Met appoints new top cop for Barnet (From Times Series)

Met appoints new top cop for Barnet

3:52pm Monday 6th July 2009

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A SENIOR police officer who has specialised in tackling fraud, murder and organised crime has been appointed borough commander of Barnet.

Chief Superintendent Neil Basu took up the reins from Stephen Kavanagh, who has taken over command of North London, on June 29.

Chief Superintendent Basu described the appointment as the proudest day of his life “next to becoming a dad” and vowed to build a safer and “more confident” community.

He said: “To do that we must be more visible in Barnet’s richly diverse communities and talk with you about what you want from your police service.

“Public trust and confidence is built on policing by consent. This is a fragile commodity, hard won but easily lost and must be the bedrock of policing in Barnet.”

Chief Superintendent Basu has enjoyed a specialist detective career as a senior investigating officer of anti-corruption, murder, organised crime and kidnap.

He played a key role in the Met’s Trident command, running a murder squad in West Hendon and investigating shootings in the black community in north London.

Among his cases was were the 2003 murders of Tony and Toni-Ann Byfield, for which the killer received Trident’s first 40-year prison sentence.

He comes to Barnet as the former staff officer to Sir Paul Stephenson, the Met’s Commissioner.

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