Chief officer team

Commissioner Angela McLaren

The head of the City of London Police traditionally holds the rank of Commissioner. With the exception of the Metropolitan Police Service, which has its own Commissioner, all other UK police forces have a Chief Constable at their head.

Angela started her career with Fife Constabulary in 1996 where she served in several operational and community roles up to the rank of Chief Inspector. 

In 2013, she was appointed Project Manager for the Pathways to Policing Project at the Scottish Police College and, on promotion to Superintendent in 2014, was posted to D Division, Tayside where she held various portfolios. 

In 2015, she was promoted to Chief Superintendent and appointed Divisional Commander of Fife Division where she led various operations and events.  She was later selected to lead a team to produce the first long term strategy for policing in Scotland. 

In June 2018, she was promoted to Assistant Chief Constable responsible for Operational Change and Resilience, a portfolio which included the Digitally Enabled Policing Programme and Strategic Design Authority.  

In June 2019, ACC McLaren became the Executive Lead for Organised Crime, Counter Terrorism and Intelligence within Police Scotland.  

In December 2020, she joined City of London Police in the newly created role of Assistant Commissioner responsible for Economic Crime and Cybercrime.  ​​​​​​​

Assistant Commissioner Paul Betts

Paul Betts joined the City of London Police as Assistant Commissioner for operational policing on 4 January 2022.

Paul joined the force from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) where he is currently Commander and Head of Professional Standards and Recognition. 

He joined the MPS in June 2020 from Sussex Police where he spent over a decade in public order and public safety and he has a particular interest in change management and developing people.

Assistant Commissioner Peter O'Doherty

Peter O'Doherty joined the City of London Police as Assistant Commissioner responsible for fraud and cyber crime on 4 January 2022.

He joined the force from the South East Regional Crime Unit (SEROCU), the body responsible for regional crime and counter terrorism functions, where he was previously Assistant Chief Constable.

Temporary Commander David Evans

As a graduate in IT, Dai joined the City of London Police in 1996. He served his probationary period at Snow Hill before moving into CID.

The majority of his career to date has been served in detective roles at all ranks between Constable and Chief Superintendent, including periods in Economic Crime, Special Branch, Major Crime and Covert Policing.

As a Detective Superintendent and a trained Senior Investigating Officer, he has led successful investigations into murder, rape, blackmail and drug importation and distribution. He is also a trained kidnap & extortion SIO and crisis and kidnap negotiator.

In 2014, he led the UK response to the MH17 air crash in Ukraine in his role as a Senior Identification Manager. He continues to undertake this role today, representing HM Coroner to families based in the UK.

As a directorate head for the City of London Police, he has been responsible for a wide portfolio including force intelligence, command and control, operational planning and information security.

In more recent times, he has taken on an increased number of command roles as a Gold Commander, coordinating the City Police response to large scale ceremonial events and public order. He was also the senior officer coordinating the force’s response to the 2017 London Bridge terrorist incident.

Dai took over the commander portfolio on a temporary basis in May 2019 in which he leads the operational activity of the force and, amongst other things, the force’s Secure City programme which aspires to make the Square Mile the safest city in the world.

Temporary Commander Clinton Blackburn

T / Commander Clinton Blackburn was appointed as the Head of the City of London Police’s Economic Crime Directorate in August 2020.

Over the course of his career Clinton has worked in a number key roles and specialisms. He began his career in Bedfordshire Police before joining the City of London Police. He also spent a short period of time working for Surrey Police when he took up promotion, before again re-joining the City of London Police on further promotion. Over the course of his career he has investigated a range of serious and complex investigations. He has also worked in intelligence and been a Firearms Tactical Commander.

As the Head of Economic Crime within the City of London he oversees a diverse range of operational units, each focused on complex and specialist aspects of economic crime. This includes investigations into serious fraud, money laundering, overseas anti-corruption, intellectual property crime, cyber protect team, insurance fraud enforcement and asset recovery. He is also responsible for The Economic Crime Academy which provides training and accreditation to a range of policing, law enforcement and private agencies. 

The City of London is the lead force for Economic Crime and T/Commander Blackburn coordinates that response across UK policing. As part of this portfolio T/Commander Blackburn oversees national services such as Action Fraud, and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, which incorporates the Economic Crime Victim Care Unit. His vision is to work with partners, to disrupt the activity of criminals across the UK, and to improve the effectiveness of the policing response at a local, regional and national level.​​​​​​​

Commander Blackburn also oversees a number of key national portfolios and most notably he is Co-Chair of the National LGBT portfolio.

Service Delivery Director Chris Bell

Chris oversees the delivery of the services within the context of the National Fraud and Cyber-crime Reporting and Analytics Service.  Working closely with the force executive and heads of operations to run the existing service, he will also lead on the design, procurement, implementation and delivery of the next generation national service to victims of Economic Crime.  Day to day responsibility will include the contract and commercial management of the service and all aspects of its supply chain.