Cheshire Police is set to appoint Mark Roberts as its new Chief Constable.
He is currently the Deputy Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police and served with Cheshire Constabulary as Assistant Chief Constable from 2014-2017.
During his time in Cheshire, he led on a realignment of local policing in the county, creating eight local police units.
This coincided with reducing crime rates and an approach judged “outstanding” by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabularies and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS).
Before this, he spent more than 20 years at Greater Manchester Police in investigative and uniform roles playing an active part in major incidents and investigations including the Manchester riots in 2011.
He was also Head of Investigations for the North West Counter Terrorism Unit.
Mark is also the national lead for football policing and covert legislation and guidance.
He was responsible for the UK’s policing support for EURO 2016, the 2018 World Cup in Russia and completed an independent review into football policing on behalf of Police Scotland.
He will take up the top job in Cheshire when current Chief Constable Darren Martland retires in the spring.
The appointment panel was chaired by Police and Crime Commissioner David Keane.
Mr Keane said: “I’m delighted to select Mark Roberts as my preferred candidate for Chief Constable.
“I’m looking forward to working with him to further develop our community policing model, building on the strong foundations established under the leadership of outgoing chief constable Darren Martland.
“Mark has a wealth of experience in local policing and shares my vision of delivering truly local community-based policing which puts residents at the heart of the service.
“I believe that his appointment is very positive for Cheshire and will allow us to build in our consistently positive ratings from HMICFRS and deliver an outstanding service that ensures Cheshire remains one of the safest counties in the country.
“This has been a highly competitive process with applications from high quality candidates.
“I’d like to thank all those that applied and the appointment panel who provided me with their expert opinion and advice.”
Mark added: “I’m extremely proud to be selected as the preferred candidate for Cheshire chief constable.
“Having previously worked in Cheshire, I know that the Constabulary has a great workforce that is committed to delivering an outstanding service for the people of Cheshire.
“I am excited to build on the work of Darren and the command team to keep Cheshire safe.”
The appointment is subject to a confirmation hearing by Cheshire Police and Crime Panel who will review the proposed appointment at a meeting on Friday (March 12).
Another waste of money! Council tax is horrendous because of all of these overpaid figureheads.
Not just them. A constable gets a healthy salary just to ensure people arent saying hurty words online. Police, like all government services in this country (NHS included) are a disgrace.