DAC Laurence Taylor
Deputy Assistant Commissioner (DAC) Laurence Taylor began his police career with Sussex Police in 1996 as a Police Constable based in Hastings, East Sussex. The majority of his career has been spent in operational roles including Frontline Policing (Response, Neighbourhood Policing and Investigations), Specialist Firearms Commands and Public Order.
With Sussex Police, DAC Taylor held a range of different roles including many years on their firearms teams as a Specialist Firearms Officer, followed by command roles as a tactical and specialist strategic firearms commander. He led many Public Order operations including Lewes Bonfire (the largest event of this type in Europe), Brighton Pride and the St George’s Day ‘March for England’.
As well as specialist roles, DAC Taylor was heavily involved in Local Policing across the County and spent many years in Brighton leading their uniformed policing response. Whilst his time in Sussex primarily involved uniform policing, he also completed his Senior Investigating Officers course, becoming the DCI, Crime Manager for East Sussex and spent time with the Corporate Development Department, overseeing the introduction of PCC’s from the previous Police Authority. He also led the Local Policing Programme, the largest change programme ever undertaken by the force, which transformed the way policing was delivered across the County. He left Sussex as the Assistant Chief Constable for Local Policing, Public Protection and Criminal Justice.
DAC Taylor transferred to the Metropolitan Police in July 2018 taking on responsibility for the Operations portfolio within Met Operations. This saw him responsible for a number of specialist areas supporting policing across the MPS including Firearms, Public Order and Resourcing, specialist capabilities including the Marine, Dog and Mounted Units, Roads Transport and Policing Command, Criminal Justice (Met Detention and Met Prosecution) and the MPS Contact and Control Centres.
In April 2021, Laurence moved role into Frontline Policing as DAC responsible for Local Policing. This included Neighbourhood Teams, Emergency Response, Local Investigations, Public Protection and the MPS response to Violence. This role involved working closely with Local Authorities across the capital and he introduced Town Centre Teams and was the SRO for the Strengthening Neighbourhood Policing Programme. He also led the response to the search of Child Q which led to significant changes across the MPS and influenced the National response to the Strip Searching of children.
Since joining the MPS, he has led the response to a number of significant incidents including Brexit, Black Lives Matter, Op Menorca – the MPS response to a summer of increase violence, State Opening of Parliament and Extinction Rebellion. He was also the Gold Commander for Covid as it emerged in the UK, setting up and coordinating the response across London with partners and preparing the MPS to operate through this unique period of time. He was also the Gold Commander for the Streatham terrorist incident.
DAC Taylor is an accredited and experienced Gold Public Order Commander and Gold CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear) Commander. He is the NPCC Events Policing Lead and NPCC Lead for Drones. He also leads for the MPS and London region on police aviation and is the CPOSA (Chief Police Officers Staff Association) rep for the London region.
