Member Profiles
I.R. READHEAD, QPM, LL.B
DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION
ASSOCATION OF CHIEF POLICE OFFICERS
Mr Readhead joined Hampshire Constabulary at the age of 16 as a cadet and completed a period of voluntary service overseas, teaching in the Falkland Islands prior to joining the regular service. His work for disadvantaged children was recognised by the Lions Club making him the National Youth of the Year in 1974. He attended Southampton University obtaining an Honours degree in Law in 1982.
His successive ranks in the Police Service have a strong operational background, which have involved both challenging policing roles during the miners’ dispute, the movement of nuclear weapons and significant public disorder in Portsmouth. He has also worked in Slovakia, training local officers with regard to the policing of Romanies. He was appointed Assistant Chief Constable in April 1995, becoming Deputy Chief Constable on 1st April 2000. Mr. Readhead led for the Association of Chief Police Officers on a number of portfolio areas including Communications, Freedom of Information, Data Protection, Procurement, Single Non Emergency Number and Police National Networks. He is a member of the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Group on the Implementation of the Freedom of Information. Mr Readhead is the only Officer in the history of the Hampshire Constabulary to have joined as a cadet and to reach the rank of Deputy Chief Constable.
Mr Readhead was Chairman of the Southampton Police Club Trust Fund Ltd, a unique multi million pound trust, for the benefit of serving and retired Hampshire police staff and he is also currently President of the British Association of Public Communication Officers.
Mr Readhead retired from Hampshire Constabulary in September 2008 and immediately took up his new role as Director of Information for the Association of Chief Police Officers. He has responsibility for ACPO’s Criminal Record Office and also retains National lead for Freedom of Information and Data Protection. He is a member of the Business Design Authority for the new Police National Database.
Mr Readhead is married with 4 children.
Steve Dobson
Worked for Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service Telecoms Dept.
for 27 years
Telecommunications manager July 2005 – present (also Firelink project
manager).
Assistant Telecommunications manager 1990 – 2005.
Senior technician 1984 – 1990.
Radio technician 1981 – 1984.
Previous employment as a marine radio and electronics technician for
SAIT electronics 1976 – 1981 based in Liverpool and Glasgow.
Started work as a Merchant Navy radio officer for Marconi Marine 1971 -
1976
Attended Fleetwood nautical college 1969 – 1971.
Hobbies are fishing and red wine.
Separated, with 2 children, daughter 17 and son 13.
Originally from Blackburn, Lancashire, now living in Edinburgh.
Appointed to BAPCO Scottish region committee in February 2007.
Keith Phillips OBE
Appointed Executive Committee Representative in April 2008. An original founder and Life Member of BAPCO, Keith entered the Fire Service in Gloucestershire in 1963, transferred to Avon in 1974 and to West Sussex as the brigade’s Communications and Computing Services Officer in 1979 where he led a new control room project and introduced operational and admin’ support IT to the brigade. Joining the Home Office in 1985, he took the lead on fire service related communications and control room issues, he was appointed as one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Fire Services in 1989. Since then he provided a pivotal role in a number of areas, including as Project Director of the Firelink Radio Project and whilst with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, as Programme Director of the New Dimension (Counter Terrorism) Resilience Programme. During this period he also delivered the Fire Control Regionalisation plan to ministers and was appointed as an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2004. Keith retired from his role in Whitehall at the end of 2004 when he entered the world of consultancy, finally retiring in 2007 to coincide with a move to his new home in Devon. Keith is our most recent addition to the Committee joining us in January 2008.
Tracey Quinn
Working as part of a team for over five years within the Emergency Planning and Civil Contingencies field Tracey Quinn has had firsthand knowledge of the complex organisational subtext in both Local Authority and Central Government. She has built a rich and valuable base of knowledge gleaned from across the regions by proactively engaging and establishing constructive working partnerships at Regional and Local Resilience Forums. This knowledge of main service provision and strong professional links with key personnel at strategic, tactical and operational levels allows Tracey to make a positive contribution to our BAPCO South West Region. She has been a member of the Committee since 2004 and is employed with North Wiltshire District Council. Her working background in the business sector then adapting to the public sector has proved of great value in organising and hosting seminars on our behalf.
Pete Prater
Pete Prater was appointed Chair of the Region in March 2007. Previously he has served BAPCO since 1994 as Secretary to the Region and Secretary and Chair to the Association’s Commercial Advisory Group. For his services to BAPCO he was awarded Life Membership in 2005. Peter served in the Royal Corps of Signals for 15 years before becoming an independent technical and management consultant in 1996 since when he has worked on a variety of emergency service telecommunications related projects. He currently works for Advalus in a business development and consulting role.
Graham Weeks
Graham joined BAPCO in 1995 and has been a member of the South West Regional committee for a number of years.He has 32 years of Sales & Marketing experience within the Communications industry having dealt with various sectors including Law Enforcement, Government, Defence, Security, and Network Telecoms. He has worked for a number of blue chip companies including Racal, Motorola, Allen, Andrew and Cobham covering territories in the UK, Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. He is currently Regional Sales Manager with Cobham Antennas, a division of Cobham plc.
