Pressure mounts on police Commissioner

Pressure is mounting on Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner to resign after she suspended the force’s Acting Chief Constable, just 18 months after taking similar action against the permanent Chief Constable.

Cllr Caroline Leaver (Liberal Democrat, Barnstaple South), who sits on the region’s police and crime panel, has said Alison Hernandez should step down immediately in relation to her choices of Chief Constables.

Ms Hernandez suspended Acting Chief Constable Jim Colwell this week because of alleged professional standards breaches.

On Monday, a mandatory referral was made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which will now investigate the allegations.

Two days later, Mr Colwell was told he is being “investigated for potential gross misconduct in respect of his use of a work issue mobile phone to exchange messages of a personal nature without a policing purpose”.

A spokesperson for the IOPC added that an investigation “does not necessarily mean that any proceedings will follow.”

The move comes 16 months after Devon and Cornwall Police’s Chief Constable, Will Kerr, was suspended after the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland (PPSNI) said it is investigating “serious allegations of sexual offences” before he joined Devon and Cornwall Police. Mr Kerr denies any wrongdoing.

“It’s shocking that so much money is being spent paying people who are suspended on full pay,” Cllr Leaver told Radio Exe’s Devoncast podcast.