A HIGH profile scheme to hire senior police officers from outside the force will not be repeated in North Yorkshire this year.

The direct entry scheme ran last year with the aim of introducing two new superintendents from outside North Yorkshire Police, and saw 67 people apply for the roles from external careers including the legal sector, military, local government and private businesses.

Following a shortlist of seven being interviewed at police headquarters, only one - former RAF regiment squadron leader Adam Thomson - was selected to take on the role of superintendent, and has been in training since his appointment in November.

Mr Thomson, who had also worked for the Ministry of Defence, completed tours of duty in Afghanistan, Iraq and The Balkans, and was squadron commander of 34 Squadron based at RAF Leeming.

He said: "I thoroughly enjoy commanding, the responsibility and the opportunity to help people grow within an organisation. After seeing the advert I thought I had to give it a go, it would provide stability for my family and enable us to return home to North Yorkshire.

"During my force interview I was asked ‘why North Yorkshire Police?’ I had a lot of reasons based on the type of force, the type of policing and the relationship with the community, they were all good reasons to apply to North Yorkshire. It is a special type of policing and a special type of relationship. I attended my interview the week after the Tour de France. That could not have been delivered in that manner by many forces, if any, other than North Yorkshire Police. But when the question was put to me I was a little punch-drunk and all I could answer was 'it's home'."

Mr Thomson is still undergoing an 18-month training programme with the College Of Policing, which involves 14 months of practical policing, and 11 months shadowing police officers of every rank from PC to superintendent.

He is expected to take on a "supervised and supported superintendent role" in early 2016, but the force told The Press it would not seek to re-run the direct entry scheme this year.
Assistant Chief Constable Paul Kennedy, said: "Adam’s training is going extremely well and we look forward to welcoming him into the force permanently when his training is complete. 

"We did not participate in the scheme this year because the further recruitment of a direct entry superintendent was not deemed necessary for our current senior officer arrangements."