Lily Benbow: celebrating London's policewomen

... the will to make a difference

DCI Lily Benbow has packed plenty into her 28 years in the Met. Her career has included time spent working in local policing, and the Territorial Support Group (TSG), then as a detective leading teams investigating gangs, child sexual exploitation and domestic abuse

She is now Detective Chief Inspector leading the safeguarding partnership in Islington and Camden. This involves working with local partners to safeguard vulnerable adults and children: “We can be dealing with issues ranging from missing persons to child abuse to modern slavery to protecting vulnerable adults in hospitals. Our work includes carrying out risk assessments, investigating missing persons, and coming up with solutions on how to best protect those vulnerable people."

What first got you into policing?

I studied Hotel and Catering in Dublin, and came to London in 1987, intending to stay for just six months. Two years later I was still here and one night I got chatting to some guys in a pub. They turned out to be police at a leaving ‘do’. I liked the sound of a job where I could stay active and I also liked the idea of a good pension. So I joined in October 1991.

You decided to join the TSG, how was that?

When I joined the TSG (Territorial Support Group) in 1996 I was a minority female and people often used to ask me ‘Oh, what was it like working in an all-male environment?’ But I thought it was absolutely fantastic. I'm a straight-talking Irishwoman and yes, it was just great. I became very good at running so when we had to train I could beat all the men as they had built up too much muscle in the gym. Running was my secret weapon!

What are the best and worst parts of the job?

I suppose the worst would be the volume of work that you have to deal with and sometimes feeling like you don’t have enough time to be able to give it your best. I think that’s because our worlds have become so much more complex. Just the other week I was looking at a crime concerning child protection, and for a period of a few hours, there were 11 individual officers involved in it. That's complex, that's really complex. Is that good? Absolutely good if everybody works together. But that doesn't even take account of local authority partners. That's just for one individual protection case. So it's complicated. It's not as straightforward as when I was taking crime reports on a big sheet of green paper that we used to have to do. As for the best part of the job, that’s easy… the variety, the excitement, there’s no job like it.

How have you found it being a mother and a police officer?

The Met’s a great place for women to balance a career and family. The Met has come a long way in respect of this but there is still improvement to be made. I can help make those improvements as a senior leader.

I am a strong leader so I do not always have to work long hours. Yes, when there are terrorist attacks or major incidents, you have to put in the long hours, of course, but most days are not like that. For me, I trust and support my teams to perform.

What does being strong mean to you?

I suppose I look back on my working life and I see and remember all the things that have happened – from missing persons and traumatic sexual assaults to responding to terrorist attacks – and you need to be strong to help victims through those traumatic events. I have strength of character in what I want to do and in how I work but also I'm very soft in a caring sense. I feel passionate about my family, my friends, my staff, my team.