Four ‘assistant commissioner’ roles have been created by the county’s new PPC as he begins the job of forming a team to run Northamptonshire Police.
Adam Simmonds today revealed he has appointed two key aides from his successful election campaign for the job of Police & Crime Commissioner to the new roles.
Kathryn Buckle, who was Mr Simmonds’ campaign agent, becomes assistant commissioner with responsibility for “governance”, while Peter Heaton, who was formally head of communications at Northamptonshire County Council and acted as Mr Simmonds’ campaign spokesman, becomes assistant commissioner with responsibility for “engagement”.
Ms Buckle was most recently group managing agent at West Northants Conservatives and previously worked as a Conservative agent in Windsor.
She will lead work on “management of decision making, processes and democratic accountability”.
Mr Heaton, who worked alongside Mr Simmonds at the county council, will “lead the commission’s public engagement work”, with the key job of shaping a five-year police and crime plan.
The pair have been appointed to an “interim management team to drive improvement in policing and justice in the county”.
Iain Britton also joins as assistant commissioner for justice.
He was most recently deputy head of policy for Northamptonshire Police and will “lead work to improve and speed up justice in the county and the commission’s work to put victims of crime first”.
The fourth interim appointment is John Raisin, who becomes assistant commissioner for resources.
He also worked with Mr Simmonds at Northamptonshire County Council and will be tasked with the key role of working on the police budget and finding “substantial savings”.
Mr Simmonds said: “The commission has a big job to do – far bigger and wider than the old police authority. We are directly accountable to the public, through the new police and crime panel and I am pleased to have in place such a skilled and experienced interim management team so that we can get on quickly with the things that need to be done.”
The police authority ceased to exist on November 22 and its business continues to be wound down.
 |  |