John Alderson

John Cottingham Alderson (28 May 1922 - 7 October 2011) was a senior British police officer and an expert on police and penal affairs. He began his policing career in 1946 after military service, joining the West Riding Constabulary and progressing through ranks including posts with the Metropolitan Police in London, and served as Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police from November 1973 until his retirement in May 1982. He became known as a champion of community policing at a time when such views were controversial among senior British law enforcement figures, and he received the Queen's Police Medal in 1974 and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1981. After retiring from policing he held academic fellowships at Cambridge and Oxford and served as a visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde, continuing to influence police studies and criminology through his scholarship.