UUP MLA quits deputy chief constable recruitment panel
AN Ulster Unionist MLA has withdrawn from the interview panel to appoint the new deputy chief constable after expressing concern over the process.
Alan Chambers was to have been one of five politicians on the panel, but he has now written to the Policing Board, saying the process needed to be “rigorously fair”, the BBC reported.
He said the shortlist did not leave him with the impression it was fair, but the board said the process had been subjected to independent scrutiny at all stages.
In a letter to Policing Board chairwoman Anne Connolly, Mr Chambers, a former RUC reservist, said: “I am writing to formally state my concerns at some aspects of the recruitment process which was run last week for the post of deputy chief constable of the PSNI.
“This is obviously a key post within the PSNI — second only to the post of chief constable itself — and whoever gets it will have a major role in delivering policing throughout Northern Ireland. It is therefore vital that whoever is ultimately appointed to that post is done so via a process that is rigorously fair.
“I regret to say that my experiences last week did not leave me with this impression.
“This is, to say the least, a most unsatisfactory state of affairs and I would therefore like it to be formally noted that my confidence in this recruitment process is less than it was at the start of last week and far short of where it needs to be.
“Therefore, I wish to withdraw from this process forthwith.”
Mr Chambers said he could not comment further on the move when contacted by the Belfast Telegraph but said it was not a decision he “took lightly”.
It is understood that temporary deputy chief constable Stephen Martin retired after learning that he had not been selected for interview to take the position on a permanent basis.
He has been in the post since August 2018 and was among the final candidates interviewed for the chief constable post last year.
It is understood four out of eight applicants missed out on being called for interview on the basis of their application forms.
The interviews for the £168,000-a-year post will be held this week, with the appointment being announced on January 30.
Two assistant chief constables, Barbara Gray and Mark Hamilton, are on the shortlist, as well as two external applicants.
The Policing Board did not respond to a request for comment from this newspaper.
However, it told the BBC the selection process had been subjected to “independent scrutiny at all stages to provide additional probity and transparency”.