Judi Heaton appointed temporary chief constable at Humberside Police

It follows last week’s sudden announcement by Chief Constable Paul Anderson that he is to retire amid an investigation into ‘potential misconduct’ by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

PCC Jonathan Evison said he is focused on ensuring the “stability of the force” and securing interim leadership pending a full open recruitment process for the next chief constable.

Mr Evison said he wanted to see the “high performance” of the force maintained and as such has secured the services of Ms Heaton to take the post of temporary chief constable.

The post has been offered for up to six months to allow for the recruitment of a new chief constable to take place.

“Judi has been selected for the role because of her local knowledge and understanding of what is important to our communities as an officer within Humberside, she has vast experience through her policing career and beyond,” said the PCC.

Mr Evison added: “I am delighted to welcome Judi Heaton back to Humberside Police in the role of temporary chief constable.

“Her ambition for the area, passion for policing and public service provides me with much confidence that the force has the right leadership during a period which could be unsettling.

“We want to ensure our communities continue to benefit from a high performing police force.”

Ms Heaton said’I am honoured to have been invited by the PCC to fulfil this important interim role. I hope to bring some stability to Humberside Police and enable staff and officers to continue to provide the best policing services to the public.”

She joined Humberside Police in 1991 as a constable in Scunthorpe. She went on to have many roles in the force mainly as a detective and was promoted to inspector.

In 2001 she transferred to Cheshire Constabulary again mainly in detective roles as an inspector and chief inspector. During this time she studied for and was awarded a Master of Science degree in Police Management and Leadership.

She transferred back to Humberside Police in 2006 and once again had a variety of detective roles as a superintendent.

She was the divisional commander of East Riding of Yorkshire initially, before being the head of crime and then head of professional standards (conduct).

She was also the chief of staff working with the then Chief Constable Lee Freeman and chief officers on an inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, which took Humberside Police’s rating from poor to good.

During this time, she was also a specialist strategic firearms commander and assessor of such commanders.

In 2020, Ms Heaton went on the Strategic Command Course to become a chief officer and became the assistant chief constable at Police Scotland with portfolios in major crime, public protection and safeguarding, forensics, biometrics and local crime.

She also managed the National Police Chiefs’ Council portfolio for HOLMES, which is the IT system for major investigations.

During her service she has overseen change projects, high-profile, sensitive, and complex investigations, as well as multi agency responses to critical and major incidents and was part of the command team policing COP26 hosted by Glasgow.

She is keen on inclusion and opportunity and has helped many under-represented groups, both locally and nationally, and has been a speaker at several events.

Following her retirement, she was awarded the Queens Police Medal for services to policing.

Since retiring, she has been involved with local charities.

She lives in the force area with her partner and labrador. She is a keen horsewoman, enjoys tennis and learning to play the piano and the saxophone.