Sir Norman Bettison was born in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. At the age of 16 he joined South Yorkshire Police as a police cadet and was appointed as a Constable in 1975.

He served through the ranks, and in 1993 was appointed Assistant Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police.

In 1998 he was appointed as Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, retiring in 2004 when he was appointed as Chief Executive of Centrex, which provided training and development to police forces in the UK . See Bruche

Centrex was abolished in 2006 and he was appointed Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police in 2007.

In the Millennium New Year’s Honours list, Sir Norman was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal and was knighted in 2006.