New South Yorkshire Interim Chief Constable says he'll "listen to the Hillsborough families"
The new interim chief constable of South Yorkshire Police has said he plans to listen to the families of those who died in the Hillsborough disaster as he starts work with the beleaguered force.
The new interim chief constable of South Yorkshire Police has said he plans to listen to the families of those who died in the Hillsborough disaster as he starts work with the beleaguered force.
South Yorkshire's police and crime commissioner Alan Billings has announced that Dave Jones, the current chief constable of North Yorkshire, has been appointed to run the force on a temporary basis. Dr Billings suspended the current chief constable David Crompton following the outcome of the Hillsborough inquests last week.
Mr Crompton reiterated an apology for the disaster hours after the verdicts and said he accepted the findings of the inquests jury. But he was criticised by the families for the stance taken by lawyers representing the police during the two-year-long hearings.
He was replaced last week on a temporary basis by his deputy Dawn Copley but she had to step down within a day after it emerged she was under investigation for alleged misconduct by her previous force.
At a press conference in Sheffield, Mr Jones said he will be undertaking a fundamental review of the force but taking care to include the rank-and-file officers out on the streets. He said a senior officer from another force will also be brought in to conduct a review.
The chief said he will be engaging with the Hillsborough families and also those associated with the ongoing controversy over the policing of the Orgreave pickets in the 1984 miners' strike.
He said: "I also think I also need to hear from the families of the Hillsborough disaster, the truth and justice committee for Orgreave and also the public of South Yorkshire about how they experience policing and what they think's not working.
“But crucially, I also think that the workforce need to be able to get a voice into that review to make sure we fully understand, warts and all, what we think is actually happening in policing in 2016.”
Dr Billings confirmed he had spoken to Home Secretary Theresa May before making his decision to appoint Mr Jones.
Mr Jones said: “There is no question that this is a very difficult period, both for South Yorkshire Police as an organisation, and for the communities it serves locally and further afield.
“Nevertheless, I believe there is a strong desire - both inside and outside the police service - for the force to move forward in a positive direction.''
He said: First and foremost, I will engage with those communities both inside and outside of South Yorkshire who have been let down by the police service.
"I want to understand how their confidence in policing has been affected, and work with them to build it back up and restore pride back into the police service.”
Mr Jones insisted he was taking up the role “as a volunteer'' and said: “I am not under-estimating the scale of the work ahead, but part of the reason why I have taken on this interim role is that I believe that the policing as a whole has a duty to help the service in South Yorkshire to move forward.''
Mr Crompton's suspension follows a difficult four years for the force which saw the organisation criticised for a range of different controversies.
As well as the policing of the Hillsborough disaster and the events that followed the 1989 tragedy, the force has been at the centre of the scandal over child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, the controversy surrounding a search of Sir Cliff Richard's house and ongoing questions about the policing of the miners' strike.
Mr Crompton is due to retire in November.
North Yorkshire's Deputy Chief Constable, Tim Madgwick, will become temporary chief constable for that force until Mr Jones returns.