Cleveland chief constable position attracts only one applicant
The temporary chief constable of Cleveland Police has been put forward as the preferred candidate by its police and crime commissioner (PCC) after she was the only person to apply for the role.
The temporary chief constable of Cleveland Police has been put forward as the preferred candidate by its police and crime commissioner (PCC) after she was the only person to apply for the role.
Jacqui Cheer, who leads on children and young people for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), has led the force since the suspension of Sean Price in 2011. She had previously worked for Essex Police, the Home Office Reform Unit and Suffolk Constabulary, where she became deputy chief constable in 2007 and from where she was seconded in 2011.
After Mr Price was sacked in October last year for gross misconduct the first chief constable in the UK to be dismissed for 35 years the search for a permanent successor began. However, despite the vacancy being advertised on the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) website, Clevelands PCC, Barry Coppinger, received no other applications.
Ms Cheer, whose appointment must be confirmed at the meeting of the Cleveland Police and Crime Panel on February 5, thanked her colleagues for helping her as she led the force through a demanding period.
The last year has been challenging yet extremely rewarding and I look forward to continuing the work to shape the force for the future, she said.
I am grateful for the support of everyone working for Cleveland Police and our partner agencies, which are all dedicated to keeping Cleveland safe and reducing crime and anti-social behaviour.
Mr Coppinger said he was happy to appoint such an exceptional officer as Ms Cheer to lead Cleveland Police at a challenging time, pointing to the leadership she had already shown as an example of her experience.
He said: I believe we have been very fortunate to have a candidate of the quality of Jacqui Cheer who has already demonstrated both her leadership skills and her ability to introduce the new ways of working we need to meet the demands of modern policing and protect frontline services to the public at a time when resources are under unprecedented pressure.
She fully understands and supports my top priority of retaining and developing neighbourhood policing as the bedrock of our service to the public. There can be no better demonstration of why she is the right person for the job than the figures issued this week which show that, on her watch, crime in Cleveland last year was the lowest on record.
When questioned on why only one applicant had applied for the role, Mr Coppinger said unique circumstances both nationally and locally had contributed to the low response. He felt the large number of other chief constable vacancies and the excellent work of Ms Cheer as temporary chief constable may have dissuaded other applicants from applying for the post.
As a result of the moratorium imposed by the Government on permanent appointments in the run-up to the PCC elections, there have been an unprecedented 14 chief constable posts to be filled, he said.
Mr Coppinger said that Ms Cheer had taken over as temporary chief constable at a very difficult period well over a year ago and had been widely recognised as having done an excellent job in providing the leadership required to steer the force through that period, at the same time as driving down crime and disorder and maintaining a high level of public confidence.
It does seem reasonable to conclude that individuals considering their options took those factors into account, he said.
He added that Cleveland is unlikely to be alone in having a single applicant situation and said advice was sought from the Her Majestys Inspectorate of Constabulary before making the appointment.