Tim Forber named as preferred candidate for chief constable of North Yorkshire Police

Currently deputy chief constable at South Yorkshire Police, Mr Forber will take over from Lisa Winward, who has announced that she will retire on March 31 next year following a policing career spanning more than 30 years.

North Yorkshire’s police, fire and crime commissioner Zoë Metcalfe said Mr Forber’s selection followed a “robust recruitment process”.

She will now put forward her preferred candidate to a meeting of the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel on January 11.

Ms Metcalfe said: “I am delighted to name Tim Forber as my preferred candidate for York and North Yorkshire’s new chief constable.

“His depth of experience and commitment to collaboration and local neighbourhood policing across  rural and urban areas was clear from the interview process and I am delighted to be able to put him forward to the Police, Fire and Crime Panel.

“I have every confidence he has the right qualities to drive forward North Yorkshire Police to be an outstanding service and to keep people safe and feeling safe.”

She said the recruitment process, which was carried out on Monday December 11 and Tuesday December 12, also included candidates having to design a presentation based on the results of an online survey conducted by the commissioner. Using her Website and the North Yorkshire Police intranet, the survey generated 852 individual responses about the crime and community safety issues.

Mr Forber joined South Yorkshire Police as assistant chief constable in December 2016 and was promoted to deputy chief constable in June 2021.

He said: “I am hugely honoured to be selected as the preferred candidate to be the next chief constable of North Yorkshire Police.

“I am looking forward to working tirelessly on behalf of the communities of York and North Yorkshire to ensure they have an outstanding police service.”

Originally from St Helens, Merseyside, he grew up with policing in his family, as his father was a police officer for more than 36 years. He is married to a serving detective constable in West Yorkshire Police and a “very proud da’d of a daughter and two sons.

Mr Forber has more than 27 years’ operational experience in both uniform and detective roles, across four large metropolitan police forces.

Educated at Cowley High School in St Helens, he joined the Metropolitan Police Service in 1996 after completing a law degree at university, as well as a post-graduate diploma in legal practice.

His initial posting was to Richmond and Twickenham where he joined the CID in 1998. In 2000 he was promoted to detective sergeant at Peckham, followed by promotion to detective inspector at Lambeth in 2002. In 2004 he was promoted to detective chief inspector as the crime manager for North Lambeth based at Kennington.

In 2005, Mr Forber was promoted to detective superintendent in West Yorkshire Police, where he worked as a senior investigating officer on the force Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, based in Bradford.

During this period he led a significant number of murder and kidnap investigations as well as a range of other major inquiries. In 2010 he was promoted to chief superintendent in Greater Manchester Police where he undertook a number of demanding roles, including three years as the divisional commander at Oldham.

Throughout his time in South Yorkshire, he has taken command of many complex crime investigations and critical incidents, as well as leading a variety of significant organisational change programmes.

In addition to his law degree, Mr Forber holds an MSc in Police Leadership and Management from the University of Leicester, as well as an MBA with Distinction from Durham Business School.

He is a strategic firearms commander, a Gold public order commander, and a CBRN Gold commander. He attended the 2016 Strategic Command Course at the College of Policing.