Gloucestershire police chief to leave role as contract will not be renewed
Summary
Gloucestershire police chief Rod Hansen will be leaving his role at the end of the month as his contract comes to an end and it will not be renewed by police and crime commissioner Chris Nelson. Mr Hansen, who firmly denies any wrongdoing, has been suspended on full pay for almost two years and is awaiting a hearing into alleged gross misconduct .
Details
Mr Nelson suspended the chief constable in October 2024 after allegations relating to a data breach. The Independent Office for Police Conduct concluded almost a year ago that the chief constable should face a gross misconduct hearing over allegations he failed to appropriately act on a report of a data breach.
And it is alleged that Mr Hansen did not sufficiently act on information passed to him in October 2022 regarding a staff member suspected of carrying out an unauthorised search of police systems – and accessing third party personal data – following a road traffic collision. He is also alleged to have given a false/misleading statement during the course of the investigation into the data breach.
Mr Hansen was cleared of a separate case in March this year . He was told he had no case to answer in respect of allegations into his involvement in the recruitment of a member of police staff. Chief constables are appointed on a fixed term basis initially for five years in the county.
Related stories
Mr Hansen took over as chief constable in May 2017 and under the terms of his initial contract was due to stay until 2022. However, in 2020 Mr Hansen, who was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal in recognition of his distinguished services to policing, was given a five year extension to his contract by then police and crime commissioner Martin Surl.
The Office for the Police and Crime Commissioner has confirmed to Gloucestershire Live that Mr Nelson will not be renewing Mr Hansen’s contract which ends at the end of July 2026. The misconduct hearing which began yesterday, July 16, has been adjourned for legal reasons and will not restart until December at the earliest. Maggie Blyth, who was appointed on October 22, 2024 is the force’s temporary chief constable.
And an open and transparent recruitment process will take place to select a permanent chief constable.
What You Need to Know
And an open and transparent recruitment process will take place to select a permanent chief constable.
Report source: Gloucestershire Live