Robert Mark

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Sir Robert Mark (born 13 March 1917), GBE, QPM, is an English former law enforcement official who served as Chief Constable of Leicester City Police, and later as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police from 1972 to 1977.

Robert Mark was arguably the first Commissioner to have risen through all the ranks from the lowest to the highest, although predecessors had served as Constables prior to fast track promotion, or like Mark, to reenlistment following war service. As Commissioner, he forced out many corrupt police officers and subsequently authored a book about his experiences.

As a teenager he was educated at William Hulme's Grammar School, Manchester.

After his retirement he appeared in television adverts for GoodYear tyres and his "I'm convinced they're a major contribution to road safety" became a widely used catchphrase.

[edit] References

Mark, Sir Robert (1977). Policing a Perplexed Society, 3-132p. 23cm. London: Allen and Unwin ISBN 0043630065, ISBN 0043630057
Review by Doreen McBarnet of Policing a Perplexed Society by Robert Mark and A Force for the Future by Roy Lewis. British Journal of Law and Society, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Winter 1977), pages 286-288

[edit] External links

Metropolitan Police—timeline 1970–1989
History & Policy - "Policing the Windrush generation", by James Whitfield states that "Sir Robert Mark was a lone dissenting voice in pointing out that the real reason why so few minority ethnic applicants applied to join the police was because they knew that they would be unwelcome."