Meet CSCL's facilitators—former senior UK police commanders with extensive major incident leadership and counter-terrorism command experience. UK-based; delivering worldwide.
John Campbell LLB, MBA, QPM
Alistair Sutherland QPM
As senior police officer he has over 15 years of strategic crisis command experience. These include numerous public order and protest operations, Royal and State events associated with Windsor Castle, major sporting events and protection operations such as the Olympics, Royal Ascot and large-scale music events such as the Reading Festival.
He chaired the Local Resilience Forum within the Thames Valley area, a multi-agency group that develops response plans to both national and locally identified risks, contained within the UK’s National Risk Assessment.
In addition to his roles within Thames Valley Police, he has also been actively involved in the national response to terrorism. As Chief Constable, he was the UK Police lead for the Protect and Prepare strand of the UK Government’s CT CONTEST strategy and was a member of the UK Counter Terrorist Committee.
For 12 years he led the UK Police’s response to Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) terrorism.
He worked closely with the Home Offices’ Homeland Security team, multi - agency specialist blue light and military responders and members of the scientific community. His role involved developing capabilities and capacity at a national level to prevent and mitigate the impact of such attack methodology.
For 10 years he was a Course Director and Instructor on the UK’s National Counter Terrorist Command Course, training senior officers to take command of high threat counter terrorist operations.
As an operational member of the cadre for many years, he was deployed on a number of occasions.
He has worked on building capabilities to counter terrorism in Oman and Australia and on CBRN related matters with colleagues from the European Union, the United Nations and the 5 ‘Eyes’ community.
In 2015 he was awarded the Queen's Police Medal for services to Policing by HRH Queen Elizabeth. Having retired from policing after 34 years, he is currently a Senior Associate at the Cabinet Office’s UK.
In 2009, as Chief Superintendent in the Met, he was responsible for leading the implementation of the recommendations from the Stockwell Report into the fatal Police shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes across the MPS and following this took command of the Met’s CO19 Specialist Firearms Unit. He was responsible for pan London spontaneous and planned firearms operations, as well as all MPS firearms training. He took on high-profile command roles at public events including the Notting Hill Carnival and State Visits and developed and commanded the firearms security and response plans at the Royal Wedding 2011 and the London 2012 Olympic Games amongst others.
In 2014, he was promoted as Commander for Royalty, Diplomatic, Parliamentary and Specialist Protection and was responsible for all VIP Protection operations in the UK and internationally, as well as the protection of Critical National Infrastructure estates and sites.
In 2016 he joined the City of London Police as Assistant Commissioner leading Operations, Professional Standards, Strategic Business Planning and Performance as well as leading on Transformation. He oversaw the City Police’s response to the London Bridge and Fishmongers’ Hall terrorist attacks and the subsequent inquest processes. During his tenure he introduced the City’s Lead Force Operations Centre overseeing and co ordinating the national police response to fraud.
In 2018 he was awarded the Queen’s Policing Medal for distinguished services to Policing.
Alistair joined British Transport Police in 2021 as Deputy Chief Constable, where his wide-ranging portfolio included overall Policing Operations, Professional Standards, Strategic Development, Compliance and Risk, Information Security, Analysis, Performance, Transformation and Programme Management. Throughout his time as a Chief Officer in three forces he retained national responsibility for CT Command and Control and was Course Director for the National CT Commander Course.
He left policing in April 2025 to take up a directorship in the UK Security Industry and in addition provides a range of expert consultancy services to the private and public sector.
