Haringey Gets New Top Cop

Haringey's new police Commander, Nigerain born Victor Olisa

Haringey is to get a new police commander in March this year after Chief Superintendent Sandra Looby moves on to run policing in the Palace of Westminster.

Nigerian born Chief Superintendent Victor Olisa will move to the borough from the top spot in Bexley which he took on in April last year.

The father of two, whose grandfather was a police officer in Nigeria, commented, “Policing runs in the family and I have always wanted to be a police officer".

Haringey's new top cop started his policing career with Surrey Constabulary in 1982 after leaving university. He transferred to the City of London Police in 1990 and spent three years in the Fraud Squad as a detective inspector in charge of one of the investigative teams.

In 2003 he went on secondment to the Home Office to work on the controversial Stop and Search powers as part of a small team in the Office for Criminal Justice Reform. 

In 2005 he was awarded a PhD in Criminology by the London School of Economics.

He transferred to the Metropolitan Police Service in April 2006 on promotion to Superintendent and worked at Southwark Borough in a variety of senior management roles.

From October 2009 to December 2010 he led the work on one of the Commissioner's strategic priorities to deliver safety and confidence to Londoners.  In December 2010 he took on responsibility for leading the MPS Stop and Search Team.

His move from Bexley has been announced just nine months after he took up the reins of the South London Police force.

Commenting on the move Olisa said: “With all the issues around the inquest hearing of the Mark Duggan shooting, that puts Haringey in a different perspective to Bexley. I think it’s a vote of confidence moving me from here to head that up at such a sensitive time.

Responding to questions about his role as one of the very small number of senior black police officers, he pointed out that his ethnicity never affected the way he carried out his duties: “I consider myself first and foremost a police officer. If (being black) is an advantage, then brilliant; If it’s a disadvantage, I will have to deal with that, I can’t hide it.”