Sorry - but I’m not resigning: North Yorkshire’s police chief

North Yorkshire’s top officer, Grahame Maxwell, 50, was given the official warning yesterday after he made his admissions at a secret hearing in the county.

He faced a misconduct panel after he helped a relative, and also a relative of his deputy, gain an advantage in a force-wide recruitment exercise last year.

Today, Mr Maxwell issued a personal statement which said: “Over the past 24 hours I have reflected on the outcome of the hearing into my actions during the recruitment campaign in February last year.

“I would like to reaffirm my deep and sincere apology to the residents of North Yorkshire, my officers and my police staff.

“The last thing in the world I would want to do is undermine the reputation of North Yorkshire Police.

“I have been Chief Constable for almost four years. North Yorkshire Police has been my life during that time.

“I am immensely proud to be the Chief Constable of NYP and immensely proud of what the people who make up our police force have achieved in that time.

“I want to reassure the public of North Yorkshire and the City of York that it is very much business as usual. Every day our officers, staff, special constables and volunteers are out there doing an excellent job, dealing with many difficult and challenging situations.

“My role now, is to continue to lead North Yorkshire Police and work with the members of the Police Authority to continue our good work and deliver the best possible policing service we can to the communities of North Yorkshire.”

Mr Maxwell had faced calls to resign from two MPs. Skipton and Ripon Tory Julian Smith said: “I’m surprised he’s still in his post. There is a clear need to lead by example and after admitting gross misconduct I don’t think it’s tenable to lead a police force where trust is key.

“I think he should go and there should be complete transparency about the terms of his departure. I am also concerned by the culture that seems to have existed at the top levels of North Yorkshire Police. For the Chief Constable to claim he could do what he wanted because he was the boss, and for other leaders not to feel they could question him, is clearly unacceptable.”

The Labour MP for York Central, Hugh Bayley, added: “Grahame Maxwell has done well in reducing crime in North Yorkshire but, after this decision, he should think seriously about his position.”

But Mr Maxwell said in his statement: “I want to reassure the public of North Yorkshire and the City of York that it is very much business as usual. Every day our officers, staff, special constables and volunteers are out there doing an excellent job, dealing with many difficult and challenging situations.

Yesterday’s hearing followed allegations he helped a male relative of his and a female relative of North Yorkshire’s then Deputy Chief Constable Adam Briggs circumvent an oversubscribed hotline during a high profile force-wide recruitment campaign. Neither got a job.

Last year North Yorkshire Police set up a special recruitment line for potential applicants for up to 70 new police constable jobs with the force.

The evening hotline was inundated with callers - between 300,000 and 500,000 - causing the system to crash at one point due to the sheer weight of numbers involved and technical issues.

At one point during the five day-long recruitment campaign Mr Maxwell and Mr Briggs were both filmed taking calls as part of the publicity for the campaign, which made national headlines.

The IPCC began an investigation after it emerged Mr Maxwell arranged for a call to be made directly to Mr Briggs’s relative when she failed to get through on the hotline.

Mr Maxwell also admitted a similar intervention with respect to his own relative.

North Yorkshire Police Authority (NYPA) issued a statement saying it was “perhaps regrettable” the chief did not admit his guilt earlier rather than seeking “to avoid being held to account for his actions by pursuing spurious legal remedies and unsustainable arguments in his defence”.

In a statement, the authority pointed out that two members of police staff have already been dismissed by North Yorkshire Police for actions taken during the same recruitment process.

Mr Maxwell became North Yorkshire’s chief constable in 2007, joining from South Yorkshire Police, where he was deputy.

He joined the Cleveland force as a Pc in Middlesbrough and worked his way up to Chief Superintendent before he was appointed Assistant Chief Constable with West Yorkshire Police in 2000.

According to the force website, Mr Maxwell is married to Julie and they have one son, Frazer, and two Labrador dogs.

Mr Briggs, who retired earlier this year, was told he should receive “management advice” after a misconduct meeting last year which concluded he had failed to challenge and report improper conduct by the chief and “acted in a manner likely to bring discredit upon and undermine public confidence in the police service”.

More in Thursday’s Yorkshire Post