Hampshire Constabulary has announced the appointment of a new Assistant Chief Constable.
ACC Maggie Blyth, who started her policing career with the force just 4 years ago, is returning to Hampshire after serving in the same role with Wiltshire Police.
She started with the force in November 2016 and spent just 6 months on the beat before being promoted to Inspector and then Superintendent in the role of District Commander for Portsmouth. Prior to this, ACC Blyth held roles as a senior leader in the public sector, with a focus on youth justice and child protection, setting up the firs county youth offending service in the late 1990s.
Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney said:
“I am delighted to announce that Maggie will be returning to Hampshire Constabulary as an Assistant Chief Constable for Local Policing and Public Protection.
“She already has an excellent understanding of our force, having been a district commander in Portsmouth and we are looking forward to her taking up her new post.
“Having worked with Maggie, I know her exceptional leadership skills, partnership and vulnerability background will be a great benefit to the force.”
ACC Blyth said she is excited to return to Hampshire Constabulary. She said:
“I am delighted to be returning to Hampshire as an Assistant Chief Constable.
“I started my career with the force and am looking forward to working again with some fantastic colleagues – both officers and staff – across the county.
“Community policing and public protection is at the core of what we do in policing, and I am proud to be appointed in Hampshire, where tackling high harm crime and looking after the most vulnerable is important.
“Reducing harm in communities and reducing high risk has been a top priority throughout my career.”
Only 6 months on the beat and 4 years in the job !!!
Don’t fret – if she does another 18 months she will probably be due for retirement and a 30 year pension .
Welcome Maggie, perhaps you could concentrate your patrol officers on watching (and listening) for cars and motorbikes with extremely noisy, popping and banging exhausts because there seems to be a growing number of them on the island. I’m all for modified cars with nice sounding exhausts but the majority of them are NOT road legal because they are so bloody loud. They have maps put on them which they can switch between modes. This needs investigating as many people are fed up with these cars (and bikes).
Really? Burglaries and assaults are not investigated and you want “noise control”?
Reply to Nala sivad. You didn’t read my article very well did you. I said “patrol” officers to listen/watch out for these loud exhausts. The police drive around in their designated area just to make their presence known, they are not chasing burglars, muggers and law breakers for 100% of their shift time. Of course this crime is more important.
sadly nala – people like opinions matter, are all around us – they want the police to waste their time on a loud exhaust rather than chasing down real criminals.
perhaps opinions matters views would change if he/she got burgled, battered, left for dead and the old bill didn’t come and help because their new, inexperienced ACC hasn’t got a clue and blindly follows the snowflake brigade and focuses on exhausts and twitter posts.
However, it can also be said that ‘tracking down people with noisy exhausts’ IS beneficial to the fight against crime in general.
There are far too many ‘minor’ offences and infringements which go unpunished.
People complain about levels of crime, but a greater percentage of such starts with ‘minor offences’, the perpetrators then get more brazen as there is no consequence to their earlier behaviour. Hence it becomes self-promoting in increasing unpunished crime, and any regard for the law is greatly lessened as a result.
Standards have slipped over the years, and as a result we risk, for want of a better expression, anarchy.
Broken window policy it was called in NY. And it worked
It’s all about bring back respect and getting caught for anything unlawful. Ignoring it allows standards to drop to were they currently are.
Are you really seriously having this conversation..Stop the planet I’d like to get off please..!!!
What a pathetic waste of police time that would be, noisy exhausts…
Get a life or turn your hearing aid down
I think its a disgrace that an officer with no experience can become an ACC with just 4 years service. The senior management must feel totally let down and unsupported. In truth it doesn’t say much for their ability.
She has plenty of experience and brings something different to policing. Perhaps you’re more concerned she’s a woman?
I wish her the best of luck, I’ll judge her on her record in post not her gender
Plenty of experience? Are you for real, she has next to no experience in the job, like most jobs, its who you know, not what you know! Clearly a lot of more experienced police have been passed over for this person and most officers would be pissed off with this fast tracked woman!!
It’s takes a regular constable 2 years of probation then most have to wait at least 3-4 years to apply for sgt rank. How this woman is able to be promoted to inspector rank in 4 years never mind ACC is ridiculous. Obviously she has absolutely no front line policing experience therefore she will gain no respect from her colleagues. Policing is about learning the job you don’t do that in 4 years. Pen pusher is all she is. And I would say the same thing if it was a make getting the job. Thank god im no longer in the job
Same here. DE system promotes people who have zero knowledge or experience of policing. It’s been binned in some forces. Thankfully
But she’s being judged on her gender by you and her superiors. Hence why she got the job.
