The retired New Zealand police chief in the running to become the new head of the Metropolitan Police has a drink-driving conviction.
Mike Bush is one of six white male applicants hoping to replace Dame Cressida Dick as commissioner of the UK’s largest police force after her departure last month.
The 61-year-old served as a police officer in New Zealand for 42 years and was commissioner between April 2014 and April 2020.
Early in his career, when he was 23 years old and had been a police officer for five years, Mr Bush was charged with drink-driving after he was pulled over while dropping a colleague off at a hotel.
It is unclear whether the conviction almost 40 years ago could stand in his way of becoming the first foreign boss of a British police force.
Dame Cressida quit the force following a series of scandals that have damaged public confidence, including the rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer and offensive messages being shared by a team based at Charing Cross.
The job advert for the next Metropolitan Police commissioner demanded the successful candidate make the force “demonstrably more professional” and “address concerns around police conduct and tackling institutional culture”.
Mr Bush revealed details of his conviction in a 2017 blog post following questions from the media.
The former top police officer confirmed he was a detective constable at the time and off-duty when he drove a colleague to a hotel after hosting him for dinner in Auckland.
He said he had a “few drinks” with dinner but thought he was under the drink-driving limit.
Mr Bush pleaded guilty to driving with excess breath alcohol, received a NZ$250 fine and was disqualified from driving for six months.
He wrote in the weekly blog post: “It was extremely poor judgment by me 34 years ago, for which I am sorry. I make no excuses.”
Mr Bush is known for making wide-ranging reforms during his time as deputy commissioner of New Zealand police, which saw him introduce a “prevention first” model to shift the focus to prevention rather than prosecution.
The crime rate fell by 20 per cent and public satisfaction with policing rose five points to 84 per cent.
He was also commissioner during the Christchurch mosque attack in 2019.
An inquiry later found a series of failures ahead of the attack, but concluded the tragedy was unpreventable.
