Police Commissioner fights back over ‘Jobs for the Gals Award’ Satirical magazine highlights controversy that surrounded the hiring of his deputy
CHESHIRE Police And Crime Commissioner David Keane has mounted a strong defence after Private Eye gave him a ‘Jobs for the Gals Award’ for hiring a deputy whose family he had known for many years.
There was controversy when the Labour PCC hired then Salford Labour councillor Sareda Dirir as deputy police and crime commissioner for Cheshire, earning £50,000 per year.
Her parents are Labour councillors representing the same Warrington ward as Mr Keane.
Satirical magazine Private Eye stated in its alternative New Year’s Honours: “A committee of councillors tasked with scrutinising the appoint- ment took a dim view of all this and concluded that she was barely up to the job.”
Cllr Howard Murray, chair of the county’s police and crime panel, wrote expressing the panel’s reservations about the appointment of Mrs Dirir, following the confirmation hearing over which he presided. At a personal level, he was unlikely to see eyeto-eye with his Labour opponents, given Cllr Murray is a Tory member of Cheshire East Council.
Ultimately, Cllr Murray confirmed the panel agreed she met the ‘minimum standard’. Mr Keane said at the time there was ‘a politically charged atmosphere’ on the panel.
And he told Weekly News sister paper The Chronicle: “Sareda is not my mate. I have known her for a long time and I have worked with her in the past but I regard her as a well qualified individual for the job.”
He said Mrs Dirir had worked as a teacher, for charities and championing under-represented communities.
Mr Keane, who earns £75,000, said in a state- ment issued in response to the Private Eye ‘award’: “This was the first time in the county that a deputy had been appointed, following an open and competitive recruitment process. I received a strong and varied field of 21 applicants. Four applicants were interviewed in January by myself, assisted by a team of independent advisors. In my letter to the secretary of the panel on February 14, 2017, I set out the required information for the panel to consider in line with the Schedule 1 of the Police Reform & Social Responsibility Act 2011. The panel had the opportunity to question the new deputy commissioner at a confirmation hearing, after which they concluded to support my appointment.
“I was pleased that the panel made the decision to support my appointment.” ●