News / News Wire
Request for Gargan resignation gets backing
Police commissioner Sue Mountstevens has been given the nod to force Avon and Somerset chief constable to resign.
Nick Gargan was asked to step down after being found guilty of eight counts of misconduct – including sending intimate images from his work phone.
Mountstevens, who made the request under new powers never used before, has now been backed by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Sir Thomas Winsor.
Winsor said: “A Chief Constable without the confidence of a material element of his officers and staff is a material risk to the efficiency and effectiveness of the force.”
Gargan now has 14 days to respond to the request for his resignation. After that Mounstevens can then make a final decision on whether to proceed.
If the PCC decides to continue proceed, she will notify the Police and Crime Panel and Mr Gargan of her decision.
The Police and Crime Panel will then hold a private hearing in which they can call on Mountstevens and Mr Gargan to make oral representations.
The Police and Crime Panel are required to make a recommendation to Mountstevens, but she has the final say.
Nigel Ashton, chairman of the Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Panel, said: “The panel will then make a recommendation to the commissioner which she must take into account when making her final decision on whether to require the Chief Constable to resign.”
In a report published online, Winsor said he thought Mountstevens had correctly used Section 38 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act.
He added: “There is some uncertainty about the precise circumstances in which it is appropriate for a PCC to use her section 38 powers.
“Parliament has carefully left those circumstances undefined, and it is not possible definitely to describe them all. However, it is my view that this is precisely the sort of case in which section 38 should be used. “Leadership in the police service requires integrity and honour. It appears to me that at least a material element of the officers and staff are no longer satisfied that Gargan is able to lead them with that integrity and honour, and they are justified in that opinion.
“If Gargan is unwilling to resign his position in those circumstances, he should be compelled to do so under section 38.”
Some Conservative MPs have come out in defence of Mr Gargan, calling the process a “witchhunt”. Eleven of 15 councillors on the Police and Crime Panel are Conservatives.
Read about the full charges for Gargan ‘the sexting chief constable’.
is needed now More than ever
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
