Former Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, Akers joined the force in 1976 and retired at the end of 2012, having led Operation Weeting, investigating the News International phone-hacking scandal, and the related Operations Elveden and Tuleta, respectively investigating inappropriate payments to police officers and other public officials and computer hacking. Akers was awarded the Queen's Police Medal in 2007 and appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to policing.