Anil Kanti "Neil" Basu QPM is an Assistant Commissioner in the Metropolitan Police Service and the former head of Counter Terrorism Policing for the UK.
Neil was born and raised in Stafford, where he attended Walton High School. After studying economics at university, he began a short career in banking before finding his true calling in policing, enrolling at Hendon Police College in 1992 on a Home Office fast track graduate programme.
Within four years of joining the Met’s Battersea Division, in Lavender Hill, London, as a uniformed police officer, he was promoted to Sergeant. He then spent another four years policing Brixton and became a Detective Sergeant before transferring to Streatham and later Wimbledon, as a Detective Inspector.
In 1999, Neil joined the Anti-Corruption Command, running the surveillance of police officers involved in major crime. In 2002, he was promoted to Detective Chief Inspector, in charge of investigating deaths in police custody and serious police misconduct. He then joined a specialist squad called Trident, investigating complex gangland murders in the capital, and was later promoted to Detective Superintendent, in charge of investigating organised crime.
In 2008, Neil joined the office of former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson QPM and, in 2009, was promoted to Chief Superintendent for Barnet. Four years later, he went on the Strategic Command Course (SCC) at the College of Policing, where he graduated first in class, and became a Chief Officer and the Commander of South-East London.
Neil later became Commander of armed policing and led a high-profile inquiry into phone hacking by several British newspapers. In 2015, he was promoted to Deputy Assistant Commissioner in Specialist Operations, running aviation policing, parliamentary, diplomatic, royal, and other specialist protection. A year later he received the Queen’s Police Medal (QPM) for distinguished service.
Between 2016-18, Neil was charged with finding and stopping terrorists during one of the most difficult periods in recent history, leading the investigation of five attacks and 14 foiled plots in 2017 alone. After becoming Assistant Commissioner, leading UK Counter Terrorism Policing, a poisoning took place in Salisbury, when Neil led an investigation of the Russian military. In July 2021, Neil stepped down to become Director of policing’s most senior leadership programme – the Strategic Command Course.
The Award of Honorary Doctor of Staffordshire University is bestowed upon Neil in recognition of his exceptional distinction in the field of policing.