Quick's comments 'out of character'

By Danny Shaw
Home affairs correspondent, BBC News

Bob Quick's "laid-back" style may have landed him in trouble

If you had told his close friends and colleagues six weeks ago that Bob Quick would be embroiled in a serious political row which threatened his future, they would not have believed you.

Quick by name he is, but quick by nature he is not.

The assistant commissioner is known as a steady, safe pair of hands.

One colleague described him as "calm and collected... a really, really decent man, whose integrity is without question".

Bob Quick joined the police in 1978.

He worked in the Metropolitan force as a detective, investigating murders and other serious violent crimes, before being appointed head of the Met's anti-corruption command - a post reserved for officers who are deemed to be whiter than white.

An indication of Mr Quick's patient, considered approach to policing came in December 2002, when he took charge of a police operation in east London to deal with a gunman who had taken a hostage at a flat in Hackney.

Mr Quick, a commander at the time, was widely praised for the restraint shown by police during the operation, London's longest armed siege.

It ended after 15 days when the gunman, Eli Hall, shot himself, before fire took hold of the flat. No one else was hurt.

Modern reputation

The following year, Mr Quick was promoted to deputy chief constable of Surrey Police, where he landed the top job in 2004.

One of his first acts on his appointment was to hold a series of roadshows, where officers and staff could question him about aspects of the job.

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It set the tone for his period in charge, where he pioneered the use of civilian staff to carry out back-office functions traditionally performed by fully sworn officers.

As the national lead of the Association of Chief Police Officers on workforce modernisation, Mr Quick built a reputation as a copper who was prepared and able to think "outside the box".

The approach clearly impressed the Home Office, and in March 2008 he was promoted again - to head Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism and security department, Specialist Operations.

For the first eight months, Mr Quick went about his job quietly and efficiently. There were few headlines, no off-the-cuff briefings to journalists or extravagant claims about what he could or would do.

Instead, Mr Quick began a programme to forge closer links with Muslim communities, as part of the government's "prevent" strand of its anti-terrorism strategy.

But not everyone is said to be fully signed up to the approach. Could it be that the story in the Mail on Sunday originated from a disgruntled officer with more traditional views about counter-terrorism policing?

'Moment of madness'

Others say that Bob Quick's own style, described as "relaxed" and "laid back", may have got him into trouble.

It will not cost Bob Quick his job, but it has seriously dented his reputation as an officer of impeccable judgment

It is suggested that when he ordered the arrest of Damien Green, and the search of his offices, he did not see the political storm it would cause.

The inevitable result of being at the centre of such a storm is that every aspect of your life is examined - particularly by tabloid newspapers with right-wing sympathies.

When the Mail on Sunday published the article about his wife's hire car business, Mr Quick should have seen it coming.

Perhaps then he would not have been caught off-guard when a reporter questioned him about the story.

His comments to the reporter - making allegations about the Tories' role in the affair - were uncharacteristic of him.

Police officers are always at their most vulnerable when their job affects their family life, but one police source said what Mr Quick said was a "moment of madness".

It will not cost Bob Quick his job, but it has seriously dented his reputation as an officer of impeccable judgment.