James Crane

Sir James William Donald Crane, (1 January 1921 - 29 Novovember 1994 ) was a senior police officer in the UK with the role of HM Inspector of Constabulary from 1976 to 1979; and HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary for England and Wales 1979-82.

After wartime service with the Royal Hampshire Regiment he joined the Metropolitan Police in 1946.

By the early 1970s he was the Commander of the Fraud Squad. He was promoted to Deputy Assistant Commissioner and it was in this role that on 19 July 1972 he began the Poulson investigation. At the time this was the UK's biggest ever corruption inquiry: it eventually led to the resignation of Reginald Maudling, then Home Secretary and notionally in charge of the police. In 1973 Crane arrested Poulson who was later convicted.

In 1980 James Crane was involved in important events once more. The Yorkshire Ripper case was no nearer being solved than when the murders had begun five years earlier. Following the murder of Jacqueline Hill on Tuesday, November 18, 1980 Home Secretary William Whitelaw and several senior officials were told to present themselves in Margaret Thatcher's office to find a way forward. The Prime Minister said that the local police had so far failed totally in their enquiries into the series of violent murders. It had become a question of public confidence. Crane was summoned and warned that drastic action was immediately required. Crane immediately briefed a senior Inspectorate colleague, Lawrence Byford, and told him to get to the headquarters of the West Yorkshire Police first thing in the morning and do whatever he thought necessary.

In 1977 he was awarded CBE. On Wednesday, 23 July 1980, at Buckingham Palace, the Queen conferred the Honour of Knighthood.