Three police chiefs cost taxpayers dearly

The cost to taxpayers of employing three police chiefs in Devon and Cornwall has been as high as £64,000 a month.

Both the permanent and acting chief constables of the force are currently suspended on full pay, with an interim leader in place.

Now, police and crime commissioner Alison Hernandez wants the government to chip in and cover some of the costs.

She is frustrated at the time it is taking to investigate allegations of historic sexual offences against chief constable Will Kerr, who was suspended in July 2023.

He strenuously denies all wrongdoing.

Following his suspension, his deputy Jim Colwell became acting chief constable, but he was suspended last November, pending an investigation into alleged misconduct.

An interim chief, James Vaughan, is now leading Devon and Cornwall Police after being appointed in December.

The top job commands a salary of £197,000, and for three months, taxpayers have been footing the bill for three chief constables.

The costs will be published in the force’s 2024-25 accounts at the end of May.

From this month, Mr Colwell has been put back to his formal rank as deputy chief constable, but it is essentially theoretical, as he remains suspended.

The total monthly cost announced by Ms Hernandez’s office of £64,000 for a trio of chief constables includes pension contributions and unspecified allowances.

With Mr Colwell back to the pay of a deputy chief constable, this will now reduce, but the police and crime commissioner’s statement doesn’t say by how much.

The delay in deciding the future of Mr Kerr and Mr Colwell is outside the control of the police and crime commissioner. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is responsible for investigating them.

Ms Hernandez is asking for this to change and wants commissioners to be allowed to undertake investigations.

In the case of Mr Kerr, she says she has made numerous representations to the police ombudsman, the Northern Irish Public Prosecution Service, the Chief Inspector of His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, the Home Office, and the policing minister.

It is now 20 months on and counting. This means Mr Kerr has been paid around a third of a million pounds not to work.

In a statement, Ms Hernandez said: “I remain incredibly frustrated by the length of time the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland has taken to investigate the allegations.

“The fact that the taxpayer is now footing the bill for two chief constable salaries is far from ideal, and resolving this issue and providing robust leadership for the force remains a top priority for me. That is why I took the decision to appoint an interim chief constable.

“I believe this experience demonstrates that police and crime commissioners should be granted investigatory powers relating to chief constable misconduct allegations, so the resources and timeframes of such investigations remain within their control.”

From April, households will pay an extra £13.70 a year for police services, after the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel accepted Ms Hernandez’s recommendation for a five percent increase in the police element of council tax.

She said that the rise, together with a £6 million windfall from a council tax premium on second homes, would stop the force from cutting services. Officer numbers will stay at their highest-ever level of 3,610, with extra patrols under something called ‘hot spot policing’ and enquiry offices opening in Ivybridge, Tavistock, and Liskeard.

Ms Hernandez said the force needs to save £6.5 million in the next financial year, a third of which is expected to be made by reducing senior roles and replacing them with frontline officers.

An allowance to pay someone around £55,000 to be Ms Hernandez’s deputy has been kept in the budget. She hasn’t decided whether to reappoint someone to the role, after her last appointment, former Torbay councillor Mark Kingscote, quit in December after just five months in the job.