Leila Reid is a British police detective.
She holds the rank of Detective Sergeant with the Metropolitan Police Force's Counter-Terrorism Command. It is because of this role and the people she goes up against in that role that she more than qualifies for membership in this compendium.
When we first meet her, she has that DS rank but when she receives a phone call from her immediate supervisor at the start of the first recorded adventure, she is expecting that her services were no longer desired with the outfit; that instead of ending her six-month suspension, she was being let go. She was wrong.
Well, a bit wrong. The man a bit further up the chain of command still wanted her gone; the same man that "hung [her] out to dry in an IPCC (Independent Police Complaints Commission) inquiry" was not aware she was being recalled and would certainly have been miffed about it. Still, Reid is considered the best in the department with an remarkable ability to discern valid intel "without getting bogged down in false trails". As her main detractor in the force admits, she has terrific abilities at gleaning vital information from the evidence; the reason for her suspension was because of the methods she sometimes took to obtain that evidence. When on being reinstated she is admonished to make sure she followed procedure, she counters that she follows the evidence; the implication was that procedure be damned.
Reid does not lack for confidence in her abilities. When she is grudgingly admitted into a case she states without boast or bravado that she would find the bomber in question. No doubt. No ambiguity or hedging. In another instance, she is accused of having tried to kill a man who ended up with a good number of physical injuries. She matter-of-factly informed the questioner, "I didn't try to kill him. If I had, he'd be dead". That is confidence.
Good Line:
- When challenged that she had made unauthorized contact with a suspect, she replies, "If shooting her counts as contact, yes".