Meet North Yorkshire’s new top cop

10:23am Friday 20th April 2007

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NORTH Yorkshire's new top cop says policing is his "family business".

The county's police force has named Grahame Maxwell as the new chief constable to replace Della Cannings when she retires in May.

Mr Maxwell, who is currently deputy chief constable of South Yorkshire Police, said policing ran in his family. His sister is a serving officer and his father and brother-in-law were also policemen before they retired.

He said when he rang his father to tell him about his new job he joked "it's taken you all this time to get to the same rank as I was" - because he was the chief constable of the village he policed many years ago.

Mr Maxwell said he was "delighted" to join a force with a "fine reputation" and that the role was the pinnacle of his career.

He said his top priority would be to make North Yorkshire Police the leading force in the whole of Britain in terms of neighbourhood policing.

He said: "It will be an honour to lead this force.

"It has a fine reputation, both locally and nationally, and I look forward to enhancing that reputation even further, especially in the areas of neighbourhood policing and the quality of our service.

"North Yorkshire Police has reduced crime enormously over recent years and now is the time to exploit that performance and the investments made in the service.

"Personally, this is, of course, the pinnacle of my police career and I can't wait to get going."

But he said he didn't want to change things too quickly, and would first carry out a "capability and capacity" review to find out "where we've got people, what kinds of jobs they are doing and where crime is across the force. I want to see us putting people first in terms of what we do, both within the force and the communities we are policing."

Jane Kenyon, chairman of the North Yorkshire Police Authority, said: "North Yorkshire has a proud tradition of being able to attract the best talent to this area and in Grahame Maxwell we have secured the services of one of the biggest rising stars in British policing.

"I am in negotiation with the South Yorkshire Authority and Chief Constable with regard to the date on which Grahame will start his new job but am confident he will be with us very shortly after Ms Cannings' retirement on 16 May."

The rise and rise of new chief

GRAHAME Maxwell has been married for 21 years to Julie and they have a son, Frazer, 15, and two Labrador dogs.

He joined Cleveland Police after graduating with a first in chemistry from Newcastle in 1983.

He served in all ranks from constable to chief superintendent in a mix of both uniform and CID roles.

He was appointed as an assistant chief constable with the West Yorkshire Police in 2000.

He took up his current post as the deputy chief constable of South Yorkshire Police in January 2005.