Keith Bristow to head the NCA

Keith Bristow, the current chief constable of Warwickshire Police, has been named as the new head of the National Crime Agency (NCA) which comes into force in 2013.

Home Secretary Theresa May said Mr Bristow will develop “an agency of powerful, operational crime fighters”.

She said: “For too long we have lacked a strong, collaborative national response in the fight for criminal justice. The NCA will make the UK a more hostile environment for serious and organised crime and strengthen our border.”

Mr Bristow said the NCA will mean law enforcement agencies will work together to do more to tackle criminals and “strip away their illegally-obtained assets”.

He said: “In partnership with other law enforcement agencies we will ensure that criminals are identified, pursued and brought to justice; their groups dismantled and their activities disrupted.

“Officers and staff from existing agencies that will become part of the NCA are already working hard to tackle serious, organised and complex crime and new approaches and capabilities will become operational before 2013 to cut crime and protect our borders.”

The new head will lead the transition from the precursor agencies, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and elements of the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), which is due to be phased out by the end of 2012.

It is believed that four candidates went for the position after being shortlisted from nine applicants.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) said Mr Bristow’s appointment will offer law enforcement agencies and the police an opportunity to raise their game against some of the most dangerous and harmful criminals in the UK.

Sir Hugh Orde, president of ACPO, said: “We congratulate Chief Constable Keith Bristow on his appointment as head of the new NCA. A better coordinated response between the international reach and capability of this new agency and the ‘eyes and ears’ of local neighbourhood policing teams can help keep our streets and communities safer.

“Keith Bristow came through a very strong field of police leaders for this job, and has a background as national lead on crime for ACPO, chair of the G8 law enforcement group and director of the National Criminal Intelligence Service. This appointment gives the new agency the strong leadership it needs to build towards becoming effective and fully operational by the end of 2013.”

Warwickshire Police Authority also congratulated its chief constable and credited Mr Bristow for transforming Warwickshire Police, after he was appointed in 2006, for delivering success both organisationally and operationally in the last five years. Under his leadership the force has reduced all crime by 27.6 per cent (April 2006/March 2007 compared April 2010/March 2011).

Phil Robson, chair of the authority, said: “Keith has been an outstanding and transformational leader and has already worked at national and international level to build relationships between police services and law-enforcement agencies in many countries.”

Mr Bristow began his police career with West Mercia Constabulary as a police cadet. In 1998 he was selected for promotion to superintendent and seconded to the West Midlands Police Major Investigation Team. He subsequently transferred to the midlands force performing the roles of operations manager and director of intelligence.

In 2002, Mr Bristow was selected for promotion to assistant chief constable and appointed as director UK National Criminal Intelligence Service with responsibility for regional intelligence units and national and international intelligence on serious organised crime threats.

He will remain as Warwickshire’s chief constable in the meantime with the authority due to discuss future leadership arrangements at its next full meeting on October 19.