‘Halt recruitment of next police chief’

A new chief constable for Avon and Somerset Police to replace Nick Gargan should not be appointed until after next May’s elections, according to a candidate running for the commissioner’s job.

Mark Weston, Conservative, threw his hat into the ring to become the constabulary’s new police and crime commissioner last month.

In an interview with Bristol24/7 he said he wanted incumbent commissioner Sue Mountstevens to halt the appointment of a new chief constable, following shamed Gargan’s resignation.

“I think the decision should be delayed as we are only six months away from the elections now and my fear is that, whoever is elected, may come in and say ‘well, we don’t like that person therefore I’m going to fire them’.

“Therefore you are on your sixth chief constable in four years and that’s not good for the service,” he said.

One day after Mountstevens was elected in November 2012, the then-chief constable Colin Port resigned after being told he would need to reapply for his job.

Mountstevens told Bristol24/7 that continuing the current recruitment process is “in the interests” of the force and the local people.

Weston, 35, councillor for Henbury, leader of the Conservative group in Bristol and a member of the police and crime panel which scrutinises the current commissioner, is the first candidate to announce he will be standing for the commissioner’s job. Mountstevens has not yet revealed whether she will be standing again.

He told Bristol24/7 he was inspired to stand up for “bobbies on the beat” after seeing their success in reducing anti-social behaviour where he lives in Brentry and Henbury.

“Police responded magnificently,” he said. “They got out of their cars, there was more visible policing. It’s my love of community policing that’s pushing me to go for it, because I am seeing that being eroded.”

He promised to focus inevitable funding cuts on back office management, merging IT, procurement and legal services across the force area.

He said he had mixed views on Mountstevens’ time in office and how she had handled the Gargan case.

“She messed up on naming the whistleblower to Gargan, messed up on releasing information to someone he shouldn’t have, and I think the perception that actually she didn’t want to fire him and her hand was forced hasn’t helped. But some of those events are outside of her control.”

The £152,000 a year chief constable post at Avon and Somerset is currently open to applications through the police and crime commissioner’s office.

The application says: “Avon and Somerset faces challenging times and we seek an individual who will embrace change and the opportunities it brings. Above all we seek leadership which will enthuse and motivate those around them.”

Mountstevens defended her position on appointing a chief before the next elections. “I have carefully considered the timing of the Chief Constable Appointment process and the length of any resulting fixed term appointment,” she said

“As a Police and Crime Commissioner, I am under a statutory obligation to appoint a Chief Constable and recent circumstances have prevented me from doing so.

“I believe the right thing to do is to appoint a Chief Constable now on a fixed term appointment which coincides with the Wiltshire Chief Constable’s tenure.  I understand and accept that if a different PCC were running this process they may do things differently.

“However, I believe that continuing with the recruitment process is in the best interests of Avon and Somerset Constabulary and local people.”