Chief turns beat cop to make arrest

The intervention by West Yorkshire chief Mark Gilmore saw him follow in the footsteps of his North Yorkshire counterpart Dave Jones, who apprehended a suspected thug after chasing him through the streets of Richmond town centre on his first shift last year.

The latest incident came in the early hours of New Year’s Day, when Mr Gilmore and a colleague were flagged down on Briggate by a private hire driver who said a man had damaged his taxi and left a large dent on the bonnet.

He pointed out the suspect, who was about 20 metres away but ran off as the chief constable and his colleague went to speak to him.

They chased on foot for several minutes, before Mr Gilmore eventually caught the man on The Headrow and, with the help of colleagues, arrested him for causing criminal damage.

Mr Gilmore was accompanied by police and crime commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson on the patrol on December 31, when an operation was taking place to reduce violent crime in the city centre.