Sir Graham Smith (1940- 2002) 

Sir Graham Smith was an outstanding figure in the probation service for 20 years, first as chief probation officer for inner London (1980-92), and then as chief inspector of probation at the Home Office (1992-2001). After national service, he worked briefly in insurance before going to Newcastle University to complete an applied social studies course. He joined the Durham probation service in 1965 and, after four years, became a senior probation officer. Two years later, he moved to London. He was assigned to the probation service after-care unit in Borough high street, working with homeless, disturbed, and often heavily convicted offenders. Smith was 40 when he was appointed chief probation officer. A dedicated and forceful leader during a period of unprecedented change, Smith was determined to raise professional standards and establish clearer objectives. Although often involved with the wider national scene - he was a very successful chair of the Association of Chief Officers of Probation, representing the service to ministers - he was never an absentee landlord.  

Of all the initiatives and developments he inspired, the one which probably gave him most satisfaction lay in the area of pre-trial services and bail information schemes. He faced a daunting task when he moved to the Home Office shortly before the appointment of Michael Howard as home secretary in 1993. There was a dramatic change in policy - while prison had been seen as a last resort, it was now claimed that "prison works". In the absence of a national probation service, there was no national voice, and he filled that gap. He needed all his political nous and sensitivity to cope with the often-conflicting demands of the politicians and the probation service. He was made CBE in 1990 and knighted in 1999.