[The following are excerpts from an obituary in today’s edition of The Herald:]
John Dickson
Former Assistant Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police and head of police operations at the Lockerbie disaster;
Born: October 23, 1932; Died: October 25, 2012.
John Thomson Dickson, better known as John T, who has died aged 80, was a policeman's policeman who led from the front.
A tenacious, considerate and courteous man, he was in charge of police operations during the Lockerbie disaster (...)
In 1985 he was appointed Assistant Chief Constable. Initially he was in command of personnel and later in the post he relished, operations. (...)
His leadership and planning skills were put to the ultimate test when Pan Am Flight 103 fell from the skies above Lockerbie, just after 7pm on December 22, 1988.
Mr Dickson was sent to Dumfries and Galloway to take charge of operations under the command of the Dumfries and Galloway Chief Constable, John Boyd.
He arrived in Lockerbie at 10pm while the plane and parts of the town were still ablaze. He and a team of officers worked through the night and devised a seven-sector search plan.
As dawn broke the grim reality was obvious and Mr Dickson and his team briefed search teams that poured into the area from all Scottish police forces and numerous volunteer agencies.
By Christmas Eve over 1000 officers plus volunteers were searching the hills, rivers and lochs for bodies, luggage and aircraft parts. All of the dead and luggage were recovered and identified in what remains to this day the most successful search and recovery operation of its type in the world.
Mr Dickson was awarded the OBE in 1989 for his service to policing.
I've never heard of the late Mr. Dixon. Considering what I know about the officers involved in this affair whom I have heard of, this is entirely to that gentleman's credit.
ReplyDeleteMISSION LOCKERBIE, 2012
ReplyDeleteSincere condolences to the family of the deceased official - John Dickson.
With it, as a former Assistant Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police and head of police operations at the Lockerbie Tragedy - another important man had taken some of true facts over the "Lockerbie Affair" - in the grave...
good by Mr. John T...
We examine strengthened further - by Edwin and Mahnaz Bollier, MEBO Ltd. Switzerland. URL: www.lockerbie.ch
"Considering what I know about the officers involved in this affair whom I have heard of, this is entirely to that gentleman's credit."
ReplyDeleteThat one made me laugh!
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Of course, nearly 100% of the police force involved in the Lockerbie investigation will have been honorable people with a genuine wish to help finding the truth. So without any further knowledge there is every chance that Mr. Dickson would have belonged to that group.
Unfortunately, it only takes a few bad apples to make the whole case rotten and cast a dark shadow over so many who didn't deserve it.