Two words. Cressida Dick.
But at least we know she’s not a mason eh?
There are women masons actually!
Disgraceful. Six months on the beat?! What does this woman actually know about real policing and the views of the public she serves? Sitting on courses and reading books does not a police officer make, surely?
Probably on £100k a year and wouldn’t know how to arrest a shoplifter…
Would you have this opinion if she were a man? I think not
None of those comments mentions a female, they both looked purely on the length of service which is very important in policing to get experience. In the police experience is everything including studying. So instead of being prejudice and narrow minded you should listen to the comments. Any person with this little service causes concern for such a high rank. I think you need to take a hard look at yourself.
MARK, I presume you have no police experience yourself. I am a retired police officer, an I can say that 6 months on the beat does not give you experience, especially not to leapfrog the sergeants rank straight to inspector. What happened to the 2 year probation period? The leapfrog chief inspector rand to become superintendent, and then forget about chief super, straight to ACC. I am glad I am retired if this is the way the job is going now. And before you jump, I would be saying the same thing if it was anyone else, regardless of race or gender.
This is one of the many reasons I made the hard decision to resign, after 21 years of service, it’s the new accelerated promotion scheme ! Complete rubbish, experience is key to being a good police officer, on the beat then working up.
This new system takes away the need for any policing experience, which is completely wrong.
As long as your good at exams, doesn’t matter about good people skills then you will be promoted with very little or no actual POLICE experience.
Having worked in some law firm or studied copious amounts of books doesn’t and should not be seen as being a good police officer.
I joined to do my full 30 but with such low moral, government cuts ( not just with police) And management want the police to be a business.
They don’t want 15+ years service, that costs too much.
They want young officers to do a few years, burn out and leave, that solves the pension issue.
Welfare in the job is awful, certified as sick / injured from a GP but your served a management action and basically threatened with being kicked out if you continue with injury or sickness leave.
One long serving officer I knew had a heart attack, thankfully they recovered but good old HR stepped in demanding that officer was given a management action as that’s policy for being away from the job for so long !!
It’s an awful job now, no compassion for it’s hard working officers.
Sorry to say, but I’m glad I left.
well said Colin – and those of us that like to ignore laws as and when we see fit, can take advantage of such low morale, low experience levels across the police force and the distinct lack of experience at the top. This will be a boon in terms of “getting away with what I want”
All I need to do is avoid using the wrong pronoun on twitter, avoid having a loud exhaust – wear a token rainbow badge from time to time, tut loudly at perceived injustice and then I can operate with relative impunity in the shadows, with virtually no fear of having to face the music for any less than lawful activities, should I choose to engage in them.
hardened crims have experience and need experienced coppers to thwart them – this is not going to end well for those who lack experience on the ground, in management.
A criminal with 20 plus experience in the “job” – is loving these inexperienced coppers, inexperienced management with their inexperienced decisions. Makes the crims profit and loss account look so much better.
and in todays daily mail they state that thousands of drug offences, criminal damage and theft cases will be dropped in hampshire to clear the backlog of cases, which stands at over 34,000. You couldn’t make this criminal charter up.
commit a crime.
no chance of being caught as inept, inexperienced ACC and university police officers are clueless.
no chance of being prosecuted as court system is cumbersome and slow, with inexperienced staff.
no chance of victim support as snowflake police are too busy on twitter searching for horrific examples of pronoun mistakes.
why work and pay taxes to police if they aren’t good enough at the job and aren’t doing what they are supposed to be doing and that is …patrolling the streets, locking up the crims and having experienced coppers at the top, that have been on the ground for years, before setting foot in the cosy office.
You presume wrong!
Would Her Career have accelerated so quickly If She had been a Man??
She does not need to know how to arrest a shoplifter…she is a senior manager. Do you think the chief exec of Tesco knows how to fillet a fish?
the best and most effective CEO’s John, are those that know how to do the shop floor work before becoming CEO.
If she does not know basic arrest procedures then she isn’t even qualified to be a junior copper.
she is not a senior manager – she is an out of her depth junior police officer, wearing a uniform that indicates many, many years in the job – which she hasn’t got. The ACC role is meant for other officers to look to for guidance – not laugh at because she hasn’t a clue.
He probably would be a better manager if he did!!
Common Purpose drone.
Nothing more, nothing less.
She’ll be a complete disaster…for us. And get promoted within 18 months.
Maybe she’ll end up being tee’d up to replace Cressida Dick Of The Yard at the Met when Khan eventually falls. I wouldnt put it past them.
