Video: New Yorkshire police chief vows to heed lessons of troubled past

Dave Jones was out on patrol with local neighbourhood police teams within minutes of starting work at a minute past midnight yesterday and even helped officers chase down an affray suspect following reports of a fight in Richmond. The former Assistant Chief Constable for Northern Ireland’s rural region took over a year after the departure of Grahame Maxwell, whose contract was not renewed after he admitted gross misconduct for helping a relative during a recruitment exercise.

Mr Jones, who was named as North Yorkshire’s Chief Constable in April after the first round of recruitment failed to find a suitable candidate, said the force now needed “sustainable leadership”.

He said: “I think the symbolism of the Chief Constable is a reflection of the wider service and I think the office of the Chief Constable has not contributed to that. Generally North Yorkshire Police have performed really well in the last few years.

“I think it would be naive for me not to consider the lessons of the past. The first thing I did today was to go out just past midnight and go on patrol with the officers, understanding their needs, making sure they are providing a good service to the public.”

Mr Jones, who started his career with Greater Manchester Police in 1986, said he wanted to maintain North Yorkshire’s status as the safest county in the country.

He said he planned to “embrace technology” by looking at innovations such as body warmth cameras and better use of automatic number plate recognition devices for vehicles. But he admitted the “financial situation we are going to face going forward” was a major challenge.

The Yorkshire Post revealed last month that North Yorkshire Police had budgeted for a £14m annual budget shortfall by 2016/17 and could face further cuts when the Government publishes its spending review later this month.

Mr Jones said once the scale of the cuts became clear he and other senior police figures would have “a proper assessment of what we think we can stop doing and re-do” and the possibility of teaming up with other forces.

He said: “If there was a point where I thought the efficiency and effectiveness of North Yorkshire Police was going to be compromised that is an issue that the commissioner and I would be raising at the highest levels.”