Simon O’Brien, Deputy Chief Inspector

Simon O’Brien was appointed as Deputy Chief Inspector of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate in March, 2010.

Simon joined London’s Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) in 1978 and gained a good practical grounding working as a uniform and detective constable for eleven years before taking his first promotion. Thereafter, he rose swiftly through the ranks and gained a good reputation by always serving in challenging police operational roles in many parts of London.

Simon was a Chief Superintendent for five years in charge of policing in two large, busy and highly diverse areas of north London, first in Enfield and later Haringey. He was successful at a national selection process for Chief Officers of Police, before going on to graduate from the Strategic Command Course at Bramshill as its top student in 2007. He was immediately appointed as a Commander in London first taking command of the eleven boroughs of North and East London and, after a year, taking charge of all uniform patrol activity in the entire Metropolitan area.

Simon was the London lead for all alcohol licensing, immigration crime and stop and search activity. He also served as the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) national lead for alcohol licensing.

Simon has an MBA from London South Bank University and is a graduate of Cambridge University with a M.St. in Applied Criminology and Police Management.