Facewatch have announced that Michael Gordon Gibson, the former President Of Crimestoppers International, has joined as police and international operations director.
Gibson will join Facewatch to focus on the national and international roll-out of the service to police forces. Currently nine UK forces have adopted the Facewatch system and the goal is to increase coverage rapidly over the next 12 months.
He said:“This is a superb opportunity for me to join a highly innovative business which is really changing the way low level crime is managed and controlled. My recent experience with Crimestoppers International and having served the public and third sectors for over 34 years allows me to bring a wealth of knowledge to Facewatch which I intend to use to accelerate the use of the system across all UK police forces.”
Gibson added: “Facewatch became a corporate partner with Crimestoppers in the UK in 2012 with the intention of enhancing the opportunities for the public to give information to the police by identifying images posted on the ‘Facewatch ID’ mobile application but also using the anonymous Crimestoppers on-line reporting site alongside the Facewatch application. The partners have agreed to develop the existing Crimestoppers interface to enable a single image upload interface which will populate both Facewatch ID and the Crimestoppers ‘Most Wanted’ site thus saving the police many hours of administration dealing with two separate systems.”
Simon Gordon, Chairman of Facewatch said: “Michael is a very important addition to our senior management team at a crucial moment in the roll out of the Facewatch system both in the UK and abroad. His wealth of experience in the public sector and more recently with Crimestoppers International makes him the perfect fit for us and I am delighted that he is joining us with the kind support of his Crimestoppers senior management with whom we are working ever more closely.”
Gibson is a former police officer who worked mainly within the Intelligence Command of London’s Metropolitan Police Service. In 2009 he completed thirty years’ service. Alongside many diverse overt and covert operational roles, including murder investigation, he supervised the Scotland Yard-based Crimestoppers Unit during the migration of the London region iconic “0800 555 111” anonymous call-handling operation to the Crimestoppers charity.
Before joining Facewatch he was Head of Operations for the UK Crimestoppers Trust where he was responsible for their 24/7 public-facing contact Bureau that handles all calls to the charity’s 0800 555 111 number. Michael was also engaged in strategic liaison with the police and related agencies on behalf of the charity.
Gibson was elected, in 2004, to the Crime Stoppers International (CSI) Board as a Director of the European Crimestoppers Region. He was elected as CSI Vice-President in 2006 joining the CSI Executive Committee. He became CSI President in August 2010 serving a two-year term where he was responsible for CSI Law Enforcement & Interpol liaison.
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