Nick Blackburn has been appointed as the BCU Commander across Croydon, Sutton and Bromley, and in his first media interview since landing his new job, he speaks to Inside Croydon
Back in uniform: DCS Nick Blackburn is a career-long Met detective
A Detective Chief Superintendent, Nick Blackburn, has been appointed as the new Borough Commander across Croydon, Sutton and Bromley.
DCS Blackburn replaces Andy Brittain, who after five years in the role was promoted to Temporary Commander at Scotland Yard in February, and now chairs misconduct hearings and gross incompetence meetings.
Blackburn specifically asked to take on the role of Borough Commander or, more formally now that the duties are combined and extended across three south London boroughs, to become the South Area BCU Commander.
Blackburn joined the police in Bexley in 1999, before working as a detective in the Flying Squad and a spell of borough policing in Southwark as a detective sergeant from 2009.
“I have spent the last 13 years in a variety of roles in specialist crime, mostly targeting serious and organised crime, with a focus on homicide, commercial robbery, firearms crime and drug supply networks.
“I am delighted to have been appointed,” DCS Blackburn said of his latest appointment.
Blackburn takes over in Croydon following several years of seriously worrying murder rates in the borough, including some nationally high-profile cases, while the borough is about to be the first place in Britain to have permanently-installed Live Facial Recognition cameras, and when the Met across London is looking to reduce its staff count to meet budget restrictions.
He said, “I have a good team around me and look forward to engaging with local authorities and, of course, the communities within Croydon, working together to prevent and solve crime.”
Croydon went for five years without holding a single meeting of its Safer Neighbourhood Board, the body funded by the Mayor’s Office for Police and Crime, at which police and council liaison is supposed to be discussed in public with residents.
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