in this, and I resigned in order that the issue that we focus upon would be what is best for child protection, not what is best for Jim Gamble or those within CEOP, but what is best for children."

— Jim Gamble, Home Affairs Committee, 12 OCTOBER 2010, https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmhaff/510/10101202.htm

Gamble is now the CEO and one of the founding partners of the Ineqe Safeguarding Group. He is a frequent media commentator on issues related to protective services, best practice, the internet and child protection.[7]

He has commissioned a significant number of Serious Case and Practice Learning Reviews and authored numerous strategic and thematic reports, including the Brighton and Sussex University Hospital Trust and the Independent Safeguarding Review of Oxfam GB.

Evidence at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA)

Mr 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. Furthermore, he is regularly called upon to act as an expert witness in legal proceedings.

Appearance in Netflix Documentary Disappearance of Madeleine McCann

The Netflix documentary featured Jim Gamble who was the senior child protection officer in the UK's first investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph in September 2018^ , Gamble said:

"I believe it's a case where we'll find out what happened to Madeleine in my lifetime"

See also

References
  1. "Jim Gamble: 'I was under threat but was more fearful for my family'" – via www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk.
  2. "Crime agency block 'will hamper policing'". BBC News Online. 14 May 2014. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  3. "Profile: Jim Gamble | BBC". BBC. 5 October 2010. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  4. "Honours: Sundries (QPM, QSFM)". The Independent. 29 December 2007.
  5. "Police chief shortlist revealed", BBC News, 3 July 2000. Accessed 2009-06-03.
  6. Israel, Simon (4 October 2010). "Online child protection boss Jim Gamble quits". Channel 4 News. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  7. "Home - Ineqe Safeguarding Group".


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.