AS WE celebrate Black History Month in the United Kingdom this month, there is no more appropriate time to celebrate a great life in the Metropolitan Police Service of Ron Hope.

I celebrate Ron as a close personal friend and colleague for almost fifty years. He was a man of great intellect, courage and integrity. He was gifted and talented with a keen sense of fairness and justice who went about his business in an unpretentious manner.

Ron worked very hard for his successes but carried them with great humility. He dealt with many weighty matters during his professional life but also had the facility to relax. He had a good sense of humour. Ron cared deeply about his wife and family and always spoke about them with a sense of pride and great satisfaction. I found him to be a very generous man in many different ways.

Fate brought Ron and I together in the Metropolitan Police Service as probationary Police Constables at Lewisham Police Station (Ladywell) in early 1973. This was well ahead of the Race Relations Act of 1976 even though some senior Police Officers had lobbied for certain exemptions for the Police Service in the legislation.

In an interview with his old school, Ron gave an insight into his introduction to the Metropolitan Police Service. “Joining the Police wasn’t something I’d always dreamed of doing but I saw that it could offer me a chance to do something worthwhile which would be physically and mentally demanding.

I signed on the dotted line despite my reservations about racism. One of the police officers involved in organising the recruiting interviews was kind enough to tell me that he didn’t particularly like black people because in his experience ‘they’ were trouble makers.

He sounded so reasonable and sincere but he must have been most upset when I showed no sign of being offended or causing trouble. Remember this was 1973 and my presence in the Metropolitan Police Service was not universally welcomed. What I’ve always realised though is that there were many police officers of varying ranks who did help me through those early days.”

Ron was not deterred by the prevailing environment in the Metropolitan Police and British Policing in the early 1970’s. He embarked on his Police career with optimism and determination that he had a contribution to make for the greater good. He was the 12th black Police Officer in a Force of 28,000 sworn colleagues when he joined in that era of policing..

Ron steadfastly progressed through his early Police Career as a Police Constable in Lewisham during the first two years of his service referred to as the Probationary period, meeting all assessments with characteristic aplomb. He was able, capable and confident. Ron was erudite in conversations and discussions, an attribute that sometimes discomfited longer serving colleagues who did not possess those attributes. Within six months of his Police Service, Ron featured in a BBC Panorama programme by Alan Hart that looked at black people in London following various careers. A few months later Ron featured in a Police recruitment video.

It was not long before Ron specialised and joined the Criminal Investigation of the Metropolitan Police. He served as a Detective Constable at Kensington in West London and a Detective Sergeant at Kennington in South East London.

Ron passed the assessments to embark on the fast track Special Course for promotion to Inspector at Bramshill Police College. He successfully completed the accelerated promotion course and at the age of 25 he was posted as an operational Inspector to Marylebone Police Station in Central London on 3 December 1979.

He found his first morning in charge of uniform police officers at Marylebone interrupted by a press conference, photo call, radio and television interviews. Ron politely accepted the fuss as inevitable while he indicated he would have preferred to have proved himself in the job of a Team Inspector first before attracting so much publicity. He said, “But I can only hope that being promoted, this may assist in promoting community relations to some extent and hopefully encourage young black people to join the Police.”

Ron’s aspirations were realised when on being promoted to Chief Inspector he became steeped in promoting good Community and Police relations as the Police Community Liaison Officer for the London Borough of Lambeth. Ron had strong family and community links in Lambeth. He harnessed many personal, professional, community and multi-agency links.

This period coincided with the formation of the first Black Police Association in Britain in the Metropolitan Police Service. Ron became the first Chair when the Black Police Association was launched at Scotland Yard in September 1994. He appreciated both the need for this Support Network for black Police Officers and the associated challenges by those in policing who disapproved.

In an in-depth interview with Helen William (Voice newspaper, 18 October 1994) Ron made it clear he had no truck with dissenters and his focus was fairness for black Police Officers in the Metropolitan Police Service, for their issues and concerns to be taken seriously by the senior leadership of the Metropolitan Police and the Police Federation representing rank and file Police Officers. He was concerned about the need to recruit a more representative Police Service that more accurately represented the population of London and the need to stem the tide of premature resignation of the small number of black Police Officers who joined.

Ron was not one to simply rely on anecdotal information about the experiences of black Police Officers but was painstaking to accrue a body of empirical evidence. He embarked on a series of interviews cataloguing the experiences of black and Asian Police Officers as part of his thesis for his Masters Degree. This was one of Ron’s enduring qualities, meticulously amassing information, intelligence and evidence so his contributions to professional discourse, guidance or directions to colleagues were always well informed.

Ron was an outstanding exemplar for those of us who succeeded him as Chair of the Black Police Association. Ron was involved in discussions with various Constabularies around the country, more local Black Police Associations were launched, a National Communication Network of Black Police Associations emerged resulting in the United Kingdom National Black Police Association.

Ron’s aspirations to contribute to Community Police Relations reached its pinnacle when as a Police Superintendent he became the Police Liaison Officer at the Home Office Specialist Support Unit for Police Community and Race Relations Training. He had a national role advising Police Services in England and Wales on Police Community and Race Relations Training.

Ron was promoted to Chief Superintendent and served as the Borough Commander for the London Borough of Islington until his retirement. His retirement reception at Islington Town Hall in April 2003 was a fitting tribute for his years of partnership and multi-agency working.

Ron was a connoisseur of cricket. He played at school and played representative cricket for Lewisham Police in his early years in the Metropolitan Police. He spent many years watching international cricket at The Oval cricket ground, home of Surrey County Cricket Club in South East London.

Ron was thrilled have been admitted membership to prestigious Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). After his retirement from the Metropolitan Police Service he spent several years as a Regional Security Manager in the International Cricket Council’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit. This involved a lot of travel working with various Test Cricketing nations.

Many of us felt a deep sense of loss at Ron’s passing but he has left a rich legacy as a testament to a life well lived with great purpose.

Ronald John Hope (29 January 1954 – 12 June 2022)