Alan Billings

Alan Roy Billings (born 7 October 1942) is an Anglican priest and Labour politician who served as the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner from 2014 to 2024.

Early life and education Billings was born into a working-class family in Leicester in 1942. His father, Paul Billings, worked at Imperial Typewriters and his mother, Dorothy , at Byfords Hosiery. He was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys, Leicester. He went on to study Theology and Philosophy at Emmanuel College, Cambridge (1962-5), receiving a BA degree. He holds a Certificate in Education from Bristol University and further degrees from Leicester University and the New York Theological Seminary.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an emeritus canon of Carlisle Cathedral.

Police and Crime Commissioner In 2014 Billings was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner by-election, to replace the former PCC and Rotherham Borough councillor, Shaun Wright. He received just over 50% of first preference votes on the first ballot and was elected. The turnout was 14.8%. He had the task of holding the South Yorkshire Police force to account during highly publicised and difficult times – the searching of the home of Sir Cliff Richard, and the aftermath of the Professor Alexis Jay and Louise Casey Reports into Child Exploitation in Rotherham and the conclusion of the Hillsborough inquests into the death of 96 men, women and children at Sheffield Wednesday Football Club in 1989. He also helped secure Home Office funding for South Yorkshire Police to continue their investigation into the disappearance of Ben Needham as a toddler on the Greek Island of Kos. He is seeking to build bridges between the force and the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign, agreeing in 2016 that an archivist should be appointed to put the archives in order, employed by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

In April 2016 the Hillsborough inquests concluded bringing in verdicts of unlawful killing. The jury also said that Liverpool football supporters did not cause or contribute towards the deaths of the 96. South Yorkshire Police and its Chief Constable received immediate criticism as a result of which Billings suspended him citing an erosion of trust and confidence. This was challenged in the High Court by way of judicial review when the suspension and later dismissal were both found to be unlawful. Billings appointed the Deputy Chief Constable of Durham as the new chief constable from November 2016.

In 2021, Billings criticised the use of smart motorways.

Personal life Billings married Veronica Hardstaff in 2007, a former Labour councillor on Sheffield City Council and Member of the European Parliament for Lincolnshire and Humberside South (1994–99). He was previously married to Daphne Thomas (1966–93), with whom he had two sons, and Linda Woodhead (1994–2002).