A police force left humiliated after its top officer admitted gross misconduct two years ago is embarking on a new chapter. Stuart Minting reports

NORTH Yorkshire Police’s newlyappointed chief constable, Dave Jones, has pledged a fresh approach to leading the force. After being officially handed the role yesterday by the county’s police and crime panel, he said he hoped to provide a steadier course through what could be a testing period.

Mr Jones succeeds Grahame Maxwell, who became the first chief constable to face gross misconduct charges in more than 30 years.

Mr Maxwell admitted helping a relative gain an unfair advantage in a police recruitment campaign in May 2011. His deputy, Adam Briggs, also stepped down following the scandal.

After having served five years in the role, Mr Maxwell left the post last May and the county’s police authority said his replacement needed to be decided by the incoming police and crime commissioner, who was elected in November.

Mr Jones said: “I think what the force has delivered in spite of those scandals has been a fundamentally good, strong performance for the people of North Yorkshire, with consecutive crime reductions and high confidence levels.

“I would be naive to say those things had not had an impact, but, in the vast majority of occasions, the public has had high standards [of service].”

The process to replace Mr Maxwell was further delayed when the police and crime commissioner, Julia Mulligan, decided to readvertise the post after holding initial interviews, in order to find “someone who could tackle the root causes of crime” during the four-year, fixed-term post.

Among the candidates was the temporary chief constable, Tim Madgwick, who has served 25 years in the force.

Mark Botham, chairman of North Yorkshire Police Federation, said many people wanted to see Mr Madgwick secure the £133,000-a-year role. The federation has also recently released a survey which found a third of its members neglected duties because they had too much to do and two-thirds reported they had unachievable deadlines.

Mr Jones said he planned to meet all members of his staff to discuss their concerns as soon as possible after starting out in the role in June.

“I will be listening to my staff in the same way I will be listening to the community,” he said.

“And hopefully they will realise it is not an individual thing, a popularity contest, it is about providing an effective service for the people of North Yorkshire.”

AFTER ignoring mounting pressure to appoint Mr Madgwick, Mrs Mulligan said that Mr Jones, formerly assistant chief constable in Northern Ireland, was the unanimous choice of her five-strong recruitment panel, describing him as a “tough guy for a tough job”.

Since 2009, Mr Jones has had responsibility for the province’s rural areas, 2,700 police and support staff and a budget of £150m.

He said while there were many similarities between the rural areas of Northern Ireland and North Yorkshire, his experiences in leading major investigations had proved a decisive factor in landing the post.

While in the Northern Ireland role, he has defended the police’s handling of riots, planned to close 40 per cent of the province’s police stations and admitted a raid on the Mayor of Derry’s home last July amounted to his force “letting down the people of Derry”.

He said: “I think we have to recognise we are in austere times and there will be some challenges going ahead about what we can afford to do.

“Policing is not delivered by buildings, it is delivered by police officers, so my number one priority is maintaining the operational capacity and capability.”

Mrs Mulligan said she was pleased to have readvertised the role, adding: “Dave brings with him a breadth and depth of policing experience that no other candidate could match. I have selected him because he will challenge the status quo, and he will challenge me.”

FORMER senior policemen said they thought Mr Jones was an excellent appointment because he had no connections with the scandal-hit force.

They said his strong investigative background, with exposure of dealing with crime scenes from the outset, would mean the force would benefit from someone with an intuitive knowledge of how policing works.

They said due to his experience of effectively running his own force in Northern Ireland, described as the most challenging police environment with a larger population than North Yorkshire and an international border, he will be well-equipped to deal with major situations.

Mr Jones, who started his policing career in Greater Manchester in 1986, said he was looking forward to building upon the work that has seen North Yorkshire become the safest place in England.

“I hopefully bring an all-round experience in some of the most challenging areas of UK policing,”

he said. “We have about 400,000 calls for service every year in North Yorkshire and that gives us an opportunity for police and staff to provide a really good service and, perhaps, go a little bit beyond where we have before.”