Ian Johnston (police commissioner)

Ian Johnston
QPM
Police and Crime Commissioner
for Gwent Police
Assumed office
15 November 2012
Preceded by Office created
Personal details
Born 1952
Political party Independent

Ian Brian Johnston (born 1952) is the Independent Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent Police. He is the first person to hold the post and was elected on 15 November 2012.

Background

He describes himself as having been "born and bred in the County of Gwent",[1] and served as a police officer from 1971 until 2004. He worked in Newport, Blackwood, Pontypool, Caerphilly and Ebbw Vale as a uniformed officer and detective, and then at Pontypool for six years as a Detective Chief Inspector and Chief Superintendent. He was head of CID in Gwent Police from 1994 until 1999, and was awarded the Queen's Police Medal for distinguished service in 2003.[2]

After his retirement from the police service he served as President of the Police Superintendents' Association of England and Wales from 2007 to 2010.[1][2] His platform at the PCC election in 2012 was to "Keep Politics out of Policing".[1]

Controversy over resignation of Chief Constable

In June 2013 Johnston was criticised by local MPs Wayne David and Paul Flynn for his actions in causing the resignation of the Chief Constable of Gwent Police, Carmel Napier. Johnston criticised Napier's management style, saying that their relationship "was never going to work," and confirmed that he had told her to either retire or "be removed."[3] Johnston and Napier both later gave evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee, which discussed the circumstances of her retirement.[4] The Select Committee report criticised Johnston's "disdainful attitude towards scrutiny by Parliament, as well as an indication of a clear over-sensitivity to criticism". It said that Johnston had been elected by less than 8% of the local electorate, and "had managed to side-step the statutory arrangements for local scrutiny of his decision to sack the chief constable".[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Choose My PCC: Election statement. Retrieved 29 May 2013
  2. 1 2 "Getting to know... Ian Johnston" (PDF). Monmouthshire Prime (Gwent Police) (2): 3. 2013.
  3. ↑ BBC News, Forced-out Gwent police chief hits back at police and crime commissioner, 11 June 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2013
  4. ↑ BBC News, Gwent PCC criticised by MP over chief constable's removal, 3 July 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013
  5. ↑ BBC News, Gwent Police commissioner 'disdainful', say MPs, 20 July 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2013


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, August 04, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.