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05
Oct 2023
Police commissioner Zoe Metcalfe rejects appointing interim chief constable
North Yorkshire’s police commissioner rejected plans to appoint an interim chief constable in favour of starting a recruitment process despite being advised it could coincide with a mayoral election.
Lisa Winward, who is currently chief constable at North Yorkshire Police, will retire on March 31, 2024.
Conservative commissioner Zoe Metcalfe will appoint a permanent successor despite the commissioner’s office being abolished when a Mayor of York and North Yorkshire is elected in May 2024.
The mayor is set to take on police commissioner powers, which include the ability to appoint a chief constable.
In a report from Simon Dennis, chief executive at the commissioner’s office, he advised Ms Metcalfe that there was a risk that a recruitment timeline could slip into the pre-election period before the mayoral election.
But Ms Metcalfe announced that the recruitment process should start imminently as it was in the “public interest” to do so.
She said:
Read more:
- North Yorkshire chief constable announces retirement
- North Yorkshire Police officer sacked for abusing and controlling women
In a report, the commissioner was offered alternative options, which included appointing the deputy chief constable to the position until after the mayoral election or to appoint an interim chief constable.
The report said the option of appointing the deputy chief constable to the role should be given “serious consideration” as it would avoid “any measure of constitutional and/or political controversy”.
But it added that the commissioner “is known to be uneasy about a decision which would consequentially give rise to acting arrangements in the roles of chief constable, deputy chief constable and one assistant chief constable role”.
Ms Metcalfe turned down the alternative options in favour of starting a recruitment process.
A 'short-sighted, ill-informed' decision
Keith Tordoff
Keith Tordoff, independent candidate for Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, said the move to start the search for a chief constable was “wrong”.
He said:
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