Lancashire police chief misses out on Manchester job

9:00pm Wednesday 23rd July 2008

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LANCASHIRE'S Chief Constable insists he is still committed to the job after missing out on the top position at Greater Manchester police.

Steve Finnigan had been interviewed over two days this week for the job of Chief Constable at Greater Manchester to replace former chief Michael Todd, who died in March after an apparent suicide in north Wales.

Today it was announced the job had gone to Peter Fahy, current chief of the Cheshire force.

Police authority bosses said there would be no “knee jerk reactions” but that they were looking at the best ways to hang on to top officers.

Mr Finnigan said: “Naturally, I am disappointed not to have been successful in my application for GMP, but I certainly wish Peter Fahy every success in his appointment and look forward to working closely with him in the future.

“However, the news is not entirely negative for me personally as it means that I will continue to lead Lancashire Constabulary which, as I have said before, is incredibly important to me and something which I have been proud and privileged to do over the past three-and-a-half years.

“I look forward to continuing the work we have embarked upon in Lancashire to consistently be the best police force in the country and to deliver services which are truly citizen focused and which put the safety and needs of the people of Lancashire first.”

Lancashire's previous Chief Constable Paul Stephenson left the role to take on the Deputy Commissioner role at the Metropolitan police.

And Mr Finnigan has only officially held the role for 18 months.

Coun Malcolm Doherty, chair of Lancashire Police Authority, said the force’s ability to hold on to top staff was being looked at.

He said: “We do need to keep people in post, but things change pretty quickly and there’s always a turnover.

“We have recently been looking at it, and we will continue to do so in terms of our chief officer rank.

"But there will be no knee-jerk reaction saying ‘we need to do something because we nearly lost Steve’.

"I want to see more measured actions than that.”

Coun Doherty said he expected Mr Finnigan to stay with Lancashire for the forseeable future, adding: “I can’t see any other job that could come up and be attractive to him in the way Greater Manchester was.”

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