I have three aims for this blog this week; to formally welcome two new members of staff to Wiltshire Police, congratulate a current member of staff on his new job and to dispel some misinformation.

The Force has recently appointed two new Assistant Chief Constables (ACCs) and a Director of People and Change.   

Maggie Blyth, currently serving at Hampshire Police, and Mark Cooper, who this week joined us from Dorset Police, are Wiltshire Police's new permanent ACCs with Chris McMullin - who is already with the Force - being appointed as the Director for People and Change, a police staff position within the Executive Leadership Team. 

I am delighted to welcome Maggie, Mark and Chris into these roles and look forward to working with them.

I have had the pleasure of working with both Mark and Chris before now; Chris has been with Wiltshire Police for 10 years and Mark completed a secondment here as an acting ACC in January 2016. 

Strong leadership requires a mix of skills and experience and, from what I have been told, each of these three will bring something new and important to the leadership team at Wiltshire Police. 

I am also pleased to hear that the recruitment process was competitive - Wiltshire Police is a good Force to work for and the last 12 months, although challenging, have illustrated what the Force is capable of achieving.

In a nutshell - they are the right people for these jobs. 

And so to my third and final point of this blog - misinformation. 

Please let me clarify, these ACC roles are not additional staff.  These roles already existed and were performed by senior Wiltshire officers acting up while the recruitment process took place.    Now that has happened and both Maggie and Mark have been appointed the two senior officers who were doing these jobs will return to their regular roles.  

I raise this because I have had a number of people ask me how, in this era of budget saving and cost cutting, the Force can afford two extra senior members of staff?  Well, that's not the case - these are not additional roles but ones which already exist and so no additional money is being spent.

Speaking of jobs, one of my jobs and aims - as part of the Police and Crime Plan - is to "secure a quality police service that is trusted and efficient" - that means recruiting people who can help deliver the best quality police service to the public and that is what we have in Maggie, Mark and Chris at no extra cost.