Like others, worried about her being a woman?
Mark, are you a woman, because that’s all your repeating! This is about Experience in the job! Better qualified officers with more experience should be promoted! Not someone because they are a woman! So stop being a moron…
sexist idiot
Bit like your MP then.
May we assume that she is a Common Purpose graduate and given her position after so little experience on account of quotas and politics.
This has had dismal consequences in the past, particularly with Cressida Dick
Four years???? From Constable to ACC????
Is she a member of the Royal Family or something??
Even they dont get promoted through the ranks that fast, unless its a ceremonial role.
To go from Constable to ACC is four years, I’m sorry, is just laughable. It just cannot possibly be taken seriously. I dont care how senior her position was outside of the “force” but to go from nothing to ACC in four years is utter insanity.
I bet you wouldn’t say that if she were a man.
You wouldn’t be related to her, would you?
This is not a police officer.
For the people who can not read more than one line or unable to do maths.
“ACC Blyth held roles as a senior leader in the public sector, with a focus on youth justice and child protection, setting up the first county youth offending service in the late 1990s.”
She’s been involved in law and order for at least 20 years FFS!
Well said Richard. I suspect these would have a different opinion if she were a man
Why do you assume it would be any different? A man with 6 months on the beat and only 4 years in the service would be just as unqualified surely? Or is it you suggesting that’s not the case?
That says a lot more about you in that assumption than it does about others.
Yes she has a history in the public sector, however this does not automatically roll into police itself. You need to have an understanding of every role, and you get that by doing it.
Things have changed dramatically in the police force (oh can’t use the word force) before these high ranks were people who were a lot older, had gone through years of grit in the roles, studying also to get promoted. It wasn’t easy & certainly not given. It is amazing to talk to some of these people and listen to some of the jobs they had done. Real grit policing, years of blood & guts, studying hard with it, earning respect from officers along the way. It was a massive task, unfortunately now people get promoted to easily.
Richard are you Mark’s wife or something! The job you mention is not in the police, so not involved in law one bit…. you dont get promoted because you did a job in a different profession…dingbats both of you
I’d be interested how the ACC would cope in a major public disorder situation. She would need OTG experience as a Public order supervisor to relate to a dynamic public order requirement for the deployment of tiered less lethal response options, when or if they should be deployed, the impact her directions would have on community confidence in policing. How would she direct senior Detectives in sensitive and or complicated investigations. What unique investigative pathways would she be able to direct/ suggest those officers take. What has her previous professional relationships with prosecuting barristers been What professional relationships has she built up with the CPS in general, what is her knowledge of the rules of disclosure and the impact this has in major case prosecutions. What is her knowledge regarding modern forensic recovery techniques. What is her practical knowledge of the pitfalls of RIPA legislation and the operational parameters and so on and so on.
As an ACC her portfolio will change as will her oversight/directing responsibilities.
I could go on. I honestly believe this is not the way forward for policing in the UK.
I would have this view no mater the gender of the person promoted to the rank of ACC with so little policing experience.
There can still be no substitute for policing the streets and gaining experience in the traditional way. It matters not to me if she is male or female (before anyone brings that up AGAIN). Policing is a steep learning curve but it has to be done by physically experiencing it.. After 6 months, you may be just finding your feet and would have dealt with a tiny percentage of the things that can be thrown at you. It takes 2 to 3 years minimum to start to get really proficient and then progression to Sergeant to have your first taste of running a relief is a really important step. The respect of your peers is essential if you want your decisions and policies to be interpreted at grass root levels and this is something that she is unlikely to have. I have no doubt that there are better qualified officers, quietly working their way up through the ranks who could have filled this position and would have had the knowledge, expertise, confidence and respect to carry out the job efficiently. Only time will tell how she handles the job but if Cresside Dock is anything to go by … enough said ! As a retired police officer with over 25 years service, I find this accelerated promotion quite baffling.
Wow 4 years they not got police that come through there system.?
So basically my friends son 21 can be assistant commissioner after 4 years. At 25 wow
feminists are coercing there way into top jobs, ..The post needs someone with broad shoulders for the responsibility and big feet to carry the weight of broad shoulders. Appointing show bottle leaders to appease feminists egos will have drastic effects… Wrong leader in charge of a submarine will sink it ,so to speak..
So that should be a man then?
We are in a society that exercises demons rather than exorcises them. According to Freud if some one had the demon of pen is envy then instead of exorcising it one might excercise it and use it as a catalyst for promotion and the demon becomes normalised and exorcise forgotten
Scrap the post and save tax payers money…