Search begins for new chief constable...on £217k salary
SCOTLAND’S new police chief is to get a salary of nearly £217,000 – up from the £208,000 paid when the single force was created.
A recruitment campaign seeking a Chief Constable to lead the second largest police service in the UK was launched yesterday.
The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) said it was ‘advertising for an outstanding and accomplished police leader to drive improvement and ensure Police Scotland adapts to meet the needs of Scotland’s diverse communities’.
Former police chief Phil Gormley quit this year amid bullying allegations.
Interim Chief Constable Iain Livingstone, Mr Gormley’s former deputy, is considered a frontrunner for the job.
Lynne Owens, director general of the National Crime Agency (NCA), nicknamed the ‘British FBI’ – also Mr Gormley’s former employer – will sit on the selection panel, along with SPA member Mary Pitcaithly and Paul Gray, chief executive of NHS Scotland.
Professor Lorne Crerar, chairman of Highlands and Islands Enterprise, will also be part of the group, led by SPA chairman Professor Susan Deacon.
Last night, Professor Deacon said: ‘Our police service has a long and proud history, a committed workforce and commands strong public support. Its next leader must build on that solid foundation to take Police Scotland forward into the next stage of its development. We have put in place an open and robust selection process and we are looking for an exceptional and accomplished leader.’
The deadline for applications is June 25 and the SPA expects to announce the successful candidate in August.
The salary will be £216,549, more than Mr Gormley’s pay of £214,404. The force’s first Chief Constable, Sir Stephen House, was paid £208,000 when appointed in 2013.
The job is a ‘fixed-term appointment’, for a minimum of two years and at most five years.
The SPA said terms, conditions and salaries are set nationally by the Police Negotiating Board.
Meanwhile, a report to be presented by Mr Livingstone at an SPA meeting in Edinburgh tomorrow states that ‘the objectives of reform have largely been met’ – despite a series of high-profile controversies hitting the force.
The report says: ‘There is clear evidence that Scotland’s people and communities are safer as a result of creating a national policing service, delivered locally.’
It comes as Police Scotland figures this week showed a rise in violent and sexual crime, with a nearly 20 per cent increase in rape reports.