Facewatch appoints Richard Thompson OBE as Chief Executive Officer

Facewatch Ltd, the company behind the fully integrated online reporting system used by police forces and businesses across the UK has appointed Richard Thompson as Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect. Richard was most recently the Chief Constable of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and has extensive experience gained internationally during his time at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Simon Gordon, Chairman, Facewatch Ltd 

“This is a important step change for Facewatch, which was started in 2010 as a way to protect my customers from bag theft in Gordon’s wine bar. Richard will be instrumental in taking Facewatch to the next level and establishing the brand as a trusted crime prevention and detection platform. Online and mobile tools such as Facewatch Crime Reporter and Facewatch ID are still in their infancy but as the proliferation of camera technology moves online towards central monitoring we can all look forward to a significant reduction in low level crime by working together and I am hopeful that Facewatch will help to be a catalyst for positive change”.

Richard Thompson Chief Executive Officer, Facewatch Ltd 

“I am very pleased to be joining Facewatch at this extremely exciting period in the company’s life.  A practical need led Simon to invent Facewatch and technology was the catalyst like so many ground-breaking ideas. Facewatch is now, after just four years, already highly respected in the UK policing arena and is ready to take advantage of the rise of ‘mobile’ as the default device for police, consumers and businesses for every type of communications. My goal is to ensure Facewatch is fully established as the leading business crime prevention and reporting platform in the UK and internationally”.

Facewatch - Facts:

Facewatch Crime Reporting has signed protocols in place with 9 police forces and has a further 8 in the pipeline in the UK, covering over 50% of the population.  Facewatch ID, the mobile crime identification App has just been re-launched with significant enhancements and has been providing police forces with an unprecedented 20% rate of feedback from the public on identifying subjects of interest.  Internationally Facewatch is shortly beginning pilots with police forces in the USA and Australia, with further high level negotiations ongoing in Brazil and Africa as well as opportunities opening up in India and many other countries.

Richard Thompson OBE LLB, biography:

In 2012, Richard completed thirty-three years Government service during which time he had extensive policy and operational experience in the security, intelligence and defence world.  He was Commissioned into the Royal Green Jackets (1978 – 88), served in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (1989 – 2007), and was the Chief Constable of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (2007 – 12).   His postings overseas included Hong Kong, France, Oman, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Kosovo, and Iraq.  He held a number of senior domestic appointments as well as geographic operational commands for Central and Eastern Europe within the FCO before becoming the first civilian to become a Chief Constable since 1947, when he took up the responsibility for providing the armed police protection for all British civil nuclear sites and the transhipment of fissile material both inside the UK and internationally.

In 2012, he founded Elvaston Global Limited, an international consultancy service; and in 2013 he co-founded and is a Director of Advanced Laser Imaging.  He has been a lay member of the Bar Standards Board since 2009 and is the Chairman of their Supervision Committee; he is an Honorary Fellow at King’s College London; an Honorary Fellow of the Strategic Studies Institute at Exeter University; and a visiting lecturer at the US Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey.

He was educated at St Paul’s School, London; Exeter University and Harvard Business School.