Gloucestershire's new chief constable keen to increase volunteer officers

“What a load of boring, nit-picking comments.
She sounds like the right woman for the job and what a job it is.
100% support from me. The rest of you can carry on waffling till the cows come home.”

“Thank you for that link raidermanuk, it just goes to show that this isn't a done deal by any means. I wonder if it was a genuine mistake or blatant rudeness that the Chairman of the Police and Crime Panel wasn't informed and that he had to hear it by other means? It doesn't exactly get everyone off to a good start if the correct protocols were bypassed. I just hope this isn't a foretaste of things to come. I would hate to think that jumping the gun and announcing it early wasn't a way of, as you said, putting the Chairman between a rock and a hard place. I wonder what the consequences would be if they did use their veto and the applications had to start all over again.

I also wonder if the Old Boy Network is behind all this, even if she is a woman. Something just doesn't seem quite right.”

“spindles12

This should help clarify the procedural issues: http://tinyurl.com/avucejv

Monday should be interesting. Mr Calway, the chairman of the Glos Crime panel is between a rock and a hard place, put there by Mr Surl and his team.”

“I find it hard to understand one of the "facts" made in the report, that she will start her new role on February 1st. If you go to the Gloucestershire County Council website and put meeting to discuss chief constable appointment (you may not get all that in) you should come to a page with a report dated 9th November 2013 (2013!!) and talks of a meeting "next week" Monday 14th January 2013" which gives you a lot of confidence to begin with!! Anyway, it says that the meeting is on 14th January and at "the meeting" they will meet the candidate, after which they will debate and consult or whatever they do BUT they have the power to veto the applicant! Now what is hard to understand is how this is a foregone conclusion that she has been appointed.

It's hard to know whether she has already been interviewed by the Police and Crime Panel sometime between November and January or whether she still has to be interviewed but it's worded so that it seems she will be interviewed on 14th January. It will be interesting to see what the outcome of this is, in view of all the publicity about her and the ongoing investigation.

As there were four candidates for Mr Surl to choose from, I wonder who the other three were and whether they would have been a better and more "fragrant" choice for Chief Constable.”

“So, it is now reported that Ms Davenport is STILL under investigation.

What a complete shambles.

It is reported that the Police and Crime Panel for Gloucestershire will meet on Monday to approve the appointment. Why is it widely reported that she has already been appointed? Who authorised the press release?

Why is it that the PCC Martin Surl continued with this charade with the full knowledge that Ms Davenport was under investigation? He knew right at the beginning.

Why is it the the Chairman of the Glos PCC panel did not know about the investigation? Who decided he should not be informed? In any event, why didn't HE do a 5 minute Google search on Ms Davenport, he would have found out for himself.

Of course she cannot be appointed until the investigation is complete. The financial implication to the tax payer, should she be appointed and then immediately dismissed would be horrendous, especially as the PCC was fully aware of the situation. Let's just hope she is proven to have done nothing wrong.

Martin Surl is skating on very thin ice. I think it's about to break.”

“tishwash, regarding specials doing jobs no one else wants to do, unless anything has changed dramatically, when I was a special back in the late 1960s a lot of the regular police resented the specials because they were doing the regulars out of overtime. Back in those days there were plenty of regulars and specials on the streets. My father and my mother were also specials, in fact, because my father was a Special Chief Inspector my mother and I were supposed to salute him whenever we saw him, much to his embarrassment!”

“Yay To The First Female CC. :0)

P.S, Every Time I Type Something On Here I Keep Seeing That Advert/Image Of A Mahoosive Skin Tag With Hairs In The Background! Can It Be Removed As It Makes Me Urge!”

“there are loads of people I know that would love to be special constables but some forces treat specials as people that should do the work others don't want to, such as being at football stadiums on Sundays, and that's not what I'd want to do nor many of the people I know so we've all not bothered applying as we don't know what glos will do with specials, maybe you should run a recruitment event ?”

“spindles12

I Googled it earlier this morning but could find nothing to suggest that the investigation had been concluded.

Maybe I'll say nothing until confirmed one way or the other!”

“raidermanuk, according to a TV report of a few minutes ago, as well as newspaper reports, the enquiry is still ongoing. Just Google her name and see what comes up. Just how the heck can someone be appointed a Chief Constable when they are accused, even if not actually guilty of, perverting the course of justice, amongst other things labelled "misconduct"?”