Richard Brunstrom QPM (born September 1954, Nottingham) is a retired British senior police officer.
As such he carried through vigorous changes of strategy, including a campaign to reduce road deaths which attracted high-profile attacks in national media.
He has commented that he needed to stir up debate as politicians were too afraid of unpopularity to address pressing issues.
They also praised the consistently high proportion of crimes detected by North Wales Police which led to an out-of-court disposal or a court conviction and sentence.
For a number of years, North Wales Police was one of the leading forces in terms of its detection rate.
[14] In a private presentation to reporters in May 2007, Brunstrom launched a new approach to speeding, offering courses and training rather than points and fines.
[15] Brunstrom had photographs of Gibney's decapitated body inserted after an earlier draft of the presentation was not "gruesome" enough.
[19] Brunstrom has called for the decriminalisation of all drugs – including heroin and cocaine – and has urged the Government to declare an end to the "failed" war on illegal narcotics.
This has led to his being created an honorary Druid by the Gorsedd of Bards list at the 2006 National Eisteddfod,[21] and in April 2007 he made a speech to Welsh communities pressure group Cymuned in which he urged politicians to update the 1993 Welsh Language Act, saying he was doing his duty by raising it.
Video footage of the event was posted on the force's website; Brunstrom was tasered for 1.5 seconds, and swore as he lost control of his body.