New NPIA directors announced
The directors appointed to the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), have been announced.
The directors appointed to the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), have been announced.
Chris Sims OBE, currently Deputy Chief Constable with West Midlands Police, has been appointed NPIA Director of Policing Policy and Practice and Deputy Chief Executive.
He began his career in the Met in 1980. Following service in central London, he ran an estates policing pilot before joining a New Scotland Yard policy group with responsibility for estates and inner city policing. Mr Sims transferred to Staffordshire Police in 1994 and worked as a superintendent on a rural basic command unit and in Stoke on Trent city centre.
He became ACC (Crime) with West Midlands Police in 1999 and held the Crime portfolio until he was appointed Deputy Chief Constable in early 2003.
Mr Sims has a strong interest in forensic science, is secretary of the ACPO Drugs Committee and has run the pilot Regional Tasking and Co-ordination Process under the National Intelligence Model. This work led to the establishment of Operation Middle Market, a major regional drugs operation. He has also co-ordinated the ACPO response to the National Street Crime Initiative.
Richard Earland has been appointed NPIA Chief Information Officer. He has extensive experience of delivering major ICT programmes, most recently as Group Director for Information Programmes with the Metropolitan Police and as Kent Police IT Director for eight years. During this time Mr Earland worked as director of the Valiant Programme and, with other IT directors and police around the country, developed the IT strategy which provided the bedrock for the Information Systems Strategy for the Police Service (ISS4PS).
He is a fellow of the British Computer Society and has been an ACPO member for more than six years.
Mr Earlands early career was spent in the Royal Navy and he also worked in the NHS as a Director for Organisational Development with responsibility for major ICT and organisational development programmes.
Angela OConnor has been appointed Director of HR (Policing). She is currently Human Resources Director with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and has extensive experience in both the private and public sector. She has held senior HR roles in Haringey, Hackney and Enfield local authorities. Ms OConnor joined the CPS in 2002.
She was named Personnel Director of the Year 2005 at the Telegraph Business Awards and HR Director of the Year 2005 at the Personnel Today Awards.
John Beckerleg is joining the NPIA from his current post as head of business planning and performance management with IDeA, the local government improvement and development agency. He has been appointed NPIA director of resources.
He trained as a public sector accountant following graduation and went on to provide financial support to a range of services including the police and fire.
He was promoted to Director of Resources for Buckinghamshire County Council and was extensively involved in the changes brought about by local government reorganisation within the county.
Mr Beckerleg later became Director of Social Services, a role that focussed on children and young peoples services, including working with the police and youth offending service. He has also undertaken work for a number of public sector bodies through his own management consultancy.
Tom McArthur, currently director of operational services for the Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO), will move from there to his new role as director of support to policing operations at the NPIA. He took over as PITOs Director of Operational Services early in 2003 a role that put him in charge of the Police National Computer (PNC) and a number of other key national police applications.
The ongoing management of a range of IT applications delivered under the National Strategy for Police Information Systems (NSPIS) also currently falls within Toms area of responsibility at PITO, as does the running of newer national applica