Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney has announced that she will leave Hampshire Constabulary in April 2023 after some 31 years of policing.
She made the decision to leave back in June and has confirmed she will not be taking up another role within policing.
Chief Constable Pinkney began her policing career with Avon and Somerset Constabulary, and later served as Assistant Chief Constable for the Surrey and Sussex forces, before being appointed Deputy Chief Constable at Sussex.
In 2013, she was appointed assistant inspector of constabulary with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), independently reporting on the effectiveness and efficiency of all police forces in England and Wales.
She joined Hampshire Constabulary as Chief Constable in April 2016 and was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal in the New Year Honours list the same year.
This week’s announcement enables Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones to get on with recruiting a new chief constable. This process will start immediately with the aim of making the decision on who will be the new chief by the end of November.
From Monday, Chief Constable Pinkney will be seconded to lead the national Strategic Command Course until mid-December 2022, during which time Deputy Chief Constable Ben Snuggs will take up the role as Acting Chief Constable. Pinkney will then return to Hampshire to oversee the final part of the officer uplift and to ensure an effective handover.
Commenting on her departure next year, Chief Constable Pinkney has said:
“It is far from the end of my time in force yet, but I would like to take this opportunity to thank the public for their ongoing support of policing. To thank those organisations who continue to forge ever stronger local partnerships with policing, and to thank every single member of the Hampshire police family for what you continue to do for us all. I made the decision back in late June and I am announcing it now to help with a smooth transition and handover”.
Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones, who is leading the recruitment process for the new Chief Constable, has said:
“It has been an absolute pleasure working with Olivia. We have become a formidable team, and we will continue to work closely until her last day. Knowing this news at this early point provides time for a well-planned transition and handover period.
“As your Police and Crime Commissioner, I have a responsibility to find the best chief for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight residents. There is of course competition between forces for the best chiefs, so I am casting the net wide to make sure that I can choose from the best candidates within Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and beyond.”
She looks like the new PM, I wonder if it is the same person ?
After all, both jobs are part time.
The PM works for the WEF
Maybe they could employ somebody capable of effective management of the job instead of the usual weak, PC box ticking, political appointments.
She did not last long
Final salary pension maybe?
The only thing Jones will be casting her net wide for is more cake.
Jones, just like the previous two clowns is just an utter waste of taxpayers money, how with no practical experience in policing is she in any way qualified or competent to judge the qualities of a replacement.
Agree. I have yet to see any of these police and crime commissioners have any positive effect on policing in this country at all. Time the posts were abolished and the money put into more beat officers.