Editor's blog: New chief
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The eagerly-anticipated
appointment of Kent’s new chief constable was made on Friday and
heading up the county’s force will be Norfolk’s deputy Ian
Learmonth. He beat, perhaps not surprisingly, a strong shortlist of
candidates and there is a certain disappointment in the newsroom
that our new police chief isn’t to be a certain Mr Alfred
Hitchcock. Other unsuccessful bidders were two with strong Kent
links, namely Giles York and Simon Ash – the latter already a chief
constable in Mr Learmonth’s neighbouring Suffolk.
I happened to be contacted by a
couple of candidates as they did their homework in preparation for
last week’s interviews and both asked me what kind of chief Kent
needed. I stated that the county wanted a true ‘copper’ at the head
of the force. One that led by example, was hands-on, understood and
could tackle priorities in a our diverse county and someone who was
a down-to-earth communicator. The last thing we need is a
politician, which is slightly ironic given that this maybe the last
chief constable we have who isn’t elected if government plans go
ahead. The earlier indications are that Mr Learmonth is anything
but, which is encouraging. We’ll wait and see.
The previous chief, Mike Fuller,
was also in the news last week as we revealed how, during the six
years of his tenure, he had been chauffeur-driven to work from his
home outside the county – a 96-mile round trip. Mr Fuller
vehemently defends this arrangement, which was contractually agreed
by the Kent Police Authority, but there’s no getting away from the
fact that it was a huge perk on top of his £140,000 salary. He has
stated that it enabled him to work during his commute, including
dealing with ‘serious operational matters’. A fair point but it is
interesting to note that under the coalition government’s emergency
budget announced today, ministers are going to be expected to use
public transport more and it’s a fair guess they too deal with
serious matters. Equally, commuter trains travelling up to London
from Kent every day are packed with people, both from the public
and private sector, who handle serious and sensitive matters. The
Taxpayers Alliance has described the transport arrangements for Mr
Fuller and his Chief Officer Team as ‘astonishing’. Readers, of
course, will make up their own minds, and have been doing so on our
web version of the story.
Obituaries in the KM are among
the best read items in the paper. One carried last week was a name
which may have been familiar to regular readers of our letters
pages, that of Leslie Turner. People will have become used to Mr
Turner’s soundings about issues, both locally and nationally, and
will have realised where his political views lay. Described in our
obit as a ‘lifelong socialist’ he was certainly true to that
description, firing off an email about the Labour leadership
election on the final day of his 91 years. But he was so much more
that just someone who opined on a variety of subjects. As the
article states he was a lawyer, soldier and then for 21 years
worked in the estates office at Kent County Council. But it was
politics which clearly drove him and we wonder what he thought of
the Miliband v Miliband v Balls v etc contest. One suspects he’s
not too impressed.
Monday, May 24 2010
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