Sir David Blackstock McNee was a Scottish police officer who was Chief Constable of the City of Glasgow Police from 1971 to 1977, and then Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police from 1977 to 1982.
17 Facts About David McNee
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David McNee was involved in the Normandy landings on D-Day.
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In 1946, David McNee began his career in the police when he joined the City of Glasgow Police, serving as a uniformed constable before joining the force's Marine Division as a Detective Constable in 1951.
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David McNee rose up the ranks to Inspector and served in the Flying Squad and Special Branch, until attending a senior command course at the Police Staff College, Bramshill, after which he was appointed Assistant Chief Constable of Dunbartonshire County Constabulary.
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David McNee joined the Metropolitan Police in London in 1977 as the Met's Commissioner, the first time he had served outside Scotland as a police officer.
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David McNee had commanded the second largest police force in Britain in Strathclyde and was now in charge of the largest.
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David McNee considered that it was unfair for the subsequent Scarman Inquiry into the riot to concentrate on policing and not extend in depth to the wider social, political and economic context.
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David McNee believed the police were being set up as scapegoats for the riot.
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David McNee was against the repeal of the sus law, believing that no evidence had been provided that arrests under that law did harm to the relationship between the police and black people.
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David McNee did not believe pressure for repeal came from the law-abiding citizens of Brixton but instead from external extremists.
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David McNee had earlier expressed his opinion that black people were disproportionately targeted by the sus law because there were indications that they were "over-represented in offences of robbery and other violent theft".
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The Home Secretary, William Whitelaw, sent his Permanent Secretary to ask David McNee to take responsibility for the incident and resign, a request David McNee declined.
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David McNee was very critical of the conduct of the investigation, in particular that the investigation team would not pass him evidence relating to complaints made against his police officers.
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David McNee was knighted in 1978, and remained as Metropolitan Police Commissioner for five years until his retirement in 1982.
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An active freemason, David McNee served as the President of Glasgow Battalion, The Boys' Brigade between 1984 and 1987.
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David McNee married Isabel Clayton Hopkins in 1952.
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In 2002, aged 77, David McNee married Lillian Campbell, 56, the widow of a close friend, Norman Campbell, who had died the previous year.