[Reader-list] Police chief quits over blunder

[Taha Mehmood]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7991307.stm


  Police chief quits over blunder


*Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer has resigned after 
making a security blunder which caused an anti-terror operation to be 
brought forward.*

Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick inadvertently revealed secret papers to 
photographers when arriving for a Downing Street briefing on Wednesday.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson said it was "with great sadness" that he 
had accepted senior officer's resignation.

Twelve men were detained in raids in Manchester, Liverpool and Lancashire.

Mr Johnson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme Mr Quick had a "very, very 
distinguished" career and that the incident had been "extremely 
unfortunate".

There had been no witch hunt or effort to hound him out, he said.

The mayor confirmed Assistant Commissioner John Yates would replace Mr 
Quick as head of counter-terrorism.

The senior officer had faced intense criticism from opposition 
politicians after revealing the confidential document to photographers 
after arriving for a Downing Street briefing.


The memo, marked "secret", carried an outline briefing on an on-going 
counter-terrorism operation.

It contained the names of several senior officers, locations and details 
about the nature of the overseas threat.

In a statement, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she had been informed 
of Mr Quick's resignation by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul 
Stephenson.

"Although the operation was successful, he felt that his position was 
untenable. I want to offer my sincere appreciation of all the 
outstanding work he has done in this role," she said.