Peter Ryan:
When the former head of British police training Peter Ryan came to Australia to take over as the NSW Police Commissioner in 1996, he knew it would be a tough job. He’d had a long and distinguished career in Britain, racing his way up the ranks from humble beat copper being attacked with axes and bottles, to becoming one of the youngest ever Chief Constables in the country.
The NSW police, with its reputation for being “the best police force money can buy”, and struggling with dramatic revelations of massive corruption from the Royal Commission, looked a tough challenge. Yet even he had no idea how tough that job would prove.
He found himself up against not only the corrupt cops, and those who had lived with the corruption, but a whole raft of enemies – from the police unions battling against internal reforms to senior officers out to prove an outsider couldn’t succeed; from politicians determined to undermine the Government’s law and order platform to media figures with something to prove; from criminals with most to gain from having a police service that could be paid off, to members of the legal profession itself.
In Peter Ryan: The Inside Story, he finally breaks his silence to tell his explosive tale of triumph and betrayal, ambition and heartbreak. For the first time, beyond the politicians’ reach and outside the system that had sought to silence him for the six years he served it until April 1992, he speaks out with shocking honesty.
Peter Ryan: The Inside Story was published in April 2002 and spent eight weeks on the best-sellers list.
Reviews
“Free from ponderous prose, preferring the journalist’s get-on-with-it storytelling style, Peter Ryan: The Inside Story is best of all an insightful account of a public policy area that cries out for intelligent analysis. Law and order is forever open to political and media exploitation. And as ever, the persistent surrender to populist sophistry brings on the risk of bad law. With an election on the way the vultures are circling. And, like Ryan, the police can only take so much. Williams’s account of the increased politicisation of the cops in the past 12 months spells future trouble for whichever party is in power next April.”
TV reporter and author Chris Masters
Sydney Morning Herald
“Peter Ryan: The Inside Story offers a searing insight into the private laughter and tears as well as the brilliant career and ultimate downfall, of the man who was both the best loved and most-vilified Police Commissioner Australia has ever known.”
Blank Books
“An excellent biography that shows short-term political goals wins over proper process. And it’s a warning from history. Published in 2002, the year Ryan resigned, it is the story of New South Wales Commissioner of Police, Peter Ryan, a senior police officer in the UK. He came to Australia to start his role in 1996.”
Neil Sparks
Goodreads
“As Williams sets out in fine detail, Peter Ryan was spooked by the task ahead. Her account is a frequently unflattering exposition of a man confined by vanity and naivety, in the beginning shrinking from trust and in the end withdrawing from battle … In revealing some of the difficulties confronted by the new commissioner, Williams tells a more interesting story than the story of Ryan himself.”
— Chris Masters, Sydney Morning Herald 10.07.02
“It will be sour grapes at 40 paces …”
— Miranda Devine, Sun Herald, 30.06.02 before she had read the book
“Author Sue Williams has delivered a fascinating warts-and-all portrait of Ryan, and he is to be commended for subjecting himself to such uncomfortable scrutiny.”
— Miranda Devine, Sydney Morning Herald 11.07.02 after she had read the book
“Williams’ account of Ryan’s relationship with Costa will create considerable angst for the Carr Government.”
— Sydney Morning Herald 29.06.03
“Ryan was a hard man for hard times.”
— The Bulletin 09.07.02
“In particular, Williams provides an intriguing portrait of Ryan’s wife Adrienne, 16 years his junior and the political brain of the household.”
— The Australian 20.07.02
“Sue Williams’ book has been hailed as a searing insight into the brilliant career and ultimate downfall of the NSW Police Commissioner who was both best-loved and most vilified … The result is a rivetting biography.”
— Northern Courier 09.07.02
“Williams’ portrait of Ryan is that of a lone soldier crusading against a vast matrix of incompetence, vested interests, blind conservatism and xenophobia.”
— The Age, 03.07.02
“Peter Ryan: The Inside Story, by journalist Sue Williams, is a biography of an admired man but there’s plenty in it that’s critical too. And there’s a real sense of being there because Williams began her research while Ryan was still Police Commissioner, interviews were conducted while his stewardship of the force was under bitter attack.”
— The Canberra Times, 06.07.02
“…the ingredients are there for a punchy and compelling biopic.”
